Gordon, my brother Jay, and I participated in Biking Across Kansas (aka bee-ay-kay) in June 2023. Gordon and I biked the entire distance of 576 miles from Colorado to Missouri in nine days, while Jay did half of that. Gordon rode his first century, and I rode my fastest one! We camped each night at a school in a small town, ate lots of fundraiser breakfasts and dinners, and were joined by nearly 500 other enthusiastic bikers. We were impressed by the changing landscape and land use as we moved across the state, enjoyed the variety of wildflowers, and appreciated the friendliness of the folks we met. We never got rained on while biking but had some exciting storms overnight. Here is what we did each day.
Day 0 (Thursday, June 8): Gordon and I check out our bikes in Wichita after arriving the night before. My brother Neal treats us to sailplane rides from the Wichita Gliderport northeast of town. Gordon and I stay at my sister Pam’s house, and she hosts a family reunion in the evening.
Day 1 (Friday, June 9): Pam, her husband Bill, and son Brian shuttle Gordon, Jay, and me from Wichita to the southwestern corner of Kansas where we three bikers begin a short first-day ride of 9 miles from the Colorado border to Elkhart. Pam, Bill, and Brian help us bikers get settled in our tents for the night before they drive back to Wichita. After dinner, Gordon and I do a 9-mile bonus ride nearby. Our total climbing for the day is 400 ft.
Day 2 (Saturday, June 10): Gordon, Jay, and I bike 63 miles but climb only 600 ft from Elkhart to Satanta.
Day 3 (Sunday, June 11): Gordon and I bike 78 miles and climb 1,300 ft from Satanta to Spearville. Jay struggles to keep up and gets Pam to shuttle him the last third of the way. The two of them help Gordon and me set up our tents and have dinner with us before they drive back to Wichita.
Day 4 (Monday, June 12): Gordon and I bike 68 miles and climb 700 ft from Spearville to Stafford. Soon after we arrive, Jay shows up with his SUV and teardrop trailer, and Pam and Bill come to have a fundraiser dinner with us. Jay sleeps in the SUV, and I sleep in the trailer for the rest of the trip, while Gordon opts to continue camping in his tent.
Day 5 (Tuesday, June 13): Gordon and I start early and bike 101 miles from Stafford to Newton! We draft each other and make great time on this very flat route with only 900 ft of climbing. Jay drives to Newton and bikes the route in reverse until he meets us and then rides with us for the last few miles. Several relatives drive from Wichita to Newton for a mini-reunion. A big thunderstorm drops more than an inch of rain overnight.
Day 6 (Wednesday, June 14): Gordon and I bike 78 miles and climb 1,800 ft from Newton to Eureka. We join a paceline and make great time again. Jay drives to Eureka but doesn’t bike with us.
Day 7 (Thursday, June 15): Gordon and I bike 62 miles and climb 1,500 ft from Eureka to Chanute. Jay drives to Chanute and doubles back on his bike to ride the last few miles with us.
Day 8 (Friday, June 16): Gordon and I bike 57 miles and climb 1,600 ft from Chanute to Garnett. Jay drives to Garnett and doubles back on his bike to log 42 miles for the day. Gordon is thrilled to eat a buffet dinner in town instead of a fundraiser dinner at the school and sleeps in the air-conditioned gym instead of his tent because it is hot outside.
Day 9 (Saturday, June 17): Jay joins Gordon and me to bike 51 miles and climb 2,300 ft from Garnett to the Missouri border and then back to Pleasanton where BAK 2023 ends! Jay’s wife Kimberly rides with Pam to Garnett and picks up Jay’s SUV and trailer. Kimberly and Pam drive separately to Pleasanton where they and other relatives join us for a celebratory picnic. We return to Wichita in two shuttles.
Photos and commentary follow.
Day 0: Thursday, June 8. Gordon and Neal pose with our ride in a hanger at the Wichita Gliderport. The sailplane is a 1958 Schleicher Ka2b, which was built from a kit by a club in Germany. More than a dozen years ago Neal spent three years repairing one of the wooden wings that was damaged in a trailering accident. 
