The Salt Marsh near Newton Kansas is about as close to the geographic center of the USA as we will ever get.

Day 39: Newton to Eureka
72 miles

Our ride to Newton passed as close as we are going to the geographic center of the continental USA. Near this point there is a great salt marsh that is the last remnant of some ancient sea. Strangely, there is a kind of land locked white pelican that still lives here. We saw a group fly over us as we passed and couldn’t believe it, pelicans so far from the sea.

At the same time we bumped into a couple cycling from Massachusetts to Oregon. They left the East Coast the same day we left San Francisco. How funny. We bump into a cyclist a week and just happen to meet this couple dead center in the trip.

Mennonites originally settled the area around Newton. There are still many that live in the area and there is a Mennonite college in Newton as well. Newton was a breath of fresh air to us. We found a great health food store there and stocked up on tasty snacks. The owner of the health food store recommended a restaurant for lunch that is in a yoga studio. How cool is that for a couple of yuppie Californian’s in Kansas. It was really good.

The scenery is starting to change. We are seeing small hills now and more water. Eureka is nothing to write home about so we won’t.