Day 10: 5/4/21: Manhattan, KS to Cottonwood Falls, KD

 Back on the road again headed toward home.  This past week has been very restful.  I was able to spend some quality time with Cody and Hannah in Lenexa before putting my bike on the van and driving to Manhattan with Lisa and her dad to visit Alyssa and Delta.  We got to meet Alyssa's boyfriend, Ryan, for the first time.  

I have only ridden my bike about 14 miles this past week, but Cody did get me on a pickleball court for a couple of hours last week.  I used muscles I have not used in many years, so naturally I was sore for a few days.

I think having both our daughters living about 2 hours apart in Kansas is going to work well as far as visiting goes.  I'm pretty sure we are going to be racking up some miles on our vehicles.  

Below is a pic of me, Alyssa, and Delta this morning.

Stopped by Early Edition Restaurant in Manhattan for my daily carb load.

Manhattan is home to Kansas State University.  The students mainly hang out in a part of town called Aggieville (pic below).

Below are pics of the Riley County Courthouse and downtown Manhattan.

After Manhattan, the next town I went through was Council Grove.  Below are some pics around town.

Below are a couple of interesting pics of western scene silhouettes out on the prairie near Council Grove.

The pic below looks kind of like the previous silhouette pics, but there are actually live cows in the pic.

Below are some scenery pics from today's ride.  My entire day was pretty much spent in the Flint Hills.  The wind was definitely in my favor and made for a pretty easy ride.  

Pic below is a large portion of farmland that has been burned off intentionally, which is commonly done by ranchers in Kansas.  I'm sure glad I was not biking through when the burn was being done.  The smoke would have been stifling.

My next stop was the Tall grass Prairie National Preserve outside Strong City (pics below).

The next town was Strong City (pics below).

And then Cottonwood Falls (pics below).

The oldest working courthouse in Kansas is the Chase County Courthouse in Cottonwood Falls pictured below.

Cottonwood Falls allows cyclists to camp for free in their nice city park.

Total miles today: 71.2