Entry for Friday, 11 June 1999

Photo 1. Sunrise beside Comfort Inn, Ainsworth, NE.

Photo 2. At breakfast this was the only other person in Big John's restaurant.

In the West often a sign is used to tell who lives where down a side road.

Lloyd "Sunny" Alderman in his station, Sunny's Conoco, in Newport, NE.

The Pit Stop in Stuart, NE.

Dawn Timmerman, daughter of the owner's of The Pit Stop, helps out at the counter.

The Feed Bunk Cafe in Emmet, NE.

Dean and Karen Garwood own the Feed Bunk Cafe in Emmet, NE. Their grand daughter Amanda Lorenz is between them.

Last Modified on 6/11/99 at 18:39:40

Day's Narrative: When I looked at the weather channel this morning the prediction had changed completely from the night before. In stead of 70% chance of rain with thundershowers it was 30% chance of light rain with a clearing in the afternoon.

I had breakfast again at Big John's restaurant across the road, where the person in Photo 1 was the only other customer. It was cloudy when I got on the road at 6:50, and I could see the big storm cell the weather channel had mentioned off to the south. However, according to weather radar, I would stay to the north of it. That turned out to be true.

At the town of Newport, NE I met the owner of Sunny's Conoco, Sunny Alderman (Photo 4) . When I first walked in the door he said "Riding across Nebraska!" I replied "You bet." Sunny worked with the railroad, then was materials manager of the construction of several power plants throughout the West. He and his wife grew up in this area, and when they retired here they bought the property from his aunt which they remodeled into this gas station and restaurant. We had a long conversation before I had to leave again and pedal some more down the road.

It was cold this morning. When I left the motel the temperature was 51F (11C) and it was overcast. It continued to be overcast and cold, occasionally sprinkling rain, only reaching 56F (13C) until about 12:30 when the sky began to clear.

I stopped at The Pit Stop (Photo 5) to warm up a bit and met Dawn Timmerman (Photo 6) who works there for her parents. Dawn has three children and grew up here. Her husband drives a truck. I was waiting for Connie to catch up with me so I could get a better rain jacket from the van. As I waited Dawn and I talked about various things. Finally at about 11:15 I assumed Connie had missed seeing the bicycle I had propped up in front of the sign by the road. I was starting to mount up when Connie drove up. We both went back in the Pit Stop where I introduced her to Dawn and Connie had a hot chocolate.

Ten miles down the road at Atkinson I stopped at the A&W Root Beet restaurant for a lunch of double bacon cheeseburger and fries -- my lunchtime energy source. After lunch the sky was clearing and I could take off my rain jacket for the first time today.

I have noticed that in Nebraska if the town has more than 1000 population then it will almost certainly have a motel. If the population is less than 1000 it almost never has a motel -- at least not one I would stay in. Atkinson is an exception. It has a population of 1400 and does not have one of these motels.

Eight miles from O'Neill is the small town of Emmet. I stopped at the Feed Bunk Cafe in Emmet (Photo 7) for a Coke and met Dean and Karen Garwood and their grand daughter Amanda Lorenz (Photo 8). Karen told me that the Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN) came through O'Neill last Tuesday and most of the 500-600 riders camped in the high school football field. She said they left it spotless clean -- probably cleaner that it was before they arrived.

Shortly after leaving Emmet I arrived at the motel in O'Neill where Connie had our room.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day, and warmer than today. Tomorrow night we plan to stay in Norfolk, NE, the largest town on this route.

Return

© Ray & Connie Poore, 1998