(July 13th-August 22nd)
August 22nd
A sincere goodbye to my favorite state thus far
August 20th-22nd
I got hooked up with a wonderful family in Weskan, Kansas, who have previously hosted another 18-year old walking cross-country. They graciously allowed me to stay three nights at their home This is the view from their back porch.
August 19th
Snake! Came out of nowhere and scared the heck out of me, Faith almost ran it over and I jumped to high heaven.
August 19th
I saw this sunflower from 50ft away on RT. 40 and was so struck by its beauty I just had to plow through the field of tall grass it grows in to snap a photo.
August 19th
Buffalo buffalo buffalo
August 19th
August 19th
Wallace museum
August 19th
August 19th
One good looking bull
August 19th
This field is more beautiful than the photo lets on
August 19th
Watch where you step!
August 19th
Rattlesnake shed. The graveyard outside Wallace, Kansas, is one of my favorite places I've ever slept.
August 18th
A few rattlesnakes call the shed across from where I'm sleeping home. This one was not all too happy about me disturbing him.
August 17th
Walked 30 miles today, my most ever. Proud of that, and the fact that I've entered a new time zone.
August 17th
RT. 40. (Okay, this photo is a bit deceiving because RT. 40 out of Oakley, Kansas, is NOT empty. In fact, I had to wait for a break in traffic to run into the road to snap this photo while praying I don't die being an idiot.)
August 16th
"Go West, young man, and grow up with the country"
August 16th
A town with no where to sleep
August 16th
A friendly stranger stopped to give me all these goodies on my way out of Oakley, Kansas
August 16th
A gift from a new friend, and a new good luck charm to go along with my angel pendant.
August 16th
A trail angel who graciously paid for my dinner last night put me in touch with her mother, who allowed me to spend the night in her guestroom in Oakley, Kansas!
August 15th
The beautiful family tree my host for the night knitted.
August 15th
Dinner courtesy of one lovely couple
August 15th
August 15th
Grainfield, Kansas, where I got permission from the local police department to camp in their community park
August 14th
A treat from someone passing me by.
August 14th
Another town, another grain elevator
August 14th
August 14th
The HWY I'll be on for half of Kansas, til I hit the Colorado border. It parallels interstate 70 and is often gravel.
August 14th
The flower shop in WaKeeney, KS, had their roof blow off in the storm last night. It's the second time that's happened to them - ouch.
August 13th
The sweetest couple saved me from an incoming thunderstorm and took me out for steak dinner!
August 13th
Zach gave me a handful of MREs! My breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next 1-2 weeks
August 13th
The views round these parts
August 12th
Stopping at the local convenience store in WaKeeney, Kansas, with Zach and his foreign exchange student for some refreshments
August 12th
Zach's packing in his cop car
August 13th
Zach, an officer from Wakeeney, Kansas, offered to host me for two nights! And for once, I remembered to ask a Trail Angel for their picture
August 10th
Nothing to share, Faith's just looking cute
August 10th
Attack of the goatheads
August 10th
August 10th
Vipawan, the woman who owns Indigo by Jasmine (the bubble tea shop), posted about me on her Facebook page, and another local who saw her post offered to buy my lunch today!
August 9th
Bag of goody's from a kind samaritan
August 9th
All the swag I was able to get with my $10 Casey's voucher, aaand with the cashier offering me the pizza for free.
August 9th
The cops in Kansas REALLY like me. 😛 They're passing my info along from one town, and routinely checking up on me. "So you're our hiker" this one said before handing me a $10 voucher for Casey's! Wooo!
August 9th
Nearly every town in Kansas has a grain elevator; it's the first thing you see in the distance.
August 9th
Brownies from Vipawan 🙂
August 9th
Bubble tea! Taro is the best
August 8th
Stopped at a local bubble tea shop to try some for the first time and made a new friend
August 8th
Goathead attack
August 7th
Hays, Kansas
August 6th
Found the perfect spot to camp out in a rural graveyard, spent the day relaxing here in style
August 5th
A closeup of my worst enemy
August 5th
A dead grouse!
August 4th
The man who owns these deer at Sunmart used to have pet bears
August 4th
Spent an unexpected day at the lake
August 4th
Police officer stopped to give me a few water bottles
August 4th
Woke to my shoes covered in roly-polys
August 3rd
The worlds largest czech egg
August 3rd
Wilson, Kansas. Czech Capital of Kansas.
