Day 25, Flint Hill Trail to Ottawa, Kansas, 18 miles (Social Day!)

Mega-early start this morning; due to our hobo-like trail-side camp. It had been a slightly rough nights' sleep; even after nightfall the air remained hot. Furthermore, there was something big skulking close to the tent in small hours... I'm sure it was a racoon. Big one. Anyway we went through the camp-dismantling routine pretty swiftly and were cycling along the deserted trail in surprisingly crisp morning air at 6:30am. Proper cycle-tourer start time; smooth.

The light was lovely and the silos, red barns and trees all cast long blue shadows. We relished the cool air and peace of early Monday morning. I can see what the pro-tourers are on about (until I  wake up in a motel, where we reluctantly return the keys at 5 minutes past boot-out 11am.) The Flint Hills trail lacks the signposting and water bubblers of the Katy Trail, but has its' own remote charm; we didn't pass a single other cyclist all morning. One old burly farmer tipped his standard-issue John Deer cap at us as he trundled past for the fields.

It was not yet 9am when we rolled into our first town; Ottawa. We stopped into Keims bakery for coffee and cheesy omlettes - but it was the wi-fi we went to town on. As we're still off our Trans-Am maps, we had to do some fly-navigating using Google maps. More importantly, we wanted to await a respectable hour to call the Bolliers; the family of my brothers' girlfriend. Ironically, we had feared missing the Kansas locals as we passed their State- the Bolliers were in our hometown of London for the Olympics! As fate would have it, Barbara and Renee had returned from London just last night. Barbara valliently laughed in the face of Jetlag and offered to immediately drive one hour South of her Mission Hills home, just to meet us in Ottawa. I was touched by Barbaras' gesture, but also accutely aware of the smelly, post-cycle state we were in - hardly suitable to meet the future-inlaws. I launched Operation: Soapsuds. The first setback was that while we ate egg and gigabites, a sneaky tear had been flattening Matts' front tyre. This was the 5th flat tyre in 3 days (I've spared you those annoying details thus far!) So Matt did another amazing bodge-job on his tyre while I found a gym that offered a day rate of $5 each for full gym facilities. Spare me your free weights and direct me to your showers. Washed and as respectable as we get, we headed to City Hall to meet Barbara. She was easy to spot, sporting a London 2012 T-shirt!

While we have been humbled by the welcome of countless strangers these past 25 days, it was something special to be embraced by someone as close to family as we have in the US. Barbara is a bubbly, witty, generous dynamo of a lady. She drove us around Ottawa in search of a Mid-Western lunch, settling on an Applebys' restaurant. This was a real treat for us as we have exclusively eaten from gas stations or 'Mom n Pop' diners in small towns. But as always, its' the people that make the party. We could have listened to Barbara for days; as State Representative, she is an animated wealth of local information. Then theres' the world of olympic-level swimming;  by just 0.1 second, her son Bobbie missed out on making the US Olympic team. Alongside training, he just graduated with straight A's in his Engineering degree. As a top-16 in the world athlete, Bobbie now has the opportunity to focus purely on swimming. So Barbara regaled us with their front-line experiences of the London Olympics. Matt and I are completly in awe of how dedicated and focussed Bobbie is, and are chuffed and so proud of his achievements -bring on Brazil! If all that isn't enough, it was lovely to finally meet the mum behind my brothers special lady, Anne Marie. We were utterly charmed.

After lunch, we swung by Walmart for a new tube for Matt. When they didn't have the right size, Barbara insisted matter of factly 'we'll go to the bike shop'. The bike shop was in Lawrence, 20 miles away - but despite appointments of her own this evening, Barbara drove us all the way to Lawrence. Coincidentally, Barbara graduated with a degree in Human Biology in that very town back in 1980! She became our tour-guide; pointing out each stately limestone building on the remarkably hilly Kansas campus. We were grateful for the Lawrence detour just for Barbaras' informative trip down memory lane - let alone the spare tyres, spokes and inner tubes we obtained from the bike shop. Among other facts, I learned that Basketball has its' origins here in Lawrence. We also gleamed a little more of the interesting world of local politics in the US.

From Lawrence, we returned victorious to Ottawa where we said a grateful goodbye to Barbara. We wanted to bask in the glow of family generosity rather than hit the road, so succumbed to a local motel. We chowed down on some local beer and fast food then settled happily to sleep in a big soft bed, watching the olympics. Not many miles today, but we feel that Barbara had single-handedly represented Kansan hospitality.