Is That Anhydrous Ammonia in my Corn?

May 28, 2018

Miles 20. Elevation Gain 1461

Looking forward to some good life in Nebraska

We woke up feeling much better after the down day at the Best Western in Hiawatha. It might seem silly to have a zero day 3 days into a journey but that's the beauty of our timeline- we don't have one.

We destroyed the excellent free breakfast, which was the whole deal- waffles, omelettes, sausage, b&g, etc, and we were on the road at 6:40. Early starts will be important until temperatures moderate. The route was only 17 miles, more rollers, but today they were mostly in our favor, and no head winds. The scenery was consistent with previous sections and there was almost no traffic the entire way.

Mr. Grumby riding through the scenic backroads

A few miles from Falls City we crossed the Nebraska state line, and the already-decent shoulder became a full lane, which is luxury for a bicycler*. We cruised on into Falls City at about 10:00 and I spotted two military tanks in a little plaza. We met a couple (Mary and Dennis) whose grandson Eric served 4 years in the Marines and recently succumbed to PTSD. Dennis was a Viet Nam vet and told me some stories about the tank we were looking at, which was the exact vehicle he drove while he was there.

Mary has Eric's photo on her t shirt to honor his service

Stanton Lake Park, our campus for the night was about 1.5 miles further into town so we headed there. We spoke to a guy in the tent area for awhile and set up camp amongst the trees and disc golf holes.

This park is very impressive. There is a lake with a paved path all the way around, disc golf, showers, tent camping only $5. Extremely clean. Nebraskans are apparently very orderly.

We lounged in the heat and humidity all day, talking to a few people and napping. We ate a dinner of spinach salad with chopped apples, carrots and raisins and some summer sausage and crashed about 9. All in all a good, but very hot day.

This is a very nice place. You can't tell from the photo but it's 195 degrees.

We woke to a huge thunderstorm at about 2:00 am and my weather app was screaming "TAKE SHELTER NOW!", showing hundreds of little lightning bolts right where were. Great. I woke Jen and we dashed over to a covered porch area to wait it out. Finally the storm subsided and we went back to the tent. Heatwave and severe thunderstorms... I wonder what's next?

Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 102 miles (164 km)

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Steve LilleyReading about your dinner makes me think back to our Alaska trip. Remember the Hamburger Helper? That stuff was awesome!
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6 years ago

Ron SuchanekThat Alaska trip was part of the insurance for this thing I'm doing
now, and Hamburger Helper was the perfect dinner. I'll try to work that one in on this trip!
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6 years ago

Steve LilleySounds like a plan. You can't go wrong with Hamburger Helper!
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6 years ago

Ed HollingsworthTo Ron SuchanekAs Cousin Eddie said in National Lampoon's "Vacation", "I don't know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper--it's just fine by itself!"
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6 years ago

Ron SuchanekTo Ed HollingsworthHoly smokes, that's a great one. Another is "I'll bet you'd like a cold one" and hands clark.a partial beer.
Two days at your house and I had no idea we could have been flinging movie quotes. Missed opportunities.
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6 years ago