August 3rd
A couple passing by stopped to give me this pastry!
August 3rd
A dead rattlesnake!! My first time ever seeing a venomous snake in the wild! Made my day!
July 3rd
Camping somewhere secret
August 2nd
"Come by yourself to a secluded place and rest for a while."
August 2nd
A new friend from Ellsworth, Jeanette, who helped me secure a place to stay last night brought me pizza from a local joint today while I was chilling at the library
August 2nd
Downtown Ellsworth
August 1st
Cowtown
August 1st
"Traveling by boat up the Missouri river to Leavenworth, west bound travelers would board wagons to cross the prairie ... This trail became knwon as the Smoky Hill, B.O.D., starvation trail and Old Denver Express."
August 1st
Ellsworth, the Cowtown
August 1st
August 1st
A gift from my friends at the Ellsworth county fair 🙂
August 1st
Watching the cattle auctions ... never had these at my local 4H fairs
August 1st
One of my favorite specimens at the 4H fair
August 1st
August 1st
Ellsworth, Kansas, has a 4H fair this weekend, with free food!
August 1st
That's one mushroom shaped rock alright
August 1st
Mushroom Rock State Park!
July 31st
My hosts' dog
July 31st
Farmhand just installed this well and told me I was welcome to collect some cold water from the spout
July 31st
Oh my god, I thought Kansas was FLAT. First I had to go through the Flint Hills, now the Smokey Hills, which are downright tortuous on these back roads. Up and down and up and down and AAAAHHH
July 31st
One of the sketchiest places I've ever slept, and the first time I've camped without my tent. Kept my face buried in my sleeping bag for fear of grasshoppers, and all sorts of other creepy crawlers, jumping on me in the night
July 30th
Uh oh .... Google didn't mention anything about a military bombing range. Gotta reroute.
July 29th
Met a rancher who owned the hundreds of acres surrounding me, who in turn hooked me up with a place to stay at her local church in Assasia. Thank you all for your hospitality!
July 29th
Where I'm camping for the night
July 29th
Got a gnarly blister under the callous of my heel from my previous sneakers
July 29th
My new sneakers, courtesy of the Carlton major & his wife. It's too hot these days not to jump into every creek I pass
July 29th
Carlton, Kansas. In the background is the schoolhouse I slept outside of the night prior
July 28th
Met the mayor of Carlton, Kansas, and got some mini hot dogs and Poptarts from his wife ... and new shoes! And permission to pitch my tent at the old schoolhouse in town! Wooo!
July 28th
One long, flat RT. 4
July 28th
Elmo, Kansas!
July 28th
Downtown Hope, Kansas
July 28th
Me & my host from Hope, Kansas. She just pulled over and invited me to her home out of the blue-rarely does that happen!
July 27th
My host's garage-there's a guestroom in the back I get to call home for the night!
July 27th
"There will always be HOPE in Kansas"
July 27th
Visited a Herington local by the name of Eva to see if she had a new front tire for Faith-she did! Her home is straight out of the 19th century without electricity, or even doors!
July 27th
July 27th
Robert & I!
July 27th
Madison's friend gave me a bag filled to the brim with plums!
July 27th
Robert's cat
July 27th
Madison slapped this sticker on my battery pack 😛
July 26th
Robert's backyard, and my humble abode for two nights.
July 26th
Robert's husky
July 25th
Robert's white buggy he traded a refurbished meat smoker for
July 24th
Dinner at my host's house, the only photo I have to remember them by (I need to start taking more pictures of people, and less of the food they give me 😛 )
July 24th
Cruising the town on a 1930's bright green bike with a local archaeologist and three neighborhood kids
July 24th
July 24th
July 24th
July 24th
The librarian at Carnegie gave me a cup of cantaloupe!
July 24th
A bike from the 1920's
July 24th
July 24th
July 24th
Never seen an elevator with a regular door before!
July 24th
Spent the day at the library. Gotta be one of my best decisions on this walk, as it led me to meet so, so many different people ...
July 24th
Patrons at The Pinup Cafe paid for my meal!
July 24th
Ryan, an ADT enthusiast, in Herington, KS, asked me to sign his ADT bandanna!
July 24th
Delavan's graveyard, with it's own custom port-a-potty and directory
July 23rd
My first night on the road without my tent and I happen upon an unlocked graveyard shed to shelter me.
