6/13/2019 AND 1/4/2020
My home state of Kansas
PART 1: 6/13/2019
I read a fantastic blog by Danny Brown about Monument Rocks. His photography and description of it made me want to visit at the end of our vacation. I’ll let you look it up if you’re more curious about them, but needless to say, Monument Rocks is worth the detour! We did a very short unicycle around them to include in our trip.
And a screen shot from the video of us riding. Most of our media is video from here.
PART 2: 1/4/2020
At a Mural in Ottawa, KS.
This was going to be a short weekend trip. All along I planned to go to my parents house in KC and spend Friday night. Then drive to Omaha, NE to unicycle, then back to Ottawa, KS to unicycle. Every time I looked at the route and the time, we had to get up earlier to be able to unicycle in daylight. It was at this point that Danelle (my wife) suggested that we spend the night in Ottawa, KS at my sister’s apartment. Then we could unicycle Kansas, and follow up with Nebraska. Any of the 3 hour return drive from Nebraska could be done in the dark and we would not need to rush for daylight.
So after about 1/2 second of thinking, I agreed and called Hannah to arrange to spend Friday night with her. We got in around 9 pm and picked up a pizza.
We had a great night enjoying Hannah’s hospitality and seeing how she lives. Eventually, it was time to head to bed so we could ride in the morning.
Early morning, Hannah made us waffles from scratch. After eating, we tested the weather and realized we were going have a very cold day! Corvin and I layered up with as much clothes as we thought we would need. We had one pair of gloves between us and we split them. Hanna drove us to Rantoul, KS where we would ride the Flint Hills Trail back to Ottawa. Also of quick note, before you dismiss Rantoul, KS as a tiny sub 200 person town with nothing going on, note that there is one very interesting business there. An airplane junk yard. Zoom on maps and see all of the plane parts!
This trail is wide and flat! Perfect for an easy ride!
As we rode, the day got on with the temperature rising a few degrees. Add that to the energy used to unicycle and we were getting warm.
Corvin is still wearing gloves, but I’m warming up now.
If you’re afraid of heights, this trail might not be for you. While there isn’t much elevation change, this is one of a few bridges we went over that had no guard rail on either side!
When we went under I-35, we called Hannah to meet us at our arranged pickup site. We got to the site first exhausted and decided to walk towards where she would pick us up.
Once we were picked up, we got donuts from a local shop and went back to her apartment to pack up. We had lots of driving and uni-cycling left to do this day! Thanks to Hannah for hosting us and suggesting this trail for riding. It was a fun 10 miles!
Corvin’s Journal Entry
Our Strava entries.
Our map of completed states.
Stats:
Total Trip Miles: 131.12
Total Moving Time: 25h 30m
Total Elevation Gained: 3890feet
Total Hogan UPD: 12
Total Corvin UPD: 9
Hogan Haake