06.17.10 Larden, Ks- Ness City, Ks Miles: 65  Temp: 90+ weather: 25-30 mph cross winds all day... never ending wind We started out today with little motivation. After an unsuccessful pot of coffee from the percolator, there was a mad dash to the nearest coffee shop. We all seemed to congregate there, and Bryn, Joe, Will, Paul and I were the last to leave. They had a very inviting comfortable couch. Eventually we decided to relocate to a place with more food. Joe thought it would be fun to ride his bike through the drive-thru. We didn't actually start riding until 9:45 am... am unusually late start. As we began west, we first experienced the wind that would continue all day. We were graced with 25-30 mph cross winds for 45 of our 65 mile day. Luckily, there was one point that the wind was helping us out. With the tail wind, and a little down hill, Bryn and I were clocked at 35 mph for a bit. It was pretty awesome, but unfortunitly it didn't last very long. We found that western Kansas has towns few and far between, and the town might only have a grain elevator. No water, no Gatorade and no snacks. One stop, about 12 miles from camp, we were hoping to find a store to fill up water and get some food in our bellies. When we finally got there we saw the store was out of business! We noticed a bag of ice on the ground and quickly determined that the ice was safe to eat and cool our selves off with. It was a nice stop before we hit the wind again. After speaking with a few people, it turns out this was the hardest day of the trip for a lot of us. I think it was my second hardest day. The thing that makes wind a little scary is 1. It's hard to keep the bike on the road and 2. When trucks pass us, the wind blows us all over the road and sucks us twards the truck.  We were very glad to make it to camp. We got in late as anticipated so Jack found us an Inn to stay at. Right across the street from the inn was a ice cream shop that hit the spot. We had dinner and dessert there. Tomorow if there's wind we will be ready for it! We're on rt. 96 and we'll take this west for about 300 miles til Pueblo.