Category: Nebraska 2010

Nebraska 2010 – Day 28

Nebraska 2010 – Day 28

E Sharp

Ft McPherson to North Platte: Checking out the world’s largest railyard

Wednesday June 2, 2010, 37 miles (60 km) – Total so far: 1,174 miles (1,889 km)

I’m taking a back road – State Farm Road – south of I-80 into North Platte. I’m again on the Oregon Trail and there’s a marker denoting the location of a former Pony Express station site along this road. The area is composed of cultivated fields and some houses. The road zig zags west and north, turning north each time it runs back into the loess hills. These loess hills are not as extensive as the ones in western Iowa, but they are geologically important in their own right. The area around Bignell Hill, just off to the left, may be the thickest (> 150 feet) late Quaternary loess deposits in North America. Read more →

Nebraska 2010 – Day 29

Nebraska 2010 – Day 29

E Sharp

North Platte to Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area: Those frisky Nebraskan men

Thursday June 3, 2010, 74 miles (119 km) – Total so far: 1,248 miles (2,008 km)

An early start once again and I have to ride all the way back through North Platte again to pick up Hwy 30 on the northwest edge of town. One of the interesting things about North Platte is that many of the neighbourhoods look like they are composed of cookie cutter, cheapo housing blocks from different decades – sorta like ‘National Homes’ subdivisions from the 1960s. There are also several trailer parks in town, as well as the ubiquitous ones on the edge of town. It sorta gives the place an odd and rough feel. Read more →

Nebraska 2010 – Day 30

E Sharp

Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area: Lying on a picnic table all day

Friday June 4, 2010

It’s just as well that today’s a rest day. My chest is tight and wheezy all morning. I suspect it’s the cottonwoods setting my asthma off, since they are releasing all their ‘cotton’ when the wind blows. I spend the day snacking and lying on my Ridgerest in the dappled shade of the picnic table. I entertain the thought at one point of riding over to the powered campground for a shower, but because it’s so warm, I figure I’d be just as sweaty after the ride back. I don’t want to deal with that corrugated road either. Instead, I do some bike cleaning and maintenance and nap on the table.

Late in the afternoon, a park ranger comes by and stops at my table. He says, ‘I drove by this morning and you were lying on that picnic table. I drive by now and you are lying on the table. Have you moved at all today’? I laugh and say, ‘No, not really. Today was a rest day. So that’s what I did’. He laughs and then asks the usual questions – he says he doesn’t see many bike tourists out this way.

Nebraska 2010 – Day 31

Nebraska 2010 – Day 31

E Sharp

Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area, NE to Julesburg, CO: What’s that stinky chick doing in the Welcome Center?

Saturday June 5, 2010, 50 miles (81 km) – Total so far: 1,298 miles (2,088 km)

So last night was a Friday and there were several people rolling in late in the evening for their weekend of camping. About midnight, a car comes and the two blokes decide to set up directly across the gravel road from me. There’s a million other places they could camp in the huge area, but no, it has to be right there. And so, for the next two hours, I listen to them as they pound in tent pegs, chop wood and make all sorts of noise. I figure they must be building the Taj Mahal over there. By 2:30 am, I’ve had enough. My alarm is set for 4:30am, so I’m pissed. I put on some clothes and start to unzip and open the tent. They hear this and immediately shut up and stay quiet from then on. Thanks. Read more →