Seattle or bust

I was in rare form today after a string of several marginal days. It was all north again on Nebraska's route 83 with its generous shoulder. But the saving grace was no wind and warm temps which allowed me to complete the 66 mile route from McCook to N. Platte in less than six hours of riding time. The worst thing to happen to me today had nothing to do with biking in fact. It was my own forgetfullness which cost me two jugs of juice I had left in the motel's fridge. I noticed about three miles into the ride and was angry at myself plenty for having left them. Now all I had were my two water bottles which I could drink of in an emergency but the water inside had not been changed in a week or two. Normally none of this would be a big deal except the nearest town was 40 miles away in tiny Wellfleet.

By the time I made it there I was seriously thirsty. Luckily this town, shelter to all of 76 souls, has a small restaurant-cum-grocery store where I downed two 32 oz. cups of Pepsi while chatting with owners Perry and Sharon. It shouldn't be so surprising to me by now but I had a hard time digesting the fact that Sharon (in her 50's I would guess) has never been outside of Nebraska except for one "terrifying" as she put it trip to Denver. What's so terrifying about the city, I asked her. "Oh all the people, the traffic". I just didn't know what to say to that. We're just worlds apart. I've too much wanderlust within to be happy stuck in one place, particularly one so very remote.

Nothing much else to add to today's ride. Per my altimeters I climbed past the 3,000ft. mark today but coming into N. Platte I coasted for about 3 miles and lost a couple of hundred of those feet. Even though it was not steep that was one heck of a hill, I thought, for someone biking southbound.

Tomorrow's ride should take me to Ogallala and I'm told it's a nice ride with few hills. Seattle is now less than 1,500 miles away. I'm just about close enough to see the space tower :-)

Day 44