Lunch with the Mayor...

Day 158
8-12-2006
Started: Tampa, KS
Finished: Near Lehigh, KS
Today's Miles: 20.0
Total Miles: 2101.8

We love when a good plan comes together. Well actually, we've learned on this journey that not having a plan works best for us, and this morning was a perfect example that if we would have had a plan to get up early and start hiking than we never would have had the chance to have lunch with the Mayor of Tampa, Kansas. Mayor Jim was running some errands in town when he noticed our bright yellow tent still pitched in the middle of the park. He drove over to check on us to make sure everything was ok, thinking we would have had breakfast already and been on our way. He seemed disappointed that we hadn't checked out the one restaurant in town for a hearty breakfast, because he had already called the owner ahead of time to tell him we were coming and that breakfast would be on the mayor today. Since we missed breakfast, the Mayor then invited us to join him and his wife for an early lunch before we headed out of town. We accepted his generous offer and packed up camp and made our way to the Diner. Tampa Kansas is probably, well definitely, the second most recognized Tampa in the Country. Most people think of the sunshine and beaches associated with Tampa Florida when they talk about Tampa, but the other Tampa, Tampa Kansas, is actually the first Tampa established in the United States. Both Tampa Kansas and Tampa Florida were established in 1877, but Tampa Kansas made it official a few months before Tampa Florida, just a little piece of information you learn when having lunch with the Mayor. After enjoying a delicious lunch and great conversation we said goodbye to the Mayor and his wife and made our way out of town, just in time for the hottest part of the day. It seems like everyday we've hiked in Kansas there has been a noticeable breeze that somedays has been the only reason we are still able to cover miles in the extremely hot temperatures, but today the breeze stopped for a couple of hours and our bodies were soon feeling drained of all their energy. Late in the afternoon we came upon the town of Durham which had a nice picnic pavilion with restrooms and a pump to refill our water. We enjoyed a nice break from the sun while we tried to replenish our fluids. We spent the rest of the early evening walking and talking about where we may live when we finish this journey. We feel so fortunate to be experiencing American culture at the three mile per hour pace we walk, and realize there are so many options and different lifestyles and we are sure we will find one that will suit our needs the best. Hopefully finding a new home won't be as difficult as it was to find a place to pitch our tent tonight. We put ourselves on a pretty busy road late in the day and the small towns were spread very far apart. We are definitely in wide open spaces, so finding a stealthy place to camp was not easy. We walked well into the dark and finally called it a night behind some farm equipment probably twenty yards from the road. Needless to say, with the field mouse that is gnawing on the side of our tent and the tractor trailers whizzing by, we are not expecting to sleep a whole lot tonight. We will rise well before the sun in the morning and hopefully beat the afternoon heat.

Your Friends on the ADT,
Randy and Sheri
Follow our Journey at www.treckusa.com