to Cody: Fighting the wind in the Nebraska sand hills, continued.

September 4, 2017

“I can still smell smoke” Rachel says. The sky is not as hazy as yesterday. “The wind is bringing the smoke from Montana” Patrick says. The crosswind continues today.

We forgo making oatmeal and coffee in camp, instead packing up and heading for a quick breakfast at McDonald’s. We are now on the Bridges to Buttes Scenic Byway. We can see the old railroad bed not yet reclaimed for a trail and the bridges still intact. Beyond the rise of the buttes on either side, Rachel feels like there should be an ocean. Maybe someday with global warming.

Today is a short day in distance, made even shorter by crossing into the Mountain Time Zone. The crosswinds continue and the landscape begins to roll more. A few fields return, but mostly still just grasslands and cows as far as the eye can see. The small towns that we go through about every 8 miles all seem dying with no services and we hope that Cody still has a city park for camping. We are encouraged when the town before Cody has a nice picnic area and relieved when cycling to Cody’s park we see a nice area. The park has lots of picnic tables and toilet building with a hot shower. There’s a fee posted for $10. Everything in town though is closed for Labor Day, a disappointment that the Husker Hub Bar and Grill opposite the park is closed for the holiday, as is the Circle C student run market. We do not have the change to pay our camp fee, but a nice guy taking his baby daughter to the park runs home and brings us change. He is from out of town but married a local ranch girl and moved here. He is involved in wind turbine projects in the sand hills region. This can't be easy as an outsider and in alternative energy. There are signs of "Save the Sandhills" movement against wind turbines and transmission lines.

We fix red sauce and spaghetti with hamburger and veggies for dinner and dive into the tent to get out of the wind.