Ryan called most recently when he was near Pittsburg, Kansas about 15 miles west of the Missouri border.  He was happy to see a few more trees and slightly hilly terrain ahead.  He talked a little about the huge amount of grasshoppers jumping around and landing on him and his bike as he bikes along. He isn't used to the noise of cicadas and grasshoppers yet and night times are a lot noisier than he is used to.  He's run into a lot of rain and thunderstorms lately.  He is trying to reach college for orientation by August 20th, so he is focusing more on routes and distance.  He hopes when he has time to process his trip to write down more about his adventures and post pictures.