Day 31, Newton to Larned (No more rest day, you couple of slackers, 109 miles)

Roused from our sleep by the morning train, we managed an early start; also our healthiest breakfast yet: watermelon and juice from our shop last-night. Virtuous!

The morning air was mercifully crisp and the road flat, so we ate up the miles before meeting up with a rare fellow west bound Trans Am rider on route, Ariale. We have met other 'Westies' in campsites, but not on the road. So we enjoyed kicking back a gear and cycling on with Ariale to hear her story. She has just finished her Undergrad degree at NYU, and is cycling home to Colorado – solo! What a woman. Watermelon is great but it doesn't fuel you all that long – so Ariale joined us for some 'Elevensies' of the carbo-loaded kind. Ater some peanut butter and 2 rest days, we were raring to go. So we bid Ariale all the best, and shot off down the highway.

And so we rode, on and on battling a fairly consistent head/ side wind. Eye of the Tiger. So much so that we were clean out of water on a fairly desolate stretch of 58 miles between services (or humanity, it woud seem.) Finally we happened upon a church, with tons of cars parked out front. We thought our luck had turned – but far from it; this was a funeral (so we didn't fancy asking if anyone had seen a tap around.) A few miles on, we tried a couple of houses, no one was home and we assumed they were all paying their respects. So respectfully, we filled our bottles from a tap outside a house. Their dog made a lousy guard dog; a bit of 'hello pooch!' and he was all over us.

By the time we lurched towards Larned, we were running on empty with only power-tunes pushing us on. We thought of Ariale, as we find that having eachother as a wing-man really helps when you're flagging at the end of the day. We were brightend by the Garmin telling us we'd completed our longest day yet; 109 miles in windy conditions no less.

The very friendly local sheriff pointed us in the direction of free camping, shopping and better still – the swimming pool; free to cyclists! Bliss. A plunge in a big pool that blares feel-good hits through speakers is a tonic to tired muscles. There was a pool basket ball setup, so we enjoyed shooting (and missing) some hoops. After that, a rejuvenative shower and we were a-ok and keen to scarf down our picnic dinner. No trains nearby, our tent set up beside a goose enclosure so we had our own guard-geese... Good night nurse!