Nomad Life - Day 371

Even though I slept pretty well overnight in my room at the Knights Inn (Emporia), I still was disturbed a bit early and was wide awake by the time my alarm rang (0600).  I started teleworking immediately and was very productive for a few hours.  Along the way, I skipped breakfast but did make lunch in my hotel room.  Eventually, the momentum of the day started to peter out - Fridays are almost always like that...  My work day/week finally ended at 1515 and I got ready to depart for an outdoor adventure.  By then, it was very gray outside and the temps were hovering just below 50 F.  Before bed last night, I'd learned that there was a long distance (about 118 miles) rail trail, the Flint Hills Nature Trail, located about 20 miles north of Emporia.  I decided to check it out and headed west from my hotel (on US-50) until I could get on CR-G.  As I drove north, I passed through the town of Americus and the road I was on started zig-zagging until it became CR-F.  I'd been planning to find a trailhead for the FHNT in the town of Allen but, suddenly (1540), I crossed the trail as I passed through the town of Bushong.  It only took me a short backtrack to find a nice trailhead and I decided to just do my walk there and then.  Starting a few minutes later, I started walking eastbound towards Allen.  Along the nice gravel trail, I was very successful in finding a LOT of bird species.  The trail wound its way through farm fields, small forests and over some narrow creeks.  The weather was nice enough that I started to think I could just keep on going until I was tired.  However, the amount of remaining sunlight started to become a factor so I turned around at "Road H2".  During my backtrack, I was witness to another beautiful sunset and even found a few more birds before I was finished (1720).  Checking my pedometer when I was back at F Road and my car, my pedometer reported that I had walked 3.8 miles - a nice amount for the limited time I had.  Later, I learned that I'd actually hiked my first 1.9 miles of the American Discovery Trail (Southern Route).  Of course, I could have done more before (pending a review of all my previous travel).  It was almost dark but I decided to stick with an earlier plan I'd made to visit Morris County (only about five miles to the northwest) to do some birding.  To get there, I used CR-F to get to US-56 and drove west until I reached the county line (close to Rock Creek Crossing).  Starting at 1730, I observed a few species in the deepening twilight.  By 1735, I’d started my backtrack to Emporia and listened to an audiobook on the way.  My next destination was Radius Brewing in Downtown Emporia and I made my way through some traffic and streetlights.  When I arrived at the brewery (1815), it took a bit of time to find parking and then even more when I got inside the building.  I bypassed the Hostess and found a way to the bar area - it took a while for a seat to open up (standing room only).  When one finally did, I sat down (1825) and was able to order a flight of six beers.  Meanwhile, I'd started a conversation with a young guy (John) and his dad (Tom).  They had come to Emporia to explore the Flint Hills before the next Kansas City Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium.  It turned out that we'd all been hiking on the ADT, used the Untapped app and had traveled around the US to hike long distance trails (like the Buckeye, IAT, NCT, etc.).  When the bar seats next to me opened up, we ended up having a nice evening - lots of good conversation about travel.  For dinner, I ordered the gyro entree and it was pretty tasty. By the end of my time at Radius Brewing (1950), I'd gotten some contact information so we could meet up again when I am in Cincinnati in 2027.  Afterwards, I said goodbye to my friends and started walking around the Downtown area to get the rest of my steps.  When I reached four miles for the day, I drove back to my hotel (arrived at 2025).  For the rest of the evening, I worked very hard to catch up on my eBird entries from the last two days.  Beyond that, I watched movies and did some Duolingo exercises.  Another nice day in the Jayhawk State.  American Discovery Trail Today = 1.9 miles / Grand Total ADT = 1.9 miles