Day 49 - ending at Valentine, NE - Tri-points on the Tri-speed

July 1, 2013

Day 49 - ending at Valentine, NE

Posted via email Tue Jul 2 07:23:02 2013 PDT

Birds happy about the dawn woke me up at 4:30am. Packed up and started taking down the tent. Walked over to the east side of town for a sunrise picture. Ate the two cinnamon rolls given to me yesterday at the Sand Cafe. They were good! Ready to go at 6:31am.

Another all-day on US-20, going east. I was able to tune in an NPR station on my radio this morning, so got to hear some news and later "Morning Concert". At 7:55am I took a break to eat a snack bar. Arrived in Cody at 9:37am. Stopped at Cody Oil Company/Sinclair for snacks. Their place is filled with as many auto parts and tires as snacks. Bought a chocolate milk and potato chips for eating at the city park.

On my way to the park I saw a newer-looking food store (C-Market), so stopped there also. I was looking for those single-serving apple or cherry pies, but C-Market didn't have them either (that I saw). Got a couple of candy bars instead. I left the store with a young couple who are visiting relatives in Cody. They're farmers from south-central Nebraska. We walked together as I headed to the park and they headed back to town. The wife had so many questions about my trip that when we parted, I gave her my bike journal web address. I enjoyed my break in Cody's park, which appears to be set up for camping. I headed back to the highway at 10:28am.

As Pastor Weaver had told me yesterday, the hills lessened east of Cody. The wind was light from the southeast, but picked up as the day went on.

Arrived in Nenzel at 11:27am, and was pleasantly surprised to see they have a park/rest area - and a soda machine across the street. Got me a can of Dr Pepper and enjoyed another break - even took a short nap.

I was back on the road at 12:06pm. The NPR station had faded away, so tuned in KINI-FM. This station plays a few songs, then announces garage sales, job ads, and items for sale - interesting local stuff. At 1:07pm I passed through Kilgore. The shoulder of the road improved greatly east of Kilgore, since it is newer. I lost an hour at 1:27pm, when I crossed the time zone line. Back to Central Time, it was now 2:27pm. I was in a hurry to get to the bicycle shop in Valentine before they closed for the day. The tread on my tires is just about gone, and the orange protection layer below is starting to show. I think it's time for new tires.

Passed through Crookston at 3:20pm. Looked like I'd make it to Valentine before 5:00pm. Near 4:00pm I noticed two west-bound touring bicyclists approaching. They stopped and we started talking. They were half of a four-man team riding coast-to-coast. The other two young men coasted up to us, and I got a picture. They think they are on Day #28. They had departed from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and are headed for Newport, Oregon. One of them has a broken spoke, and is in need of a cassette removal tool. They had gone to the bike shop in Valentine, but found it out-of-business. No need for me to rush to a bike shop that isn't there, but I didn't want to hold the group up anymore, since they were planning to ride today farther than Merriman. The web address for their journey's blog, which they admitted was behind on updates, is http://www.xcountrybiketrip.blogspot.com/. We went our opposite ways. When I looked back a short time later, they were already out of sight.

I arrived at Valentine's west city limits at 5:05pm (CDT). Kris had provided me with information for camping at Valentine's city park. It's located on the north side of town, so I wanted to eat supper first, on the way. The BlackBerry's Poynt app provided a long list of places to eat at in Valentine, but the one that sounded best to me was Cedar Canyon Steakhouse. I arrived there after turning north on Main Street. Had a very good eight-ounce sirloin steak, mashed potatoes, salad bar (including a bowl of chili), and coffee. Also, pudding from the salad bar for dessert. Left at 6:25pm, checking the address location for the bike shop around the corner. Sure enough, it's an empty building now. Continued on north toward the park, but stopped first at the Dollar General Store for bar soap. The soap I have is so small now, it's falling to pieces.

The road to the park is quite down-hill. I'm not looking forward to getting back up it tomorrow morning. At 6:52pm I'd chosen my campsite. I had quite a selection - no one else is camping here. Got set up and started writing the report earlier than is typical. Maybe I can get an early start riding again tomorrow.

Jeff

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Spent: $2.75 (chocolate milk, potato chips) + $1.90 (candy bars) + $0.75 (soda) + $16.53 plus $3.47 (supper) + $1.07 (soap) + $5 (campsite) = $31.47.

Day 49 - Merriman, NE to Valentine, NE

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+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +