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!

The City of Love! Valentine, NE July 1st!

The ride today was pretty boring for the first part. We did stop at the gas station in Spring View before we left to fill water and grab a quick bite to eat. We then rode and chatted for what seemed like forever and we ran into the smallest little town called Sparks. There we found a general store and grabbed some snacks. The lady working there was very kind and donated to our cause! From there the terrain changed and actually was rock with cliffs near the Niobrara River Valley. It is really beautiful what you see in all these states once you get off the main road ways! Today turned out to be a short day with 50 miles. So we got into Valentine fairly early and it allowed us to get some much needed chores in. We grabbed some lunch at Subway and then headed to the laundromat to do some laundry so we would not scare away the town folk in the days to come with our lovely aroma! Finally we also had some internet!!! Nebraska is a lot of very small towns so it is hard to find a place where you can actually get some wifi connection. After sitting in the library and air conditioning for a few hours we ate our dinner and headed down a fairly steep hill to our campsite. We were camping next to two guys who were riding their motorcycles back to Minnesota from Colorado. So we had some nice conversations yet again, set up camp and called it a night!

June 30th the sandhills of Nebraska!

Today stared off being a wonderful morning with cool temps and very well rested for once! So we packed up, ate a pop tart and set out on our days adventure. To start things off we had some good climbs out of the Missouri River Valley but it was a georgeous view! I got to see my first mule deer and I thought it was very odd how they hopped around instead of run like normal deer, but whatever gets them to their desitnation is fine by me. They probably look at us and think we are crazy too! We got to a point where we needed to take a snack break. Once we were through eating we saw two young lads coming towards us on bicycles and they had been in our camp site the night before. So we decided to wait for them and hear their story! We find out they had just graduated from high school and were riding from Illinois to Boulder, Co to see a friend. They had some great stories. 1) A raccoon ran off with one of their hats, but someone was kind enough to give him a new one 2) they ran into many dogs some kind but those that were mean they found out if you bark louder then them they are very likely to stop bothering you! 3) they ran into an old man who called himself "Chief" and they think he might have been one of the many mirages they saw in Iowa!! They were absolutely wonderful to ride with. We ended up riding with them for 4 miles until we both had to split off and go our own routes! We then hit the Nebraska border took our normal picure and were ready to see what NE had to offer us. We stopped off in the town of Butte where we were warned that the water was not good so don't get it:0 We ended up eating at a little cafe with a crazy owner who told us she wanted to open a whole chain of shitty resutrants in Nebraska! We stopped to take a little break about 1 hour after lunch and it was right next to a cemetary. There were some workers out there doing the duties they had to take care of after a funeral. Many of you know I am fascinated by many weird things. So we stayed there and watched what goes on after the people have left the funeral. It was acuatlly very interesting and we talked with the workers! They said it was a good job to have because people were dying to get in there so they did not have to worry about losing their jobs during this time of economic distress! A lot has been learned so far on this trip! We then rode and rode and rode, we saw a little sheep with it's head stuck in a cattle fence and I was worried for it. So Chance being the ever so wonderful hero he is jumped the fence and saved the sheep! He is now a celebrity in the sheep community! The destination we were hoping to stop at was a little town called Mills. It would have been about a 60 mile ride which would be good through the very rolling sandhills of Nebraska! We then come to Mills and find out there is nothing there but some houses, a church and 4 people. The man that lived next to the church told us we could camp there and use the restrooms in the church. That would have been ok if we had packed some extra food and were not in desperate need of a shower. So we took a short nap, ate a snack and rode 24 more miles to Spring View. It was a good decision because they had some place eat and a nice park with great showers.

