Katy did get rained on last night while lightning flashed for hours and the wind lashed and tore at branches, some of which ended up on the trail waiting to be scooped up by my chair, thrashing and slashing under and behind my carriage as we rode for the day.

Katy did get softer with the rain in ways that sometimes made the travel feel sluggish, where once in a while one of my drive wheels would get slightly bogged down such that I’d get pulled in that direction; or where I felt like my battery was getting low; or where Jimmy and Dr. B felt like something was off with their bikes. We all had to work a little harder.

Katy did get visited by my dad for the first time today now that he has joined the crew after Edwin picked him up from the Kansas City Airport yesterday evening. His presence is a breath of fresh air as his happy self dives into various tasks and as he takes some weight off Celina and Edwin. He brought a new pair of checkered Vans for Edwin, who is now inititated into the Checkered Hall of Fame. Edwin deserves it. He is a badass who has helped make this whole trip flow from the quiet background.

Katy did get rolled on by me, Dr. B and Jimmy for more than 200 total trip miles shortly after we started today; and for about 230 miles total after we said goodbye to her later on in the day.

Katy did test the strength and sturdiness of my Diestco canopy after I went head over wheels in my chair, (or casters over canopy), when I responded to Dr. B’s warnings of a soft spot in the trail by accelerating to power through it only to have my front end dip into liquified mush, then strike an only slightly submerged culvert pipe that sent me head first into the trail. Dr. B put hands onto my chair after the initial impact and fortunately caused my chair to rest on its side. “What the hell just happened?” flashed through my mind. Jimmy and Dr. B immediately mobilized to help me, but I asked them to take a picture first to capture the absurdity of the moment. We were all in full sun, with me staring straight toward the blazing orb. Jimmy stood in the way of the sun to provide me with shade as he and Dr. B took stock of the situation and began to address it. Amazingly, they got me upright very quickly. That’s not an easy task. Equally difficult was then getting me out of the soup, and successfully getting across the whole hazardous section. Jimmy went and got rocks that I then drove over while he pulled me and Dr. B pushed. We were all hot at that point, so after making the crossing we got to a shady spot before starting to work on me and the chair. A couple of goats wandered over to Jimmy and Dr. B’s bikes, and one of them started eating Dr. B’s flag. My dad and Celina met up with us there. The crew started MacGyvering the chair to fix my broken armrest. A bike flag stick, some webbing, a couple of hose clamps, a bunch of zip ties and probably some bubblegum had my chair riding as good as ever. Edwin met us at the Sedalia Depot to help get me repositioned in my chair. The crew added some more touches to the emergency repairs. After addressing numerous issues, we hit the trail with fortitude and determination to see this through, and I was so thankful that my chair wasn’t more severely damaged.

Katy did have some long sunny stretches this afternoon as well. Jimmy pulled another emergency repair of the mount for my trusty Diestco canopy turned roll cage. Diestco is the sponsor of the day (selected and announced as such before the debacle that showcased my hella tough canopy).

Katy did have a lot of butterfly diversity, both today and throughout the trip. Jimmy got a picture of a Question Mark butterfly. Tiger swallowtails, Variegated fritillaries, Cloudless sulphurs and others drifted amongst us.

Katy did underscore what a trail can be when people put their minds and resources toward large projects of the sort.

And Katy did recede to the distance after we kissed her goodbye and began the Rock Island Trail section of our trip.

Postscript:

My jerry-rigged chair kept cranking through the afternoon. It wasn’t in the 90’s like it has been every other day of this trip, but it was still warm. The accident burned a lot of time, so this was by far our latest day on the trail. After leaving the Katy, we merged onto the Rock Island Spur Trail which has us heading northwest toward Kansas City. The trail surface was a little more irregular. Nice steel-buttressed bridges gave way to large culverts.

The crushed material on the trail surface turned redder. We finally saw our first snake of the trip. A herd of goats passed by right in front of us on the trail, including a bunch of kids. The debris load on the trail increased. The afternoon sun was strong. Dr. B and Jimmy rode alongside me, all of us in tune with each other and with what we had to do. We’ve gone so many miles together over so many different types of terrain over the years. We all just rocked on.

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