Day 9 - Put it in the Donut Whole - or – Wichitalkin’ about Kansas?

We woke up cold. But that didn’t stop us from facing the prairie sun cheerfully. Coffee, eggs, steaks, and biscuits rolled off of our Coleman stove and down our throats. 

We packed up with Military speed and hit the highway for Wichita. Now, we’ve been back and forth across Kansas on I-70 before, and the view is pretty. But this I-35, north to south highway was amazing.

Rolling amber hills stretch to the horizon, to meet an enormous bright blue sky. The trip went very smoothly but for one instance where we forgot to fill up, and a short, white-knuckled drive to a distant gas station. 

<-- it made it all the way down to 0!

Soon the horizon sprouted a few tall buildings in the distance.

Wichita is a city of wide clean streets and old buildings. There are lots of classic cars and more motorcycles than you can count. On one street we saw three custom cycle shops. The city also had a charming old town section with brick streets and buildings, housing a number of shops, restaurants, and bars.

The Donut Whole (our hosts for the evening) is a creative donut shop that’s open 24 hours and features a small stage for music and comedy. In this fine establishment, Blythe got to fulfill a dream. She had a real, true to life, bacon donut.

“It had bacon on it! The bread could have been more bacon-y. It was like breakfast cake with dreamy maple frosting.”

-Blythe Crawford, New York Times

After a walk to Old Town Wichita, we loaded in and prepped for an evening of music. We were a little bemused to see the place completely empty. From all accounts we had heard that Fridays were quite busy there. However, after a tune or to, some audience members flowed in to manifest a small and quietly attentive crowd.

We were pleased to play for about two hours for these folks, who gave us very nice compliments and even bought a couple shirts. At the end we played a little “Happy Birthday” for Olivia, at her friend Desiree’s request.

After the show, we blasted back to I-70, and slept at Ottawa State Fishing Lake. It had been a long day, and we were pretty tired, so we passed out without dinner, spread our brand new sleeping pads on the tent floor, and fell asleep warmly. It was an oddly normal and sober day for us really. Perhaps more debauchery to come in the next few days.

Thanks to Andrea, Frea, and Donny for hosting us, and to Michael Taylor, Olivia, Desiree (and the rest whose names we didn’t get) for hanging out.

Tomorrow…  Colorado Rockies, Longmont (the ultimate suburb), old friends from New York, and maybe all work and no play.