6 May 2008

Rest Day in Pittsburg

Early start yesterday after a restless night (it was super windy and so I kept waking to the imaginary sound of my bike and bags being stolen outside my tent). Quick breakfast in Cookys and off on the 30 miles to Pittsburg.




This was meant to be a speedy 2 hour trip but I was riding into a bad boy southwest wind that knocked me both backwards and sideways off the road! There was no let up at all along the way but I was pleased to see the Welcome To Kansas sign just outside town.

The day of rest was quite hectic beginning with a bike shop stop to get a new chain for the bike. Roger of TailWinds was helpful and I left him to tune up the beast.




I set off for town to solve a self created problem with my camera. Back in Virginia I sent a bundle of kit home including my camera dock which syncs it with the PC and charges it - I thought. I could just buy some AA's along the way rather than carry the charger but I found out yesterday that my camera doesn't take AA's but uses a crappy lithium ion HP battery!

I hopped on a bus to go to the far side of town to Radio Shack but neither they nor 'Battery Shack' had my obscure HP battery. With no other options I had to go to WalMart and buy another bloody camera for $100!!

On a more pleasant note, whilst I was bus hopping around town I got chatting to a Russian student called Alia on the bus who got to hear my biking tales. With the hospitality of Nestor she invited me to dinner with her and her housemate which was much appreciated.

I cycled over to their flat by Pittsburg State Uni at 'University Commons' and was treated to a tasty lasagne which was a new meal for
Alia to cook. She is a microbiology student on exchange for 2 semesters and lives with Aida, a postgrad English Lit student.

We swapped stories about uni, cycling, England and Russia then were joined by their friend Maya from Georgia (country not state) and chatted away until half ten when I headed home, keen to have a good kip. It has been so nice to receive hospitality from strangers on this trip so far and refreshing to see how welcoming people have been.

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