After we move the sailplane out of the hanger, Neal explains how the Venturi tube measures airspeed. 
Then we move the sailplane to the end of the airfield where we will get a tow. Gordon goes for the first ride with Neal but suffers from motion sickness and is happy to land after only half an hour. 
I am ready for the second ride. Neal gives the thumbs up signal to the tow pilot to take in the slack on the towline attached to the nose.
We get towed to 2,000 ft above the Gliderport, which is at 1,400 ft. 
We catch good afternoon thermals and are soon at 7,250 ft. Our airspeed of 43 knots is really slow! We eventually reach 8,000 ft just below the bottom of scattered clouds. 
This part of Kansas is really flat! The photo includes three airfields. There are two long runways at McConnell AFB at the upper left, a single runway at Beech Aircraft just below the previous two, and a runway and taxi strip at Colonel James Jabara Airport near the upper center. 
After an hour and a half it is time for us to land at the gliderport shown here. 
We come in for a soft landing on the grass. 
Afterward, Neal shows us an uncovered wing from a 1954 Schleicher Ka2 that he is rebuilding in the hanger workshop. It is astonishing that we were being held up in the air by little pieces of wood that are glued together!
Day 1: Friday, June 9. Here is the route map for BAK 2023. We take a shortcut today from the Colorado border to Elkhart and bike a longer century route on Day 5 from Stafford to Newton. We also bike longer routes on the last two days. 
Jay and Gordon join me for our start of BAK 2023 at the Tri-State Marker where Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma meet. 
Here is a closeup of the marker with the dates when each state was admitted to the union. 
Gordon and Jay start biking east along the stateline road that quickly turns to dirt. That provides an extra challenge on our road bikes. The road looks like this most of the way to Elkhart. 
When we get to the schools in Elkhart after only nine miles of biking, we find our shuttle crew of Brian, Pam, and Bill waiting to help us pick a good campsite and set up our tents. 
We go inside the high school and pick up our route guides and new BAK 2023 jerseys, which we model here in front of Jay’s tent. Our shuttle crew heads back to Wichita, and we eat our first fundraiser dinner in the middle school cafeteria. 
After dinner, Gordon and I do a nine-mile bonus ride in and around Elkhart. We go further east on the stateline road and turn onto US 56, where we are welcomed to Kansas! Despite a population of only 1,884, Elkhart has huge grain elevators, similar to those we will encounter in many more small towns over the coming days. 
A local store has words of encouragement for BAK riders painted on its windows. 
Glenn Cunningham was an outstanding American middle-distance runner who grew up in Elkhart. 
Ominous clouds form to the west at dusk. (Thanks to Jay for the cool pic.)
Day 2: Saturday, June 10. We survive an overnight windstorm with only a few sprinkles. I get up in the middle of the night to re-attach the rainfly of my tent, and Jay awakens to find two fallen tree branches close to his tent. 
We bike along US 56 through the Cimarron National Grassland. At over 100,000 acres, it is the largest area of public land in Kansas. 
Great plains yucca shares the prairie with grass. 
Two cheery sunflowers provide some color other than green. However, it will be awhile before we see more than a few of these. 
These enthusiastic kids chant “Go bikers!” to welcome us to our first rest stop in Rolla, which has a population of 380. 
According to the Rolla wind gauge, today is one of those “unheard of” days 🙂 
On the horizon is Hugoton, the biggest town of the day with a population of 3,764. A small center-pivot irrigation system is on display in the foreground at a sales outlet. Irrigation is essential for growing crops in this part of Kansas. 
In town we relax at the city park where we buy lunch from locals. 
A little way out of town a herd of cattle huddles close together. Is that for protection? 
Clumps of blue spiderworts provide some nice color on the shoulder of the highway. 
Pumpjacks pump oil on the north side of the road. 
And gas wells pump gas on the south side of the road. 
Our final destination for the day is Satanta, population 1,092. The corn crop here is pretty scraggly. 
This concrete teepee in town honors Satanta. He was the Kiowa chief for whom the town is named and was one of the signers of the Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty. 
