Day 50 - ending at Ainsworth, NE - Tri-points on the Tri-speed

July 2, 2013

Day 50 - ending at Ainsworth, NE

rode on Cowboy Trail

Posted via email Wed Jul 3 06:26:02 2013 PDT

The cold temperature woke me this morning at 5:20am. Packed up, dried out the tent and ground cloth, and was ready to leave at 8:34am. Arrived at a place I passed yesterday - Bunkhouse Restaurant at 8:54am. Had sirloin steak and eggs, orange juice, and coffee.

Valentine is the end point for the completed section of Nebraska's Cowboy Trail. I started out going east from the trailhead at 9:58am. This first section was concrete, and easy going. The trail turned to fine gravel at Road 220, a little ways out of town. Came to the trail's impressive bridge over the Niobrara River, and took lots of pictures. Stopped for a break when I was out of the river valley, and talked to my wife on the phone for twenty-three minutes. She's still getting along OK without me around. I had another break at 12:25pm, to eat a bag of peanuts.

It was slow-going on the trail. The fine gravel of the trail was a little too deep for my tires to roll well. Later, for several miles, the trail had a "washboard" surface, caused by tractors and trucks using the trail. Also, a long section was overgrown with weeds - some higher than my bike. I made a commitment to myself to stick with the trail until I reached Wood Lake. And I did make it (at 3:49pm), walking the bike the last quarter mile into town due to a flat front tire. Earlier, at 3:15pm, I saw a westbound touring cyclist on US-20, which paralleled the Cowboy Trail at that spot. We were separated far enough that all we could do was wave to each other.

Wood Lake has a very nice city park that allows camping. I was tempted to stay, but I do need to get home one of these days. The park's grounds-keeper came over and commented on my tire tread (I'd just flipped the bike upside-down). Then he went and moved a sprinkler. I found half-a-dozen goat-head thorns in the front tire. I didn't bother to find the holes in the tube, just exchanged it with the spare I'd patched back in Merriman. Ready to go at 4:54pm. No more Cowboy Trail for me (at least with these bald tires)!

Stopped at a soda machine on my way to US-20, to buy a Mountain Dew for drinking later on the road. The highway shoulder east of Wood Lake is brand new, with no cracks. And, the hills were behind me. My MAP-330 GPS indicated that I'd get to Bassett - my original destination - at about 9:00pm, if I could keep my speed up. Earlier I'd emailed Kris to see if she could find camping near Ainsworth, but maybe I could make it to Bassett.

I arrived in Johnstown at 6:08pm. They have a nice roadside park, so there I drank my can of Mountain Dew. Back on the road at 6:22pm. Arrived at Ainsworth's west city limits at 7:12pm. When I turned on the BlackBerry for taking a picture, there was Kris' email saying camping was allowed in Ainsworth's East City Park. That sounded good to me at this point. I rode to the east side of town to check out the campground. Looks good. Rode back west a ways to the Golden Steer for supper, arriving at 7:40pm. Had their Chicken Fried Steak special, which came with hash browns and a salad. Also drank three glasses of Dr Pepper.

I went back to the campground and had selected my site by 8:40pm. Everything was in the tent by 9:00pm. Had a lemonade from a machine here as I worked on the report. It's a quiet night, except for the sounds of an irrigation pump engine out in a field to the east.

Jeff

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Spent: $12.25 plus $2.50 (breakfast) + $1 (soda) + $12.29 plus $3 (supper) + $10 (campsite) + $1.25 (lemonade) = $42.29.

Day 50 - Valentine, NE to Ainsworth, NE

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