Day 24 - Grand Island, NE to Des Moines, IA

We packed up and left at 8:30am. Nice temperatures in the morning at 65F. We saw (and smelled) big piggies going to market in this truck.

After two hours or so we took a break south of Lincoln at the Prairie Lake Shell station. Michele said it was exceptionally clean inside. Look at this cool bike parked near us!

We met the man, he walked over asking where we're from and going to. We asked about his bike, he had it custom made and it has a 350 Chevy motor! He had wanted one of these for years from the man he sees at Sturgess who custom designs them. His wife told him to get one "in a moment of weakness," so he worked with the builder on the design. He lives nearby and is riding to Colorado to visit his daughter and family. His wife won't ride long trips, but flies out to meet him there. It sounded pretty cool when he took off. 

We crossed the Missouri and there wasn't a sign welcoming us to Iowa, probably due to some construction in the area.

Once we crossed into Iowa, we felt the humidity return for the first time in over two weeks. Rob found a scenic overlook in the Waubonsie State Park. 

Apparently this area is geologically interesting called the Loess Hills. The hills are made entirely by windblown soil. A Loess Hill must be more than 60 feet deep. No where else but China are they higher than in Iowa. On the website it says Ice age animals like wooly mammoth, camel, giant beaver and giant sloth roamed the Loess Hills during the Hills' early years. The crops looked to us like they'd be challenging to harvest on the terraces.

Rob planned lunch in Tabor, Iowa, a tiny town with a one-block downtown and lots of charm. 

We ordered a takeout sandwich from Yeya's Scratch Kitchen where they only take cash and checks. While we waited, a man parked nearby asked where we're from and then said "You're a long way from home! How in the world did you end up in Tabor, Iowa?" Michele told him that Rob finds scenic drives so we're not always on the interstate. He was kind and wished us a safe trip. We drove two blocks over to the town park that has covered picnic areas. It also has a pretty cool play area for kids. Since they were all in school, it was really quiet there. 

After lunch, we rode part of the Lewis and Clark scenic loop. 

The GPS tried to route us on this 4-mile gravel road despite Rob's "no unpaved roads" setting. 

To Michele this scene reminded her a little of the house in the movie Field of Dreams.

We had about 2.5 hours until we arrived at our hotel. We rode on US 275 highway to I-29 North and picked up I-80 East just on the east side of Omaha. About 50 miles west of Des Moines, we stopped for fuel. When Rob turned the bike back on, the trailer lights were dark. Rob spent 30 minutes trying a few things and nothing worked. He doesn't have the right tools with him to track down ground faults and wiring continuity issues. He now thinks it could be a bad ground. The question is where. We decided to just kept on going. The Wing's rear and signal lights can be seen above the trailer so at least we have visible signals. It just isn't ideal. Traffic wasn't too bad until we got to the outskirts of Des Moines. Yikes! Interstate 35 and 80 come together there and it was rush hour, so it was a bit slow for a few exits. 

We arrived at the Marriott Fairfield Inn in Urbandale (a northern suburb of Des Moines) around 5pm. We got takeout dinner next door at the Pizza Ranch. After dinner Rob worked on the trailer a bit more. Without a multimeter it's hard to check the continuity of all the ground wires. We'll just pull it without lights for the rest of the trip. We'll only be riding in daylight and rain isn't expected....fingers crossed. 

Tomorrow we head into Illinois.

 

A few more scenes from today.

Day 23 - Chadron, NE to Grand Island, NE

After a good hotel breakfast, we packed up the trailer and left at 8am. Our route continued on US 20 East and we saw sunflower fields in the morning sun.

At Nenzel, population 20, we took a detour and rode through the Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest. 

Tbe road wasn't great so Rob took it slow. Doesn't matter as we were the only ones there. It's a 116,000 acre forest in the sandhills representing the unique prairie ecosystem. 

We saw these big insects on the road. Rob said you could probably walk it if you had a leash! Later he looked it up and thinks it is the plains lubber grasshopper. He guessed it's body was about the size of his thumb!  He slowed down so we could take a picture. The body kind of looks like a frog but it's got six legs, and they either sit on the road and don't move or walk quickly across.

We also saw a large hawk, a wild turkey that hightailed it across the road in front of us, and two white swans today. We soon arrived at the Merritt Reservoir that looked like a sudden oasis in the middle of the prairie. It is a state recreation area and fed by the Snake River and a creek. The levels of the reservoir looked very low, a common theme we've seen during our trip. 

Our route then followed Nebraska 97 into Valentine, NE. As Rob fueled up the bike Michele noticed that our planned Subway lunch spot was boarded up and the road was under construction rendering the Subway inaccessible anyways. We tried to find the Runza down the road that was on the GPS, but it was either just being constructed or was out of business. We turned around and ate at the McDonalds. Michele says she has avoided McD's for at least 10 years. We couldn't be too choosy in this small farming town, so it sufficed. 

Now in the central time zone, we followed US 83 South through the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge. It is a breeding ground for migrating birds and other wildlife and ecologically important with marshes, lakes and wetlands. 

Soon we got on Nebraska Highway 2 East. This is the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway. The sandhills are the largest area of stabilized grass covered sand dunes in the Western Hemisphere, covering 20,000 square miles.

We also saw 5 or 6 trains today, one of which had over 200 cars.

