Hank – The plan was to wake up at 5:00 am and be on the road by 6:00 to beat the heat. My Nexus phone has a battery that freaks out every once in a while and shuts the phone down even though it has 30-40%. Last night was one of those situations. Kathy woke me at 5:37. We quickly packed and were on the road by 6:10. We rode to Bassett about 10 miles away to eat breakfast at the Range Cafe. During the ride we had a crosswind. When we left the restaurant it shifted to a full on headwind. We were not happy. To top it off, we couldn’t find a weather report of any use as it pertains to the current situation. One said the winds were coming from NNE. Another said from the southeast. They were definitely from the east.

Well, what can you do but put your head down and start working? We had towns 10-12 miles apart so we used them as stepping stones to reach our final goal, which was O’Neill. Kathy tucked in behind me and I pulled her for about 45 miles. In one town we saw a couple of tourers headed in the opposite direction. One had panniers and a trailer that was loaded as high as his rear rack. Talk about loaded. The winds finally died down during the last handful of miles so we could ride easy.

Along the way we saw lots of dead turtles on the roadway. They move way to slow to avoid getting hit. We passed by one that was on its back in the rumble strip. We stopped and Kathy released it in the nearby wetland. So hopefully one turtle saved.

O’Neill has a nice city campground with showers. We also washed our clothes while we showered. I pretty much showered in my clothes and washed each article as it removed it. A sort of soapy strip tease if you will. But if you’ve ever seen me dance you would know the moves were more erratic than erotic. It just wasn’t my calling, you know?

Kathy and I had a bet about Dusty the bike tourer we met last night. Kathy didn’t think he would make it to O’Neill today. I did. We bet $5.00. At 8:00 pm Dusty showed up. I’m a winner!!!

Kathy – Today was another 60+ miler. We rode a total of 65 miles today. It was flat regardless of Google telling us we would have 650 feet of decline… never happen! Even though we started riding early at 6:10am the heat gained on us quickly. It was 85 degrees with 88% humidity. The winds were pretty ferocious today. I drafted off Hank for 45 miles today…thank you Hank! 😘. Yes we were warm! However we kept a positive attitude and gradually knocked off the miles as we went along. This is our 2nd 60+ miles day. We are both a little tired but not too bad.

We got to hear the tornado sirens go off – luckily just for. Practice run at noon while in Stewart, Nebraska. It reminded me of my childhood growing up in Southern Illinois. Anyone from the Midwest knows about tornado sirens. We don’t have these in a Spokane.

We also saw a couple of other bike tourers today. They were going the opposite direction from us. We just waved and kept moving because of the heat. We have on bike tourer that we met yesterday in Lone Pine that is heading towards Sioux City like us. However we are keeping our distance from him because we get an odd feeling about him. His sister works for a large well known company that I won’t name and she is going to give him a job when he arrives. He is a large guy that talks constantly and likes to drink lots of beer. He was still sleeping when we left Long Pine at 6:10 am today. I bet Hank $5.00 that he would not make it to O’Neill, Nebraska today because of all the wind. Well lo and behold, he just rolled in. Ok, I will pay my debt.

All in all, it was a long day of riding but a good day of riding. We were happy to get to the campsite, shower, and hand wash our clothes. After relaxing a while, we rode into town and had a delicious dinner. A tough riding day, but a good day over all.