Day 67 - Friday, July 30
Second day of the 3 day run on Lincoln Highway running east to west across Nebraska. The difference from yesterday is I had my trusted companion with me for the early portion of the day! I never tire of watching cars come by at high speed and watching the drivers do a double take as they go by to make sure they saw a leash less, collarless dog running behind me on the highway!!
It is the last day of the heat wave and the advisory warns of feel like temps up to 110 degrees. It was hot and humid from the get go. Even so, we made great progress today. There was no water along the way so I had to do emergency hydration for Lucky which I filmed if interested.
Elevation gain was another ~200’ like clockwork. We began in Lexington at 2,392 and finished 2,612’ in Vroman, NE.
Finally cracked the code on the massive silos we run by in every town. Today’s towns were Lexington->Darr->Cozad->Willow Island->Guthenberg->Vroman. Each town had a big silo which acted as a depot for the farmers grain and then in turn loaded into the Union Pacific Railroad that comes right through. Most of them are out of business now as it has consolidated. I am thankful to Dillon for taking a few minutes during his smoke break to talk about the massive operation in Guthenberg.
The pictures will do the rest of the recap -
Tomorrow is the last day along the Lincoln Highway as we come into North Platte, one of the larger towns. With the heat breaking I hope it is an easier day.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
Cheers,
David.
Underneath the water tower on the way out of Lexington around 4:30am
Here, on August 7, 1867, a band of Southern Cheyennes, led by Chief Turkey Leg, wrecked a west-bound Union Pacific freight train and handcar which preceded it. The engineer and fireman were killed and the boxcars looted and burned. One of the handcar crew was killed, another wounded, and one scalped alive. At dawn the Indians rode away with bolts of bright colored calico tied to their ponies’ tails.
Grain silo depot in Darr, NE
Hmmm, one of the doors is open
Got a chance to peek inside…
The old train station in Cozad, NE
Along Lincoln Highway
On the ground all around the massive silo’s in Guthenberg, NE
Clean up crew is waiting
We are done for the day!
Quick turn around once we land in an RV Park on lunch/dinner - leftover panko crusted local walleye on brioche buns with red onion, pickles and small yellow tomatoes and lemon. Sides of string beans with onions and bacon - little grease included. Finally the salad was the best with garden tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and fresh basil with vinaigrette. I’ve lost 13 pounds so far and this helps get it back in the right direction!