We set up our tents next to Satanta High School. Jay discovers that he left the rainfly of his tent in Elkhart 🙁 so he fashions a rainfly (not shown here) from a tarp that he brought along. It makes quite a racket in another overnight windstorm but holds off a few more sprinkles.
Day 3: Sunday, June 11. Our first town today is Sublette, population 1,375. It is named for William Lewis Sublette, a frontiersman, fur trader, and mountain man. (Maybe he got lost out here on the prairie.) For those of you from California, note that gas at the Cenex station is $3.259! 
Copeland is the next town and first rest stop. Despite a population of only 251, it still has impressive grain elevators. Here Jay powers out of town after refueling at the rest stop. 
Next we come to Montezuma, population 951, which for some reason is named for the ruler of the Aztec Empire. Jay struggles to keep up with Gordon and me and tells us to continue on without him. 
Soon we are surrounded by 170 giant wind turbines! 
They make up the Gray County Wind Farm, which you can read about here. 
Further up the road we see an old-time windmill, but it does not work. 
Gordon and I “get the Hell into Dodge” as he texts to others 🙂 We have lunch at Jimmy Johns and then hightail it out of town. With a population of 27,690, Dodge City is the biggest town on this year’s BAK route. 
I arrive at Spearville, population 796, our home for the night. 
We stay at the Spearville School. 
I am surprised to see Jay and Pam, who help me set up my tent. Pam drove from Wichita to rescue Jay west of Dodge City. They eat dinner in the school with Gordon and me before they head back to Wichita. 
Our tents and bikes are next to the track. I am tempted to run a mile but just walk a lap instead. Wind turbines in this “City of Windmills” keep watch over us.
Day 4: Monday, June 12. A light rain is falling when we wake up in the morning, so we wait for it to stop before getting on our bikes. Thus we are among the last bikers to arrive at the first rest stop in Kinsley, population 1,456, which claims the title of “Midway USA”. 
The bridge over the railroad tracks as we leave the rest stop has a good view of town. 
Soon after we leave town we come to the Arkansas River, the sixth longest in the US. I am excited to see what it looks like. 
I am astonished to see that it is only a puddle here! Somebody has taken out all of the water! 
Just beyond the empty river we find a profusion of wildflowers along the shoulder of the road. These purple flowers are poppy mallows. 
These blue flowers are spiderworts. 
And these fried egg flowers are prickly poppies. They look just like the much taller tree poppies that grow in my yard! 
Our lunch stop today is in Lewis, population 400. 
Because there are few food options in this tiny town, BAK provides lunch for us at Wayne Community Hall. 
After we leave town, we finally see a profusion of sunflowers! It’s about time, since Kansas is the Sunflower State 🙂 
Gordon and I end the day’s biking at the high school in Stafford, population 959. Soon afterward Jay arrives in his Jaguar SUV towing a teardrop trailer! He sleeps in the SUV, and I sleep in the trailer. Gordon is happy to keep camping out. Pam and Bill pay a surprise visit, and we all eat a fundraiser dinner together. 
A nearby camper is Don from Oklahoma, who is riding this velomobile. It is a shrouded recumbent tricycle that is really fast because of its low drag! He and a buddy with another velomobile are typically the first ones to get to each day’s destination.
Day 5: Tuesday, June 13. This is the day that Gordon and I will bike a century, so we get up early and start biking at sunrise. (Thanks to Gordon for the cool pic.) 
Before long the two velomobiles catch us. Gordon pedals hard but cannot stay with them very long. 
When we get to Yoder Road we turn south to take the longer century route and pass the skinny water tower for Yoder, population 165. 
We continue on to Haven, population 1,170, where we have lunch at the Kwik Shop. 
We cross the Arkansas River, which has water here! 
We get to Halstead, “The Biggest Little City In Kansas” 🙂 Its population is 2,165. 
A cheering section of little girls welcomes us to a fundraiser rest stop in Halstead. Jay bikes here from Newton and rides with us to the finish 🙂 
The chalk on this sidewalk in Hesston, population 3,505, tells us that we are almost to the end of the century ride! 
