Day 3 - ending at Ravenna, NE - Nebraska on the Open Road

August 7, 2019

Day 3 - ending at Ravenna, NE

My next-door camping neighbor was right-on with the weather forecast. At 1:55am I woke up to thunder. Light rain at 2:50am, and a storm from 3:15am to 3:45am. During that time I selected pictures for yesterday's report. The tent ended up with about a cup of water inside, due to rainfly slack. Back to sleeping until 7:10am. More rain was coming so I made a dash to the nearby Pump and Pantry for coffee and donuts before more report-writing in the tent.

The sun was finally out at 10:23am, and at noon I was ready to leave. One stop first before leaving town - Rath's Cafe for lunch. Their menu listed Arnold Palmer as a drink option. Co-workers have given me empty Arnold Palmer gallon jugs for carrying water on my trips, but I have never tried it. It's good. I transferred what I had remaining into my Klean Kanteen before leaving at 12:30pm.

My destination today was Buffalo County Recreation Area just east of Ravenna. A ways to go with a late start, thanks to the morning rain delay. I crossed the Platte River on US-34 around 3:00pm, and turned onto Stuhr Road at 3:16pm. At 3:23pm I passed the Grand Island city limits sign. Using side streets was my routing plan through town. I was seeing lots of leaves and sticks on the streets and large branches lying in yards. Seemed like everyone was outside cleaning up. Last night's storm must have been worse here.

My side street plan got a little messed up when I met up with blocked railroad tracks near the business area. On a detour, I ended up passing Wayne Cyclery. I turned around to see about getting a new spare tire and tube. They had two tire options in the size I needed. I went with the Giant brand one. The shop has old bicycles at the front of their store, though I don't know if they are for sale.

I left the bike shop at 3:59pm and made it to Route 2 at 4:28pm. Now I'm where I want to be! Nice wide smooth shoulder - smoother than the highway in spots. Tracks and trains to my right, full of coal east-bound and empties west-bound. The late afternoon sun was hot, and I stopped for a longer-than-normal break at 5:05pm. Got to keep going. At 6:00pm I passed through Prairie Creek. A little later, a car pulled to the shoulder in front of me and stopped. The driver wanted to tell me about a free supper available at the First Baptist Church ahead in Cairo. The meal is for everyone who has been cleaning up storm debris, but I'd be welcomed also. That sounded so good, since I was running out of energy, and I didn't have any supper plans (or rather, my plan was no supper).

At 6:30pm I made the turn south on Alexandra Street in Cairo toward the church. A good turnout of people there, and I happened first upon the pastor - Jack Boling. He welcomed me and later sat down to eat his meal with me. Lots of folks greeted me, including the wife of the fellow who stopped on the road to invite me. This meal was such a blessing to me, but even more of a blessing was witnessing so much kindness! I turned down the 'ride to Ravenna' offer, but did accept the 'gallon of water and bottle of ice' offer.

At 7:20pm I set out for the 15 miles left to go. Good riding with less traffic, and it was cooler. In the quiet I noticed clicking sounds coming from the direction of the front tire generator. The cause was the tire. It was bulging in one area. Looked like the wire bead was giving way on this tire also. I let out some air and hoped I'd make it to the campground before it blew.

I was able to put the tire concern aside enough to enjoy the evening. The area looked like Sandhills to me, even though I didn't expect that for a few more days. Absolutely beautiful! So quiet! At 8:15pm I turned on my flashing lights. Just before arriving at the park entrance (at 9:29pm), I needed my headlight. I was at the tent camping area at 9:39pm. It's a remote field surrounded by trees. At least it seemed remote in the dark. I found a level spot not under trees and got set up.

Inside the tent I tried out a Christmas present - a solar-recharge light. It worked well siting in the mesh side pocket of the tent. I turned it off at 11:30pm. It wasn't fading, but I was. I'll figure out when to write the report later.

Jeff

Spent: $3.46 (coffee, donuts) + $8.31 plus $2 (lunch) + $40.31 (tire, tube) + $10 (campsite) = $64.08.

Day 3 - Aurora, NE to Ravenna, NE

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