July 2nd! Merriman, NE.

Today was a pretty quick day. We got up packed our things then headed up the hill into Valentine before we ate lunch. The mosquito's drove us up that hill very quickly. The morning started off with rolling sand hills and the temps were very nice so it was a great time to ride! We actually crossed into mountain time zone but decided to keep our watch in central time so we can get up early and get to bed early. We ended up with a nice tail wind which helped push us into the small town of Cody. We got there a bit early so we had to wait about 30 mins for the Husker Hub to open so we could eat. We had only $14 dollars so we went to the bank to get cash, we find out they do not have an ATM, the only bank Chance I had seen up to that point that did not have one. So we could only eat a little bit. We sat outside waiting for the place to open and a kind lady came up to us and stared talking. She donated money to us and told us we should be able to eat a nice meal! Yet, again all the wonderful people in small town America! After lunch we continued with a nice tail wind and continued to make great time. We then came across an RV on the side of the rode. Sitting there taking the RVs owner came back and we talked to them. Come to find out they had a flat and the RV did not come with a wrench to get the lug nuts off. After we chatted for awhile we were off like the wind... We saw an antelope that I thought was a something else and Chance started to laugh at me.. Not very nice if you ask me:) We eventually pulled into our designation of Merriman around 2pm Mountain Time. The town was quite small but had a huge heart! Ther we sat in a gas station and ate some candy and drank some lemonade. It was nice because it was air conditioned and the lady working told us we could camp in the city park and it had a shower! A shower is always something positive in a day! So we headed over to the park and set up our little orange tent! We did a little reading and then headed back to the gas station to make a pizza for dinner. While eating dinner the forecast changed drastically and started to rain cats and dogs. SO some kind folks gave us a ride to our tent and said we could come hang out at their house if we got sick of sitting in our tent all day. It was a very kind offer but we were both very tired. Chance eventually fell asleep but it took me a little longer. Once I fell asleep the rain and storm came very loud. It woke us both up and we found out the next day that it had rained 3.5 inches!