There was quite a bit of irrigation happening in the fields.

A cluster of windmills.

We passed through many small towns.

We took highway 2 into Grand Island, NE to our Holiday Inn for the night, arriving around 4:30pm despite leaving an hour later than planned. The hotel gave Michele an entire box of thin mints and a bag of caramel popcorn at check in. Awesome!

Today we rode about 350 miles. We dropped another 1,500 feet in elevation. Grand Island sits at about 1,800 feet. The high temp was 91 degrees and we started in the 60s. Michele said she struggled a bit today, the consistency of the landscape was a bit monotonous and it was hotter than forecasted. But, she liked it much better than flat Kansas. Rob said he liked today. The rolling grass covered sand dunes and expansive views were relaxing. 

Grand Island is a busy metropolis compared to the solitude of today's route through the sandhills. We ordered Olive Garden to go, Rob cleaned up and covered the bike, and we relaxed in our room for the night. Tomorrow we continue east through the rest of Nebraska and cross over into Iowa.

 

Day 22 - Golden, CO to Chadron, NE

Our route today would take us from the foothills of the Front Range to deep in the Nebraska prairie. We wanted to experience the hosts' 8am breakfast so we delayed our planned 7am departure time. We would get to our hotel in Nebraska at late afternoon, but it was worth it. Just two other guests were at the house so we ate in the dining room with them and the owners: the man from Singapore and a man who was in town for an astrology conference. He said he didn't sell as many of his books as he wanted to. We heard a few funny stories about his clients. We think he said his profession is an EEG technician and he's from Atlanta. He was really nice and chatted with Rob about motorcycles. Our hosts, Judy and Dennis, were just the sweetest people. They were married on Valentine's Day in 2010 and look to be in their 70s, but we don't know how they met. They had black and white antique photos of themselves and their families, one was of Dennis' grandfather. Judy is from the Golden area but lived in Florida at some point. Dennis lived in Montana for a time. Our breakfast was a "Judy style" eggs benedict casserole that Judy said she was trying out on us as a new recipe for guests. It was really good and much easier to make than the usual recipe. We also had chicken sausage, fruit, a baked apple cup, and muffins. We were stuffed! 

We said our goodbyes and hit the road at 9:15am, getting in a few last sights of downtown Golden. 

Our route was I70 East out of Golden to I25 North towards Fort Collins. Since we were heading North, we had a view of the distant Front Range for awhile. 

In the past we headed east immediately and sadly had to see the mountains in our mirrors. We continued on I25 into Wyoming where we picked up I80 East. We were in Wyoming for a little over an hour. 

Michele begged Rob to take this route instead to extend our vacation.

Just a few hours outside of Denver the scenery changed dramatically with the road mostly to ourselves.

This train had about 200 cars, with three engines in front and one in the middle. Michele lost count at about 140 cars since the tracks went behind a hill.

We crossed into Nebraska at 11:30am and the scenery picked up.

In Kimball, Nebraska we stopped for fuel and picked up Nebraska 71 North. We took that into Gering and connected with Nebraska 92 West. Michele wanted to make a stop at the Brown Sheep Co. to check out their yarn. It was just off Country Road 16 just a few miles outside Scotts Bluff. Their sheep used to make the wool are not onsite, but the dyeing and spinning mill is. 

They had a few cute roosters and chickens pecking about.

Once done there, we rode into Gering and had lunch at the Subway. Rob was still full from breakfast and didn't eat. We found a shady spot by the post office and library. A man came by and he had a friend who liked Honda motorcycles, and both he and the friend were in the Vietnam War. 

After a quick lunch, we rode back to the Scotts Bluff National Monument. They have a visitor center and a scenic drive. 

Unfortunately we learned no trailers allowed on the drive. Rob told the ranger that we just took it up to Mount Evans so this would be easy. Nope! We went inside and watched the movie of the history of the area, and looked at some of the exhibits, artwork and photos. The formations were ancestral high plains that wind, water and volcanos deposited materials that compacted and eroded 31 million years ago. 

The area was a prairie pathway for 10,000 years for Indians and then white settlers pioneering west. The Pony Express briefly came through this area. 

We'd like to come back sometime to walk about the trails and drive up the scenic road. 

At 3:15 we were done at the monument and continued up Nebraska 71 North to Nebraska 2 West. We've been on Nebraska 2 before, but not this far west, and find it a scenic alternative to the interstate. The open space is somewhat overwhelming. As far as we can see in every direction is grazing land.

We rode past sunflower fields, their heads facing east.

There were more cool formations as we got closer to the end of the day.

At Crawford, we picked up US 20 East into Chadron. We arrived at the Holiday Inn Chadron at 5pm. Rob wanted to enjoy a cocktail tonight, but there weren't a lot of restaurant choices. We walked across the parking lot to Runza, a fast food place that was rated well and was clean inside. 

Our room had this beautiful sunset view of the farmland.

We rode 360 miles today and descended nearly 2000 feet. We are now 4,000 total miles into our trip. We were expecting hotter conditions today but it stayed really nice right up to a few minutes before our arrival tonight, and even then it was only 88 for a high. We were mostly cool and comfortable the whole day ranging from 70 this morning to 83 most of the day. Tomorrow we ride through Nebraska to Grand Island.