Cowboy or Highway?

Thursday August 3, 2023

O'Neill to Norfolk Nebraska 

We had a long day ahead of us so we started early. At 645am. In the fog. We got on the trail right away. It was foggy but dry at first.  Then it started to sprinkle.  It was 66 degrees and felt good to me. I think the high today was 80 while back home in Wichita it was 106. Brenda and I stayed on the trail as much as we could.  Kay and Lynn chose the highway once the fog lifted.  The trail was a little sandy making it a little harder work than pavement.  There were several places where the trail was closed due to washout. There were a few places where Brenda and I just got tired of working so hard to go 10mph. So we alternated often between the trail and US20/ US275. But the highway should had deep cracks so it was also not very pleasant... plus there was quite a bit of traffic. At one point on the highway, the truck that was pulling a wind turbine blade had pulled over (and its support vehicles) due to a flat tire (it passed Kay making a lot of noise then pulled over in front of her). The flag man made the cars pull into the left lane while he waved for Brenda and I to go in the right lane just beneath the blade... it was pretty cool. Unfortunately,  I didn't get a picture going right next to it,  but Sandra got one from a distance. 

Pictures from the trail.

We went through several little towns: Inman, Ewing, Clearwater, Neligh, Oakdale, Tilden, Meadow Grove, and we missed Battle Creek since the highway went around it.  We didn't stop much today, so even though we had more miles than yesterday,  we finished around 3pm.  Overall, the Cowboy Trail is great. The eastern edge is definitely a bit rougher or sandier with a few closed sections. I would have like to have been able to cross the Elkhorn River but the research told me the bridge was out, though we didn't find any postings on the trail. It was too far from the highway for us to go see. Maybe another time.  I would definitely recommend the section between Valentine and O'Neill and even as far east as Clearwater. If I do this trail again,  I would look into staying the night in Valentine, Wood Lake, Ainsworth,  Bassett, Stuart, Atkinson,  O'Neill and maybe Ewing... especially Bassett... it had a very cool old hotel. 

75.9 miles

164 feet climbing

1st half... Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/t0iIfgUuYBb

1st half... Relive video: https://www.relive.cc/view/v7O9Jj75XL6

2nd half... Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/YK6O1H3uYBb

2nd half... Relive video: https://www.relive.cc/view/vAOZnZLo3oO

Tomorrow we go south to Columbus.