The Sun is burning (and so am I)

Kingman, Kansas, is a small and kinda typical map dot city in the heartland. It has a McDonalds, a few small stores, drunken jerks and lousy sidewalks. It is, however, where I landed today, after a night in Cheney, Kansas. Speaking of Cheney, it boggles my mind how a place that shares a name with one of the most vile human beings ever to hold political office in this country can be so lovely and friendly. I saw not one trace of waterboarding there, but did see a lot of friendly and generous people who made my night there a welcome one, although the police sergeant on duty told his deputy that he wished that they could just take me to the next town and drop me off.
I had let it be known at the local gas station that I was going to be camping next to the Baptist Church, and the clerk there told me she would let the patrolman know when he stopped in so he could come by and meet me. I figured that it would be a good gesture to keep it all out in the open. I often walk around til dark and then duck into a church yard or behind an empty building or house for sale. This night I decided to do it the right way, and I wish I hadn’t. The officer did come over, we talked, and all seemed fine, til he said that he needed to talk to the pastor of the church but didn’t have his number. He then proceeded to leave and return several times, interrupting my night a few times, but nothing too major. In the end the pastor was never contacted and I got a decent if abbreviated night sleep.
The heat has been over 100 degrees now for 4 straight days. I was managing very well until today, when the pain in my feet, coupled with being tired and feeling a bit ill, all combined with the heat to make it possibly the most physically challenging day I have had. I still managed to get 19 miles in, arriving in Kingman at 3 pm, where I got a cheap room with freezing AC. It has been a rather disconcerting experience today, and I can see how someone might easily succumb to the heat if they didn’t have enough water. I have plenty, but in the heat of the day it all turns hot and tastes like crap, and drinking it it is a chore.
The nineteen mile trek today was through plains, and fields, and more plains and fields. Not a store, not a gas station, nothing but plains and fields for 19 miles. Welcome to Kansas, as one wag said to me when I mentioned it.
I am going to head out tomorrow to a small town called Cunningham, where Ill find a few gas stations and their lovely junk food and soda!