Larry's log:
It was the warmest morning yet, 70 degrees. It was going to be a muggy day. There was also the smell of, well....agriculture, hanging over the city. The wind was forecast to be a south wind. However, for the first half of the ride, the wind was light. After that, it was more from the southwest than south, so helped push us along.
We were on US 30 for most of the morning. The scenery was pretty much the same as yesterday, ie. small towns, farms, lots of trains on the tracks paralleling the road, etc. At about 35 miles we passed through Kearney, which seemed to be a reasonably sized city. There was a University of Nebraska campus here, although I don't think it was THE U of N campus.
Most of today's rest stops were in city parks. The second stop was in Shelton, (right near Larry's Market) and the stop after lunch was in Aurora. The temperatures heated up quickly as did the humidity. By the time we finished at 2 pm, it was 93 degrees with 60% humidity , with a heat index of 103. The shaded parks were nice places for rest stops.
Lunch was on Mormon Island, along the Platte River. It was in a whooping crane reserve, but we did not see any. There were nice wildflowers around, though. After lunch, there was about 20 miles of riding on county roads. This was what I would have expected Nebraska to be, endless corn on both sides of the road. These must also be popular bike routes, since there was a sign noting that cyclists should ride single file since the road was narrow.
At Mile 100, we turned onto US 34 and passed the IAMS dog food plant a couple of miles down the road. Maybe Bisti, the tour operators' dog, had a rest stop here.
And, here we are in York on Saturday night! I guess it's typical Nebraska, as there is a corn field right next to the motel! The town only has a population of about 6000, but its main street went on for about four miles. In fact, this street is US 81, which also runs through Oklahoma and into Texas about 60 miles northwest of Ft. Worth. Dinner was at a fast food Chinese place next to the motel. Suffice it to say that the dishes I had were not quite the way I'm used to seeing them. But, it tasted okay.
-- Larry Schwartz
Warm morning and the air was filled with the scent of feed lots!! Not a pleasant smell at breakfast.
Quick ride to the first rest stop, among side the corn fields and train tracks. Fortunately, the wind was calm and it was an easy ride. Lunch was at the whooping crane preserve and since we arrived 1/2 hour early, we took advantage of the time to check out the view from the boardwalk. No cranes were around. Too hot!
The day warmed up and we had a very quick ride to York and arrived back first to the motel for the second day in a row. And into the hot tub we went. Watched the Tour de France and Lance's victory and went for dinner and dessert. Did meet up with 3 other cyclists and we had a fun evening of exchanging stories. 2 of the riders are on recumbants and they will be letting us try them out tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be a short day of 111 miles. This is the last day for 10 riders who are only doing the first section of the trip. We will have 3 more join us for the remainder of the trip.
Judith Jolly (and Daniel Schaaf)