Day 1 - Adair, IA to Omaha, NE (Driving) to Decatur, NE (Bicycling) - Following the Ponca Trail

July 15, 2024

Day 1 - Adair, IA to Omaha, NE (Driving) to Decatur, NE (Bicycling)

Day 1 - Omaha, NE to Decatur, NE

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Up at 4:13am this morning after a restless night's sleep. I was somewhat concerned that I'd poorly planned this day. My goal was to arrive at Beck & Busse-Brewer Memorial Park in Decatur, Nebraska this evening, but first I needed to get to Eppley Airport in Omaha to park my truck.

I was driving away from Adair City Park at 5:48am, trying to time my arrival at Sue's Kitchen in Avoca, Iowa to coincide with their 6:30am opening. I was just five minutes early. Ordered their Western Omelet, which turned out to be more than I could eat. I haven't started burning calories yet! Before I left Avoca, I stopped at Casey's for gas and today's supply of Gatorade.

I decided to use Google Maps with voice directions to get to the airport. That worked very well, though I was a little confused toward the end of where the parking lot entrance was. I'd actually pulled into the exit, but the booth attendant was very helpful. I was parked at a spot way at the back in the South Economy Lot at 8:40am. The shuttle bus driver pulled up and said as I was loading the bike, "I guess you don't need a ride to the terminal." He wished me well.

At 9:35am, I was on my way bicycling. I was heading toward the pedestrian exit when the booth attendant waved me over to the car exit, and activated the gate as she wished me a safe trip.

I had to go south some to get on the trail that goes by Carter Lake. When I passed the airport parking lot entrance on my way back north, I saw where I could have taken a shortcut.

It was pleasant and sunny this morning, but predicted to get hot in the afternoon. Eventually I was on the part of the trail north that I'd been on before - Riverview Trail and Missouri River Trail. Now it was just follow the same route as I did on the first day of my 2013 trip "Iowa on the Tri-speed"

This year, however, there was more flood debris to avoid, which had me on the nearby road more often. At 11:59am, I came to a "Road Closed" barricade southeast of Fort Calhoun. I recorded the noon mileage (13.9 miles) then waited awhile to see if any cars would come by to give me information. Vehicles came by, but none of them were stopping. A few went past the barricades, so I did too. Turns out the road at a corner had been undercut some was all.

I'd powered up the hill into Fort Calhoun. I probably shouldn't have done that on such a hot day. Figuring something with ice cream would help, I stopped at Scooter's Coffee in town. The girl there recommended I get an Oreo Blender, which is sort of like a shake. She gave me ice water also. I spent more time there than I'd intended to. My phone display had gone to black and white. Even the pictures were grayscale. I finally got that fixed, then enjoyed my drink.

On to Blair, the next town north. The heat was starting to get to me, even with the 7 mph north wind in my face. Blair has a Dairy Queen I was going to pass by. I definitely needed a cooling break now. Just 9 miles away. I made it to the DQ at 2:35pm. I sat inside having a root beer float, but they weren't very cool inside. I still wasn't back to myself when I left.

I was focused now on just getting to Herman and the Jiffy Shop Convenience Store and Eatery there. Just slow and steady will get me these 10 more miles. I did decide at one spot that it was worth stopping and walking across the highway to get a picture of the worst "Minimum Maintenance" road I've ever seen. There was a sign posted, "Not a GPS road. Please don't follow GPS information." There was shade there, so I went back to the bike for water and a pack of peanuts. That may be my problem - not enough eating snacks. While I was standing there, a truck turned onto the start of the road. "Certainly he's not going to drive up this hill," I was thinking. Turns out he's a fireman, and was just checking to see how I was doing. He said they had one heat exhaustion case already today - a postal carrier, and were hoping to avoid anymore. He offered me the opportunity to sit in his truck awhile, but I figured eating the peanuts is what I was needing. Though, if the way I felt doesn't turn around, there was no way I was going to make it to Decatur today.

I got back at it, arriving at Jiffy Spot in Herman at 5:24pm. They were closed! No other place in town. I not only needed a place to cool off, I was about out of water, and my phone needed charging. I stopped in front of the Methodist Church in town, to figure things out. I could charge my phone from the bike's accessories battery as I ride, and I have that one container of 'emergency water', so that should work.

Tekamah was the next town - only 7 miles away. It should be getting cooler now, but that north wind is still here. I connected for phone charging and engaged the bottle generators. When I arrived at Tekamah, the phone was at 69% charge, so that worked.

Tekamah is bigger than Herman. I stopped at Buddies at 6:55pm. Decided I needed chocolate milk and chocolate donuts. The worker there said I could sit down at one of the tables, and pointed out the best chair because the fan was blowing directly that way. I ate all the donuts and drank one of the chocolate milks. That should be enough energy to get me to Decatur, which is 16 more miles. I'd initially forgotten about needing water. The store attendant let me use one of their kitchen sinks to refill my gallon jug. On my way at 7:45pm.

The energy from the donuts kicked in, and I was getting back to near normal. This section of US 75 doesn't have much of a shoulder. Just before I'd left for this trip, a church friend had given me an orange safety vest. I wasn't too keen on it at first, but this looked like a good time to try it out, with it getting dark. There wasn't much traffic, but everyone pulled over completely into the other lane as they passed. I saw the lights of Decatur from quite a ways off, and finally arrived there a little after 10:00pm.

I found the campground tent area, registered, and set up. Tomorrow was supposed to be another 50+ miles day, but I'm going to need a day off to recover from today, so I paid for two nights here. So much for my schedule!

A lady carrying a case of Coke cans walked past where I was setting up, and offered me a can. I'll save that for the morning. Lights out today at 12:27am. No alarm set.

Jeff