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| Nebraska Hwy 20 |
Old Danny is one
tired Boy. It’s a good thing we only had a 400-mile day. I might have had to
carry him that last 100 had we done a 500 miler . . . oh that’s right. I carry
him anyway.
This Major
Motorcycle Pilgrimage Across America looked like a big trip on paper. I told him
to wait till he sees it on the ground. He told me not to worry about it. He said
if I did my job, he’d do his.
Well, I’m not one
bit tired. It’s ODB who’s DOA tonight.
Here’s a list of all
the really interesting things we saw traversing Kansas, Nebraska, and South
Dakota today on US 83.
1.
Um, let’s see. I’m sure there was something .
. .
2.
Let me think a minute here. I have
it!
3.
Lots and lots of empty space, a steady wind in
your face, prairie land to beat the band, and road kill on every hill.
(Okay. YOU try writing a report every night and see what YOU come up with.)
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| Comanche National Grasslands |
There was an area in
northern Kansas and southern Nebraska that reminded my rider very much of his
boyhood hometown, Cedar Falls, Iowa. Of course that sent him off on a wistful
tangent. He decided that in his heart of hearts, the answer to the question,
“Where are you from?” would be Cedar Falls, Iowa. Never mind that he’s not lived
there since 1966. He lived there from age 3 to age 20.
Then he decided he
could refine the location further by adding the address, “2604 College Street”
to the answer. This, the home he lived in with his parents, two brothers, and
two sisters all 17 of those years.
Anyway, seeing towns
that looked very much like CF sparked a strong feeling of being near the center
of the universe. All that passed as we moved north into the plains and then
rolling hills – nothing about Cedar Falls in those areas.
Here’s a
motorcycle’s dilemma illustrated well today. Nebraska takes good care of its
roads and those roads are a joy to travel. However, in Nebraska we experienced
repeated delays waiting for a pilot car to take us through miles-long
maintenance projects. Enter South Dakota and the road quality drops way, way
down – think washboard driving. However, there were zero delays for road
maintenance in South Dakota. What’s the preference: long delays, or bad
roads?
Observation for the
day: A huge feedlot (think thousands of cattle crowded together in small pens
standing knee deep in manure) is situated close to the highway. Managers of this
factory farm operation have planted a row of trees between the feedlot and the
road. Do you suppose they think no one will now notice there is a feedlot on the
other side of those trees? The ungodly stench from the place about plugged up my
induction system.
Let me give this
dead horse one more beating and I’ll stop . . . (maybe)
We arrive in Pierre,
SD. As I said at the top, ODB is DOA. He always fills my tank before we stop for
the night as to have a full one to go on in the morning. Anyway, Mr. “I’ll Do My
Part, You Do Yours” fills me up with – choke – regular!
“What the hell are
you doing, Buddy?”
“Oh, sorry M.E. I
just wasn’t paying attention. I made a mistake. Okay?”
“Right. Like this
isn’t payback for me writing that if you looked like George Clooney I’d burn a
tank of this crap.”
“No way. But just
for the record, I DO look like George Clooney.”
“You DO look like
George, alright. George Burns!”
Song for the day:
Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”.
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