Sunday, July 3, 2011

Go East, Young Men (part 3)


On the third day of July, third day of our trip, we had three riders! We enjoyed getting to know Wolfgang and hearing about his experiences, so it was great to ride with him. 16 miles into the day, we hit the Nebraska state line.

Dave (above) & I (below) greet our mothers.


[Click any photo to enlarge. For some reason that doesn't work on a couple of 'em, but does on most....]

Our whole day was spent paralleling the South Platte River, on what used to be the main highway before the interstate was built on the other side of the river. We passed through Big Springs, Brule, and Ogallala. I had Ogallala flashbacks, recalling a car trip with my grandparents years earlier in which we had some stomach-ache-inducing food yuck at an A&W restaurant...

Good thing we weren't riding through the area during the 10-inch rain year. They had quite a flood in early July 2002.

Onward through Roscoe to a lunch break under a shade tree in Paxton, Nebraska.


Loungin' in the shade. Paxton, Nebraska, July 3, 1981.



Wolfgang & Dave on the road, east of Paxton. July 3, 1981.


Our day's ride ended in North Platte, Nebraska. North Platte is a railroad town of about 20,000 people. The South Platte River (which comes down out of the Colorado mountains) and the North Platte River (coming from the Wyoming mountains) join there, forming the Platte River. On the river goes in broad arcs across the length of Nebraska, where it dumps into the Missouri River south of Omaha. One day, I need to get back there to see the Sandhill Cranes.

We camped next to the North Platte River on the north side of town. Zooming in on my Google map, it must've been Cody Park--presumably named for "Buffalo" Bill Cody. I do believe that is Buffalo Bill on the city seal, seen at the Cody Park web page.


Mark 'n' Dave taking a dip in the North Platte River.


Campsite at North Platte, Nebraska. July 3, 1981.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

North Platte in 3 days?! The quick route from Denver to NP is 250 miles, half way to Omaha! Nice. -Gene

DeLardo said...

yeah, we kinda busted ass there. I think we were pretty tired. Certainly a major lesson from that trip was: CHILL OUT on the miles-per-day thing. Subsequent trips 50-60 miles per day was good. Now, 25 sounds good.