Canned peaches and fresh meat

So I was a little worried about today. There was a thunderstorm rolling through Nebraska and it looked like I was going to get hit with it. Luckily there was a little gap in the storm that I was able to duck through. After that it was sunny and clear for the rest of the way. I stopped in Lincoln at the Harley dealership there and bought a shirt (I'm running out of clean ones) and a cup holder that latched on my handlebars. The shirt turned out to be just fine but the upholder was crap. My bottle of water bounced out of it at the first bump. I took it off shortly after that. Waste of money. I was really looking forward to having one on there because it's so easy to get dehydrated. The sun is so hot out here and with all the wind you really don't feel yourself sweating but you are. I guess I'll just have to make do with gunning down water at every gas station I stop at.

Anyway, after Lincoln I got on Highway 36 and headed west to Grand Island (which was neither grand nor an island) where I turned north and went to O'Neil. O'Neil claims to be the Irish capital of Nebraska. They had a four leaf clover painted on the main intersection in town. I stopped for peach pie and coffee at a diner there. I got some weird looks when I walked in there, a look like they didn't like some outsider in their restaurant. By the way, the peaches clearly came out of a can. Very disappointing.

West on highway 20 after that. Ever since Ohio the land has been pretty flat. It's just been miles and miles of flat farmland. Terrain wise it's been very boring so I was happy to see some hills starting up. Not many and not big hills but hills all the same.





(Not sure how to edit the maps so they look right on this. Sorry)

I stopped for dinner at a steak house in Valentine, NE. I figured I really should have a steak before I left cattle country. It was pretty good I have to say. I'm thinking it was pretty fresh. I did get that same "outsider" look again. That has pretty much been the standard in these little podunk towns.






I normally don't have dinner until I get to wherever I'm going for the night, mostly because after a long day and some dinner all I want to do is go to sleep. The reason I stopped this time is because the sun was really blazing down on me. Since I was headed due west it was right in my face. I figured if I let it set a bit it would be easier to deal with. It was but the downside is that now I was running late. Not that I had anywhere in particular that I need to be but I did want to be close to the Black Hills so I can see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument and still make it a good distance west tomorrow. I ended up stopping in Gordon just as it was getting dark. It was the third town I tried to stop in but the first that actually had a hotel. One place had a whopping population of 113. Apparently that means they don't get a hotel, motel or inn. Maybe you have to have 114 people in a town before you get one, who knows. The hotel in Gordon didn't give me a good first impression but as it turns out it's actually pretty nice, and cheap.



That picture is no joke. The nice old guy who runs the place had two cats in the office that seemed very happy to have someone there new to pet them. The guy told me that the fire happened a while ago and now he's down to just 9 rooms and most people take one look at the place and drive on. He was pretty happy I stayed. I was pretty happy he was open because I don't think there's much civilization past here.

P.S.
This new seat is really great. With the old one I was starting to wonder if I would be able to finish this trip when every time I got on the bike I was that uncomfortable. I used to shift my weight around all the time just to change the pressure points and make things a bit more comfortable and I had to stop at least every hour or so. Now, after an hour on the bike I have only the smallest amount of discomfort. I'm quite happy with it.

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Location:U.S. 20,Gordon,United States