day 42

we were up at 7am and packing up to get a head start on the day since it was going to be another 100 mile day in 100 degree heat! we left rush center and fought a headwind the whole way until we turned east again towards larned. it was definitely cooler out and not much traffic so that was a plus. we made it through the headwind and rolled into larned where we stopped off at a subway where we scarffed down subs and drank tons of powerade and water from the fountain. from larned to nickerson was a 58 mile stretch of no towns through a wildlife preserve so we prepared for that long hot stretch. after some rest at subway we headed out of larned and made our way through a grassy marsh land which was a nice change of scenery. we saw a deer and its baby in a patch of water just hanging out then bolting away when we got closer. before we got to the wildlife reserve i drank all my water and stopped off at a house to try and refill but no one was home so i used their hose to fill up my water bottles and it was the hottest water; i got soaked and it felt like it was burning my skin then when i was drinking it, it felt like i was drinking hot tea. we gruelingly pushed through the wildlife preserve and made it to nickerson (sounds a lot faster than it actually was). in nickerson we stopped off at the gas station where we purchased $.50 cups and i drank at least 7 full cups of gatorade, we were super thirsty. we just sat there awhile and rested. it was 9 more miles to hutchinson where we were going to couchsurf at so we headed off that way. luckily there were trees on the side of the road so it blocked a lot of the wind. we rolled into town and found jason and kalene's house. we put our bikes in their garage and chatted for a bit; a super nice, young couple who are mewithoutyou fans! we have a lot of the same interests and their home is a fixer upper so part of the downstairs is completely redone and it is great, reminds us of the brick house a couple years back with quotes on the wall and tree silhouettes. we then went out to eat at a great bbq place where we got a ton of food and homemade rootbeer! we then came back to the house and just sat around and chatted till late; everything from traveling, books, food industry, and church. we crashed on their couches and called it a day.