All is in order this morning. we head north on main straight looping around to highway 81 north of town. Turn left, head to Norfolk to find a MacDonald's for breakfast. Some of you may cringe at the name but the golden arches, apparently and according to my riding cohorts, has pretty decent coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker but I like several of their breakfast sandwiches so here we go. After eating breakfast we start talking about our plan for the day.
I think the bruise may be more than a bruise and of course the conversation with Jim and Glen last night didn't leave me with a good feeling if it was a spider bite. So, start YELP up on the iPhone look for minor emergency centers and locate an urgent care about six blocks to the west. I leave Jim and Glen to enjoy their last slugs of coffee and head to the Urgent Care. Paperwork. I hate paperwork, I think I'll fill out a generic doctors form to keep in my wallet so all the office people need to do is make a copy and I'm done. 20-30 minutes waiting, Jim and Glen show up, finally get in the examination room. A very pretty young female doctor examines the "bruise". Her deduction was it may be a spider bite but didn't see any puncture marks so she prescribed sulfameth anti-biotic and told me to watch for red and blue streaks on my leg. So we back track a couple of blocks to Walgreen's to fill my prescription and I can't find my insurance card for prescriptions. Luckily Walgreen's database is nationwide so the pharmacist didn't need it. Fifteen minutes a Gatorade and a dark milky way later and we're on our way. Finally!
Nebraska highway 20 west. Absolutely no traffic, I mean none. for a hundred miles we may have met one or two cars and none behind or in front of us that we could see. It's really been a nice beginning for this trip. We have had no traffic since we left except in Topeka but it was as expected.
In reflection, I know a lot of people who hate driving across Kansas or Nebraska or maybe whatever state you think is the most boring to drive through. I have thought about the boredom of the road for quite a few years having driven trucks for a living. I think crossing places like Kansas and Nebraska are as interesting as we allow them to be. I see field after field of wheat or corn or pasture land in small rolling sand hills that provide habitat for a huge number of living things. I find myself humming "America the Beautiful" time and time again through these places. My mind wanders, if I was horseback 120 years ago how different would this land have looked. If it was boring or bad then how depressed would I have been at the end of crossing the plains? If I had been the first to see what would I have been impressed with? Would I have had the endurance to continue on or would I have decided nothing better was beyond? I really don't find it that bad crossing the plains. There are always little gems of life, a stream covered by cottonwoods as tall as Jack's beanstalk. Where is that secret swimming hole on this little creek? You know the one, it's as clear as any mountain stream you'll find. Nice and deep, cool. To sit on the edge of the stream thinking about catching a perch or two, listening to the locusts and grasshoppers. Every once in a while a bird chirps his joy at finding a cool place to relax. I wonder how many pioneers found places similar to my description and decided it was heaven on earth in the middle of Kansas or Nebraska? Drifting back to the purpose at hand...
We stopped for fuel in O'Neill, NE. This was one of those stops that makes me laugh. It seems like there was only one gas station in town. Everybody needed gas at once. Three bikes, three pumps. The way the cage (cars and trucks in biker terminology) drivers look at you is as if we need to get out of their way for whatever reason. Kind of entertaining really. The highlight of this fuel stop was one I missed. Apparently while waiting to get fuel one of the couples in a pickup were a little preoccupied. He was on the cell phone and she apparently was bored completely out of her mind. I was facing west pumping fuel, Glen was on the pump to the south facing east and Jim had just finished pumping fuel and moved out of the way but was watching. I guess the man in the pickup never got off the phone and wouldn't pay any attention to his wife or girlfriend, who was wearing a nice dress. She finally got tired of sitting in the truck. Apparently she got out and started walking around the truck but kept staring at us. I glanced behind me and she was standing at the back of the truck looking in our direction but I paid no mind to her. I looked at Glen who was almost laughing uncontrollably. Jim was laughing too. When she had walked to the back of the truck, oblivious to her boy friend, she wouldn't stop looking at our bikes or us. I guess Glen and Jim kind of figured if we had said come on she'd have ran to catch a ride on the bikes and get out of whatever situation she was in. I think she looked like she was in her twenties and rather attractive again I didn't really pay much attention, I guess that's what really had Glen laughing. Three old guys on bikes and she's so bored we could've taken her on an adventure! Boy was she confused! Makes you wonder what her story was.
