August 29, 2019
Day 25 - ending at Hebron, NE
Great sleeping last night. Up at 5:11am for report writing. At 7:00am Red Cloud's city whistle blew. Thirty-five more minutes of typing, then packing. It was a sunny morning and it already felt hot and humid.
I was my way at 9:10am, stopping in town at Olson's Sinclair for breakfast and today's supply of Gatorade and ice. I was a little concerned about the mileage I had planned to ride today (56 miles) to get to Riverside Park in Hebron, but at least the wind, being from the south, wouldn't be fighting me.
At 9:52am I was moving the rest of the way south through town, to my turn east onto US-136. Another hilly day, but again nothing that required walking. At 11:23am I crossed the intersection with NE-78, and made it into Nuckolls County at 11:43am. Noon break time arrived. Only 16.4 miles for my morning effort.
US-136 turns north for four miles where it joins NE-14. Two miles before that junction, I enjoyed a nice downhill. The four miles north was on a wide shoulder, and it was flat. And with the south tailwind, it was easy riding. Still, it was hot and humid. At 1:33pm I found a spot along there that had some shade. I stopped, ate some peanuts, drank some water, and phoned my wife. She told me about her past busy weekend, and her upcoming busy weekend. It will be nice to see her, which should be on Monday, if not (maybe) Sunday evening.
Back to this easy section of road at 2:10pm. At 2:25pm I was leaving NE-14 for the turn US-136 makes to continue east. I needed another break in the shade, so I turned south into Ruskin at 3:38pm. I found a nicely-shaded park downtown, where I drank my second and last Gatorade, and ate my second and last bag of peanuts. That helped, and at 4:08pm, I was on my way to the next town ahead - Deshler.
A storm watch was out for this area, and I was finally seeing clouds which provided some shade from time to time. There seemed to be no end to these hills, though the general elevation change was downhill.
I entered Thayer County at 4:29pm, and made a right turn to the Sinclair station in Deshler at 5:05pm. Chocolate milk and a single-serving cherry pie revived me. I also restocked my "on-the-road" peanut supply. It was 5:32pm now, and I was seven miles from Hebron. According to Google Maps, what's left for today is all downhill. "Let's get this done."
Along this stretch of road, a guy pulled ahead and stopped on the shoulder. He got out and asked where I was going. I told him ahead to Hebron. Then he asked if I had a place to eat supper, saying he'd been homeless himself. I told him I was bicycle touring, and this was my vacation. After thanking him for stopping, he said, "That's a heck of a way to vacation!"
Up one more hill brought me to the left turn to Hebron at 6:30pm. I checked out downtown when I got there, then found the short bike path to Riverside Park, arriving there at 7:05pm. This place is really nice! One trailer parked here, but no one around.
There were grass sites and RV pads available, but with storms coming, I was thinking of setting up under the picnic shelter. It looked like it would work. There was an open corner of the shelter with enough room for the tent, and it was next to the outlet box, so I could run my extension cord into the tent. Of course I couldn't use stakes at the corners of the tent. I didn't want to hold tent poles up during a wind storm, so I added guylines to each tent pole halfway up. There were shelter supports and a nearby picnic table to tie those to.
I was all set for rough weather. I love being in a tent, listening to rain hit a shelter's roof instead of the tent's roof. As it got dark, a cooler breeze came in from the northeast. Then a little rain fell at 9:35pm. Not much was happening here by the time I went to bed at 10:50pm. The stronger storms were to the south and west.
Jeff
Spent: $7.61 (breakfast, Gatorade, peanuts) + $4.96 (chocolate milk, cherry pie, peanuts) + $5 (campsite) = $17.57.
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Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 979 miles (1,576 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 6 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
Your photography has always been good and shown interesting things, but on this trip I'm finding the compositions and the subjects the best yet. I had a real belly-laugh at the sign in Deshler with the three flavors of Lutherans. O we humans!
5 years ago
Thanks! I don't think I was doing much different with picture-taking. Maybe it was just the scenery available.
My first thought when seeing the Deshler sign was that Lutherans in this town don't get along with each other. But then I realized they are sharing the same sign!
Jeff
5 years ago