Rest day 42 woke sticky after hot night camping at church. Went to Holiday Inn Express at 745 a.m. and from outside I called Fed Ex. Got a supervisor on the line immediately this time, again with him saying he’ll do what he can to get me info and help expedite my package, and he promised to call me back after calling the local Fed Ex place when they opened at 800. Went inside the hotel and told the hotel front desk person and her manager the tire story and that we were awaiting delivery at the hotel - and the manager kindly invited us to wait inside, offered us breakfast, and let us use the computer and the coin op laundry!! Hadn’t heard back from the supervisor by 900 so I called again, got a different supervisor and again begged him to get me the package today; he puts me on hold and this time he comes back and says it IS on the truck for delivery today (Saturday). Sure enough, the Fed Ex truck pulled up around 10:30!!!!! So I have the tires and once we mount them we can hit the road and get out of Great Bend, KS which neither of us liked. But it is supposed to be 100 degrees today and windy so leaving at noon to ride 60 miles is just not fun or smart. We knew the Holiday Inn Express was sold out for that night but we found a Travelodge room available so we booked that, with a plan to sleep that afternoon and get up later after dark and try to ride some at night while it’s cooler. We picked up some stuff at Dollar Tree after Walmart refused to let us park our bicycles in their shaded shopping cart area despite the heat. We checked into the Travelodge and while I mounted the two new tires Vanesa went next door and got Mexican food takeout. After scarfing down the meal we went to bed about 430-5 pm and set the alarm for 130 am. We actually DID sleep and woke at 130 feeling rested. We had a too leisurely waking/ packing and then didn’t get on the road until about 330, after wasting 30 minutes unsuccessfully trying to get McDonalds coffee in a busy drive thru and then riding around unsuccessfully looking for a convenience store for a Gatorade. But we had a lovely ride in the dark for a couple of hours with almost ZERO traffic and no wind, and it was already 77 degrees. Briefly it cooled down and suddenly a super strong windstorm blew through and threatened to soak us too but never did. Trying to put on my GoreTex was a real challenge with the powerful wind threatening to blow it out of my hands as I got it out of the storage bag and tried to put my arms into the sleeves - had I lost hold of it I guarantee I’d have never been able to find it again. We were surprised by some mild hills, and rolled into Rush Center at mile 32, the only services available on this 64-mile day, and everything was closed because it’s a) 6 am, and b) Sunday. Filled our water bottles at the spigot at the closed pub, and then made our way onward. It was a pretty easy 32 more miles, mostly flat, temps upper 70’s to low 80’s but humid, and occasionally some shade clouds passing overhead. We rolled into Ness City around the 1000 am, got a coke and a Gatorade at the Dollar General, checked into the Derrick Inn (wow), got some meh lunch at the only open restaurant, cleaned ourselves and our chamoises (padded bike shorts) so they can hang dry while we sleep), and adjusted my saddle and Vanesa’s headlight positions. V video chatted with her parents and groomed Maui, and then went to bed. That was a few mins ago and now I’m finishing this ride summary and going to go to sleep also. We’re in a real heatwave here so our current plan is afternoon/evening sleep, night riding, morning hotel check-in…for the next few days we’ll do this. We have to daysleep in hotels and then ride at night because riding and camping in 99-107 degree heat PLUS humidity is just not happening. We can’t do that with a dog, nor do V and I WANT to do that. We’ll see how it goes, but it went pretty well last night leaving at 330, so tonight we’re going to try to leave at 130. We have about another 60 miles to Scott City tomorrow so that should put us there in the first couple hours of daylight. Above I said “wow” about the Derrick Inn. What I mean is it was shocking how different it was (for the worse) since I passed through and stayed there in 2010. It looks like just a big square stucco building from the outside, but BACK THEN inside it was beautiful with about maybe 30-40 rooms total on two levels, a fountain, a pool that all rooms look out onto, lush green plants hanging from the ceiling and the 2nd floor railing, a gym, a small restaurant, and multiple ceiling fans going. It was like a gorgeous oasis in the plains desert and I recall lounging around that pool all afternoon and feeling like I was in the tropics. NOW, it’s a dive. Apparently a new owner took over and tried to run it from Wichita, not locally, and hired a string of ineffective people, the last one of which was a criminal who literally was stealing the copper pipes after ripping them out of the building structure, stealing furniture, and letting nefarious characters come in and do their nefarious things including drug use, drug dealing, and theft. Ultimately, the owner came up, chained the door shut, and sold it to another group. The gal Courtney who made our reservation over the phone was honest about the state of the place but convinced us to come in. The gal Michelle we’d met in Great Bend when church camping had messaged V and said the Derrick Inn was ok, not fancy but clean enough, so we decided to do it because we needed a motel room in this 100+ degree heat and high humidity to get some day-sleep in prep for more nighttime riding. Courtney gave us a discount because there was no television yet and no pool yet (and probably because she knows the place needs a LOT of work and updating and fixing) and it was still too expensive at $55 compared to what theat has bought us in other towns - but we got sleep because it was quiet with comfortable enough beds and pillows despite their obvious old age. It was more like a $35 room. Anyway, the place was not nice, I won’t sugar coat it, but Courtney was great, working a mile a minute all day long by herself, and doing her best to turn the place around. When bike touring, your standards change and places you’d never ever stay if traveling by car suddenly become tolerable, if not wonderful. The Derrick Inn was the former, tolerable, and it was quiet and allowed us to get some afternoon and early evening sleep before we got up and left about 130 a.m. V got more sleep than I did as I spent a little time out in the hotel main area by the empty pool socializing with Steve, Bill, and Greg, some other TransAm’ers we’ve met along this journey (with awful but FREE convenience store pizza slices). So anyway I have a NEW Derrick Inn memory now…it wasn’t as nice but at least this time I was with my sweet wife and sweet doggie. Vanesa is so amazing in that it takes someone pretty special to be able to look past the crappy things like this and see them as part of an overall awesome, crazy adventure. While riding, every day we say how much fun we are having overall but that some of what we’re doing just kind of sucks…and also we talk about how much we appreciate what we have at home, with a beautiful house and beautiful nature and beautiful weather where we live - because we haven’t seen any place yet on this trip that is better than our beloved Pacific Northwest.