Back on the road. It was really getting hot! Turns out it was 109 deg F most of the afternoon. Lots of Gatorade! We finally reached a place I had wanted to explore a little bit. The Niobrara River in northern Nebraska about 4 miles east of Valentine, NE. I had crossed this bridge numerous time in a truck but never had the time or place to stop. We mad the turn on the gravel road headed down to the river. The photo at the top of the post is the location we found to park. We walked out on the bridge over the river and snapped a few photos. Nice place but it was so hot we needed to get the air flowing in our faces again.
Fuel stop in valentine, Gatorade and sit in the AC for a little bit. On the road again. It was very hot.We finally pulled into Chadron, NE. We fueled up and discussed finding a camp for the night. By the time we decided to move it was starting to cool off and looked like thunderstorms to the southwest of us. We left the station without donning rain gear. The thunderstorm to our south was moving fast. We experienced a little rain but not enough to stay wet more than five minutes but the wind must have been blowing 45-50 mph. Looking in the rear view mirror Jim and Glen looked like they were riding at a 45 deg angle! We stopped at Crawford, NE at the dairy freeze thinking about dinner. It had been so hot I don't think any of us had much of an appetite. We turned the bikes to the west headed for Fort Robinson State Park. The decision to move on was a very good decision.
We pulled in at park headquarters to inquire about a camping vacancy. Apparently this is a hidden gem in the corner of Nebraska. The young lady checking us in had experienced a not so pleasant day and here we were just before she was finishing her shift. We made her day better. By the time she left we had her smiling and talking. Took the frown and turned it into a smile. Way to go Glen we did good for her! We did so good she gave us a camping spot completely covered with red ants! If you've never been bit by a red ant I suggest you go find a red ant hill and plant your behind right in the middle of it until you feel a searing pain screaming through your body that you would do anything to get it to stop. No matter what you do a red ant bite just never stops hurting. So, we road around the park until we found another spot without the pesky little fire biting pests. Leaving Glen and Jim to the campsite I rode back to the office to give our now smiling hostess a hard time about making us pay for changing her mood. We got our campsite moved to the site we chose and yes she was laughing as I walked out the door! By the time I got back to Jim and Glen they had the tents set up and swimsuits and towels in hand looking for the pool. I got to the pool house first and walked in while they were still getting off their bikes. The girl at the counter must have seen the countenance on my face and said she'd let me in free of charge. I told her, as I scooted through the door they're were two old guys behind me that she could charge double to make up for it! I was changed and in the pool for quite a while before the other two outlaws showed up. In fact it was long enough I was thinking the joke was on me. The indoor swimming facility at Ft. Robinson is very nice, the views to the south and west are exceptional. We had about thirty minutes to swim before the pool closed (I think that was the real reason she let us in for no charge). After the heat of the day that dip in the pool was like a long tall drink of sweet tea in a cool summer breeze! Good friends, good times! After leaving the pool we headed to the restaurant at park headquarters. I think they emptied the pans in our plates at the end of the day. The waitress brought my plate out covered with bison smothered in brown gravy with a mountain of mashed potatoes and a huge bowl of corn on the side. I felt like the old hound dog after dinner on a night when folks just weren't real hungry!!! Needless to say Glen got to try some brown gravy smothered bison and we still sent half the plate (the size of a serving tray) back to the kitchen! I tried to by a piece of vinegar pie (the recipe was on the menu) but the waitress said she thought they quit serving that in the late 1800's. I don't guess I needed the pie anyway! After dinner it was back to camp for a nice visit and discuss the day. One of the funniest comments was Glen's statement " I saw so little traffic I thought Nebraska was closed today!". We laughed for a while! It didn't take us long to decide the day was officially over and the backs of our eyelids were about all we had left to see. We'd leave exploring to tomorrow!
I wonder how many Calvary soldiers and their families had found a secret swimming hole on this little creek....
Next post, Bill and Glen's Annual Harley Tour Part IV "Blue signs with white H's, wonder why he turned there..."
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