June 12, 2004: 68.2 miles So Far: 68.2 miles, Overland Park, KS to Perry Lake
Today I started my 2004 summer tour. This year I decided to do the Tour de Nebraska bike tour. This is an annual ride put on by Rick and Susan Rodenburg, owners of BikePeddlers of Lincoln NE.
I laid out everything that I thought I'd need on Wed. and Thurs. and packed everything the night before. I set the panniers on the bike and lashed everything down. All I had to do Sat morning before was fill the water bottles and leave. Heading out from home I had ridden about five blocks when I had the anal feeling that I'd left the garage door open. No amount of reasoning with myself would convince me to not turn around and ride back home to check. It was closed.
My goal for this day was to ride to Perry Lake and camp overnight there. I took a round about way to get there and just as I was nearing Desoto, two deer came bounding at full speed across my path not 30 feet in front of me. They were a truly awesome sight to see, but I'm glad our paths didn't coincide. I ate lunch at a little place called La Familia & Cantina at 722 New Hampshire in Lawrence. I then opted to take county road 458 out of Lawrence and to Lecompton. This was not a very good route; hilly, narrow and busy. I would have been better of to have taken US 24/40 to Perry.
The state park entrance is about 3½ miles from 24/40. The campsite was nice. This is one of the better state parks with modern bathrooms and showers. I found a nice, fairly level site with a picnic table. I cooked dinner. I had purchased a couple of the freeze dried dehydrated hiker meals to try out and prepared one of these. It wasn't bad and very convenient. Just heat water, add to pouch, close pouch and let sit for 5-10 minutes Open the pouch and eat.
Camped next to me were some mountain bikers who had come down to ride in a mountain bike race that day and were camping out and planning on returning to KC the next day. We were visiting when a very dark and large storm started building. A few minutes later Perry's tornado sirens went off (one continuous tone) The others asked me what that noise was and I told them. I also added that the continuous tone meant that a funnel cloud had been spotted. It never sounded again. Good. Then it started to rain. I hurried and stuffed everything in the tent, put the rain covers on the panniers and dove for cover. As the storm raged outside I realized my flashlight was in the tent but I didn't know where. Soon a big , bright bolt of lightning illuminated the tent. Flashlight found! The tent took some water that was blown under the rain fly but no direct leaks. There were trees all around and I'm sure they took the brunt of the winds. I'd hear about this storm for days to come.
I soon fell asleep with the storm raging outside.
June 13, 2004: 68.46 miles So Far: 136.75 miles. Perry Lake to Horton, KS
When I awoke this morning the previous evening's storm was over. There were some moist spots in the tent, but nothing significant. I ate breakfast at DJ's Marina. Biscuits and Gravy, good. I then noticed that I'd neglected to take my Kansas road and bicycle maps with me. I'd had them out the night before, but had forgotten to repack them. The Marina didn't have any maps but they gave me an old county map to help me on the way. In Valley Falls I purchased a map. Hwy 4 to Valley Falls proved to be a nice road with 3ft. shoulders. I continued to stay on hwy 4 until I had to turn to get to Horton. I originally intended to take 116 over to a county road then go north thru Muscotah into Horton. This highway proved very hilly and I was also facing a stiff headwind. About 3 miles in was a sign "County road to Effingham". I took this opportunity and went to Effingham. I then followed 159 on into Horton. On the way to Horton I frightened a blue heron who was trying to get lunch in a creek. Magnificent birds. Later there was a KS Highway Patrol car along the side of the road with it's flashers on. I rode up behind and passed very carefully as I couldn't see what was on the other side of the patrol car. Whew! No desperados or anything like that. It was a loose cow on the road. As I went on down the road for the next mile or so I waved at any oncoming vehicle and pointed back down the road. The third thing that I encountered on this stretch of road was a field containing quite a few Texas Longhorn cattle. The farmer came out and we had a nice little talk about the cattle, farming and when he'd been in Kansas City last.
