Jeremiah Watt

I had not slept as good in the Motel, as I do now in my tent. My new pad is a full shoulder width, and as long as me and 2" thick. SO I sleep good on this one no matter what position I get into,,,,,,,,which for me can get quite contorted.

Man, I gotta tell ya, this Library thing is really starting to put me to the test................sorry but between Librarians and these punk kids I am slowly one Library at a time turning into Freddy Krueger.


I got out of the Motel sorta late, ate a few doughnuts and hit the road east out of Great Bend. The wind is blowing a gale form the south by southeast and staying upright is a challenge. I ride about 15 miles to Ellinwood, and decide to take a break. I get a cup of coffee at a fast stop, and walk across the street to the wind belted Country Club. I sat and drank my coffee in fair seclusion, and enjoyed all of it. What a great looking Golf Club,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but these fairways are too tight for Jeremiah to play.

The same town, has several Antique stores and I check the lagest one out. Many nice pieces of furniture, but not that thing that I am now looking for on my Xmas list. I had a good visit with the two fellas that own the shop, and find out a little more about the town, and make my leave for the open road. On this day the bike hit 104 with a strong wind for the day. I felt like a raisin by the time the day ended.

Aling about 2 oclock, the wind and sun had about done my old legs in so I found the shade of a tree and took a quick nap. MAybe a half hour or so, and felt good so mounted up and headed out once more. I rode on into the little Scottish Heritage town of McPhearson. I took a quite a ride theu this town, since it had plenty of neat buioldings and gardens to see. And while riding down one street I spotted a Dairy Queen, and my thoughts went into a mathematical calculation as to how long it was since I had anything in the way of ice-cream. My 4mghertz brain spit the answer out almost as fast as I could feed in the required and pertinent information...............YESTERDAY CHUBBY!

I put useless information where it belongs in the Delete can, and headed on in. But before I could get in Eldon and his wife Ruth met me in the parking lot as I dis-mounted my bike. Now Eldon and Ruth are bot hin the later 70's and in very good shape, they keep that way by constant walking and close diatary control.................I told em, that I do the same but don't care for the walking part of it. We laughed and talked about my riding across USA, and then headed into the store. Eldon, being in front, immediatley engaged the young lady behind the counter with a few questions about States capitals, and did she know them.

Better yet, if she didn't know 3 of 5, maybe he should get his Ice-Cream Cone for free. She played a long, and he asked five, she got 1...........her own home State of Ohio. Turns out she is ..................I am going to say this and get a lot of flack from many of my friends..............she is a second year Education Major!!!!!!!

I order my small chocolate malt, and am getting a straw, when Eldon asks me to join him and Ruth. I warn him that I got fair sweat worked up in the wind and heat..............he assures me I am okay. SO I join him, and learn what a fascinating fellow he is. At 79, Eldon is still a fulltime teacher at the High School level, and has refused to retire till he is too old to teach......................which is what he called his banter with the gal behind the counter as well. In his own words a 2 year student should know all the States and the Provinces of Canada without fail. SO, feeling better with a little ice-cream in my belley. I ask him to give me the 5 State test. Which he does, and with pure luck I got 5 for 5................really, I was expecting 3 maybe 4 but not 5. SO I told him that I never made it out of High School, and did that surprise him at all. He told me not at all. HIs own Father had gone to grade 4, and had to quit to help with the family farm, but all the way thru Eldon's College years he could call on his father for help in his studies.

He really feels that the larger part of a good education is in the reading which is being lost, and in practical application.........no matter whether its figuring out quantity of seed per acre, or amount of fence to do a section, or build a grainery...................kids learn it best when they see it applied. We had a great old visit, I told him that we home school, and was curious of what he thought of that principle.

He felt that maybe in todays reality it may be the best we could offer. He also made note, and I think with some good points, that the home school of today has as its cornerstones the same tenants that made American education the greatest in the worlkd up until about 1965 if that far. It was funny that he mentioned that date, and I asked him he had read the book "Into the 21st Century", to which he said he had not. But the author of that book says almost verbatim what Eldon had said.


I have rode in and around Kansas now enough to say that it is very impressive how clean the farms and towns are. It is just beautiful as you ride, the houses are painted, there is plenty of stone work, and the streets are clean, as it is in what I have seen of Europe, there ar planety of flowers out. I didn't do a real thourough investigation, but did dtop and get a few real-estate flyers and in general the housing is cheap by California standards. All of the city parks in town are designated NO CAMPING..........so, I rode on east.

I didn't ride that far, maybe 5-6 miles and it was getting rather dark so I pulled over to a high ditch edge since it had a really wet look to the sky over head. Set camp up, with good drainage, and set up my little stove to cook a meal, I had a fair time getting my little fuel blocks to light up, but I finally got one off and burning. The sky was a complete blakcened mass of cloud, and I though there would be no real sunrise. Reluctantly the clouds parted as I cooked, and the color was just brilliant as it played off of the roiling thunderheads thru which it blazened with reds and oranges. It has been sometime since I have seen color like that sunset, I am sure Sally watched it knowing full well that Joelle was at work with here masterful brush strokes. Thanks Joelle.

The wind really was getting with it as I crawled into my nylon culvert, I was really wondering if my tent would stand the test that this wind would give it. SO I doubled my Prayers, and I insisted I would find some place to attend the Church tomorrow if he would keep me covered in Nylon and not too wet. I went to bed with a constant flapping of Nylon and then along came that rolling heavy thunder..............and about an hour after I went to bed the rain set in. BUt lets not discuss today, what we may have to talk about tomorrow.

Good NIght and God Bless