Day 24 (Sunday 11-13-2011): North Platte to Holdrege

The rain had stopped and the winds had died down overnight and when I awoke things looked pretty nice out.  On my way out of town I ate breakfast at the now open Daylight Donuts which did not seem like a hopping place unlike a lot of doughnut and coffee places back on the east coast.  Today's journey was going to bring me to my fourth and final Warmshowers household on my trip. Tim and Bev in Holdrege were going to put me up for the night so I had about a 100 mile journey today.  Their place was a little out of my direct, Route 30 path to Omaha, but it was be nice to shower, sleep indoors, and meet some new people before I concluded my journey.

A familiar sight today

One of the many similar towns from today

Riding along Route 30 today was interesting if not repetitive. A major train line paralleled the road 25 yards or so south and Route 80 was about a mile south. Approaching every small town along the way things would look almost exactly the same.  As soon as I left one town, I could see the water tower and silos of the next town 5+ miles away on the right side of the road.  As I got closer, I would then see the north-south overpass that lead down to I-80.

Silos, probably filled with corn...

As I approached the outskirts of Elm Creek, I saw a man with a loaded down bicycle hanging out under the overpass that passed north/south over the rail lines. As his bike was piled high with touring gear I pulled over for a chat to see where he was from and where he was going.  I'm blanking on his name, but he was an older gentleman in his 40s or 50s.  He had an eclectic mix of 'real' camping/touring gear, and normal (and strange) gear.  For example, he had a Kelty sleeping bag and was wearing a Patagonia or similar brand fleece jacket, but was also wearing jeans and sneakers (without toe clips on his bike) and riding a cheap mountain bike with only rear panniers and no fenders.  As we started talking, a few things he mentioned rang some bells as being somewhat strange and the more I talked with him the more I realized that he wasn't all quite there or perhaps a bit schizophrenic.  He was mentioning that he was being tracked by satellites, had a special mission to deliver a secret, important package, and tried to ride mainly at night without any visibility to avoid being track (just a little bit dangerous on 55+mph highways).  A little crazy, but in the harmless way it seemed. He said he normally stays in churches if he can and gets handouts from the pastor or congregations.  He mentioned that in one town his bike and much of his gear had been stolen and he ended up staying there for a while while he sought out replacements.  While chatting for a while, I fixed his slightly out of adjustment rear derailleur so that he could make use of his full range of gears.  I couldn't exactly figure out where he was from or where he was going, but it sounded like he had been riding for quite some time.  As we parted ways, he headed off on eastbound into some stiff winds to some unknown destination while I climbed the onramp of I-183 over Route 30 and proceeded to bike south the final 20 or so miles to Holdrege.

More corn

And what a long 20 miles it was.  The mainly tail wind that I had going along Route 30 became mainly a headwind that was making progress quite slow.  My average speed dropped from 15-17mph to around 12-13 mph at an even harder effort.  I finally arrived in Holdrege, but Google Maps had given me another wrong address that I had uploaded to my Garmin.  It had me going the wrong way on East Ave and I deduced that heading back out of town on East Ave going south was not going to get me to their house. Unfortunately, my phone had no reception in Holdrege either and I couldn't find a payphone so I decided to bike down the other end of East street on the north side of Route 34/6.  Just as I was getting seriously worried as I saw a T-intersection ending on the outskirts of the town, I pulled up at the last corner lot which was their house.  Tim and Bev were a nice couple and served me a delicious dinner as I talked about my journey so far.  After talking about my voyage of bakery discoveries and my doughnut fascination, Tim recommended stopping by the Wahoo Bakery along my way tomorow and trying out a kolache, a Czech pastry with a fruit center.  Nice! I'd have at least one more bakery to sample and would be trying a new food item to boot!  After chatting for a while, taking a much needed shower, and finalizing my trip details for the last two days to Omaha, I got a nice night's rest in a comfy bed, most likely the last until arriving back in Philly!

Map of today's route: http://app.strava.com/rides/2487860