The streak of great hosts would continue for the next three days, in Wymore, Lincoln, and Norfolk. Two from WarmShowers, one of them a friend of a friend of my hosts in Lincoln. The hospitality in the middle of the country was something to behold.

On the way into Wymore, NE, I was on two different rail-trails, one of them only briefly, as it ran east-west. Rail-trails are some of the very best riding you’ll ever do. Rare is the day which manages to simultaneously be easy, fun, and memorable. Most commonly, the easy days aren’t memorable, and the memorable days aren’t easy, but rail-trails are the magic bullet.

Including the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska and the Katy Trail in Missouri, there are lots of rail-trails in this part of the country, but none of them touch each other. Can you imagine a road or highway system in which none of the roadways connected to any other ones? How useless that would be. That’s how bad our bicycling network is, and the crumbs we have are still so appealing, people will fly across the country just to ride it.

The long-term plan in the area is to connect the existing rail-trails, but that’s already been the plan for decades, and little progress has been made. Nearly everyone is in favor of it, from the politicians down to the locals, the path is already cut (by the inactive railroad bed), and the per-mile cost is less than 10% of a highway. So build it already!!!

The biggest problem is lack of urgency. Bikes are seen as non-critical, unimportant, mere recreation. When a road is to be built, it’s done ASAP, because we “need” it; the millions of miles we already have aren’t enough. But building a bike path, when we don’t have any, or when the ones we have don’t connect? Eh, we’ll take care of that later.

What’s not understood is that bike paths aren’t mere recreation; they’re transportation which is so good people will use it even when they don’t have to. This is rarely, if ever, the case for roads. People don’t set aside time in order to drive around in traffic for personal enjoyment. Nor has any motorist ever said, “It’s so nice to see so many people out on the road on a day like this!”

Small towns, even really small towns, all seem to have water parks in this part of the country. Also, Nebraska’s small towns are, for lack of a better word, less trashy than TX or OK’s.

Somewhat unexpectedly, I loved Lincoln. Good vibe, good weather, nice people, good bike paths which actually touch each other! Being a college town and a capital are also a plus.

The Nebraska University campus’s buildings didn’t impress me, but the trees and landscaping did. It wasn’t what I expected. I’m not sure what I expected; maybe something like OKST.

After visiting NU, I went to the nearby capitol building, which was also not what I expected. Aside from the massive tower, the outside is somewhat plain and rather standard.

Inside, it’s an agriculture-inspired art deco, difficult to describe. The best comparison I could make is some of the buildings in Dallas’s Fair Park, but that doesn’t do it justice. It’s probably the most unique state capitol I've visited, and definitely worth a visit if you’re in town.

I should look and see if Lincoln needs an alternative transportation designer. But maybe I should visit in winter before I apply.

My hosts in Lincoln, Janine and Steve, are kind, warm, generous, and legitimately excellent gravel riders, especially Janine. She’d broken her femur only a week or two prior while “taking a corner too hot” and was recovering on a walker. The two of them were a wealth of information on gravel roads in the area, and more than any other host I’ve had, kept a strong interest in my progress after I left.

I fulfilled the “cup of chili in every state” requirement in Norfolk, NE. Not bad, but needed a little kick. It reminded me of my mom’s chili, which became the basis for my own.

The Great Plains Route traverses Nebraska diagonally, first west, then north. It accomplishes this by, as usual, meandering all over the place and taking 20+ superfluous turns each day. The official route is essentially in the same area I’d ridden the Pony Express the year before, and it does this despite the fact that the Cowboy Trail, one of the best rail-trails in the country, can take you the same place by going north, then west.

What sane person would decide to ride a labyrinth of gravel roads, which may or may not be in good shape (after my experience in Kansas), when there’s a near-perfect option instead? I wrote off the Great Plains Route for a week and took the Cowboy Trail instead.

Nebraska describes the Cowboy Trail as the longest rail-trail in the country, but that includes claiming over 100 miles which haven’t been built. Again, build the freakin’ thing!! You obviously like the idea and want it to exist. What’s the holdup??

The Cowboy Trail is mostly well-maintained, though the gravel is more likely to get a bit too deep and loose as you get farther west. Most of the towns along the way have some kind of arrangement for cyclists, usually not for free, but not expensive.

In every other gas station in Nebraska, you’ll find 2-3 video poker or video slots machines. Is gambling legal in Nebraska or what? If it is, why don’t you see casinos? Why don’t people from Chicago road trip to Omaha for their bachelor party? The existence of Las Vegas would have you believe that Nevada is the only state which allows gambling (aside from state lotteries), but evidently that isn’t the case. Maybe Nevada and Vegas are simply good at marketing.

