Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska

So it's been a long week and a half and I haven't had much internet access and the days have kind of blurred together so I'll do my best to sort everything out. I don't think I can go day by day, but I'll at least do state by state.

MISSOURI
We had a day off in St. Louis, which was pretty fun. I slept late and relaxed. Then as a team we visited the St. Louis Hope Lodge and made a taco dinner for the cancer patients staying there and socialized with them for a little while. I enjoyed that a lot. After the Hope Lodge we visited the St. Louis Arch, which is the gateway to the west. The arch is a lot bigger than I realized and was definitely impressive to look at. It's taller than all of the surrounding buildings!
The next couple days were extremely hot and humid. Biking through Missouri, the heat index was over 110 and probably hotter on the pavement. One 's bike computer read the temperature at 120! But the people in Missouri were all extremely nice and we ended our ride through the state with a day off in the nice little town of Sweet Springs. There, we had a barbeque, army cots, laundry and all sorts of other luxuries. It was nice to catch up on sleep a little before heading out to Kansas. Also, this marked the end of the first third of our leg.

KANSAS
Our day into Kansas was extremely difficult. The temperature was still over 100 and we had 112 miles to go. One of the previous riders called this day a "soul-crusher" and it really was. But we did get free shakes from a fantastic place called "Sonic" which is a chain restaurant where you order in the parking lot and someone brings the food out to you. Plus at about 96 miles into the day we got pictures with the Kansas state sign, which is always exciting. That night, in Paola, we had a community dinner where I felt really awkward because the locals were asking about my religion and I didn't really know what to say.
The next day we went to Lawrence, which was a really cool little college town (University of Kansas). We found a Longhorn Steakhouse and they treated the whole team to chicken tender plates for lunch, which was probably the best lunch donation yet, because it was in a nice cool air-conditioned restaurant. It was a short day so I got a chance to walk around the area and it was really nice. There was even a bike shop, where I bought some Shot Blocks, which are basically like gatorade in gummy block form. They're really delicious, whether or not they actually help with biking. I also met someone from Keene, NH at a farmer's market in Lawrence. I went up to her because I noticed she had a Turn It Up (the store with Chris works) bag and I talked to her for a little while. How random is that???
Also in Kansas, we biked along the Oregon Trail and got some photos with a wagon and fake ox. Pretty neat. We also had some really delicious pancakes, which used Sprite as a secret ingredient. Not really sure how that works, but it was delicous. Kansas also marked the start of ridiculously early wake-ups (4 AM, ugh), but I'm adjusting to that.
Basically, however, Kansas was hot and humid and really not my favorite state. People say Kansas is suppposed to be flat and that is a lie! Kansas has rolling hills like none-other and I am glad to be done with Kansas.

NEBRASKA
Unlike Kansas, Nebraska has actually been my favorite state of the trip. Everything about it is fantastic. The weather is cooler, it's flatter and the people are some of the nicest we've met. Drivers don't swear at us, they just wave. And the landscape is really gorgeous. The wheat and corn and cows and plains are really pretty. Even though we've had some long days (a couple centuries) I've really enjoyed biking through Nebraska. On one day, we did a scavenger hunt, which included about 25 tasks we had to complete while biking. These included touching a tractor, taking a creative photo in the corn, and eating a live fish. I didn't eat the fish, but we did find a bait shop and a in my group did indeed eat a live fish. We arrived that night in Arapahoe, which is probably my favorite host to date. We ate dinner out of a trough. Basically, they put a whole bunch of delicious things like corn and sausage and onions into cream cans, cooked it and poured dinner into a trough. Then we got to stay in people's homes and have beds and laundry. Amazing.
The next morning we biked a long 90 mile day into Benkleman (new time zone!), a stop riders have been talking about since the begining of the trip. The ride was easy until we hit a horrible headwind in the last 15 miles, which made the end of the ride drag on forever. But once we arrived, we met Chris, who basically gives us his basement and his diner and cooks fantastic food for us and lets us make our own smoothies and all sorts of other great stuff. All in all, I love Nebraska. Rockies in a couple days and I'm nervous, so hopefully that goes all right.