Angela and I stayed up fairly late talking while an absolutely insane rain storm raged outside. I heard someone say it was coming down at a rate of 3" per hour. Close to 2AM we decided to call it a night. She retired to her room. I needed to get a change of clothes off the bike in the garage. I was fumbling with the big BMW bag when I realized that rushing sound I was hearing was coming from inside the garage. I found a staircase in the corner that lead downstairs to the basement.

I crept down the stairs and when I realized what I was looking at I thought "Oh shit, this is not good".

Water was gushing into the basement and over 6" had already accumulated. I considered all the options I had but quickly realized there just wasn't anything I could do. I had no tools, no sump pumps, no tools, nothing. It was, after all, not my house.

"fuck".

Angela's basement had flooded some months earlier requiring her to vacate the house when an epic rainstorm caused the sewer to back up into her basement. She had just gotten it all cleaned up.

"fuck".

I so did not want to do this, but I crept back up the stairs walked through the house and knocked on her door, "Angela, Angela, I have some bad news ....".

She got up, looked at it and took it really well. "Nobody died, it's a solveable problem". She turned off the fan and the AC. I tried to sleep but some short time later I heard the sound of work outside. "Maybe it'll go away", I mused naively. Nope. So I got up, got dressed, tip toed out of the guest room and there was Angela on the phone. The water level had continued to rise, she had checked on it and had decided to call an emergency plumber to rig something to pump out all the water.

Epic epic rain. Helplessly and feeling useless I went back to my room and tried to sleep. Poor Angela was up until after 4 when the plumber finished. I should have stayed up. My bad.

Since I was planning on leaving today, I asked Angela to wake me up when she was about to leave. She knocked on my door and said she was just taking Lillianna to school. I threw some clothes on and walked out to say goodbye. Lillianna was pretty tired and I don't think realized I wasn't going to be there when she got back. I tried.

After they left, I grabbed a shower and sat on the couch realizing simultaneously that I was absolutely out of my mind wiped out tired and that there was no coffee in the house.

"She's been gone a while", I thought. "She wouldn't, would she? Nawww, there's no way. Is there?", I reasoned.

Shortly thereafter, she did. The door opened and there she was holding a grande Starbucks coffee for me.

"I am so worshipping the very ground you walk on and the air you breathe.", I silently thought. "Thank you. I'm floored" I said aloud, or some approximation thereof. There is no one so grateful as an exhausted addict that has been given a free fix. "The very air you breathe ...", I thought. Of course I also immediately thought of the disaster downstairs, how she had gotten so much less sleep than I had, how early she got up, everything she had to do ... I was feeling quite humbled and small.

She sipped on her frappucino thing and I on my coffee and we talked. Again with the time compression, hours turned to minutes as we talked roles, her work, her background, her relationship with her various titles which she has a rather antagonistic relationship with, the basement, Lillianna, her boyfriend Mike and his kids, and all manner of other topics. (As an aside, why does it seem that guys named "Mike" always attract the most compelling wonderful women?) We realized we were both starving. I suggested that I could stay and wait for the plumber while she gets something to eat. As she was about to leave, Mike called saying he could come by. He brought food.

In a fashion not unlike earlier I thought to myself "Dude, you rock", which I may have said aloud.

We ate lunch together and chatted while waiting for the plumber, who eventually arrived. He got the water heater working again but didn't have much in the way of insights as to why so much water was getting in the basement when for years, apparently, it had not. Weird.

Mike had to leave to return to work and Angela had some work of her own to do, which she was prevented from doing due to remote network problems. We talked for quite a while longer at which point that feeling of "it's time to go" made itself known. She gave me a big hug and then left to pick up Lillianna. I pulled the bike out of the garage, closing the door behind me.

I sat there in the driveway for some time with the engine running, GPS plugged in with the my destination route set. I just didn't want to leave.

She had painted on her wall "We remember the moments", not days or events, but moments. I thought to myself that this two day moment in time would be one that I am not likely to forget.

Sucking it up, I shifted the bike into first, and headed down the road.

I70 is one boring road. I have complained up a storm about I70 through Kansas. This afternoon late I rode 188 miles of I70 through Kansas. I have dreaded the stretch.

Strangely it was not that bad. Lost in thought the miles just ticked by. I found myself in the land of endless road and big sky.

There was an impressive expanse of clouds to the south. Dark angry clouds. I thought for sure that I would get rained on.

The miles ticked on for a while and occasionally I would get sprinkled on but the rain I expected, but did not fear, never materialized.

I70 is one long road that I have bored myself to the verge of insanity on before. Strangely, this time it's not bothering me. I just keep riding.

I70 through Kansas is weird. There are mini off-ramps that turn into dirt road right in the middle of the ramp. I should have taken photos.

After a while the landscape became truly flat, sinfully flat.

I rode on to Salina, Kansas and found an econolodge with an attached restaurant. I decided not to tempt fate by trying to camp ... once again. Maybe I should have just left the camping gear at home with as infrequently as I've been using it.

I find myself concerned about the money I've been spending ...

Tomorrow I continue West. Since I've only got 727 more miles to go by Thursday afternoon I think I might consider some side roads through Kansas just to be different. We'll see what the weather has in store for tomorrow.