I just zoomed through Horton. This was early Sunday afternoon and all the stores were closed. The campground (Mission Lake) is about a mile past Horton. I rode past the turn for a little ways as I was looking for Nebo State Fishing Lake as shown on the Kansas Highway map. I then became suspicious and turned around and went back. It was $5 to camp. Nice place but no showers and a porta potty for bathroom. I sat, rested and watched the sun set over the lake. It rained at dusk, but no thunderstorms. And then a rainbow.
June 14, 2004: 56.96 miles So Far 193.71 miles. Horton to Humboldt, NE.
I planned on this being a light day. The previous night was not stormy and I slept very well. I cooked one of the oatmeal breakfasts* that I prepared before I left. When I got to Hiawatha I stopped into the McDonald's for pancakes and sausage and an orange juice. I asked for a large orange juice and little did I know that this meant large as in large Coke. OK, it has be a long time since I have been in a McD's. They had a Kansas City newspaper there. Same old stuff. Hwy 73 is a pretty good road to the Nebraska state line. At Nebraska, the shoulder changed from being 2' wide to 8' wide. Of course, there is always a trade off. Rumble strips. Luckily these were the cast in type and the fat tires on the touring bike made them barely perceptible. This situation continued for the 7 or so miles on into Falls City. It was about lunch time and right there on 73 at about 13th Street was a place called Terri Jo's Family Restaurant. I stopped in and had the special: egg salad sandwich, baked potato, and iced tea. Very good.
After lunch, I continued north on 73 (rumble strips were gone, but were replaced by poorly maintained asphalt) which then turned to go west. In the town of Verdon I had stopped to snack, drink and rest a bit. Someone approached and asked if I needed some water. I accepted and drank about 2 bottles of the cool stuff. This guy told me that he owned the surrounding 40 acres and was growing about 90 turkeys for sale. He had two jersey steers that he was fattening up for steaks and two llamas that served as "watchdogs". He told me that he was a retired schoolteacher from Falls City and that he'd done two BRANs and one RAGBRAI. He had an old mountain bike with a milk carton back rack that he went to town (about 1/2 mile down the road) from building to building on the farm. He had a long gray beard and looked like an upscale Ozarker.
I left 73 and turned on state road 4 to go to Humboldt. The skies were clear and the temperature was getting up into the mid 80's. I had downed almost 4 bottles of water before reaching Humboldt. Humboldt has a nice little park. There's a lake in the middle of it and picnic and camping areas on the outskirts. The park has a population of ducks and geese that have been conditioned to consider all humans as a source for food. When I stopped to make camp they all came over and honked and quacked for a few minutes until they realized that I had nothing to feed them and they left. In the early evening I cooked the other hiker meal.
Before dark someone came by and asked me where I was going. He had a friend that had just gotten back from BRAN. He told me that he liked to ride as well but wasn't in as good a shape as his friend and said that he might be interested in the TDN as it wasn't as rigorous as BRAN. So I gave him the contacts for the ride.
Train tracks run right next to the park. The trains run regularly every 1½ hours. It rained again this night.
June 15,2004: 55.17 miles So Far 248.88 miles Humboldt to Adams, NE
When I awoke this morning it was raining, but not too hard. I broke camp and moved everything under one of the picnic
shelters and cooked breakfast. It continued to rain for about 30 minutes after I started riding and then I rode out of the storm. About 2½ miles out of Humboldt there was another loose cow. He bolted back down the farm's driveway when I rode by. I guess he somehow knew that I was going to have a hot beef sandwich for lunch. Someone I talked to told me to take hwy 105 and not 50. Hwy 105 had much less traffic. So I took 105 to US 136 and then 9 miles to Tecumsa for lunch. That 9 miles was no fun. The road wasn't real busy, but there wasn't any shoulder and quite a bit of truck traffic. I got off several times to let trucks take the hills at speed. This was a courtesy, not self preservation
The town of Tecumsa sits on the south side of 136 and it is possible to drive around and miss the town completely. I asked for directions and found the town square. I ate at the veteran's club. After I ate I rode around the town square
and found a very ethnic looking Mexican restaurant. I noted it for I know the tour would be staying in his town for a night. I then proceeded north on hwy 50 and turned on hwy 41 thru St. Mary, Sterling where I bought some provisions, checked out the camping area in the park and was warned of a prediction of afternoon thunderstorms. Just before arriving in Adams the bearded guy that I met in Verdon drove up beside me and asked if I wanted a lift. He was going to Lincoln to visit family and recognized my touring rig. Since I only had about 3 miles to go I thanked him but declined and wished him a good trip. I arrived in Adams at about 2:20 PM and rode to the high school. I checked the tour paperwork, found out that I should be camping in the park, rode to the park and set up camp. I was the first one there, but soon Susan Smith arrived and shortly, her friend Susie arrived. The last to arrive was another rider from Colorado. We talked as we set up camp. I was informed that there was a nice place to eat in town and we all went to dinner together.
