Day 42: August 2 Norton, KS to rest area, KS 90 miles

Sunday, August 2, 1981
Rest area, Highway 36, KS

Dead tree near Agra, KS

Me at the Geographical Center of the
(Lower 48) United States

It was overcast when we got up. I had to change a flat in front. The clouds broke up by the time we got to Phillipsburg. Lunch at Kensington rest area. Humidity got worse as the day progressed. We turned off for Lebanon and the Center of the U.S. monument, but all the stores were closed. No water at Center of the U.S. rest area. I fixed a flat and John fixed a broken spoke. Went to rest area ten miles farther, still no  water. We ate my emergency chili and sandwiches and begged hot water off some travelers. Thousands of little red and black bugs were getting in our food and eyes and tickling us and driving us mad. They left when the sun set. There was a new moon with Venus and Jupiter and Saturn. Very dramatic. Humidity made me sweat crazily in the sleeping bag. I would have to get out and sit up to dry off. Mosquitoes drove me back in. I did get to sleep when it cooled off, though. Woke up still wet. 

That day, the temperature and humidity were both 90. I could hardly believe what I was experiencing. John, who had spent some time in Oklahoma, told me the humidity was only 40 or 50 and wait till it really gets bad. I was miserable because this was where I was going to spend the next four years of my life.

Old limestone house near Smith Center

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