Day 3 - ending near Ponca, NE - Following the Ponca Trail

July 17, 2024

Day 3 - ending near Ponca, NE

Day 3 - Decatur, NE to Ponca, NE

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Up at 4:35am to a slightly dewy morning. Packed up. I had to move a newly emerged cicada off the tent so I could get it folded.

Ponca State Park, north of Ponca, Nebraska is today's destination. I'd be going north on US-75, passing through the Omaha and Winnebago Reservations before I reached Homer, Nebraska.

I left the campground at 7:02am, using the pedestrian bridge over Elm Creek as a shortcut to get to Decatur Express for breakfast. All done at 7:47am. US-75 north of Decatur doesn't have much of a shoulder, so I put on my safety vest. I was pulling off the road once in a while due to traffic, but it wasn't too bad. At 8:35am I came to a scenic overview of the Missouri River. There is a lot of information at this spot about the Omaha.

At 9:39am I passed by Macy, where I took a crunch bar break in the shade of a Nebraska Historical Marker. There were some hills today, but the best was the downhill before I arrived in Winnebago at 11:35am.

At the north end of town I stopped at the Ho Chunk (Winnebago) "Honoring-the-Clans Sculpture Garden and Cultural Plaza", which has statues and information on their twelve clans.

Noon arrived. 21.3 miles so far.

I went in nearby R-Eatz for lunch. Today's special was Shepard's pie over frybread with soda. It was so good, and just $10!

There was a wide shoulder north of town, and I made it to Homer at 1:38pm. I was a little distressed when I saw that the bridge into town closed. I asked the workmen there if I could pass through - they were just starting the project. They said go ahead. I was thankful, detouring would have added a lot of miles. My at-home routing (I now saw) had me going west through Homer, then back east through town, apparently just to check out their city park. The park was nice, but I didn't need a break. I messed up some trying to get out of town going north when I had routed east. Had to turn around. My routing to Jackson was mostly on a gravel road that hugged the bottom of a bluff. That riding was pleasant, and there was a nice breeze. After the initial detour traffic went back to the highway, I was able to pick out the best spot on the gravel to ride on.

Pass the bluff, half a mile riding on NE-35 would get me to a paved road to Jackson. Except the road was closed due to "Bridge Out". I took another crunch bar break as I figured out a detour, which would add about 10 miles - east, then north, and back west. That worked and I arrived in Jackson at 5:59pm.

Once in Jackson, I remembered that I'd routed to enter town going over an old bridge that maybe isn't used for vehicles anymore. I had to find out if that would have worked, and if I'd taken the detour needlessly. The old bridge is there. Now I needed to see if the highway bridge was closed, so I walked 8/10 of a mile farther west to see. That bridge was open to, so I'm assuming the bridge out was somewhere south of here, and it's good I didn't try to ride the closed road.

I stopped at the Pump & Pantry in Jackson for a Dr Pepper, then continued riding west on US-20. I passed by a windmill display, so got a few pictures. At 7:18pm, I turned onto NE-12, which got me to Ponca at 8:14pm.

Just two more miles to Ponca State Park, and that was on a bike path the whole way. I was at the park entrance at 9:03pm. No one was at the entry gate, but I knew where the tent camping area was, so turned onto that road. I wasn't happy with the road going downhill. There was one short downhill that was pretty steep, that led to a short steep uphill. I hit the uphill going too fast, then slowed down too quickly. The front tire hit the left side curb, and I crashed. I felt my helmet hit the ground, but it was definitely a soft landing. I was OK, the bike was OK, but I walked the rest of the way up the hill. Fortunately the first campsite l came to was at the top of that hill, so there's where I ended up - at site T-40.

I put on bug spray, got out my headlamp, and set up camp. I ate three of the sandwich cookies I'd purchased on the first day, then sent out my "evening report". In bed at 10:58pm after a longer-than-expected day

Jeff