Later during dinner Matt Harper and his father Jerry joined us.
There never was a thunderstorm, in fact, this was the first night that it did not rain.
June 16, 2004: 57.05 miles So Far 305.93 miles Adams to Nebraska City, NE
This turned out to be an easy day, a good recovery day. I rode with Matt Harper and his dad, Jerry. We left Adams going north on hwy 43 and then turned east on hwy 2. Hwy 2 is a divided 4 lane but not limited access highway. It has 8' shoulders for riding and 1' wide rumble strip next to the roadway. It's a good bicycle route, just not very pastoral with the truck traffic it supported. It also was not a good place to spot wildlife but there were several examples of "wilddead". Most were ground up to where all there was left to see was fir, bones, and teeth. Jerry had a flat and we struggled to get it re-inflated with his pump. With the help of another cyclist who, with a little effort convert his pump to the different valve stem type, we got the tire inflated well enough to get us to Nebraska City. There was supposed to be a welcoming committee waiting for the riders. Didn't see any. Looking at our tire and pump problem, Rick Rodenburg showed us that Jerry's pump head had become loose and that was why the pump was not working. The evening meal was qite good. The Local Lutheren Church Women did a fine job. We walked but should have ridden our bikes. The church was a little more than 2 miles from the camp site.
June 17, 2004: 8.69 miles So Far 314.62 miles Nebraska City to Nebraska City, NE
This was a rest day for me. Matt, Jerry and I toured around the town. We went to the Mayhew cabin and Rustic village,
the Arbor Day complex and ate lunch at the Leid Lodge. It was very good.
. I later went to the laundromat and met another bike tourist. He was doing laundry and working on his journal. Earlier Matt was talking about getting a trailer to go touring on his Rans Rocket. At that time, I advised him to find some actual users of trailers and get some opinions on what works and what does not. I asked the other tourist about his trailer. He and his wife were doing the Adventure Cycling Lewis and Clark Route. He told me the single wheel Bob trailer was the only way to go: narrower profile on the road, handles well, less wind drag. He also told me that he and his wife we meeting another couple in Council Bluffs.
Dinner was at the Historic Barn. This was kind of a misadventure. For the last of us to get in line, they ran out of plates and silverware. These eventually came. When we got back to our table, our places were taken. They just moved our hats and drinks to the middle of the table. Not enough seating. When we found a place to sit we went to get drinks. All the tea and lemonade was gone and the water was just about empty too. They didn't run out of food. I took an extra helping. Twelve bucks is twelve bucks. Should have gone into town to eat.
June 18, 2004: 39.97 miles So Far 354.59 miles Nebraska City to Auburn NE.
Today Jerry, Matt and I decided to take the Steamboat Trace Trail, a Rails to Trails project. The ride was quite nice. Very rural and remote in places. As we neared
Brownville the trail was showing quite a bit of flood damage. There was lots of soupy and slippery going for a few miles. Jerry and I were doing pretty good in the stuff, but Matt's recumbent performed some very interesting actions in several of the muddier areas. We lunched in Brownville. We went to the Winery first and Matt bought some wine and had it shipped home. The winery didn't have much for lunch but the local ice cream shop had set up a little assembly line of BBQ sandwich, chips , and canned soda for $5.00. We ate there. I was hungry. It hit the spot. There were two more bike tourists in Brownville. They were also on the Lewis and Clark Adventure Cycling route. This was the couple that the pair in Nebraska City were going to meet in Council Bluffs. Small world. Hwy 136 from Brownville to Auburn has nice shoulders and was a pleasant 8-9 miles to Auburn. Arriving in Auburn we noticed that some local artists had decorated many of the store windows with bicycling scenes. These paintings were in the form of cartoons and very amusing. There was a welcoming committee(that was still there when we arrived). They had good watermelon and information about Auburn. There was an excellent spagetti dinner put on by the fire dept. this evening.
