Prairie Spirit & Southwind Trails

The Prairie Spirit is a rail-to-trail in our home state of Kansas. The first and last time we rode this trail was 11 years ago and at that time it was a length of 33 miles and ran between the towns of Ottawa at the North end and Welda at the South. Since then the trail has been extended Southward a few times. The State manages the trail and has extended it 18 miles to the town of Iola. The city of Iola has paved the trail within their city limits and more recently a non-profit organization has extended the trail South of Iola to the town of Humboldt. This privately developed and maintained section was given a different name and is called the Southwind Rail Trail. I alone rode the Southwind for the first time last month.
Yesterday we got on the trail at Iola and rode North to Welda where we turned around and rode South to Humboldt and then back to Iola. It rained on us briefly but other than that it was a perfect day for a ride with the temperatures in the 60s and 70s.
Along the way we stopped for a snack at a little store in the town of Colony. At the end of the ride we ate at El Charro in Iola which was really good.
Including little side trips we rode a total of 57 miles. For more info on the Prairie Spirit check out this great site.

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