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Day 6: Rest day in Broken Bow Forward to Day
8: Spalding - Norfolk
Day 7: 23-Aug-2002 Broken Bow - Spalding. (map)
Today's distance 90.9 miles
Time moving: 7 hours, 52 minutes
Time stopped: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Ending elevation: 1873 ft
Max speed: 31.3 mph
Moving average speed: 11.6 mph
Overall average speed: 8.1 mph
Cumulative climbing: 3013 ft
Cumulative descent: 3789 ft
Total distance: 426.0 miles
Today featured an early start, about 90 miles of riding, one near
death experience, and a road-rash generating spill about 200 yards from
my final destination.
I was awake and ready to go by about 5:45, but waited around for some
daylight (sunrise was a few minutes before 7:00), so got a nice, early
start. I was hoping to avoid the predicted afternoon thunderstorms, and was
also hoping to follow the rest day with a strong day.
The ankle pain today was much different than before. Not as sharp,
and less grinding. Last night before bed I took a careful look at both
shoes and pedals to make sure everything was the aligned correctly, and
also lubed the chain and fixed a slow leak in the front tire that had
started, courtesy of Mr. Goathead, on the second day of the trip.
I am very glad I took the hilly northern route instead of US30. The
hills give the ride character and break up the monotony of the miles. The
people who think Nebraska is a flat, dull, endless state should get off
of I-80 and get into the hills.
These photos were taken somewhere around Arcadia.
The morning ride was uneventful and I made it to Scotia, and sat
on a grassy lawn at the main intersection for a while, then went for lunch
at the town tavern (Happy Jack?). The hand-written sign in the window
said "Now Serving Lunch" so I stopped in, and the only occupants were
the bartender and her 4-year-old daughter, who were watching cartoons
on TV. The kitchen consisted of a chest freezer, electric skillet, and
Fry-daddy. The bartender rummages through the freezer to see what is
available. No fries, but she offers to go to the grocery store across
the street and get some for me. She pulls some cash from the register,
and in a couple of minutes is back. She cooks me a burger and fries, and
with a can of Coke the entire tab is $3.00.
Nearby are some chalk hills, and mines. When I rode through I didn't
know if they are still active, but some of the local signs mention chalk
mining. It is the Happy
Jack mine. I wish I had known about this beforehand, I might have
made an excursion to have a look.
After lunch I found a water spigot at an RV parking spot across the
street from the bar. As I was filling my water bottles two people stopped
by. One woman asked if I was camping and told me there was a nicer campground
just a few blocks east. Then a sheriff's deputy drove by, and we chatted
for a while and he told me there was a camping area in Spalding, along
the Cedar river. Spalding would make it about 88 miles for today, and looked
like a nice goal. He also said that there is a town park in Greeley, and
while it doesn't have a campground he thought the locals probably wouldn't
mind if I pitched a tent there for a night. But it sounds like making
it to Spalding would be the best bet.
Burning Sands golf course near Scotia
Hangars at the Greeley airport. My friend Dan Doner was flying
a rented Cessna 182 from Indiana to Fort Collins a few years ago, and he
had borrowed my Garmin 90 aviation GPS. As he was flying across central
Nebraska he began to notice oil droplets accumulating on the windshield.
In a single engine airplane, this is a dire situation. This GPS
has a GOTO NEAREST feature, which lets you push a button twice and navigate
to the nearest airport. This is where it brought him. He landed
on the grass runway (the pavement in the foreground is the highway, not
a runway) safely, but the airplane's engine was on its last legs.
I got to Greeley in good time, and stopped at the cemetery and
sat down under a nice tree among a beautiful stand of Blue Grama
grass, in peak bloom. I called Markey (Blue Grama is her favorite grass)
and rested for about 1/2 hour. I was ready for more riding. I headed
north on route 281, a moderately busy (by central NE standards) highway
with a car or truck passing by every few minutes. Then I looked ahead
and saw a car coming at me, in the northbound lane, trying to pass a
line of 3 semis and another car, and this forced me off the road and into
the ditch. *sshole. Almost every single driver I've come across on this
trip has been safe, courteous, and I can't begin to count the number of
waves, "thumbs up" and smiles I've gotten. But it would only take one
moron like this to ruin my whole day.
My uncle Chuck Weber told me I should title this one "Plant
me a stone, I'm Home"
Blue grama grass in the Greeley cemetery,
The rest of the trip to Spalding was tiring, maybe even tedious,
but otherwise uneventful, until I was across the street from the campground.
The cop in Scotia had given me rough directions to the area, and I saw
the golf course and an adjacent park, which I thought was the campground.
The road leading to this park was once paved with asphalt, but is now
covered with pea-sized gravel. Being very fatigued, my reflexes were
slow and before I knew what was happening I was going down, onto my right
side. My elbow was missing a couple square inches of skin, and there
was quite a bit of blood, but no damage to the bicycle. Oh well. Stand
up, brush off, try to look cool, and realize I'm not at the right place
-- the campground is across the road.... Push bike across the road and
down the gravel access road to the tent area at the end, near a canoe access.
Set up tent and rode into town for food and water, life is good.
This was a very quiet spot,. Two or three cars drove down the
road during the course of the night, but there weren't any other campers,
and I didn't talk to anyone else until the next morning, where I met a couple
of fishermen as I was packing up.
My tent in the Spalding campground, during a break in the rain the
next morning. It stopped raining just long enough for me to get packed
up.
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Day 6: Rest day in Broken Bow Forward to Day
8: Spalding - Norfolk
These photos were taken somewhere around Arcadia.
The rest of the trip to Spalding was tiring, maybe even tedious,
but otherwise uneventful, until I was across the street from the campground.
The cop in Scotia had given me rough directions to the area, and I saw
the golf course and an adjacent park, which I thought was the campground.
The road leading to this park was once paved with asphalt, but is now
covered with pea-sized gravel. Being very fatigued, my reflexes were
slow and before I knew what was happening I was going down, onto my right
side. My elbow was missing a couple square inches of skin, and there
was quite a bit of blood, but no damage to the bicycle. Oh well. Stand
up, brush off, try to look cool, and realize I'm not at the right place
-- the campground is across the road.... Push bike across the road and
down the gravel access road to the tent area at the end, near a canoe access.
Set up tent and rode into town for food and water, life is good.
This was a very quiet spot,. Two or three cars drove down the
road during the course of the night, but there weren't any other campers,
and I didn't talk to anyone else until the next morning, where I met a couple
of fishermen as I was packing up.