Day 40 - ending at Lincoln, NE - Following the Ponca Trail

August 23, 2024

Day 40 - ending at Lincoln, NE

Day 40 - Crete, NE to Lincoln, NE

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Thunder woke me up at 5:55am this morning. Another intense storm was off to the west, just like yesterday morning. It didn't look like I'd have time to pack up before the rain arrived, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. At 7:30am I was awakened by the noise of a riding lawn mower. It hadn't rained yet, and also like yesterday, the storm had slowed down and was diminishing. In the end, there was no rain here in Crete.

I'd planned a short day for today. I was thinking it would be about 40 mi, then I checked my itinerary. Just 28 miles! That was to get from Crete to TownHouse Extended Stay Hotel near the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. Anyway, mileage wasn't a concern; whether or not the motel had a room available for me for two nights was. So I called them. They had a room available and I could keep my bicycle in the room. The girl I was talking with set me up with a second floor room, after saying that she doesn't like the last available room on the main floor. They have an elevator so a second floor room shouldn't be a problem. It felt good to have that settled.

On to breakfast then. I unpacked the cinnamon rolls given to me last night, and the canned coffee I'd bought. That was a very enjoyable breakfast, probably because I wasn't in a rush.

I was packed up and leaving at 10:22am. I wasn't very far along when I came to an intersection blocked by a stopped train. There was already another bicyclist waiting there. He was getting impatient, and talked about throwing his bike under one of the cars and sliding through. I was alarmed to hear this, but he said he's done a lot of crazier things than that. I checked my routing, and realized I didn't have to cross these tracks to get to where I was going. But I stayed with the other cyclist to keep him from doing something I didn't want to see. He wants to build a hybrid motorized bicycle/motorcycle. Finally the train moved, so he crossed the empty tracks and I tried out my other way to get out of town.

Most times I can't remember if I've routed on gravel roads or paved roads. Today it turned out to be gravel roads and paved roads. They were all hillier than I had expected, but nothing too bad. I was on NE-103 for a while, which required more paying attention and pulling off from time to time. One pull-off though was just to record the noon mileage, which was 7.8 miles.

At 12:25pm I turned off NE-103 onto Yankee Hill Road. There was quite a view from here and I could just make out the top of the state capitol building. I kept stair-stepping east and north, eventually arriving in Denton at 1:14pm. I saw they have a place to eat in town - Daily Double, so stopped there. I had their Chicken Fried Steak Dinner with a Dr Pepper. Also was able to get ice for my thermos and a charge for my phone.

I left Denton going east for 5 miles, then north for 3 miles on Coddington Avenue to get to Bison Trail. Five miles to go. I entered Lincoln on this trail. Then on to Jamaica Trail. Next, D Street, then N Street. N Street has a dedicated two-way bicycle path on the south side of the street and there are special traffic signals just for the bicycles. The motel is just one block off of N Street. I arrived there at 4:33pm. The elevator, hallways, and doorways were all wide enough that I had no problem getting my bike in room 210.

I've taken a shower now, and have on a clean set of clothes. Feels nice. One other thing I did tonight was to walk a few blocks south and west so I could get a picture of the capitol lit up at night. It's my plan to take a tour inside the capitol tomorrow. Maybe also visit a few museums that are within walking distance. Hopefully there'll also be time for posting reports.

Jeff

Today's ride: 27 miles (43 km)
Total: 1,462 miles (2,353 km)

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