Decided not to go to church in Menno this morning. Woke up early and got itchy feet to get on the road after a quick dip in the lake. Morning at Menno Lake brought with it the unwelcome surprise of biting flies which left me with a dozen welts and hastened my retreat.
I know I was only there for a day, but I was content with the visit and feel like I got what I came for, so I set my sights for Kansas and waved goodbye to a sleepy farm town that isn't really all that different from 100 years ago. Friendly, hard-working people; a real Main St.; beautiful, rolling plains ripe for the plow.
I had no real illusions about Nebraska taking my breath away, and was thoroughly unimpressed with the entire length of it that I witnessed, save a charming Mexican restaurant, El Pueblito, in Columbus. Nebraska really does exemplify the flatness you probably associate with the Great Plains, whereas the portions of South Dakota and Kansas I've seen so far feature undulating waves of yellow and green speckled with evergreens.
So yeah, Kansas was an improvement, but with the scenery came blazing heat. 107F where I'm gonna be camping tonight, but with a steady, hot breeze that beats the stagnant mugginess of Lake Menno.
I found a great little local coffee shop in Hutchinson, where I plan to visit the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center tomorrow, and they graciously let me absorb some of their AC, wifi, and iced tea (note I said iced tea, and not sweet tea...barbarians) for a few hours while the sun went off to persecute other longitudes.
The campsite I had checked out online was about half an hour away, on another lake, and turned out to be pretty well developed and comfortable. I explored the beach, startling all manner of wildlife (toads, beaver, herons, deer), and now I'm sitting in my flimsy mesh tent hoping the owner of those large canine paw-prints doesn't return.
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