Decided to add the day of the week to my title as I can never remember what day it is. Hence, not prepared last Sunday.
I woke up and knew bad weather was coming in a day or two and knew I’d want to hole up then, so, decided to ride, even though I really didn’t want to. It was really cloudy and kinda dark clear past 9 o’clock. First two hours I rode pretty well. Then the darn wind shifted just enough to almost feel like a head wind. I kept going slower and slower. Body is tired but too stubborn to give up. It was a short day compared to the last week and when I checked my log, I have ridden 8 straight days, most over 50 miles a day.
So we are definitely taking a rest day tomorrow. When I got into town, it was slightly uphill and I was struggling. Then there was a hill right in the middle of town, not big, and rather short, but I had to walk it. OK, I am tired. No way I should have had to walk that little hill.
I have had pretty flat, awesome shoulder, riding the last four days. I know the hills will return in eastern NE, maybe even my next riding day so really need to give my body a rest.
New roadkill today was a rattle snake. I am positive. I was even warned by my warmshowers host that I might see one on the road while riding. Glad he was dead. And, saw another raccoon today.
The agricultural differences across the states has really been interesting. Of course, WY was ranches, few and far between. Near Lusk, I started seeing coal trains, probably from up around Gillette. Then all of a sudden near NE, the railroad disappeared. Not sure where it went.
Western NE still had a few ranches but is known for its turkey hunting. There were hunters at my motel in Harrison.
At Crawford, the train went through town north/south and on the other side of Chadron, the original railroad track became the Cowboy Trail. I asked a local about it and they said it was a walking path now. All across the state I have seen one runner on it. It is a beautiful path, great for mountain bikes etc but not so good for skinny tires like mine. It feels like compacted dirt with a thin layer of pink gravel. Wonder who is going to use it but it goes all across the state until O’Neill where the railroad starts again.
Back in Gordon, I saw signs about potatoes so asked a local and from Gordon to Cody, that is seed potato growing country just like Teton valley used to be. Migrant workers come to help plant and often fill the motels. I asked one motel owner why they’d be filled. I said, ” what’s here that draws people?” And their reply was, “work”. Who would have tho’t.
Lots of the ‘small’ towns I have ridden through are there only for grain elevators and such. I guess with the railroad gone now, trucks take over. And I have seen many, many grain trucks the last few days.
Cattle became very prevalent past Chadron but it wasn’t until Ainsworth that feed lots became the norm. You could smell them for miles. And then, the cattle trucks became the norm on the hiway. I should have counted them.
In WY, it was pickups. In this part of NE, it is cattle hauling trucks.
Now that I seem to be out of cattle country, it is grain hauling trucks and I know for a fact, they are hauling shelled corn. One truck passed me and had a leak and I got showered with shelled corn. That was an experience.
39.5 miles today. 647.9 total
BikerAl Across America 2018 