Nerd Em's Adventures
They say that gambling is addictive. Perhaps it is. I’m starting my second day in a row with a gamble.
As I ride out of town on federal highway 71 in the gentle glow of dawn, the traffic is nil and the wind is already working itself over 10mph. My intended route of F32 immediately climbs steeply away from the highway. Read more
The Missouri River floodplain is more than seven miles wide between Onawa, Iowa and Decatur, Nebraska. The river flows in the very western edge of the floodplain here. With the river defining the boundary between Iowa and Nebraska, the floodplain lies mostly in Iowa. But the floodplain feels like a no-mans-land. Read more
I could tell you stories about the hills of loess soil which mantle the glacial tills. I could you stories about the sad state of the Winnebago reservation where the ‘drug dependency unit’ sign is the first thing you see when passing the hospital and where a ‘wellness centre’ seems too little too late to rebuild a broken culture. I could tell you stories about Lewis and Clark, the landfill that has every possible type of windmill displayed out front, the zillions of trucks heading to and from the ethanol plant, or the lady at the gas station in Ponca that has lived there her whole life and has six daughters, 19 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren (all of whom still live in a 50-mile radius). I could describe the layers of rock visible at the boat ramp at Ponca State Park and tell you when they were deposited and what Nebraska looked like at the time.
But that is not the story of today. Today’s story is all about weather. So let’s begin. Read more
I wake slowly. There is flickering outside but no thunder. I open my eyes. It is just the shadows of the leaves playing with the bright sunshine on my tent fly. It is quiet. I am dry. All of my gear seems pretty dry. The tent is still very wet, however.
I climb out of the tent. Two men in a car are up the end of the road with hunting jackets and binoculars. Bird-watchers – their heads are craned upwards. Read more
We’re flinging down the miles this morning. Vermillion to Yankton is a straight shot on a divided highway with a huge shoulder. The road traverses the floodplain well away from the river, so there is nothing distinctive about the scenery. This could be rural agricultural land anywhere. A tailwind is giving me a good push under cloudy, featureless skies. Read more
It’s going to be a rockin’ day – all sorts of geology and paleontology to check out today, let’s go!
A mosasaur fossil was found high up on a hill in Pierre shale at Niobrara State Park in 1986. While building a park road, this sea serpent (around 33 feet long with paddle fins and a big-ass head with 3-4 inch-long teeth) was unearthed. The excavation site is marked along one of the roads by the cabins. We saw the actual fossil when we visited Morrill Hall in Lincoln last year. Getting my mind in fossil mode is a great start to the day! Read more
The wind is gusty and out of the north. The temperature has dropped 20 degrees from yesterday. The puffy grey clouds bunch together and bump each other along while traversing low in the sky. I assess all of this and think: ugh. I’ll be heading northwest at times today. Do I want to ride with all of that wind, or just spend the day in O’Neill? Read more
The wind is still blowing in the trees this morning. It slips and slides through the cedar and pine needles and pushes back the leaves of the oaks. It is somewhere between a whisper and a roar. It has swapped from the northwest to the southeast in the night. That says I’ll have a tailwind but that I’ll also be riding into a frontal boundary. Read more
The Cowboy Trail in northern Nebraska is a rail trail that follows the old Chicago and Northwestern rail line called “The Cowboy Line”. The railroad abandoned the line in 1992. It was purchased by the Rails to Trails Conservancy for a bit over $6 million and donated to the state of Nebraska. Read more
Some special places immediately strike you with their beauty and importance. The hot, bubbly energy of Yellowstone, the soaring granite cliffs of Yosemite and the towering sandstone walls of Zion demand an instant response. You do not have to live deeply or think too much to appreciate the direct values of such places.
But there are other special places that require a less shallow approach. The beauty is less direct, the importance not always immediately apparent. The Niobrara is one of those places. Read more