Day 29: St. Joseph, MO to Topeka, KS Total Distance: 86.6 mi Moving Avg: 8.5 mph Moving Time: 10:11 Route Summary: US 59 S to KS 4 W to Topeka streets Note to the wise: DO NOT STAND BETWEEN ME AND THE INTERNET. So, after a long hard day (more on that later), I stop at the first hotel I see to check rates and see if I can find a Holiday Inn to get bandwidth at. It turns out the AC was out at the first hotel, and the Holiday Inn (and the Holiday Inn Express) were all the way across town (about 4 miles). There is a Ramada right next door. I decide that I really want internet access (both to post my journals and to download some stuff), so I head for the Holiday Inn. As a side note, it is impressive how fast I can go when I'm in a hurry. I think I averaged about 14 mph through Topeka. And this was after about 75 miles of hard biking. Anyway, I get to the Holiday Inn and check in, carefully asking if they have internet access. I get to my room and look for the jack. There is none. I go to the desk and ask. No, they don't have ethernet, they have phone service. Somehow, phone service qualifies as internet access (actually, I kinda understand this. Next time I ask if they have 'high speed internet'). So I check out and go to the Holiday Inn Express, which does have high speed internet (I called ahead). And here I am. All in all, it took me an extra hour to get internet. But I really wanted it, so I guess it must have been worth it. Anyway, other than the excitment with hotels, the day was pretty boring. Another full ABBike day, so it was long. And there were strong headwinds on and off for the whole day, so it was longer. And there were hills, so it was even longer. But the hills really weren't so bad, they were short and not steep. I wish I could say the same thing about the Rockies. The Heroines were pretty thrilled with KS' roads. So far, I concur. They are well maintained and have decent shoulders. More on the KS roads once I'm further into the state.