The day started in a town that has sold its soul to strip malls and fast food joints,
North Platte
,
Nebraska
. I can understand how a town in the middle of
America
would be looking to bring tourism dollars into town from the cars that pass along
it on the freeway, but to actually see the results is rather depressing. I’m
sure there are lots of non-living wage jobs in
North Platte
, but no sustained industry is overtly visible other than the agriculture that the
rest of
Nebraska
has. It’s ugly, too.
The one crappy thing was that apparently my right foot peg was loosened during the
fall yesterday, and it vibrated
off somewhere along this morning’s ride. Well, there’s a bad idea
solved, I guess.
Today was rather uneventful, as I didn’t really know where I was headed other
than west until I made each major turn. Just inside the
Wyoming
border I was being chased by a thunderhead. Coming up Route 26 I could see a huge
western rainstorm moving quickly across the prairie. It was heading right for me and
I violated the first rule of rain on a bike again. I did not have my rain gear on
BEFORE the rain started. So, as the rain started to fall I needed somewhere to stop
and get my rain gear on, but there was nothing man-made for miles around, EXCEPT the
bridge that I crossed that went over the train tracks.
A
perfect GS moment! I rode down the embankment and under the bridge to find some
shelter. I made it just as the hail started to fall. It was so cool, I
could actually see the rain cloud pass over head as I hid out under the bridge. When
it had passed, I went down to the bike to get my rain gear on pro-actively, and there
over the bridge was a rainbow. It was great, I could see both
ends.
I ran on through
Casper
and on to
Riverton
,
WY
.
I am typing this in room 26 of the nastiest fleabag motel I have ever seen, but it
only cost $30 for the night, which should offset the loss of my foot peg today. J