07.24/25/26.2023 - sand hills of nebraska

morning is the nicest time to do about anything.  wonderful to sit around, drinking tea, reading news, talking.  .

it's also a nice time to just be quiet and enjoy.

it's the best time to ride, too.  it's still cool, sun hasn't risen very high, winds are usually lighter, traffic often lighter.

so this morning. i sit and talk with steve and cheryl as long as i dare, but by 8am it's time to delay no further. time to hit the road. 

the directions are simple:  go to the corner, take a left and go straight until night.

after leaving chadron, it's not long before i climb out of the valley up the pine ridge.  around 500 feet total climb, but fairly gradual.  3,941 feet altitude, the last high point.  it's all downhill to the mississippi from here.  

and, finally, the first cornfields.  now this is the nebraska i thought i knew.

actually, it's a tease.  this is cattle country, i see a total of 4 corn fields over the next two days.

lunch at the antelope cafe in gordon, ne. wonder where all the young people are.  they're not here.  i think you're required to be at least 55 to have visiting privileges or be someone's grandchild.  not that the food is special in any way.  but maybe there are no young men or women living here anymore.

still looking for the flat cornfields....

except... this is the beginning of the sandhills.  an area that is basically sand dunes covered in grass.  so it rolls up and down.  this is nebraska?

ended up at the cottonwwod lake state rec area for the night.  just outside of merriman, a small town of maybe a couple of hundred, if that, with a bar/cafe that's closed on mondays of course and a gas station so poor that i thought it was closed.  fortunately i was wrong, because they did have a cooler with some drinks in it, including gatorade.  i drank two bottles.

the state park campground was scattered around a couple of lakes and wetland.  great breeding place for mosquitos.  there were only two other families there, both day use, swimming off a dock.  i was the only camper, i figured the mosquitos had to be really bad.  fortunately there was a steady wind blowing that i think was keeping them at bay.

in the middle of the night i woke to a light patter of rain, figured i better pee while the peeing was good.  while out, i saw dark clouds all around and lightening flashes.  back into the tent and battened down the hatches as the storm moved in.  before long it was blowing strong, a constant roll of thunder that i swear never stopped, flashes of lightening, and rain pouring.  the fly was flapping like crazy and i kept waiting for the stakes to come out and the fly to be torn off.  surprising, i wasn't getting wet.  the air mattess kept me and most of my stuff off the tent bottom and dry.  someone told me this went on for about 45 min., that makes sense to me.  one loses all sense of time while riding out a storm.

i was rather relieved when the second round was only some lightening and thunder, minimal wind.

in the morning. everything was still here:  bike, helmet, pannier cover.  my sleeping bag, silk liner and clothes were fairly dry.  fly, tent floor and ground cloth soaked.  but there were no mosquitos, so i could take my time packing and clean up as much as i could.  then back on the road.

down the road in cody, there used to be a food market but it closed.  the high school and students said, "hey, why don't we create a market to meet the needs of our community."  so they built a building out of straw bales, opened a market and now run it.  nothing special about it, other than the socialist attitude.  did anyone explain to them it was socialism?  aaaagh!  great work teachers and students.

slept in wood lake city park.  ha, sounds like there actually is a city.  no.  maybe a town of a couple of hundred, maybe. there was another cyclist there when i got to the park.  craig, a machinist from lancaster county, pa.  riding the gart east to west, solo.  we shared some notes on trail conditions and camping locations.

and an incredible evening sky

up at 5 cdt.  packed up with minimal interference from mosquitos and over to ma's cafe.  how could i not?  morning old geezers have there table.  don't know if they're a daily bunch or just wednesdays.  mom looks young, but she's already a grandma.  the usual: pancakes, eggs, orange juice and tea and then i'm back on the road.

and guess what?  still sand hills, though the road is pretty flat, no hills.

and the second wave of corn fields.  still tentative, and irrigated.  i'm wishing for the change, but i know i'll get tired of corn and soy beans soon enough.

but this is still cattle country.  for the most part they keep the feed lots hid, apparently for the smell as much as anything.  but the cattle trucks are numerous.  fields are mostly hay, old grass or alfalfa.

staying at the mill race park.  incredible large park, a mile from downtown.  it has a shower!  with hot water! really nice.  for $10 it's hard to beat.

in downtown atkinson, the brewery is closed " temporarily". there's a realtor's sign in the window.  but there is a bar/restaurant with a modicum of choice.  i chase an ipa with a draft stout.  i'm the only customer on the bar side, the waitress tries very hard to be helpful, but she obviously doesn't know much about what she's serving.  i finish dinner, ride slowly back to the park and settle in for the night.  i got slightly nervous when the wind picked up, but there were no clouds in the sky, and i slept well.

a couple of more nights camping, and then i've got warmshowers lined up in lincoln and omaha, i think.  with a day of rest in lincoln.  210 miles +/-with three days to go.