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.