Toward the end of day 1 on the Cowboy Trail, I couldn’t decide if I’d stop in Stuart or press on another 10 miles to Newport. The best information I had mentioned a campground in Stuart, and “camp at pool hall” in Newport. I decided I’d check out the arrangements in Stuart and see if I liked it or not.

My first impression of Stuart was positive; the highway and railroad were off to the side of the town, and the public library looked nice from the outside. Few abandoned-looking buildings and lots of shade trees. Seemed like the kind of town where I’d want to stay.

The campground was a row of RV spaces. No showers or bathrooms. It cost $20 to stay there, and there were people racing ATVs in a directly adjacent lot. For all I knew, they’d continue deafening everyone in the “campground” for another 2-3 hours. I left.

It’s a shame. Stuart instantly went from “nice place” to “trashy town full of obnoxious loud people.” That’s the thing about loud people; it only takes one or two to ruin it for everyone.

About an hour later, as the sunset hour began, I arrived in Newport and found the pool hall. It was one room, smaller than most people’s bedrooms. The pool table took up half of it.

There were a few people outside, re-stocking a vending machine. When they saw me, they broke out into wide grins and waved.

The pool hall is still “in business” as a pool hall, though as far as I can tell, no one owns it and there’s no charge to use it. Cyclists are welcome to sleep on the floor or camp out back. There’s no running water, but there’s air conditioning!

Inside, there was a shelf and a mini-fridge, stocked with snacks and ice cream. You pay on the honor system and leave cash in the drawer. Three times while I was there, including once after midnight, a local walked in to buy chips or ice cream. I couldn’t resist a Klondike Bar, and for the free lodging, a small purchase was the least I could do.

After driving to a store (or anywhere else), people in the middle of the country like to sit in the car for 3-4 minutes before going in, and then do the same thing again instead of simply leaving. Sometimes with the car running, sometimes not. Why don’t you just get out and go in?

They also like to drive a full lap around the whole parking lot or campground when they arrive and when they leave, instead of taking the shortest path to a parking space or back out to the road. If I asked a local, would they even know what I'm talking about? Maybe it’s something they do without noticing.

I managed to complete the 190-mile Cowboy Trail in two days, ending in Valentine, NE. “Heart City” has a city-owned campground just north of town (on the side opposite the highway and railroad), complete with shade trees, multiple pavilions, multiple playgrounds, bathrooms, showers, and creek access. It was a little noisy during the day (playgrounds and all), but made for great camping by night. Well worth the $10.

Every town should have a city-owned campground in a park, with showers. Do that and you’ll get a ton of visitors. Put it somewhere away from the highway and railroad tracks, preferably near a grocery store.

As you go farther northwest in Nebraska, the trees get farther apart, but more of them are pines. I kept hoping it was a sign I'd be in pine forests soon. The elevation was a bit higher and the air a bit dryer. The daytime temperature was about the same, but the nights cooled off a bit more.

The eventual plan is to continue extending the Cowboy Trail west from Valentine, all the way to Chadron, NE, another 140 miles. People like me, who use the Cowboy Trail as part of a larger tour, generally cover that stretch on US 20, a mostly quiet road with a huge shoulder.

There’s only one problem with US 20. The shoulder has enormous cracks running all the way across it, every 20 meters or so. Only in the shoulder; they fixed the problem in the roadway.

THA-THUMP! THA-THUMP! THA-THUMP!

Riding a bike over that was like receiving a swift kick in the pants every three seconds. They can’t finish the Cowboy Trail fast enough.

Before I even tried to find a place in Gordon, I spied an interesting-looking shop called Joe’s Games. Their sign included an image of an NES controller and the mana symbols from Magic. I had to check it out.

The place turned out to be an interesting combo of a trading card store and a retro arcade. Kids can show up, pay a couple bucks, and play all the games they want, including arcades, pool, board games, and retro consoles. Friday nights, they have Magic tournaments. The guy at the counter lamented they were all out of Pokemon cards this week.

The guys working there saw Teeder, asked what I was doing, and pretty soon, I was staying in a church basement. Turned out one of them was an associate minister. It was only a basement floor, but that meant I was out of the wind, the temperature was comfortable, and there was even a shower and WiFi! Turns out rural America has geeky communities too, and they’re just as strong and welcoming as anywhere.

It wasn’t until my last day in Nebraska before I had a cinnamon roll at a local bakery in Chadron. It was damn good! But I still haven’t had the Nebraska experience of chili with a cinnamon roll. I’ll have to do it myself at home.

On the way out of Chadron, I spied another Nebraska institution: Runza. It was my last chance, so I had to stop in. Not bad! But not a favorite either.

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