Day 43: 63 miles, Jun 30

This day was absurd. My first real day out of the mountains after a rest day and a massage, and I'm facing 105 degree heat. And, yes, it was absolutely dry, and you always hear, "But at least it's not humid!" Well, I agree with my friend Dave in Phoenix that that reasoning is a bunch of doo-doo. IT FEELS LIKE YOU'RE IN AN OVEN! I think I drank a gallon and a half of liquids this day.

But, it was flat, as this picture demonstrates. Actually, this is a picture of my destination, Eads, CO, from EIGHT MILES AWAY. If you could zoom into the center of the shot, you'd see the grain elevator. That's how you know there's a town coming up in western Kansas and eastern Colorado -- you see this big white thing in the distance -- and you think, "Well, that's only a mile or two away."

Nuh-uh. It's flat out here folks. It feels like the open ocean sometimes.