Jim

Last night after dinner and doing my laundry at the laundromat next door to my hotel, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and went to bed at 8:00. So, I woke up early too – 4:00. The hotel I was staying at was kind of a dump, and my legs felt good, so decided to […]

Since I first put together my route for this adventure, today was one of the days that I had prayed would be favorable for riding. As you bike west from the town of Valentine, there are few towns and most aren’t big enough (less than 100 people) for many services. The next town with a

I got up early to try to beat the heat of the day. It was 70 in the morning, but the temperature was forecast to rise to 95 degrees in the afternoon. I was only going to ride to the end of the Cowboy Trail, which was about 45 miles. The wind wasn’t to bad,

Day #47 was a rest day. It was relaxing and I gave my legs a good break. I did a lot of reading. Finished the book “Braiding Sweetgrass”, and started my next book, “Notes from a Small Island” by Bill Bryson. I walked around town and had lunch at a great local restaurant. While I

I slept in until after 6:00, which felt good. The weather forecast worsened overnight. Now there are higher chances for rain storms and the high temperature increased to 86 degrees. Still a wind out of the south at 15 mph, which is slightly favorable for my WNW direction of travel. So, I decided to ride.

Last night I saw that there was a Warmshowers host (Alex) in Sioux City and right on my route. So, I emailed him to see if he was available for the night of the 19th. Warmshowers is an app where people can identify as hosts for bike packers or hikers. Each host has a different

The weather forecast was for rain starting at noon, so I set my alarm for 5:30 to get an early start. In the morning, the weather forecast was unchanged, so I got ready and was biking by 6:30. It was a very windy day with a south wind between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts

Day #41 I took an off day on Sunday (Father’s Day). My legs were hurting and so I needed to rest. I slept in late, then walked down to Casey’s for a little breakfast (there isn’t much open in this town on Sunday’s) and then went to the 9:00 service at the First Lutheran Church.

I planned on an early start to take advantage of a favorable wind. I set my alarm for 5:30, and when I woke up it was raining. Also, my legs protested mightily. This was the worst my legs have felt in the morning. I chilled out for a while and slowly got ready to go.