Entry for Tuesday, 8 June 1999

Photo 1. Connie at the top of the Niobrara river valley hill on SR 12.

Photo 2. Ray overlooking the Niobrara river on SR 12.

Photo 3. Lunch time at the A&W Root Beer place in Valentine.

Photo 4. Fellow tourists from North Loup and Grand Island, NE at the A&W Root Beer restaurant. Left to Right: Darla Rice, Dwana Rice, Larry Rice and Richard Rice.

Last Modified on 6/8/99 at 20:16:46

Day's Narrative: The wind was already blowing when I woke at 6:30 this morning.

We ate the complimentary breakfast at the motel and then got the tandem out of the van to get off on our trip to Sparks. I asked at the desk if there was a store at Sparks. The woman there wasn't sure, she thought it had been moved to the nearby lake, so she asked her colleague in the office. The woman in the office assured us there was. Having a store there 17 miles out in the middle of the plains is reasonably important, so I asked again at the convenience store across the street. Both young women there assured us there was a store there. With that we decided to go for the ride -- although by this time, 9:30 AM, the wind was blowing about 20 mph, and it meant we would have a headwind for several miles coming back.

This was a beautiful day. About 2 miles out of town we came to the Niobrara river valley. We could see the road dropping into the valley and coming out the other side. A note about tandems here is appropriate. Tandems are fast on the flat and going down hills. They are not fast going up hills. We are especially not fast going up hills. But what the heck, we decided to do it. It was fun going down the hill into the valley, but we had to walk the bike up most of the hill going out.

After the valley we took some pictures and mounted up again for the rest of the ride. There was another big hill a mile down the road. At this point we took a look at the situation; the now stiff wind, the hills we had to negotiate going back, and decided to turn around and go back. Discretion is the better part of valor.

It was a big, long hill going back into the Niobrara valley and we reached a speed of 43 mph (70 km/hr) going back down. This was the fastest Connie had ever ridden a bicycle. I have accused Connie of putting out a parachute when going down hills. However, at this point I just hoped she didn't wiggle or make any sudden move at that speed. As it turned out I didn't have to worry, her hands were white-knuckle-frozen to the handlebars.

Now we had a headwind going back across the valley, and we had to walk up the hill on the other side.

We got into town and went to the A&W fast food restaurant for a quick lunch, where we met the Rice families from southern Nebraska headed for the South Dakota Black Hills on vacation. (Photo 4). We had a pleasant conversation during which they said they had just come through Sparks and there was no store there. Strange how things work out sometimes.

Tomorrow is a short ride (46 miles) to Ainsworth, NE. The temperature will be in the 90's (32C and up) so I will be getting off as early as possible. If there are no problems I should be there by noon. Winds are predicted to be from the North, sort of a tailwind, maybe.

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© Ray & Connie Poore, 1998