Monday morning, after the big storm, we got a late start (10:00 AM). This was due to having had breakfast with Tom, at Helen's Cafe and more bike maintenance. After saying goodbye to Tom, I needed to do some truing of my wheel, which I messed up late yesterday, when fooling around in the hotel parking lot. Won't do that again!

There were no towns between Chadron and Alliance. The road consisted of a number of long ups and downs. The journal describes 10 miles of climbing out of Chadron and entry into timber country that was part of the Nebraska National Forest. These were the rugged hills we could see, far in the distance, from the border between South Dakota and Nebraska, last evening.

We emerged from the forest and got back out onto the prairie. By then, it was getting very warm. We stopped at a farmhouse and got some water. Shortly thereafter, we got onto a gravel road that ran adjacent to US-385, for 5 miles. The highway had more traffic than we felt comfortable being around, so we opted for the gravel. It was rough and had patches of deep sand, which tested our balance and bike handling abilities. 

Back then, gravel riding wasn't a thing. 

The wheat harvest was happening and that meant more trucks, motor, and farm vehicles on the roads. We saw some huge combines working the fields. At times, the dust choked us. 

Heart

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The gravel road met Highway 2 and took us into Alliance. By then, it was downright hot. We went to the local post office to see if Paul's "care package" had arrived. Sure enough, it had. Upon picking up the package, we went to the store and got some ice cream. A smorgasbord of sugar ensued. Afterwards and nearly comatose, I fell asleep. When I awoke, I was groggy and somewhat disoriented. I walked over to the fire station and was allowed to use their hose to cool myself off. A measure of feeling better followed. I vowed to restrict my sugar intake going forward. We did our Montana routine of waiting out the worst of the heat and continuing our riding in the late afternoon/early evening.

At 6:00 PM, it was much cooler so we got back on the road and peeled off 14 quick miles to Lakeside. The terrain was flatter than it had been earlier in the day. We had entered the Sand Hills, an area of sand dunes that are covered with grass. It is the largest system of dunes in the USA and really good cattle country. There were huge cattle ranches all along the way with man made ponds or lakes breaking up the greenery. Long trains, off in the distance, went by at times. Any settlements we saw along the way were very small. Lakeside is one of them. The people, however, are very friendly and hospitable. Since it was becoming dark, we decided to stop in Lakeside and continue onward tomorrow.