Day 51 - ending at O'Neill, NE - Tri-points on the Tri-speed

July 3, 2013

Day 51 - ending at O'Neill, NE

Posted via email Thu Jul 4 09:14:01 2013 PDT

Awake at 5:30am. Packed up inside of tent, and got the tent down. Started loading the bike, then remembered I heard a spoke break yesterday. Unloaded and flipped the bike over. After replacing the spoke, I was surprised to see how out-of-alignment the wheel was. Spent some time truing that up, and broke another spoke in the process. Got reloaded and left at 7:55am.

Arrived at nearby Big John's Restaurant at 8:00am. Ate a very good pancakes-and-eggs breakfast. Left there at 9:03am, ready for more riding on the shoulder of US-20. My goal today was O'Neill. Winds were light-to-moderate from the south-southeast, but the road was flat. I turned on my radio and tuned in station KBRB in Ainsworth. The first thing I got to listen to was a six-year-old's presentation on 'Snakes of Nebraska'.

Passed by Long Pine at 9:48am. East of Long Pine I wondered why there was a hill ahead when the road had been so flat. Then I figured it must be for going over railroad tracks. Actually, it was for going over the Cowboy Trail, which looked well-maintained at this spot. Arrived in Bassett at 10:39am. Stopped there at the fair grounds for a break. My wife had told me yesterday that I'm overdue for posting a photo of myself. The fairground's restroom has a mirror, so I got a picture there. Next door east is a Shell station, and I stopped to buy a strawberry milk, cookies, and on-the-road snack bars. Left at 11:04am.

Just east of Bassett, I noticed a gingerbread cookie doll face-down along the side of the road. I know some touring bicyclists adopt stuffed friends they find, or even bring them along from home. I'll give it a try. However, this cost me, since the bike fell over (poor parking, not the wind) when I was walking back, poking a hole in one of my water jugs. (I shouldn't need a second water jug anymore, anyways.) My new friend "Mrs. Baker" seemed happy to be riding along.

At 12:17pm I came to Spring Valley Park - the first roadside rest area built in Nebraska. Stopped and ate the NutterButter cookies I'd bought in Bassett. The BlackBerry hadn't taken a full charge last night from the bike's batteries, and the voltage monitor was blinking its red LED. Decided it was time to check the battery voltage with the meter. Eight-some volts! That's worse than dead, that's like a ruined battery. I removed the MAP-330 GPS adapter from its socket to remove that load, and monitored the voltage as I left (at 12:45pm). With the bike moving, and no load, the voltage was 12.2v - still low (a fully-charged battery will measure 12.7v off-charger). Later in the day, the voltage was at 12.3v. It slowly came to me that I was giving the hub generator set-up way too much credit for its capacity to charge the battery. Whenever I was at a motel or campsite that had AC, I'd use the "Battery Tender" to charge up the battery. The battery then would have a lot of reserve power, the hub generator would somewhat maintain that, and I'd think, "Look how well the charging set-up is working." I'll need to keep the GPS adapter off the circuit from now on, if I plan on using the bike to charge the BlackBerry in the evening.

Passed Newport at 12:50pm and arrived in Stuart at 1:54pm. Bought "lunch" at the Southside Mini Mart and went north into town to Stuart's park. Lots of activities at the park, getting ready for tomorrow's celebrations. I decided it would be best to leave "Mrs. Baker" at the park, with hopes that she'd find a new happy home. The problem we were having was that every time I looked at her, I'd think about pancakes and cinnamon rolls. She seemed happy about the possibly of being re-adopted by someone not thinking about food all the time.

I left Stuart's park at 2:52pm - without looking back. Arrived in Atkinson at 4:04pm. Stopped at their park to call Cleveland Bike & Sport in Norfolk, to see if they'd be open on Friday. They will be, so I plan to buy new tires there that day.

Back on US-20 at 4:30pm. Passed Emmet at 5:45pm. A little after 6:00pm, I saw two west-bound cyclists. They stopped and rode over to where I was. They are sister and brother - Claren Oesch and Breton Oesch of Illinois. They're on their fourth tour - this one is a 1300-mile round trip, going from Ellston, Iowa, to Mt. Rushmore and back. They will shortly be with a larger group of bicycle-touring relatives, who got a three-day head-start on them. I was glad they had time to stop to visit.

Before I was technically in O'Neill, I came to the Westside Restaurant, and stopped for supper. I ordered their special: hamburger steak with salad bar. Left at 7:36pm, officially arriving in O'Neill at 7:42pm. There's a huge clover leaf painted on the pavement of the town's main intersection. Kris helped me once again, by-way-of email, with directions to Carney Park, a place to camp in town. I arrived there and had a campsite chosen by 8:05pm. Set up the tent and replaced one broken spoke. For the first time, this was a spoke that had been previously replaced - one of the stainless steel ones I'd bought at A&B Cycle in Springfield, Missouri. However, I need to confess that I did loosen a few spokes this morning - something I think you're never supposed to do.

Water and electricity here at Carney Park are provided free by the city. Time to get this BlackBerry charged up and to see if the bike battery will recover.

Jeff

------------

Spent: $12.38 plus $3 (breakfast) + $3.97 (snacks at Bassett) + $4.33 (snacks at Stuart) + $17.07 plus $3 (supper) + $10 (campsite donation) = $53.75.

Day 51 - Ainsworth, NE to O'Neill, NE

Heart

Comment

Link

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