Day 39 CCR: Nebraska: Hot, Brown and Stinky

I don’t have much to say about my afternoon in Nebraska except, as the blog title suggests, that it wasn’t particularly pleasant. I saw one thermometer about two hours after crossing into Nebraska from Wyoming that read 103°. It felt like it. And since my visits to the dermatologist often result in cutting away benign skin cancers, I wear long sleeves. So, yeah. It was hot. Nebraska must be in the same drought that Linda is experiencing because, other than scraggly green trees next to various waterways, everything was brown. And it frequently smelled like one long stockyard along I-80, even though I only saw a couple of feedlots.

No travel pictures. One recommendation. Avoid western Nebraska, even if it means going through Kansas or South Dakota. The best thing about my time in Nebraska, which will end tomorrow morning when I dive south into Kansas, is that it made me so much more appreciative of the Canada I enjoyed so much on this trip.

I dawdled for a couple of hours this morning at Croonberg Ranch, getting a detailed tour of Linda’s new ranch house, which she and Doug largely built, and enjoying a couple more hands of three-way cribbage. Linda’s house project, built with an amazing degree of repurposed materials from structures on the 100+ year old family ranch, clearly reflects who she is, and Doug’s building skills were clearly in evidence. The house still has a couple of features left to finish, but as Linda said, “I don’t want to do something until I’m sure it’s right.” And when she does something, it’s “right.”

I helped Linda with a trail camera we set up yesterday and a hand-me-down laptop that was “intimidating” her. We looked for photo evidence of a pernicious beaver gnawing trees near where we were wading in the river two days ago. Unfortunately, no beaver showed up last night, but she’s now prepared to document his nocturnal activities, which will almost certainly lead to the beaver’s demise.

Finally, I packed my bike, said goodbye, and made the 28-minute (I timed it) ride to an asphalt road and head east. I stopped briefly as I went through Laramie to use an unnamed fast food establishment’s McWifi in order to post the two blog entries written while I was internetless on the ranch. I’m sure the handful of people still following along were waiting breathlessly for news of my homeward bound adventures. Or maybe just to see if I made a successful ride back to asphalt.

Tomorrow I’m off to Kansas for a couple days to visit family and friends. Then there will be nothing between me and home except miles.