Riding Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail - Days 8-9
/Day 8 - Ainsworth - Johnstown - Wood Lake
What a difference a day makes! We were up at 0530, had our coffee in bed, read The Morning (a news synopsis in The NY Times) and enjoyed a very good hotel brekkie. We hit the trail while it was still cool. The trail was level, well-packed gravel for awhile and, lo and behold, there was no wind. We tooled along the trail making the miles... until Marcie got a rear flat.
Yet another flat attributed to those VILLAINOUS goathead thorns!
The culprit was again a goathead thorn aka Texas burr. Today would be the day of goatheads... and snakes and lizards. Lots of garter snakes and lizards crossed our path, but we were bothered most by the thorns. For the most part, our pre-Slimed inner tubes seal the leaks caused by the thorn intrusion immediately. But the Slime can only take so many thorns, then there’s a problem... a flat tire with green slime oozing out.
We’d already used two new tubes on my front and rear tires and David had repaired the old ones just in case we needed them. He pumped up his tire and it seemed to seal itself for awhile. We found ourselves stopping every couple miles to check the tires and pluck out the thorns. The trail guide warns of these beasties and advises riders to stay in the middle of the trail. Unfortunately, the middle of the trail either has the deepest sand/gravel or it’s covered in weeds. Avoiding the goatheads is nearly impossible, as we’ve painfully learned.
The L Bow Saloon in Johnstown, Nebraska
We stopped in tiny Johnstown at the picnic rest area and wandered across the street to the L Bow Saloon. Ruth, the amiable, hospitable owner, had just opened and welcomed us in. We had a cup of coffee with her, shared lots of great chat and learned lots about the local history. Since we’d be camping tonight, Ruth packed us chicken sandwiches to go for our dinner.
That’s Ruth, sole proprietor of the L Bow Saloon. What a sweetheart of a woman!
We rode the remaining 12 miles to Wood Lake without incident, other than a couple pump-up stops. A tailwind urged us along smartly. David called it a broad reach and it was delightful.
We pitched our little tent under two gorgeous cottonwood trees in the Wood Lake Town Park, a fine park with surprisingly good amenities... flush toilets, fresh water, picnic tables. The town has no restaurants, but we’d seen a sign on the highway on our recon drive for a cafe opening on June 12th and since it was only a few blocks away, we walked down to check it out. It still wasn’t open. Just across the street however, was a small shop, Grandma’s Playhouse and Ice Cream Shoppe. We were hoping Grandma was at home.
As luck would have it, Grandma Norma was there although her shop really wasn’t open. She’d just stopped in for a few minutes, but she gladly dished up ice cream cones for us while explaining that her best friend’s 80th birthday would be celebrated in the park that very afternoon... and, of course, we were invited.
Back at the park, we lounged and napped and read for a couple of hours. Folks arrived to decorate for Jean’s 80th birthday. Our tent was far enough away so we did not intrude on the party, but Norma came over to say hi and invited us to participate. We gratefully declined, but asked if the ‘chef’ would be willing to throw our chicken patties on the grill for a couple of minutes to warm them up. Absolutely! The party ended early and so did we. We were in our sleeping bags by 8:30pm, reading and subsequently snoozing.
Wood Lake Park… our ‘hotel’ for the evening
Trail miles: 22 Actual miles: 22.4
Day 9 - The Last Leg - Wood Lake to Valentine
The night was cool and pleasant, but we’re clearly not used to sleeping on the ground, even with granny mats to soften it up. We were up early, broke camp, and on the trail by 0630 as we just couldn’t sleep any more and the day portended to be a scorcher. David pumped up the tires before we left and all seemed to be holding air just fine.
The ride was a dream... a light breeze and a slight downhill grade, not enough hill to coast down, but enough of a grade to pedal easily and make some miles. This would be our final day on the trail - 26 miles to Valentine and trail’s end and we intended to savor it. There were no towns or designated stops en route other than the entrance to the Arabia Ranch which had a gravel parking lot, but nothing else. We met deer along the trail. Red-winged blackbirds sang and dragonflies were aplenty.
An unusual occurrence… the one and only closed fence in the middle of the trail.
Our first flat occurred just after Arabia... another damned goathead thorn... and David was able to patch it. We continued on. The trail was awesome... hard-packed gravel, fairly smooth with that continued downhill grade. We were really making good time until... the second flat occurred about 10 miles further up the trail. This one required a tube change. David had patched the original tubes and he re-used one in his rear tire. The problem this time was not a thorn, however. It appeared the rim liner was worn and the spoke rivet heads inside the rim were chafing the tube.
We continued on and finally spotted the Valentine water tower and approached the Valentine trestle bridge, the highest rail bridge in Nebraska, providing a scenic crossing of the Niobara River far below.
Just about a mile from the trail’s end, my rear tire gave up the ghost. Luckily, we were only about 6 blocks from our hotel, so we hiked-a-bike to the Econolodge, unloaded our packs in the lobby since the room wasn’t ready, chained up our bikes and walked into town (another 6 blocks or so) to suss out bike tubes and liners. The local thermometer screamed 102F. It was a long, hot 6 blocks.
There are no bike shops in Valentine, but the local True Value Hardware had a good selection of bike repair parts and exactly what we needed... Slime tubes and rim liners. We broke up the walk back to the hotel with a stop at the local pub. Cold beer never tasted so good.
We checked into the hotel room, gathered our gear and wheeled in our bikes. In the comfort of A/C, David replaced the liners and tubes, but it was still so hot and we were so drained from the day’s activities, we decided to wait till morning to complete the final mile of the trail.
Trail miles: 25 Actual miles: 25.75
Join us next time as we finally finish riding the Cowboy Trail and then become tourists for change. Promise… no flats in the next segment!