McCook, NE to Imperial, NE 67 miles

Today we got up at 6:15am and made it to the decades old Sehnert's Bakery. They didn't have the turnovers baked at that hour so we settled for cup caps. Mine Pistachio! 

We cycled 12 miles to the next little town Culvertson. We biked into the center of town to find a phone booth, but back on rte 34 we found a coffee shop. I had the "Best" breakfast sandwich. It was delicious. We sat at a cool table, you' ll see. The owner showed me a potato that looked like a heart, Steven and I split a piece of cherry pie. We chatted with the owners,  last year they turned a garage into a coffee shop. She said the farmers said they wanted meals so they added breakfast and lunch, then the farmers said they wanted pies. You get the story. " It's simple home Cookin' she said.

The ride was beautiful undulating sandhills, muted browns and greens, lots of cows up in the hills and down at my level. 

Next we went into Palisades and one small grocery store with wooden floors owned by a naturally pretty women with thick hair the color of grian pulled back. He beautiful daughters help her out and her husband said she works hard to make this work. People now come from further away he said. One thing that I've noticed is that there are so many vacant store fronts that some people take the entraprenurial plunge. 

Waunata was the next little town across the rail road tracks and next to the tracks is a busy grain elevator complex. Beyond that is the little town that deadends at a sand hill. 

This was another day of over 100 degree temps. The headwinds kept us from feeling to hot. The last 11 miles of flat into Imperial the wind became a real challenge.

I said to Steven, We must be in really good shape to do all of that. We are at 3500 elevation. Tomorrow Colorado!

Day off June 29

Day off time for chores. After breakfast in town we headed to the car wash, I mean bike wash.  For  two bucks we had time to soap up and rinse of our bikes. 

We hung in our air conditioned room, got a Smoothie for lunch, went to the Prairie Museum had an early dinner and tomorrow we head out to Enders state park on Lake or bike a little further to Imperial. My vote is for a bed. 100 degree temperatures tomorrow. We will try to get an early start.

Arapahoe to McCook, NE

June 28th, We biked 40 miles into a headwind at 11 mph. I just accepted it as I knew that I could do it. We had an entire lane for ourselves all day. We stopped at a little town, for breakfast in Alma, NE with a population of 1133. Interesting that most of these little towns and much littler than Alma have two banks, so I reckon that there is enough business to support them. Small businesses are enterprising I have increasingly noticed. How do they stay in business in a small town? We'll a couple of day ago Steven and I got a smoothie in a dress shop. We wouldn't have know that we could get a smoothie except that the post lady told me. Yesterday's breakfast joint was also a pharmacy. The girl told me that to get to the ladies room that I had to walk past the pharmacy and past the kitchen and take a right. The ladies in the kitchen had all sort of questions about biking for me. After breakfast we checked out the 6 lane bowling alley and restaurant. The 18 wheeler trucks yesterday helped us in the wind with a little pull. We looked forward to them passing except for the ones carrying manure or pigs. Well it still was worth it. A bunch of vehicles and workers held our Interest as they we installing rail road ties over a mile or so. I started singing. I've been working on the railroad...

We got into McCook around 1:30pm. After some time resting in the Economy Inn. 72 including all taxes and fees and free breakfast we headed out for Mexican food. This is the biggest town that we've been in in quite some time 7600, an old railroad town. We learned from the bicycle shop guy, what a bicycle shop! Well it's a bicycle and vacuum cleaner shop. The bike shop guy told us that there is a Frank Lloyd Wright shop in town and he knew that because his parents lived there. I 

love FLW. We walked up there and it cool and in private hands. I asked the old rail road guy dressed in overalls why the trains are just sitting there on the tracks at the depot he said because they are working on the tracks east of us. 

Wind warnings 10-30 miles an hour and expected temperatures of 102 are keeping us here for an extra day.

Franklin, NE to Arapahoe, NE 58 miles

MIlestone 2050 miles as of today!

We left our hosts house around 9am and headed out to route 36 the same route that we have been riding on for three days. Today the first 12 miles were big rolling hills. I was wondering if I could keep my energy level throughout. Workers today started applying chip seal to our road that was in perfect condition. Luckily today we were able to ride on the east bound lane for a mile or so, because they just started. Maybe it has to do with needing to spend federal road funds. We stopped at a road side gas station cafe for a cold drink and it was nice again to talk to the locals. Our lunch/ breakfast stop was at miles 22 at Alma. We ate at CJs Cafe. We are almost I had a Western omelet and it had big chunks of ham, it was really good. Right after we ate we opted to take a gravel road and you may guess that I actually liked it. It was a little scary but how many people get to do these things! Big surprise when we exited back to route 36 a few miles later the wind had changed to our benefit and we were on a flat road, easy street! For the last 15 miles the head winds returned and we are staying at the Shady Rest Motel. Beautiful scenery of prairie, soft earth tones and powder blue sky.

Nelson, NE to Franklin, NE 55 miles

Today started at 3am with a screening siren. It was the wail I expect of a emergency I thought as I lay in my tent.  I had trouble falling asleep in my tent in the city campground to begin with. Steven and I were the only ones there. I thought a hurricane or a tornado and I'm in my tent. Where to go what to do? I have no where to go, I'll just stay here. The siren stopped after waking up the whole town. I fell back asleep. I'm the morning at the local gas station/ store at some well worn formica tables there sat some old timers, farmers wearing overalls.. Steven and got to sit with them for a good amount of time. Very nice to chat for a while. The farmers said that the middle aged women behind the counter knows what goes on in this town and she said that a car flipped over and they need emergency services. That's the way it's done in some small towns. We went to lunch 32 miles west in a small town Red Ville,

which was Willa Cather's birthplace. It appears that this town hopes to pin their rebirth on tourism of it's famed auther. We are staying the night at Amy & Mike Stephens, warm showers hosts. We had showed a great dinner and I have my own room in thos 125 year old Victorian in Franklin. Named after Ben Franklin. 

