30 July Topeka Kansas

This morning we took it easy again. We split up into three groups, the film crew to get some gear, Craig and Macca went somewhere else to get some gear as well and Lards and myself went to get Lards some camping gear. We ended up at the Kansas Speedway to find out if we could get a NASCAR or Indycar racing day going. Unfortunately we later found out (Craig had made the same stop earlier ;) that they won’t re-open till 3 August.

After all the shopping we made our way towards Topeka via the beautiful back roads of Kansas. Amongst others we rode through Lawrence KS and had some very nice ice cream (Cold Slab Creamery) and coffee (Starbucks) as breakie ;)

Lards and I did ride through Topeka and had a good look at the Capitol building in the centre, very nice.

The search for motels ended up in a minor split in the group this time, we only lost the camera crew. They eventually found the motel although they reckoned that Craigs directions weren’t the best in the world ;) Later that day Christophe said something similar, also after Craig tried to guide him to the motel ;) ! Yes, Christophe and Annie finally joined the group. They left Houston on Saturday and went almost straight North to meet us here. In the next days we will hear more details of their trip.

Before Christophe and Annie arrived we finally got a chance to do the interviews. The boys interviewed each of us to find out what we thought of the various bits of the tour sofar. By the sound of it they were very happy with the result ;).

Upon the question whether I thought the filming has a negative effect on the trip, I had to admit the waiting for set up of the camera in the heat can be annoying but the positive effects are better. It “forces” me to see more of the surroundings and think about what we are doing then I would normally do on a trip.

I am also doing the interviews in Dutch, in case the documentary ever makes it to the Netherlands ;).

When we returned from the interviews, a State Trooper : Greg Escobar was working in the parking lot, checking trucks. We got talking to him and it ended up being a long “interview” with him that was filmed as well. He was very nice, very focussed, polite, smart, well trained and sharp as a knife.

The evening was concluded with dinner at Hooters ;)