Days 16 & 17 Mb2CB Tour - Sidney to Alliance to Chadron, NE.

Of the many things I experienced during the first 17 days of this tour, I was most affected by the trains. My route ran parallel to a BNSF train line for many hundreds of miles through Colorado and Nebraska. Living in the Hill Country, it had been awhile since I had experienced big trains up close and personal. I had a great moment when a train conductor acknowledged me one morning by blowing his whistle when he passed me. A simple thing like that can give a guy on a bicycle a big lift.  On my bicycle I not only can see trains up close, but I can feel and hear and even smell them. I've seen trains hauling coal, lumber, grain, livestock, automobiles, oil and people. Out here, where every little town has silos or stockyard, it is common to see trains loading or unloading and you see and meet train people in the dinners and taverns. I think I may have enjoyed being a train man, up front in the engine, or even back in the caboose. I wonder if it's too late.

Leaving Alliance, NE. this morning I did my first touristy thing on this tour. I took a short 5 mile detour and stopped to visit Carhenge. My friend Susan told me about this place and I'm glad I went and saw it. Carhenge is a takeoff on Stonehenge, only instead of stone structures, it's built with old cars. As a piece of folk art, it's definitely interesting and I felt it was saying something to me. I'm not sure what though, maybe that I should change the oil in my truck more often. Also, a few miles from Carhenge, I passed by the most unusual rest stop I've ever seen. There are most definitely some quirky folks around these parts.

By the end of today's ride I had left behind the now familiar scenes that define the High Plains. All of those endless and spectacular green pastures, long straight roads, farmhouses, and tiny rural towns built around giant grain silos have given way to big hills and tall pine trees. The transition from plains to forest was not subtle. The Nebraska National Forest and the Pine Ridge Area burst upon me like a sudden thunderstorm. The images from my handlebar cam cannot do justice to the scenes I witnessed from behind my bicycle today, and this is just the beginning, because Chadron, NE. is just the gateway. Tomorrow morning, at first light, I cross the White River, leave Nebraska, and enter the Badlands & Black Hills of South Dakota. Exciting stuff and I wish you could all be here with me.