July 23rd
July 23rd
Trail Ruts | ".7 of a mile south of this sign are 20 foot wide swales made from thousands of wagons that traveled the Santa Fe Trail"
July 23rd
Last Chance Store |
"Perched on the edge of Council Grove, this building opened as a store during the 1857 trading season. Here was the last opportunity for traders bound for Santa Fe to purchase supplies ..."
July 23rd
Downtown Council Grove. Off the Flint Hills Trail.
July 23rd
Faith and her grandmama
July 23rd
An ode to Pioneer Mother's of the Covered Wagon Days
July 23rd
Post Office Oak memorial
July 23rd
Baker's Market
July 23rd
Santa Fe Trail marker
July 22nd
After my tent pole broke, leaving me vulnerable to the rain last night, I broke down and got a motel room in Council Grove. For someone who sleeps nearly every day outside, in a tent, I was more annoyed than I ought to be that my door didn't have a working lock. Seems Faith is good for more than carrying my gear.
July 22nd
A gift from a cyclist!
July 22nd
Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park
July 22nd
A gift from a passing cyclist
July 22nd
The most beautiful view along the Flint Hills Trail
July 21st
There are 2 cows for every person in Kansas. Jokes on us-we both don't have shelter from the impending storm, since my tent pole broke 5 minutes ago
July 21st
Kansas's state flower, no wonder why. 🙂
July 21st
Humpty Dumpty
July 21st
My broke, berry-loving arse is always thrilled to find a random blackberry bush
July 21st
Dozens of fuzzy caterpillars!
July 21st
"W. A. A" = Walking Across America
Meant to show that the $20 bill sitting out of frame is for MEEEE
July 21st
Cha-ching!
July 21st
A cyclist passed me by, only to leave a $20 bill for me on a bench further down the trail!
July 21st
A couple in Allen, KS, handed me this bag of goodies
July 21st
My exact progress
July 20th
Calcified turtle shells are awesome, what more is there to say?
July 20th
I went knocking on doors for water after running out. Fourth try, a family answered and offered me cookies to go!
July 19th
Out of Osage City, back to the Flint Hills Trail!
July 18th
A patron at Marilynn's Place paid for my birthday dinner, though the owner's intended to give it to me for free, in any case. They also insist on me taking a slice of homemade pie.
All's good and well until I proceed to projectile vomit all over their floor. Not my best night. Not my worst.
July 18th
A bag worm! A most peculiar bug
July 18th
Bag worms litter the trees along the Flint Hills Trail-hundreds, if not thousands.
July 18th
I've been introduced to a new form of hell - goatheads. Spikes that serve no purpose but to ruin your day. Thankfully, my slime tires help stunt their destructive reign.
July 17th
Faith's looking as hot as the days are in Kansas right now. 90-100F daily. The crown of trees lining the Flint Hills Trail help beat the heat, at least
July 17th
This cutie came out of nowhere to say hello, then bolted off
July 16th
A patron at Buzzard's Pizza paid for my meal!
July 15th
July 15th
Reaching the Flint Hills Trail is a nice birthday present to myself
July 15th
July 15th
Was far, far too tempted to adopt this cutie today
July 14th
Ah, Kansas and it's rural churchyards
July 14th
The kindness of strangers keeping me hydrated
July 14th
A midday snack from a passerby!
July 14th
Couldn't stand the chaos of RT. 62 out of Louisburg, so I hopped onto a backroad
July 14th
Found the perfect stealth camping spot. Don't have to utilize it, just admiring it
July 14th
Jill & I 🙂 after she dropped me back off at the Louisburg Cedar Mill
July 13th
Late night 10 p.m. barbecue!
July 13th
Jill's dog, Mabel! I didn't realize until Jill pointed it out that Mabel has a Hitler mustache 😛
July 13th
Road trip with Jill to pick up some Silkies for her backyard chicken flock
July 13th
I weigh the lowest in YEEARRRSS - 138.4 pounds!
July 13th
AAHH! A volunteer at Cedar Cove named Jill invited me home for the night!
July 13th
Stopped by Cedar Cove Conservation Center as a reward to myself for reaching Kansas
July 13th
I love how Kansas's highway signs are in the shape and color of a sunflower, their state flower. I'll be on RT. 68 until the Flint Hills Trail.
July 13th
Halfway across America, just like that