August 31, 2017
to Ewing: Headed west alongside the Cowboy Trail
We have a nice cup of strong coffee with Sara before heading out. Sean had to leave earlier for work. We are about 5 km east of town and easily backtrack into Norfolk. Just across the river is a Hyvee supermarket which also has an attached restaurant. Interestingly, the order is placed at the deli section, we sit down and not five minutes later the fried eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and pancakes show up. The place is packed with “geezers” enjoying their breakfast, coffee and strong stories.
Our headline is “alongside the Cowboy Trail”. From here all the way to Chadron, about seven days cycling we will be following the old Cowboy Trail railroad that was converted into a trail when the rails and sleepers were torn out. The trail has a reputation though for lots of “goatheads” (puncture weed) and loose surfaces, and our direction is slightly up. Right next to it for most of the way is either Highway 275 or US20 with an asphalt surface and wide shoulders. So even though we came up to Northern Nebraska to do the Cowboy Trail we are only going to follow it closely, and only actually ride a small section of it.
The wind is our friend today. The couple of “Zipline” brews and toast to the wind we had last night with Sara and Sean must have helped, because we have a nice tailwind for good part of the ride. Over the course of the day we gain about 100 meters altitude, it will be the same all the way to the Wyoming border, we rise from about 300 meters almost to 1200 meters. But is goes so gradual you don’t really notice it, certainly not when you have the wind at your back.
There are frequent small towns along our route today, we stop for cold drinks and ice cream, but after the breakfast feed we don’t feel hungry. Then the plan forms to get to Ewing, our destination, and have burgers and beer there instead of a real lunch. The landscape is pretty much all flat today, we cross the Elkhorn River a couple of times and see the crops of soybeans and corn change to grasslands and trees. Carol in Wymore told us how North Nebraska is very sandy and much dryer than the southern part of the state.
When we reach Ewing we quickly check out the city park to make sure we indeed want to camp here tonight. The restrooms are nice, but no showers. There is water and some shelters and plenty of nice grass to camp on. Once it is decided we are staying we ride into town, but not after picking a couple of dozen goatheads from our tires that we collected on the gravel drive into the park. On the way back we will walk through the grass. We head for the DW bar and grill and have very nice mushroom swiss burgers and a couple of Blue Moon Ales on draft. Very nice! After the early dinner a quick stop at the grocery store for some snacks for later on, and we retreat to the city park. Our tent is pitched near a small shelter near the baseball field; the road is far enough away to not be too noisy. Small towns like these are great destinations on a biketrip.
Today's ride: 96 km (60 miles)
Total: 38,537 km (23,931 miles)
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