Day 49 July 10th Cowboy Three

Stuart NE to Ainsworth NE 41miles (2,171)

This was day three of four planned days on the 200 mile Cowboy Trail in Nebraska.

Today's blog could be titled Race Against Weather or The Pool Hall or Fried Pickles.

The Newport Pool Hall along the Cowboy Trail is renowned for its honor system. It is left unlocked 24/7 and has snacks available for the townsfolk and cyclists. Prices for items are posted and people are asked to put money for the items they choose in the cash drawer:

After riding Highway 20 to get to the pool hall, I rode the Cowboy Trail for a short distance:

This is Neil. He is a Super Bicycle Tourer. We met on highway 20 just before the rain hit. He is riding west to east across country staying on highway 20 the entire way. This is his 7th cross country tour. He rides a major route every summer. Last summer he rode from Canada to Baja California. He rides on road tires so avoids most of the trails that I've been riding.

After meeting Neil, I got wet from a rainstorm. I sought shelter in a cafe in Bassett, NE where I ate a hearty breakfast.

After finishing my breakfast and checking the weather radar and decided to make a dash for it to my overnight. Unfortunately, I couldn't dash very fast because of the 15+ mph headwinds. I got rained on again - not too badly; but I saw this blowing toward me:

So, I rode quickly to Long Pine, to find shelter. I found another cafe/bar and as I was going in I took a picture of the clouds that were chasing me:

I had only ridden 10 miles since my hearty breakfast, so I really wasn't hungry. But, I wanted to give them some business; so when I saw this item written in handwriting on the menu, it sealed the deal:

I discovered fried pickles somewhere in Pennsylvania. I've been ordering them ever since. I'm 62 years old and up until a few weeks ago I had never known the delights of fried pickles. Here is what they look like:

That white stuff in the ketchup bottle is ranch dressing.

After eating the fried pickles, I REALLY wasn't hungry. I was sitting around, sipping tea, and working on my blog. The proprietor of the cafe/bar approached me and recommended I try their homemade peach pie. She said they could warm it up and put a scoop of ice cream on it. Since I was still a little cool and damp from the rain, I decided a bit of warm pie couldn't hurt:

Stuffed with healthy cucumbers and peaches, I was now ready to complete the ride for the day. 

But first I had to use the restroom where I was reminded that I was in cowboy territory:

Battling 20 mph headwinds, I eventually made it to my overnight:

With the headwinds as bad as they were today, I was thankful for a short distance day.