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Kansas City Irish Festivals, Music, Pubs, & Events by an Artist in Ireland

Nebraska is a Big State

Part 47 of the Cycle-Across-America series. (Read from the start in Boston or see the full index)

Another day in Nebraska. From Hastings on to Nebraska’s “Number 1 Attraction” and ending the day in Holdrege with unwanted attention from a stripper and a drunken mother.

October 2nd

Somewhere between 11 and midnight. Perhaps it’s time to leave Nebraska. The phone just rang and woke me up but nobody spoke at the other end. It’s not very long since I extricated myself from the bar and the drunken mother of 5 who was all over me.

Another late morning. Before I was ready to leave my room two hotel staff entered the room and asked me if my television was working okay. They were lucky. 5 minutes earlier they would’ve found me naked at the desk writing.

After bagels and toast I put on my jacket I bought in Boston, my overshoes I bought in St Joseph, Missouri, and the long pants I borrowed in Kansas City. It was cold and very windy out there.

Used the footpath over the railway. I’d already decided I would bypass the town if possible - the centre anyway. I simply wanted to be out in the corn again. I liked being very much alone like that.

As I passed the IMAX theatre that does features on the Old West I hit a red light at 12th Street. It felt right so I turned west. And that was the road I wanted. A County Road to Juniata and on to Kenesaw.

The wind was very strong and from the North with a little bit from the East. Once you wrapped up it was a beautiful morning. Blue skies again with the exception of small lines of pale purple clouds low in the distance. The skies do seem to be getting bigger as I go further West.

The traffic decreased with every mile and I was really enjoying being on a normal road again - no shoulder, no excessive speed by passing vehicles. By the time I reached Kenesaw, still in Adam’s County, I’d done 15 miles, so time to eat to get me to Minden. That would then leave me just 25 miles to Holdrege.

I liked Kenesaw. It was a familiar layout of a railroad on one side and from it the main street ran. On this street I thought about going into the Silver Dollar bar but I was still hoping to make it to Pioneer Village in Minden so time was important. At the corner gas station I had a 12 inch turkey sub with everything and a couple of drinks.

And then it was due South to rejoin US 6/34. These 3 miles were perfect. The huge wind on my back, milo and corn all around. I thought it was so beautiful I got giddy. This happens sometimes. It happened in Slovenia 4 years ago. And now here in Nebraska I did the Macarena on the bike. I laughed and giggled a lot.

[You can find the rest of this entry below the fold]

This continued on the shoulder of US 6 as I entered Kearney County. Past a town called Heartwell. I was continually looking around, it was so gorgeous. To the North and South, and back to the East. I rode side saddle for a while to look at the corn. The further West I go the corn seems to get purer, bigger uninterrupted areas of it, and flatter too. The next town is always visible by the co-op grain plant that is there.

Here the road turned into a Southwest direction and my speed went up. Reached Minden shortly after 2.30pm. That was good - it meant I had time to see Nebraska’s number one attraction. Harold Warp’s Pioneer Village. 6 dollars in.

The start of it was excellent. Buggies and carts and wagons leading into the first motor cars. Stagecoaches too. Every conceivable type, and overhead hung aeroplanes - some of the first. I think I looked at the first 4 cars but that was it. 350 cars is just way too many for me. Then there was early Trolley Cars and Horse Drawn Carriages, and Cable Cars, and Buses, and Fire Engines.

Then I was looking at stuffed birds and animals. I was wondering what creatures I’d seen in the grass by the roadside the previous couple of days. Something rat-sized and chestnut coloured.

The buildings were interesting at the Pioneer Village. I liked the School and the Lutheran Church. Most of the buildings were moved from elsewhere brick by brick. Mud huts and Pony Express Cabins, and railway stations. As well as these there were large hangars full of more cars, farming equipment, and tons of rubbish as well as interesting stuff. In one place there was lots of buttons, and ordinary pens, and statues of anything.

I spent an hour and a half there trying to isolate the interesting stuff from the tacky and the nothing. Overall I felt the poor stuff only detracted from the quality that was definitely there. “Over 5 million visitors from every State in the US. and many other countries too”.

All the visitors I saw were elderly - the men wore jeans and baseball caps and spent ages looking at lawnmower engines. I went to the place where they had early bicycles and a recumbent from 1989. I didn’t particularly want to but felt that I should.

And then there was motorbikes. It was time to leave. Before leaving I bumped into terrible Old West art with cowboys and Indians, but also a lot of portraits of Native Americans including my old Cherokee friend Sequoyah.

Nearly 4.30pm, time for food very quick. Downtown Minden had a square with the County Capitol building centred. In JJ’s they were closing but gave me two slices of Apple Cinnamon Sponge and a couple of drinks.

Back to US 6 and the hard push 25 miles. Actually it wasn’t hard but the sun was low and in my eyes. Axtell was the next town and I stopped to read its history. It was founded by Swedish immigrants and named after the engineer who built the first train through.

Next county was Phelps and my slow puncture quickened. I had to replace it as I reached Funk - perhaps the best named town in all of America. Fittingly as I got off the bike in the town, music occurred. Church bells. Not the ding dong usual variety but a very musical and beautiful tune as I changed tubes at 6.00pm.

The next 7 miles flew and I had to go right through the town to get to the motel. The Plains Motel had advertised itself out the road by saying simply 13 km. Not miles - kilometres ! Anyway I stayed at the other motel ’cause it looked cheaper. I think it is.

Rather than McDonalds I went to the bar here for food. A small bar with a stripper doing her stuff. When she finished and got dressed she came over to me and Terry the drunken mother of 5 who couldn’t take her hands off me. The stripper was called T. J. and her hands got around too. I finished my beer after my food and made my excuses. Something about needing sleep for the bicycle. The phone hasn’t rung since, maybe I won’t be bothered.

And yet I like the days here so much. It seems much too early to leave Nebraska. Maybe I won’t be thinking that after five days in Kansas. And there’s still 32 miles to the State line. Unfortunately there’s a southern wind tomorrow, or south-east to be exact. How does that happen? From strong South, to crazy North, to strong South. And their prevailing winds are Westerlies.

That said it’s only 50 miles to Phillipsburg so tomorrow should be okay. The morning is supposed to be very cold. Indeed now it’s in the 30s including the wind chill.

Somebody mentioned the date today and I remembered that it’s my cousin’s birthday in a couple of days, my former foster sister. Too late for a card again.

Today was too cold for grasshoppers, and unlike yesterday no snakes slithered under my wheel. Because of the 30 plus degrees drop in temperature I was able to see just how many Huskers jackets there are in Nebraska. But the same severe drop (20 below normal) has the farmers worried about the milo. I hope it survives the early frost. I like it.

Read the Next Entry (#48) in My Bicycle Trip Across America

Read more from my Cycle Across America

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 3:33 am and is filed under 1-eolai, Cycle Across America. You can follow responses via my RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.