posted by Steve Largent at 7:32 PM

Hard to remember those great tail winds of yesterday and getting in at 1:30 p.m.! Scattered thundershowers were forecast for last night. About midnight I awoke to my tent hyperventilating- at least the walls were rapidly expanding and then contracting. I thought a tornado might be arriving, but I heard no alarm. Rain started to fall, and fell back asleep. The rain fell harder awakening me. Lying on my side I felt something strange in the upper lung, and suddenly the world shook as nearby lightening lit the world in Falls City, Nebraska and especially their city park. Rain was falling hard and fast. Thunder was constant for the next hour nearly muffling the two trains that came near us with whistles blowing.

Next morning the pleasant headwinds of yesterday were replaced with a headwind coming straight out of the Northwest just our direction of travel. We did 9 and 10 MPH to Brownville where Chris took an option to Hamburg to see some hills that are geographically similar to the Palouse. I had no interest in that! Since we’re riding the Lewis-Clark route and haven’t seen much of the Missouri, David and I took the “Steamboat Trace” a trail along a former railbed. Nebraska doesn’t maintain this to near the level that Missouri does the Katy. After 3 miles of fairly decent crushed limestone, it appears some farmer removed the railroad bed making it a settling pond for his nearly flooded field (remember the “scattered thundershowers” they affected the entire 60 mile area we saw today- flooding rivers, etc.). This farmer’s drainage area bogged us down. I had to carry my bike a few feet but got enough clay out of the fender wells to let the wheels move again. The clay bog was probably on 100 yard long, but its definitely mountain biking stuff! David is now 100% opposed to any non-paved trails in the future (see his log entries on his web page for more complaints about the mud!). We stopped by the car wash, unloaded our bikes, and washed them; this is not recommended behaviour! With the miserable night last night, David called the local Presbyterian Church and asked if we could sleep in the church’s basement. The pastor took an interest in us and ended up having us in their home! We had a great dinner with them; Great people. Looking forward to a night’s rest without being rattled out of my test by thunder, lightning, and trains! We’ll leave Nebraska tomorrow for Iowa.

Happy cycling for fun, fitness, and Transportation!