Photo 1. Ray leaving Crawford in the rain.
Photo 1. Ray leaving Crawford in the rain.
Photo 2. Strange sign at Chadron's McDonald's.
Photo 3. Connie relaxing at Chadron McDonald's.
Photo 4. Bad cloud behind me near Hay Springs.
Photo 5. Rain at the store in Hay Springs.
Photo 6. More rain in front of me near Clinton, NE.
Photo 7. A farm house in the sun with rain behind.
Photo 8. Cleaning the bike after a day in the water. Everyone knows a clean bike is easier to ride.
Last Modified on 6/9/99 at 17:35:50
Day's Narrative: Today was about rain. It was cold and raining lightly this morning when I got up. The temperature was 50F (10C). The only restaurant open on Sunday morning in Crawford at 6:00 AM was the Frontier. I was their first customer at 6:03. The Farmer's Special was really good for such a cold, wet morning: two eggs, sausage, hash browns, toast & jelly, coffee and orange juice. When I got back to the motel it was raining harder. At 7:00 I decided to wait an hour to see what the rain would do. I don't mind so much getting caught in the rain, but I hate to start out in the rain. At 8:30 it was still raining lightly, I decided to go anyway. Any more delay would start to impact our schedule. So I dressed in rain gear (photo 1) and started out. About 9:00 it stopped raining, but I kept the rain gear on because It was cold and trucks and cars were kicking up quite a spray of water and road dirt. There was a 25 mph tailwind as predicted. I averaged 18 mph (30 km/hr) for the 20 miles to Chadron. The first warm place I saw as I entered Chadron was McDonald's. They have a strange sign (see photo 2). Just as I was finishing a Danish and milk Connie drove up. We talked and I put on some dry sox and got out of the rain gear; eventually spending 45 minutes there. The next store was at 20 miles down the road at Hay Springs where I arrived literally 2 minutes before the rain (see photo 4). This business of me arriving at shelter just before the storm is getting scary. It was lunch time so I got a double cheeseburger and heated it in the store's microwave. During the rain several people filled with gas at the pumps (photo 5). Along the road I stopped a couple of times to let small rain clouds cross the highway. Photos 6 and 7 show some of the activity. Photo 7 shows a farm house in the sun with the rain cloud behind. Remarkably, I didn't get rained on again -- in spite of the clouds all around. Connie was at the Hacienda Motel in Gordon when I arrived at 2:30 PM. She said the Jefco Inn had only interior hall access to the rooms, whereas at the Hacienda you could park at the room door. At 6:00 PM we went to eat at the local restaurant where everyone else in town eats. This is interesting country. Almost all the men in the restaurant wear baseball caps, and never take them off. A large fraction of the men wear wire cutters in leather holsters on their belts -- presumably used to fix fences. I had my heart set on eating ethnic food -- chicken fried steak -- but the restaurant was out. So I had hamburger steak instead. It seems that it takes about two days of riding for me to deplete my food reserves and become incredibly hungry all the time. It started today. Tomorrow is a 94 mile ride to Valentine. I just took a look at the weather channel forecast (www.weather.com) and they predict winds from the southwest -- a tail wind for me. I will need that tailwind for a 94 mile ride. My legs are still not in shape from a winter of inactivity. Connie and I have decided to stay at the Comfort Inn there. We plan to stay there two days. © Ray & Connie Poore, 1998
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