The only minus was a concert of local talent. Most of them were pretty bad and they all were way too loud. I think I'm right but it maybe just my gender gap showing. The park and bandstand.
I fell asleep, bands blaring outside. Railroad trains, bands, who cares? ZZZZZ....
June 19, 2004: 81.02 miles So Far 435.61 miles Auburn to Tecumseh, NE
A very excellent pancake breakfast in Auburn to start the day.
Today I'm feeling like doing the long route. I rode with Matt and Jerry to Humboldt, In Humbolt we decided to stop at the local cafe for a little nourishment. The menu had cinnamom rolls. Sounds good. What? No cinamon rolls? How about the pie? No pie either? We settled for toast and coffee. Coffee sounded good that day. The start temperature was about 55 degrees and it was only about 60 at 9:30. After our toast and coffee, we parted ways, me going south and Jerry and Matt heading west.
I was cruising along, comfortable that I was probably the tail end of the 77 mile group. That group was up before dawn and was on the road before we had finished breakfast. The route wasn't busy or hilly and I was enjoying the contryside when, just before arriving in Pawnee City, I noticed one or two cyclists in front of me. They were crawling up the hills and screaming down them. I never did catch them. In Pawnee City I stopped at Hallie's Restaurant. There were several bikes parked there. Among them was a tandem. That explains the slow up and fast down hill speeds of the bike I was just following. As I went in a large group was just leaving. I sat with the tandem crew. We were wearing identical Rails to Trails jerseys. I had a nice grilled chicken salad and rhubarb pie with ice cream.
After lunch I was heading out of town when I encountered a group of six (5 women, 1 man; I only remember a couple names so all will go nameless out of fairness) cyclists mulling over our route directons. The instructuions said not to ride hwy 50 from hwy 4 to hwy 62. The only way out of Pawnee City was hwy 50. So after consulting some locals and showing then our map, we all headed out of town. This group was riding at a good easy pace and I asked if I could tag along. They said sure and we all headed down the road more or less as a group, At Table Rock we stopped for a break. I had a coke. At Elk Creek we stopped again at the Elk Creek Village Tavern. Some in our group ordered something called and Elk Creek. We all took straws and passed it around. It was a little too potent for one to drink the whole glass. It contained Mtn Dew, 7-up, vodka, gin and other things. It tasted a little like sour lemonade and reminded me of some of the evil stuff we used to brew in college for parties.
We arrived in Tecumseh at about 6:00. We decided to meet back at the baggage truck at 7:00 and go to the Mexican restraunt I found when I was riding to Adams the previous week. We missed the last ride dinner and the awards ceremony, but I was having such a good time I didn't care. The food was excellent. The menu was in Spanish with English subtitles. I translated the menu for anyone who asked. Our waiter was hard of hearing and didn't speak English too well, but everything was good.
After dinner we walked around and talked. By this time I had decided to start directly for home the next day so I said my goodbys in case we missed each other at breakfast. I then went back to my tent and organized my panniers for the trip back. No trains tonight. How can I get to sleep?
June 20, 2004: 57.19 miles So Far 492.80 Tecumseh to Falls City, NE
I bade my farewell to the six riders I rode with the previous day, loaded all my stuff on the Trek 520 and took off.
I followed the route that we came in on. I then got on Hwy 4 and rode back the Humboldt. I was hungry and ready for lunch but this being Sunday there were no stores except for a supermarket open. I purchased some PBJ fixings and went to the park and made and ate about 4 sandwiches. About 3:00 PM I arrived in Falls City. I got a good picture of what restraunts were in town by the trash along the road. Drive through windows, eating while driving and the pitching the wrappers and leftovers out the window of the vehicle is probably the greatest source of trash along roadways.
