August 2, 2014 – Leoti, KS – population 1,534

Post date: Aug 2, 2014 3:55:20 PM

It took some time to figure out how to say the name of this town. It’s “lee-o-tah”. We had a great time here, full of surprises.

While I was sitting at the library in Leoti, yesterday afternoon, Doug came in, fresh off the 70 miles. He could see me in the chair by the window reading, but he went up to the desk anyway and, in his ‘not’ library voice said he was looking for a beautiful young woman in a yellow shirt. It just so happened that the lady at the desk had a yellow shirt, the lady at the computer by me had a yellow tank top and I did. The lady on the computer looked up from what she was doing to see what color she was wearing. It was kind of funny. I used to be a little embarrassed by his antics, but now I just smile and take it. While we were in line for food at the fair last night, Doug ordered first and the guy at the window said, will there be anything else, and Doug grabs my shoulders and says, “whatever this beautiful, young lady wants, hey – do you know we have been married 28 years!” Maybe he didn’t add that last part that time, but I think he told the lady at the library before we left. He usually sneaks it into the conversation.

Happy Anniversary to my hubby and best friend – #28 today. We have had quite a ride on this roller coaster called life. I’m so glad I hopped on board when he started talking about this adventure.

One of the surprises I mentioned earlier was that Doug and Jon stopped at the same motel I did and asked about vacancy. Doug said he could see the guy’s wheels turning in his head as he was pondering the question. It turns out he ended up having a couple oil drilling guys leave that afternoon, so he was able to give us 2 small rooms at 6:00pm. He probably got double rent on those 2 rooms, between us and the oil drillers, but we were very happy to be off the ground. The other surprise was that we were 1 block from the county fair and rodeo. So that is what we did after we checked in and cleaned up. The breakfast at the Hi Plains Motel was the best we’ve had yet! If you are ever in Leoti, KS, call ahead and stay here!

I am currently sitting 22 miles west of Leoti in the town of Tribune, KS – population 741. In the last 22 miles we crossed a time zone and gained an hour back! We will enter Colorado real soon. We stopped for groceries, since it is another 58 miles of nothing after this. We crossed into the next county, which is also having fair activities. It is Saturday and the grocery store will be closing early for the festivities, so it is a good thing we got here when we did. I have a bench in the shade next to the city hall. The cheer leaders are performing in the intersection in 15 minutes and the parade is going to go by at 10:00. So I am going to stick around for that. Doug and Jon got some snacks and headed out for 5 more hours of riding. As I was sitting here just now, 2 cheer leaders came and offered me a free popsicle.