View of my near future
More Scenery
Chimney Rock from the highway
Scott's Bluff (with the North Platte in the foreground)Dear All
Some call it Mexican Devil Weed, others Texan Goat Head. By any name, it's the reason I've been getting a flat every day or even more. It's a low creeper with a seed pod with two evil little prongs which dry to steel. So today in Scott's Bluff at Sonny's Bike Shop I bought a Kevlar rear tire. Ha Ha to you Mr. Devil. Later after setting up my tent in the municipal campground and just as I was entering the library parking lot - pssssssssssss - rats. Now I have to walk the bike all the way back to the campsite and my tools. Double rats. And I was thinking dinner and a movie - triple rats.
I left Ogallala after touring Boot Hill, which has been left wildish with great atmosphere, and "House on a Hill" which a rich Easterner build for his intended, I guess he built it here because business was calling him. Anyway, when the mansion was finished he returned east to find she had wed another - rats for him. I took Hwy 30 to California Hill where I met a couple from New Zealand who were biking San Fransisco to New York. They are the first long distance bikers I have met except for the indigent guy who was biking south ahead of the weather back in Blue Rapids. Then I took a lovely byway - Day Rd. north to meet Hwy 26 just before Ash Hollow Park which was a notable stop on the trail. The ruts are so pronounced there that they have become a ravine. I got .35$ worth of gas for the stove and then into Oshkosh for the night.
With nothing to amuse me, I went to the only thing open - the local gas station. Many of them have coffee, a microwave, and a few tables. There I struck up a conversation with Conrad who after retirement is driving the Lions Mobile Screening Unit around the state to schools and fairs. When he heard I was sleeping in the park, he invited me back to his room to shower and watch the game so although my football knowledge approaches absolute zero - I went and we had a pleasant evening chatting.
Next morning I ran into him at breakfast and as we watched, a Super Constellation on a series of flatbeds (fuselage on one, wings on another, engines and tail on others along with several escort vehicles) pulled up across the street. Apparently some group found it in front of a restaurant in Canada, took it to Rome NY for restoration, and were now in the process of moving it to it's resting place at Seattle's Museum of Aviation. It was funny to see the big Trans Canada Airlines sign on the side.
I biked Hwy26 all day making good time and arriving in Bridgeport after lunch. I stayed in a motel last night to do my laundry and groceries. Also the bike needed some work. I have broken spokes, loose spokes again, and slow leaks in both tires. Hey, I saw a live rattler this morning early. He was lying on the paved shoulder soaking up the sun and I just whizzed right on by before he knew what was happening. Which is just the way I like it.
Today my route was along old Hwy 92 past Chimney Rock and up to Scott's Bluff by way of Sonny's Bike Shop where he moved my seat forward to see if transferring more weight forward would help, and of course, put on the puncture-proof tire. That's it, that's all. You're right up to date. Oh elevation - Kansas City 750 ft. Scott's Bluff 3842 ft. so I'm climbing. South Pass is 7500 ft. (ouch). I am also now in Mountain Time and about 50 miles from the Wyoming border.
love
Laurence
ps Irene & Patrick - I lost your toothbrush, the socks I have safe
ps Andrew & Denise - what a great country you live in. I was biking through a little place called Melbeta today when I saw a converted gas station now selling rocks and coffee. I stopped to see about a cup and the grizzled old owner invited me in for free coffee so we sat and talked while his friends and family came and went. His partner is his sorta-grand-daughter who although somewhat limited physically by cerebral palsy has as he said "the eye of an eagle to spot that agate". He's leaving the business to her cause she loves it. Nice huh.
ps Ray you know wish you were here.
ps Margo - I always knew I could be some kind of example for Carmine.
ps Scott - wish you were here
ps Lee - teach the kids new verses to that old standard - the wheels on the bike go round and round, the seat on the bike goes bump bump bump etc.
ps Laura - my calves look like Popeye's forearms haha
ps Alain I will be very careful if it starts to rain and the ground liquefy. The big local lake McConaughy had shrunk by 70% up until this year when record rainfall has restored it somewhat. The amount of irrigation here is shocking. They use pivot watering to force agriculture on what until recently was only good for pasture land.
I left Ogallala after touring Boot Hill, which has been left wildish with great atmosphere, and "House on a Hill" which a rich Easterner build for his intended, I guess he built it here because business was calling him. Anyway, when the mansion was finished he returned east to find she had wed another - rats for him. I took Hwy 30 to California Hill where I met a couple from New Zealand who were biking San Fransisco to New York. They are the first long distance bikers I have met except for the indigent guy who was biking south ahead of the weather back in Blue Rapids. Then I took a lovely byway - Day Rd. north to meet Hwy 26 just before Ash Hollow Park which was a notable stop on the trail. The ruts are so pronounced there that they have become a ravine. I got .35$ worth of gas for the stove and then into Oshkosh for the night.
With nothing to amuse me, I went to the only thing open - the local gas station. Many of them have coffee, a microwave, and a few tables. There I struck up a conversation with Conrad who after retirement is driving the Lions Mobile Screening Unit around the state to schools and fairs. When he heard I was sleeping in the park, he invited me back to his room to shower and watch the game so although my football knowledge approaches absolute zero - I went and we had a pleasant evening chatting.
