Larry's log:
It was another warm morning, about 70 degrees. By our finish at about 1:30 pm, it was close to 95 with 43% humidity (heat index 104). I guess it could have been worse. We could have been riding in Minneapolis, where the temperature alone was 98.
Today was the first day that we did not have a favorable wind. It was out of the south the entire day, which made it pretty much from our right side. The terrain today reminded me a lot of North Texas. It was a about as rolling as some of the areas can get around Dallas, and there was a lot of alternation between farms and just fields in general. Over the last couple of days we have also noticed an increase in trees. On the prairie, most of them are short. But in the towns, you see some larger shade trees.
Our first rest stop, at 30 miles, was in the town of Friend. This was a two-block long Main Street town, but an interesting place. They spruced it up by painting all of the old buildings. Many of the buildings had windows painted on them with curtains or other scenes behind them. The entire side of another building was painted "Welcome to Friend" with a big American flag. The side of yet another building was painted to resemble a blacksmith shop, complete with people milling around, etc. I took a picture of it, and through the viewfinder it appeared very real. Finally, the Main Street was also paved a red brick. The roads off of the Main Street appeared to contain modest houses along tree-shaded streets.
About 15 miles later, we hit a similar town, but larger, called Crete. It too, had the murals on the buildings. A few miles past that, we crossed US 77, which runs straight into Downtown Dallas. I haven't checked the atlas, but we were probably about due north of Big D at that point.
As we neared the eastern extreme of the state, I noticed that many of the towns seemed to have the same names as cities in Upstate New York, such as Utica and Syracuse. We rode through Syracuse. I wonder if New Yorkers settled them.
This part of the state was also the least pleasant riding of the day, as we were on a two lane road that was being expanded to four lanes divided. Most of the two lane section we were on was a strip of the new four lane. However, this side was going to eventually be the strip headed in the other direction. This meant that what was currently being used as the eastbound shoulder was going to be the left shoulder of the westbound side, once construction was through. The end result: Our shoulder was narrower than a typical right side shoulder would be, and the road was busy. Good thing it was Sunday. Next time this tour comes through here, this could be a nice stretch of road, if they've finished it by then.
We did exit off onto the old road for about ten miles, which had absolutely no traffic. Finally, after 110 miles, we reached Nebraska City. I didn't catch the population, but it's a few miles long. It has John Brown's Cabin, that was used as part of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War era. It is the oldest building still standing in Nebraska, and also contains a cave where he hid the slaves. There was also a nice park as you entered town, with a large, municipal pool. Also, this is where Arbor Day started, so there are a good number of trees around. This must also be apple growing country, since we are at the Apple Inn, and just down the road is Apple Park. We're right along US 75, which runs north from the Dallas area. I could hop on, bike south, and head home! But I would rather ride to Charleston.
We had a wonderful dinner at an Italian/pizza buffet place, $6.25 for all you can eat, and no upcharge for hungry cyclists. It's probably the best dinner we've had yet. The restaurant is a chain, but unfortunately there are no more of them where we are headed.
Tomorrow, we will ride through Iowa for about 40 miles before heading into Missouri. That is a nice, unexpected surprise for me, since I have never set foot or bike in Iowa. In fact, I can say that for every state I've been in so far on this tour: Oregon, Washington (where I crossed a bridge one day during the tour, just to say I'd been there) Idaho, Wyoming and Nebraska. I have been in an airport in Missouri, but never ridden in it. We have plans for pictures at both the Iowa and Missouri borders tomorrow.
-- Larry Schwartz
We started off biking on the shoulder of a really bad road this morning. 2 miles out we had our 8th flat of the trip. But since we had a very long lecture about blocking traffic by Susan we still continued to ride on the bad shoulder as much as possible. Made for a very bumpy ride today.
More corn along the road. Good ole Nebraska! Very hot and humid. After lunch, we encountered some rolling hills. This is a preview of Missouri and all the rollers we will climb. We did not care for the road into town due to the construction and we missed the side road with less traffic that Larry had mentioned. So we did have a less enjoyable ride into town. But we made it back, safe and sound. Found out that one of the tandems crashed and the lady was in the hospital in Syracuse. Unfortunately, this was to have been their last day of the trip. Have not heard the outcome of the crash yet. Two other cyclists crashed but they got away with minor cuts and bruises.
Laundry evening at the motel was an event after the washing machine ate my sock!! Had to do the load twice. Watched Lance Armstrong win the Tour de France and then went out for a great dinner.
Tomorrow we will ride thru Iowa for 40 miles and then into Missouri. More rolling hills and hot and humid weather. 127 miles and 5700 feet of climbing. Ouch!
Judith Jolly (and Daniel Schaaf)