Day 33: Leoti, KS to Eads, CO (79.5 Miles)

MORE WIND!!! I was hoping that I'd get at least one day of tailwinds through Kansas; conversely, I faced headwinds/crosswinds with a minimum of 20mph every day throughout this flat, hot state. Oh well, this just means I can't have any more rest days and I'll have to hoof it through the Rockies at the fastest pace I can manage. When I told Alena that I only had two months, she was almost shocked with the pace I had to keep. It never really bothered me until now. Everyone I've met, with the exception of Carbon Fiber Jeff, usually has to average either 60 or 50 miles a day. On the bright side of things, I was just informed by my parents that they are purchasing my flight back to Boston... which is so thoughtful and amazing of them!

I left Leoti after chowing down on some free "continental" breakfast foods, leaving my mates behind to chat with some locals. I kept good pace, in spite of the wind, and crossed over into another time zone... but there's no mountains yet! I then met up with the guys in Tribune for lunch at a local "Kwik Stop" gas station (almost all businesses out here are shut down on Sundays). After taking in some more unhealthy food, I set off towards the Colorado border and then across the most desolate section of my trip yet. There was absolutely NOTHING for the next 60 miles. Well, there was a closed rest stop that provided some shade, but the majority of my surroundings were barren fields of dust and locusts. I kept pace with Chris, Callum and Dowds... but finally let them "chain gang" their way into Eads towards the latter section of the trip. I put on some music podcasts onto my iPod shuffle and sang my heart out. I think I disturbed the local insects/snakes/rabbits.

I arrived into Eads shortly after 5:00PM and found the guys hanging out at a local gas station. Apparently, every restaurant was shut down for Sabbath... so it looked like it was another night of eating crappy foods filled with high fructose corn syrup and God knows what else. Callum and I then went and got a cheap room for an insomniac hotel desk clerk and snuck the fellows in afterwards. I've got quite the headache right now and I'm pretty sun burnt. The temperature got up to a sultry 97 degrees and it's supposed to reach triple digits tomorrow. I'm covered in the dry sodium my body kicked out of me and I'm longing for the cooler temperatures of higher elevations. On that note: I'm at the highest elevation of the trip thus far (4,000 feet above sea level) and it's been the flattest section of the trip. No wonder they call this the "high plains," eh?

We're going to grab some "dinner" food from the local gas station. I'm getting sick of this fake food stuff... I haven't had a proper meal in days! Oh well, Ghostbusters 1 & 2 is on the television right now and that'll hopefully keep my mind off the hunger pangs.

P.S. This was quoted at least once today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80lM8ukLDns