Day 9 - Don't Dare
The land of Giant Grasshoppers has graced the shoulder of our highway this morning. I've never seen insects this size before! They're as big around as hot dogs, sometimes larger, and about 3 inches in length. They were all over the side of the highway. 
Sometimes in lonely solitude, and then others were getting it on.
As the day gave way to the heat the grasshopper's disappeared and we were in search of a new pair of biking shoes for Matt. We had just gone 25 miles with Matt wearing a sandal on one foot and his remaining shoe on the other.
We were told about a bike shop in the "college" town of Sterling, CO. But in Sterling, CO it turns out they don't have any bike shops. In fact it turns out the nearest bike shop might be in Lincoln, NE. With this hear that's going on a ride for a couple hundred miles in Africa. Instead Matt ordered a pair online and had them shipped overnight to McCook, NE. Tomorrows destination.
All things considered the ride was going very smooth. We continued to cruise through used to be towns with their grain elevator skylines giving them away for miles in advance.
We were lucky enough to find an actual grocery store out in the wilderness of the grasslands, many towns don't have their own grocery stores. Matt bought a bag of ice, gatorade, and a sandwich. I bought a gallon of water (room temp), a vitamin water (cold), and a sandwich, for lunch.
The thermometer was reading 98 degrees in the shade. The air conditioned grocery store was telling me to just stay inside, forever. The ice just wanted to be water, and so it was, and the bikes just wanted to be pedaled so we did. We were almost 2/3 of the way to our stop for the night, Holyoke, CO. The heat was beating down on us and i was really feeling it. My energy and motivation just being sapped from me. We passed through another used to be town and then of in the distance the clouds. 
big black beautiful clouds! I exclaimed to Matt my excitement about the prospect of potential rain. We both agreed that a break from the sun would be nice, and we dashed for the shadows of the clouds a couple miles ahead of us. Then I made a big mistake. I looked at the big beautiful clouds, I pointed my finger at them and I said, "Rain on us you clouds! I double dog dare you!"
Matt laughed at my childish dare. But within 20 minutes the skies began to open up and volkswagen size raindrops were falling. Matt caught one in the eye and had to stop to recover. Still we were hooting and hollering in excitement. Almost instantly my body was rejoicing at the temperature drop. I was opening my arms to the rain and letting it wash the sweat and salt from the days. I could taste the salty water as it ran down my face. A couple drops of rain hit my lips and I winced from the pain, i kept my head down a little after that. I started to pour my water bottles over my head to speed up the cooling down and rinsing process.
We sprinted into town to find a campsite. Outrunning the storm for 5 minutes when it came back with a vengeance. The storm dumped heavy, intense rain like I haven't seen in years, and it continued to do so for the next several hours! It was at times furious rain with claps of thunder and lighting. We darted for the town park and caught shelter while the storm abated just long enough to dash to the laundry mat. 
Then I darted to the internetless library in search of the internet. From which we reconvened and made our way to the public pool where they let us shower for free! Then to the fairgrounds for some free camping! Thankfully our ride from the laundry mat to the showers and then to the campground was dry. Then we started cooking, and hell hath no fury like the weather on a dare, and it poured!
After the storm blew off in the distance we were left with some amazing sunsets! Now I'm laying in my tent writing, with a storm on the way in.