Next morning I ran into him at breakfast and as we watched, a Super Constellation on a series of flatbeds (fuselage on one, wings on another, engines and tail on others along with several escort vehicles) pulled up across the street. Apparently some group found it in front of a restaurant in Canada, took it to Rome NY for restoration, and were now in the process of moving it to it's resting place at Seattle's Museum of Aviation. It was funny to see the big Trans Canada Airlines sign on the side.
I biked Hwy26 all day making good time and arriving in Bridgeport after lunch. I stayed in a motel last night to do my laundry and groceries. Also the bike needed some work. I have broken spokes, loose spokes again, and slow leaks in both tires. Hey, I saw a live rattler this morning early. He was lying on the paved shoulder soaking up the sun and I just whizzed right on by before he knew what was happening. Which is just the way I like it.
Today my route was along old Hwy 92 past Chimney Rock and up to Scott's Bluff by way of Sonny's Bike Shop where he moved my seat forward to see if transferring more weight forward would help, and of course, put on the puncture-proof tire. That's it, that's all. You're right up to date. Oh elevation - Kansas City 750 ft. Scott's Bluff 3842 ft. so I'm climbing. South Pass is 7500 ft. (ouch). I am also now in Mountain Time and about 50 miles from the Wyoming border.
love
Laurence
ps Irene & Patrick - I lost your toothbrush, the socks I have safe
ps Andrew & Denise - what a great country you live in. I was biking through a little place called Melbeta today when I saw a converted gas station now selling rocks and coffee. I stopped to see about a cup and the grizzled old owner invited me in for free coffee so we sat and talked while his friends and family came and went. His partner is his sorta-grand-daughter who although somewhat limited physically by cerebral palsy has as he said "the eye of an eagle to spot that agate". He's leaving the business to her cause she loves it. Nice huh.
ps Ray you know wish you were here.
ps Margo - I always knew I could be some kind of example for Carmine.
ps Scott - wish you were here
ps Lee - teach the kids new verses to that old standard - the wheels on the bike go round and round, the seat on the bike goes bump bump bump etc.
ps Laura - my calves look like Popeye's forearms haha
ps Alain I will be very careful if it starts to rain and the ground liquefy. The big local lake McConaughy had shrunk by 70% up until this year when record rainfall has restored it somewhat. The amount of irrigation here is shocking. They use pivot watering to force agriculture on what until recently was only good for pasture land.
As you can see, not all of it is `God`s Country`. Mind you, it is picturesque in a snakey sort of way. Hope you are past the Devil Weed Conservation Area.
ReplyDeleteAlain and Suzanne
Hey Laur - thank you for the pictures - they are awesome and I am pretty sure that I will register Mexican Devil Weed as my future rock n' roll band name (in honour of, of course!). I have literally been using Google Maps to trace your route and put markers at the locations by the date you arrive. It is pretty neat. I tried to paste a link to it here for others but it isn't working - can't paste anything - so if anyone wants access to a map of Laurence's progress and destination points - please email me at leej@me.com and I will email you the public link. I just love the internet - thanks for the posts Laurence and keep it up...and yes the wheels on the bike go squeaky squeaky - pssss - squeaky grind psss - squeaky twang grind - Mara almost has it down :) take care love - all of us
ReplyDeleteBe careful in Wyoming...that's CHENY country (shudder, shudder!).
ReplyDeleteContinued success!
Andrew and Denise
love following your trip.Dad said, Super constellation airliner ."Connie"had the reptutation of always leaving with 4 engins working and arriving with only 3. That may be why it was in bits. Dad is enjoying your blogs and is reasured when he reads your postings .may your roads be smooth and the wind at your back
ReplyDeleteKim
laurence,
ReplyDeletethank-you for the beautiful picture of the sunflowers.....it reminded me of a lovely poem by one of my favourite poets....enjoy
The Sunflowers
Come with me
into the field of sunflowers.
Their faces are burnished disks,
their dry spines
creak like ship masts,
their green leaves,
so heavy and many,
fill all day with the sticky
sugars of the sun.
Come with me
to visit the sunflowers,
they are shy
but want to be friends;
they have wonderful stories
of when they were young-
the important weather,
the wandering crows.
Don't be afraid
to ask them questions!
Their bright faces,
which follow the sun,
will listen, and all
those rows of seeds-
each one a new life!-
hope for a deeper acquaintance;
each of them, though it stands
in a crowd of many,
like a separate univererse,
is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
in not easy. Come
and let us talk with those modest faces,
the simple garments of leaves,
the course roots in the earth
so uprightly burning.
Mary Oliver
from Dream Work
every pilgrim needs poetry....i wish i could meet some of the "modest faces" you are meeting....how lucky are you?!!
miss ya,
laura
hi laurence,
ReplyDeletedon't worry....some weird "henry" is not following you.....it's just me using the wrong account....
love laura
p.s anna sends you her love (and she is helping me figure out how to post!!)