Gordon and I are thrilled to get to the end of the ride in Newton, population 18,433. We bike 101 miles in 7-1/2 hours including stops for food and photos along the way. This is Gordon’s first century and my fastest one! 
Various relatives drive the short distance from Wichita to Newton to congratulate us. Here Gordon’s cousin Josiah joins us. 
Gordon pitches his tent next to Jay’s SUV and trailer. Overnight a big thunderstorm drops more than an inch of rain, which gets Gordon pretty wet.
Day 6: Wednesday, June 14. Gordon is all smiles as he bikes on another flat road past wheat fields. 
We ride much of the day along US Bicycle Route 76. Established in 1982, it starts in Kansas at the Colorado border and goes to Virginia. 
BAK provides lunch for us in Cassoday, population 111. 
Pale purple coneflowers with their droopy petals bloom by the side of the road. 
We enter the Flint Hills and go through the first road cut of BAK 2023! 
A colorful mural welcomes us to Eureka, our day’s destination with a population of 2,289. Powerful tornadoes came through town in 2016 and 2018, and some parts of it have not been rebuilt. 
We spend the night at Eureka Jr/Sr High School. Like most of the schools for BAK 2023, it is at the edge of the much older town that it serves. 
The school mascot is a tornado despite the damage tornadoes have inflicted on the town. The girls basketball team raises money by selling us food at rock-bottom prices.
Day 7: Thursday, June 15. We start the day riding through gently rolling hills. 
We are in the Flint Hills, which you can read about here. 
The hills are not very big, and because the soil is rocky, most of the land is used for grazing cattle. 
Some locals turn out to give us encouragement 🙂 
Further east we come to our first big hill! This looks like Wisconsin, except that there are not many lakes here.
Fellow biker Marcie encourages me to strike this heroic pose in a wheat field after I take a photo of her in a similar pose. 
The towns we pass through today are tiny. Coyville, population 59, “claims many firsts” for Wilson County. 
We encounter this massive treaded machine moving along the highway. 
Flowers of annual fleabane bloom by the side of the road. 
Our destination for the day is Chanute, population 8,642. The tents for the luxury Alpaca service are pitched in a colorful array in front of the high school. 
We are told that we cannot camp close to the school, so Jay finds this island in the parking lot with a tree for shade 🙂
Day 8: Friday, June 16. We pass the Ash Grove Cement plant as we leave Chanute. The raw material for the plant comes from a big quarry that we pass a few miles later. 
The first town along today’s route is Humboldt, population 1,836. It was named by German immigrants after Baron von Humboldt. 
The only other town of significant size today is Iola, population 5,396. Natural gas was discovered here in 1893, which led its population to explode to over 9,000 in 1910. Gordon buys some padded bike shorts here that he hopes will help his sore butt. 
As we near the end of the ride we see a small pumpjack making a few bucks for its owner. 
Our destination for the day is Garnett, population 3,192, where we spend the night at the Anderson County Jr/Sr High School. As usual, the velomobiles arrive before us. 
There is no fundraiser dinner tonight, so Gordon is thrilled when he gets to have a buffet dinner at the Dutch Country Café. He goes back for seconds 🙂 
After dinner we take a shuttle to the impressive Anderson County Courthouse for the last all-participant meeting of BAK 2023. 
While waiting for the meeting, we have our picture taken. 
The meeting begins with a couple of songs by the barber shop singers. After that there are thank-yous for all the folks who helped make BAK 2023 such a special event. 
When we get back to the school, Gordon decides that it is too hot to sleep outside in his tent, so he opts for the air-conditioned gym. However, the main floor (shown here) is really crowded, so he gets a secluded spot on the balcony above the bleachers.
Day 9: Saturday, June 17. This is the last and hilliest day of BAK 2023. 
A monarch butterfly feeds on common milkweed by the side of the road. 
Nearby a great spangled fritillary feeds on thistle. 
When we get to Pleasanton, we need to wait for a long train to pass before we can cross the tracks to get to Missouri. 
We make it to Missouri! We then return to Pleasanton, population 1,238, where we have a celebratory picnic with assorted relatives who supported and cheered our adventure 🙂