State Line to Norton

We arrived at St. Francis in the late afternoon. After unpacking the trailer, unloading the bikes, and setting up tents, it was evening by the time we headed out to the Colorado border, 12 miles away (according to the map). Jay Maske and his family are with us and sharing expenses for the transportation. All of us figured on an hour trip out and back and so didn't think more than a bottle or two of water would be needed. We didn't count on the uphill climb all the way to the border, nor the headwinds. By the time we reached the border--14 miles by our odometers--we were almost out of water. At least the ride back was downhill. But after a few miles we found that we were in the zone old folks talk about that is uphill both ways. I was pedaling uphill and looked in my rear view mirror and it appeared it was uphill in that direction as well. We laughed, nursed our remaining water, and rode on. We rolled into town and found a Pizza Hut and chowed down.
The first two days of the BAK we settled quickly into the normal routine: ride, eat, ride, eat, eat, sleep. I'm making new acquaitnences and seeing friends from last year. Atwood and Oberlin have interesting museums. It has been nice having dad and mom drive our trailer to haul our gear. Last year we were all at a 2-bag limit.
It's interesting to see how the towns we visit react to all of us. Most of them don't realized the impact 800 people have when we roll into a town of 1200. We are like locusts. We come, eat everything in sight and then move on to the next town. Some of the restaraunts have handled the crush calmly. Others have been quite frazzled. Pictures, stats and more details will come after the ride is over. I'll post more updates as time permits.