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| Nightfall near Corrington |
Well, yet another morning of awaking to the sound of human activity outside my tent. This time it was the rumbling of what sounded like two diesel pickup trucks. I hoped it wasn't the property owner as I wasn't exactly sure if I was camped on the right-of-way or the actual private property (it was outside the fence but still quite a ways from the road and the entrance and exit ramps to I-25). I figured it was really too late to worry about it now so I finished waking up, ate the rest of the Walmart doughnuts from yesterday inside my tent (it was quite windy out last night so I set up my tent to block some of the wind), packed up my gear, and exited the tent. Turns out two hunters with ATVs loaded on the backs of their trucks were about to go hunting on the property. There were signs posted saying hunting was allowed, but to please contact the property owner before doing so. Obviously they didn't mind that I was camped there (but might have thought it somewhat strange), but until I got out of my tent I had no idea who was idling their truck right outside my tent for a good fifteen or twenty minutes.
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| A drying up lake |
After packing up my tent, I set off on Interstate 25. It was relatively low traffic compared to I-95 and had a wide shoulder to bike on. I was set to bike on it for a good portion of the day. It wasn't the most exciting riding, but as I was heading southeast on it during the morning the wind wasn't impeding my progress. However, when I got off the highway and started paralleling it on some rural highways heading south around midday, I definitely ran into some pretty brutal head and cross winds which where quite frustrating. However, I knew that at some point I would start heading due east and those cross and head winds would then become pretty wicked tailwinds. Sure enough, shortly after mile 70 when I got back onto Route 26 eastbound, the winds picked up and I started sailing. At some points I was cruising along in my 53x11 at 30+mph on flat ground. All while on a 100+ touring bike with gigantic panniers and a (relatively) upright seating position making the aerodynamics a good deal less than my road or TT bike.
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| Some residual snow |
Unfortunately, by this point it was already pretty late in the day and I was only able to take advantage of these tailwinds for a few hours. As I was getting close to the Nebraska border, I considered pushing on just to say I made it into a new state that day, but decided to stop in Torrington for the night instead. A few miles outside of town, I stopped to take a picture of the beautiful sunset. As I was stopped, a woman pulled up and rolled down her window. Apparently she was returning home after months on the road exploring the nation via automobile but had also done so by motorcycle as well. This friendliness and willingness to talk to strangers seemed to continue as I entered Torrington (and was quite prevalent all throughout Nebraska as well).
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| Somewhere in Wyoming along the way |
As I sat outside a McDonalds eating my dinner (NOT McDonalds this time - I already ate enough junk the past two days plus I just bought a whole bunch of food from Walmart that I needed to finish before I got to Omaha) and using their wifi, two different times cars pulled off the main road and asked where I was from and where I was headed and if I was all set for a place to stay for the night. I had noticed a park while looking around Google Maps online, and both couples that stopped mentioned that as a good place to stay (even before I mentioned it!). One of the couples even stopped back a few minutes later and offered to put me up in their RV parked outside their house if I was planning to stay a few days but I politely turned them down. I headed back into town a mile or two to the campsite and it was well stocked with RV electrical outlets. Unfortunately, they were all turned off for the season. However, there was a little pavilion with concrete picnic tables that had some working outlets so I spent the night under the shelter of the awning recharging my headlight, camera, and laptop batteries. I also prepared meals for most of the rest of my trip from the supplies I had pick up yesterday. Good thing there was a maintenance area and restrooms on one side of the pavilion and it happened to be in the direction that the wind was blowing. That evening the winds picked up even more than they were during the day. I watched as leaves blew pretty much horizontally all the way out of site. It was insanely windy. The wind gusts must have easily been 50+ mph. I was a bit discombobulated by taking a few turns to get to the park and I didn't bother looking at my GPS after I settled in for the evening so I was unsure as to what direction the wind was actually blowing but I sure hoped it either died down the next morning or was blowing in the direction that I was headed or otherwise it was going to be a loooong, slooooow day! Today I finally had a 'fast' day covering 122 miles at close to 16mph. If I had been doing this speed and mileage earlier in the trip I could have actually made it back to Philly in time for Thanksgiving!
Today's route: http://app.strava.com/rides/2487862
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| My Pioneer Park shelter in the morning |
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