It was a cool and cloudy day today, having rained last night and threatening rain throughout the day, so we all dressed accordingly. But it really didn’t rain much during the ride, just a drizzle here and there. We had a nice tailwind and a relatively short 65 mile day with only 800 ft of elevation gain. We are continuing to climb, reaching 3,278 ft here in Imperial Nebraska. It was a nice ride, the prairie is actually quite beautiful in the gray mist and low clouds. The terrain continues to flatten out, no more rolling hills. There were places where the prairie looked relatively untouched, rolling grasslands as far as the eye could see. Lewis and Clark remarked on this when they reached the high plains, how different it was from the East. Nothing but grasslands except alongside the rivers where there would be trees. We passed through several towns, but they all look like ghost towns, particularly on a Sunday when everything is closed. We stopped by Palisade and nothing was open. We stopped by the small grocery store which was closed and were hanging out there when a guy in a truck drove by and asked if we wanted it opened up. We were there a little before 11 AM and it was supposed to open at 11, so he called the owner and he came out and opened early for us. He brewed some coffee and we sat in the back at a table for our coffee break and to read the local McCook newspaper. The big news was a controversy around a feedlot that someone wanted to build in the neighborhood. The neighbors didn’t want it, because of the smell and the possibilities of polluting the local water supply. Imagine having a feedlot next door! We have passed several and they smell to high heaven from miles away…
We took another break at mile 42 at Waneta, at the local Sinclair gas station, and then did the last 18 miles into Imperial, getting there by around 1:30 PM. We passed through to the Mountain time zone just before Imperial so we gained yet another hour! I love going West…..
We are staying at another United Methodist church. But we have to do our own cooking this time. Chet and I are on cooking detail. They have a great kitchen with two ovens, so we are looking to bake some chickens tonight. MMmmmmmm.
Below are the RidewithGPS stats:
We have now passed over 1900 miles, so over halfway through our adventure, so we celebrated by having some really good food at the Coppermill Steakhouse last night. I had a big ribeye with mashed potatoes, grilled onions and mushrooms, a gin and tonic and a glass of Malbec. Wow was that good! We all felt like we were back in civilization after all those days eating from our mess kits!
Biking across the USA with Mike 