"Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high"

In Ponca City the hosts were great! They provided chocolate milk and strawberries! I love chocolate milk! The ride started off with a few of us taking a wrong turn that turned into a 6 mile detour. Oklahoma is pretty! The pretty open grassy plains pleasantly surprise me. There are so many cows too and horses! The ride today was about 81 miles and pretty rough. There was a cross wind, rough road, and many semi trucks for harvest season. For lunch, our amazing leaders set up a half way party! We each got slap bracelets, popsicles, and took a shot of half and half! We all made it safely to the host and were welcomed with some snacks and water. For dinner, we had some yummy brisket, corn, cheesy potatoes, salad, fruit salad, deviled eggs (my favorite!), and some delicious desserts!

From Cherokee we headed to Coldwater Kansas! It was a 92 mile ride through heat, crosswinds, hills, and nothing much to look at. I road sweep with Max and had a great time! Although it was a rough ride, we made it to town around 6:30pm and had root beer floats at a local ice cream place and Dollar Tree before meeting the team at a campground on Coldwater Lake! I jumped in the lake and it was rather refreshing! The showers on site were hand pump style but warm. I enjoyed camping out for a night to change it up. Some slept in hammocks, some in tents, and others just found a spot outside. Of course I slept in a tent! I got a new razor too so now I have smooth leggies and I painted my nails! As a group we had a arm wrestling tournament! Girls had a bracket as did the guys and we circled around a picnic table and battled it out! We each had our own wrestler names! I am “Lo Brohemian Rapsady”! The riders call me Lo Bro! I made it to round 2 but in the end Emerson took the trophy! After a long day I passed out and woke up to another 82 mile ride into Dodge City Kansas! It was another hot, long, cross wind type of day. Plus everyone seemed to be pretty sore and worn out since the past few days have been hard. But, we did it! I rode mostly with Meeg Dog (Meegan) and Emerson. We stopped at mile 30 for lunch at a little sammich shop and had yummy wraps! The last 30miles had a nice tailwind as we headed north for a bit. I was starting to think that nobody lived in Kansas. There was literally nothing for miles upon miles. After rider for so long I found that you start to see things and have weird thoughts. I started to imagine the Wicked Witch of the West (from OZ) coming out of nowhere and blocking the road with her broom. I also started to think that the miles of golden wheat was the yellow brick road. I didn’t find Toto today but perhaps tmrw (last day in Kansas) I’ll find him! At the host we had sammiches and chips and then I ventured to a local western shop. It’s a neat western town here and nice to see that people do live in Kansas. I must say though, I’m pretty excited to enter Colorado soon! Everything is going well with the team. My legs are super sore and my hands hurt from having a tight grip with all the winds. One more night in Kansas and then CO!!! Thanks for reading!