Anyway, riding into Falls City, I first tried Terri Jo's but it was closed on Sunday. I then went back down the street and ate at Sonic.
After eating I set out to find Stanton Park. After riding around some and asking a few people I learned that the park is on 25th street. This is in the north end of town. I set up camp and noticed that the trains were there, but far away.
June 21, 2004: 68.02 miles So Far 560.82 Falls City - Iowa Nation - Atchison, KS
I ate breakfast at Terri Jo's and was ready to ride. The skies seemed to be threatening rain as I proceeded east to Rulo. When I was just leaving Rulo I met a couple of cyclists going the other way. We exchanged waves and hello's. I noticed that they were not carrying any luggage. I assumed they were probably locals taking advantage of this sweet section of road. Leaving Nebraska I was informed by signs that I was passing through the Iowa Nation Indian Reservation. In a few mile I saw a a sign that I was entering Kansas. As I continued south on Hwy 7 I kept seeing more cyclists going north. I asked some where they were going and they said Oregon. Hmmm? What gives? No touring equipment. Are they Credit Carding and motelling? A few miles furthur I stopped at a historical marker to read it and several more cyclists riding in from the south stopped as well. As we talked, I learned that they were part of a tour doing the Lewis and Clark Trail and that their gear was being hauled by a van pulling a trailer. And soon the van came by. This tour was put on by Tom Armstrong. Everyone looked happy. While we were there we helped get a truck turned around. The driver had missed the turn to the casino.
Just before reaching White Cloud I met another cyclist. We both looked somewhat alike, loaded tourers, rain jacked, gray beard and gray helmet. We talked a little bit. He was doing Adventure Cycling's Lewis and Clark Trail route. He told me tha he actually started this ride last year. He had ridden as far as Platte City, MO but then lost interest and abandoned his tour there. This year he was starting at Platte City and finishing the rest of the tour. I stopped at White Cloud, a small town next to a boat launch. I remembered a store there from a few years back where you could get snacks, drinks and sit. The store was closed and filled with old stuff. While in White Cloud I met a gentleman who called himself Wolf River Bob. His card. Bob had me sign his registry and then we talked for a while about White Cloud's role in the Lewis and Clark celebrations. The only open business was a water treatment company. The only refreshment was a soda machine. Another one soda machine town.
Hwy 7 continued on, flat, quiet and somewhat picturesque. At Fanning the terrain was starting to be become hilly. I also passed some very tired looking cyclists from the tour. The hilliness continued on into Troy. When coming into Troy I crossed over US36 and followed the old K7 route into town. This route was much tamer than the 36/7 highway. I stopped in Troy for lunch and had a nice sandwich at this convience store at the north edge of downtown Troy. South of Troy, K7 is busier but not too bad and very hilly.
I initially intended to camp overnight at the Atchison State Fishing Lake. I saw the sign for the lake and turned down a very primitive road. After about a mile of straight up and down extremely rough riding, I abandoned this idea and decided to ride to Atcheson and figure out what to do then. I was soon in Atchison. I was tired and thirsty when I arrived at Atchison's Information Center. I filled the water bottles, drank my fill and ate the remainder of my fig newtons and took a break. The Information Center gave me a brochure with a map of Atchison, and a list of business, parks and such. On this brochure I saw Warnock Lake, which has camping. Warnock is southwest of Atchison and the road down there is a nice country lane. The camping area is on the opposite side of the lake from the entrance. I picked a spot and made camp. I cooked dinner and sorted my panniers for the trip home tomorrow. No trains, hard to get to sleep.
An odd item I saw on the road. Fish mailbox. I heard they also come in bass and catfish.
June 22, 2004: 82.84 miles Total Miles 643.66 Atchison - Overland Park, KS
O.K., I'll admit that I wasn't a good example of Style Man. I wasn't riding a Italian made racing bike, and was wearing a "Tee Shirt!" and not a team jersey. I also hadn't had a shower in three days. I don't remember which way the wind was blowing. If it was blowing towards them then maybe they were justified after all.
Well it's good to back home anyway. This was a long day (8'11").
Les Sires June, 2004