Day 38: Fremont, NE to West Point, NE

I was envious of Tyson as he broke camp and was ready to roll in about 20 minutes.  At my most efficient, the best I could do was an hour.  I knew part of it was because I was carrying too much in the way extraneous “luxuries,” but there are certain comforts a young guy can live without that an old man like me needs to make a trip like this tolerable.

The ride started out great and I made good time to the town of North Bend, where I had a mail drop waiting for me.  My darling wife sent me a replacement sleeping pad (mine had developed a slow leak that had me re-inflating several times a night), an extra pair of socks, and my new credit card (to replace the one that had been compromised by identity thieves two weeks into my trip).  While I was adding my new toys to my kit and sorting out a few things I wanted to mail back home, I met half the people in town, all of whom wanted to know what I was up to.

One of the folks that talked with me was the woman who wrote for the local paper. She conducted an impromptu interview right there on the sidewalk.  It should give you a good idea of how much excitement there is in this town when I’m considered newsworthy!

The locals warned me off my planned route, informing me that there were a lot of hills and bad road the way I was thinking of going.  With my adjusted course, I set off into the growing heat of the afternoon.  There were still some hills on route 79, but they weren’t bad.  Or they wouldn’t have been if it weren’t for the hot sun sapping my will to move.  My spirit flagged, but just ahead was the town of Webster, which I used as my motivation to continue on, anticipating the cold drinks I’d be able to stock up on there.

When I arrived, it turned out to be a crossroads with a historical marker proclaiming that Webster used to be a place.  Once again, the joke’s on me!  I pushed on until I found a patch of shade by the side of the road and took a break.  When I was ready to get going again, I hopped on the bike only to find out the rear tire was flat again.  No flats for 36 days, and now two in as many days.  Maybe I wasn’t going to like Nebraska as much as I thought I would.

I returned to the shade and performed the necessary surgery, extracting the perfectly triangular sliver of stone that resembled a miniature Indian arrowhead from my tire and installing the tube I had patched the night before.  The combination of a worn out tread and the heat making what rubber was left soft and penetrable was not doing me any favors.  I carefully continued on my way, taking it a little slower than normal in hopes that this would lessen the chances of more punctures.  After ten minutes my rear tire was flat again.

This time it was a new problem.  By that point in the day it was somewhere around 96 degrees.  The road surface was in the 110-degree range.  This was hot enough to melt the glue on the quick-stick patch I had used, allowing the air to leak out.  I found another bit of shade and swapped in my only remaining new tube.  I was able to make it the 7 miles to the town of Snyder without further incident.  After a chicken salad sandwich, an Icee, and a cold, blue Powerade, I sat down and did a proper patch job on my two spare tubes.  The day was still crazy hot, so I opted for a quick nap on the grass before attempting to return to the asphalt sauna.

Things were beginning to cool down into the low 90s by the time I got started again.  I had intended to camp at the Neligh Park campground in West Point, but if I had any hope of recovering from the day’s ordeal I needed air conditioning.  It was a couple miles farther than the park, but the chill embrace of the Super 8 was well worth it!

What I Learned: It only takes about 5 weeks of continuous riding before your legs don't feel sore in the morning.

Distance Today: 44 miles
Total Distance: 1,815 miles