Off to Fort Randall....June 29th

Well it was time to head out from our little campsite and start yet another day! The morning started off with a really good outlook for the day! I(Kelly) thought it would be really nice without the wind.. However, let me tell you now. It is much better to have some wind coming from any direction to keep the heat down. So anyways, We only had to ride 20 miles to eat breakfast/lunch because there would really be no other places to eat on the way. So we stopped in to Corsica, SD and ate at a truck stop type place! We both had the Belly Busters, however it busted my belly before I could finish and Chance's did not bust his belly so he had to eat the rest of mine as well! So milk is something kind of hard to come by on the way. I wanted chocolate milk and Chance decided he did as well. We asked the lady and she asked what size we would want, so she compared the small to our waters which were about the size of a small jar of jam and said the large would be just a bit bigger. Well bigger sounded much better. Then it came, the large pickle jar sized chocolate milk:) It was really delicious and as crazy as it sounds I finished mine before Chance yea!!! After that we headed out on what was kinda of a boring road of corn fields which we had been seeing for multiple days. We went about 10 more miles to Armour and stopped at the gas station to fill up on water. Once we left the gas stations things started to change for me. I was very tired and hot and was not enjoying the weather at the moment. Chance continued to be the strong support and we made it to Fort Randall Casino where we stopped at the gas station for a much needed COLD Gatorade!! Yummy in my tummy! That little boost helped complete the rest of the ride downhill to the Fort Randall Dam Park where we set up camp for the evening. It was a nice area with very nice facilities! We then took showers and moved from shaded spot to shaded spot trying to avoid the immense rays of heat the sun was giving off. Eventually the day cooled off and we were just sitting by a tree chatting when a very nice fella named Al came over and started up conversation! He and his wife Carma were in the RV next to our tent. He mentioned he had a Nebraska map we could have so we headed over to their plot of land! Carma was a wonderful gal who we talked to and enjoyed talking with into the evening! They were ever so kind and invited us over to eat some delicious Nebraska beef burgers, cole slaw, baked potatoes and of course dessert! So to the end of the day was wonderful and relaxing with cool temps which made for very comfortable sleeping!

Stepping out into the wide open spaces!

So after our nice break in Aberdeen it was time to hit the road and I found it a bit more difficult to try to leave home and for the first time understood what Kelly was talking about when we left Woodbury, but before we got on the road we had to tie up a couple loose ends. We packed our stuff and got everything ready to go and then we had my mom take our pictures for our individual pictures and we picked out a good picture of us together and added them to the envelope. Then we went outside and after about 8 or 9 takes we had our video complete. Finally we had finished our application for the Amazing Race, now we can just cross our fingers! Well with that all finished we said our good byes and hit the road. My mom and grandma were waiting at the end of my Grandma's driveway to wave us good bye one last time. The trip to Redfield didn't take too long and went with out much of a hitch. We had to ride on a bit of gravel because old hwy 281 all of a sudden was no longer paved. When we finally got to Redfield we stopped in at Terry's Steak House, where my Grandpa set up a tab for us since they were out of town and we would be staying at them place. The people at Terry's were super nice and we hung out there for a little bit and then headed to my grandparents place. When we got there we unloaded our gear and started to watch tv and quickly fell asleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up we orderd pizza and enjoyed our dinner watching the beautiful sunset over the Redfield Lake.
When we got up we had a little more hustle in our step since we knew we had a long ride to Plankinton. Once we left Redfield we headed towards Wolsey and the last sign of Civilization until we got to Plankington. We stopped to eat in Wolsey at the truck stop and rested up. The rest of the afternoon was spent peddling and talking to cows. The ride was so boring and decolate it was almost unbarable. When we got to Plankington we stopped in at DJ Drive-In. It was a nice little place and the food was good. We had corndogs and a shake. After dinner we made our way to the campgrounds, which we found out was owend by the same people, what a coinsidence since the town was so huge, haha. But it was really nice they had a pool, which we took advantage of and very nice facilities. It was a long day but over-all it wasn't too bad.

Aberdeen down time....