Fairbury, NE to Nelson, NE

 Headwinds all day. plus rain and sleet. What a different a day makes. We were on the same route, route 36 as yesterday. You might think that I’m crazy but I actually liked riding in that lively weather. We made lunch at about 25 miles in to 57 miles. I was tired of the crosswind after lunch and didn’t consider it fun anymore. For the day we climbed 1700, rode 57 miles at considerably slower speeds. The scenary with all of its earth tones and wild flowers were beautiful. I’m getting tired of corn fields. We are camping in a little town of Nelson. I’m surprised that I have a cell connection. Temperature yesterday and today in the 70s to low 80s.

Marysville ,KS to Fairbury, Nebraska 56 miles

Steven and I decided to head to North to Nebraska. We learned about the Blue River bike trail that starts in Marysville and goes to Lincoln Nebraska. We decided to give it a try. One reason was that we learned that there is no breakdown lane on the route that we’ve been riding in KS.  Does it sound like a good idea, we’ll, yes and no. The trail was pounded by a storm a couple of weeks back and there was a lot of little branches, the big problem was there was lots of loose sand and mud like quicksand on the trail. This made for strenuous riding. The plan was to ride this trail for thirty seven miles. At 15 miles in when we had a ride option we took it and we had just crossed into Nebraska. It was time to head west. Boy oh boy It was worth riding through all of that because we had a really excellent tail wind which made it awfully fun to ride the long slightly rolling hills with next to no traffic. In the final few miles a train of over 100 cars paralleled us while passing over the course of several minutes. This town Fairbury, NE was one time a busy railroad town which played its role as a shipping and receiving hub. A pretty big town of about 3000. Volunteers help to keep the old time movie theatre running. Steven and I went and saw Buzz Lightyear and ate popcorn. Photos to come.

6/23 Haiwatha to Marysville, KS 60 miles

Tail wind all day! In the 70s today too! We rode route 36 all day and it's varying widths of brake down lanes. Semi trucks passed us giving us a pull and in the opposite direction we got a push. We had long tempered up hills all day followed by the same in the down hills. While we still see much corn, t

his is cow country, some trucks that passed us smelled like manure.

Rained threatened and we hoped to get to are lunch town of Seneca for lunch before the down pour, we didn't luckily there began to be homes along the road as we were 5 miles from the town. Steven pulled off and rode down a long gravel driveway, I followed. We waited under a type of front yard covered patio with the good graces of the elderly owners. The husband, 84, a retired navy man and farmer enjoyed talking with us. This stop will be a nice memory. We got to a Mexican lunch only partly wet and the food was more than ample and really good.

My bike developed an irritating high pitch squeek over the last 15 or so miles. First thing that I did was to clean and then oil all around my crank. I hope that fixed it!

We are in Marysville home to The Pony Express. The photo of the full frame building is the original Pony Express bldg. The boulevards are so big in these towns and traffic is so light, so different from home. They still have diagonal parking as I remember as a kid.

Atchison, KS to Hiawatha, KS

The heatwave broke for the day! We viewed a few mansions in Atchison before leaving. Leaving town required us to cycle some bid rolling hills, my guess is that it was at least a dozen. I was marvelling, as well as Steve in how well we rode these hills. I was wondering how many I could do before my pace suffered. I didn't get that chance. 

Peggy decided to stay in Atchison today. Steve and I will continue our trip without Peggy. I think that she is going to take a different route or just dance to her own drummer. I will miss Peggy very much. 

We stopped to take a break about 20 miles in to today's ride. We pulled off of highway 73, crossed the tracks and there was a street sigh at the corner one saying Main Street and the other 1st St. In some places a prestigious address. See the photos. At 40 miles we stopped at Hiawatha and decided to stay. We are at one of those rode side decrepit looking motels. The walls are pink. We are leaving early tomorrow and headed 60 miles to Marysville. Only one road all day, route 36.

excellent pie 

6/21 Kansas City Missouri to Atchison, Kansas

We left Mark's house around 7am in effort to stay out of the heat, but it was already hot. It was pretty easy getting out of the City and around 4 miles in we hopped up on a bike trail that started a top a Levy. The trail turned shaded as we parralled the river on our way to the beautiful little town of Parkville to have breakfast. The photo shows the three of us a the water front park about 2 minutes from a coffee shop. 10 miles out of 50 accomplished! Steven and I headed North West. Peggy doesn't like to rush out from breakfast. We rode past farms, some on not so busy rides, others on somewhat busy rides. We stopped for a Smoothie in Weston a little old fashion town 30 miles in. Oh, boy, a gravel road takes us back to our route, gravel, fresh big stones cover the road and makes travelling really hard. I took a little spill as my pannier hooked a tree branch. Some how I ended up in a pushup position and didn't get a scratch. 

We took some more roads to the Amelia Earhart Bridge and we crossed into Kansas. Steven and I just got back from the town museum.