June 25th
This morning we woke up at a nice leisurely pace without a care in the world. I got up and took a shower and let Kelly take her time getting up. When we were both showered and ready for the day we grabbed our stuff and checked out and headed back to my parents place. We had a few errands to run, like going to the bank and cashing some checks. When we were done driving all over town we went to my good buddy Doug’s mom’s house to pick up the BBQ and bars she had prepared for Kelly and mines meet and greet, it smelt delicious. We dropped that stuff off at home and relaxed for an hour or so until it was time to get our massages! They were absolutely amazing, a little weird being in the same room. I guess that the massage was so good that I fell asleep and snored a little. Kelly made a joke when we were done about how the massage was suppose to be relaxing but how could she relax with me snoring the whole time. After the massage we went home and backed our bags and loaded our bikes up and made our way over to the Eagles Club to help my mom set up the food and everything. The meet and greet went well. It was nice to see all the people come out and support us and our cause. We chatted with people about our trip so far and where we were going next. Some people wanted to know about our gear and what we brought with us, so we showed them how we cooked our food and some of our other neat gadgets. Some people picked our bikes up and wanted to know how much they weighed. My dad weighed it on his big game scale and my bike weighed in at 87lbs, that’s quite a bit and I’m sure it fluctuates from day to day a little bit. After that was all said and done we made our way back to Doug’s house to watch some of the shows he had taped for us. That’s where we spent the rest of the night relaxing until we fell asleep on the coaches.

June 26th

Today we started off the day with the radio station in Aberdeen at 8:20 so not much sleeping in for this rest day. Were lucky enough to get up and get yet another massage that Bethlehem Church provided to us! It was yet again a wonderful massage. After we met Brenda Chances mom for lunch and chatted for a bit about the days activities. From there it was home to relax and get ready for the rest of the days events. We then ended up going to the movie the Proposal which was absolutely wonderful! From there we hurried home to have some delicious ribs, salad and corn on the cob! I can't wait to go home and be able to have delicious meals every night and tons of food in the fridge! After the wonderful meal we headed out to the brown county race way to watch some Friday night stock car racing! It was a good time and Chance was able to hang out with a couple of friends. Thanks also to the kind people of Aberdeen for your wonderful donations! Sadly, it started to rain and the races were cancelled early. We headed out to Chances friend who was racing and had some good laughs and conversation. From there it was home and to bed so we could be ready to ride in the morning!

Last stretch to Aberdeen!!

June 24th
When I woke up there was no fog, it was a nice change of scenery being able to see when you get out of the tent and Kelly got up without much struggle, so that was a bonus. We had everything packed up and ready to rock out the last 38miles by 7am. We stopped by city hall on our way out to use the bathroom but it was locked, but luckily I remember the guy at the bar saying that there was a gas station on the west edge of town so we headed that way and when we got there it wasn’t open either. Fortunately there was a group of older guys standing there and they told us it would be open in about 5mins. They lady finally showed up and we used the restroom and filled up our water bottles and hit the road. We had a light tail wind and it made a difference. We made awesome time to Groton which was 20miles away, but when we get a tail wind, that means storm and that great time was negated by a 45 minute wait inside the grocery store as a very small but nasty storm blew over. There was one thunder that shook the table we were sitting at. After the storm passed we hit the road again but this time we had a strong head wind and so I buckled down expecting a long 18 mile ride to Aberdeen but the head wind only lasted like a 5 minutes and then we got a really strong warm tail wind and we flew down the road, averaging 22 mph for about 3miles. Then the wind died down and became a light head wind again but it didn’t take long to get home, just over an hour. My mom, grandma and aunt were waiting on the side of the road to cheer us on and take pictures. When we got to my house I was mauled by big baby of a dog, Scooby. He whined and yelped for a good 10minutes making me continually pet him. Oh but it was good to be home. After an afternoon of unpacking and relaxing we headed out to the motel, my mom had won a free nights stay at the Best Western so we went out there for the night and a couple buddy’s came out and we sat around drank a couple beers, watched baseball and shot the breeze until the wee hours of the night, ok 11 but that’s the wee hours for us.