May 1 to May 10
- dgcoffey
- May 11
- 6 min read
May 1, 2025 … Blair to Omaha to Beemer to Wisner to Norfolk. What a day. Larry took my bike out of the motel room and said he would lube the chain. As I came out he pointed out that my rim was cracked open and we were going to have to find a new wheel. Fortunately we were only 30 miles from Omaha so we went down there. Susan found a trek dealer that had the right wheel so we got fixed up lickety split. Teddy the mechanic and Chris, two 30 something’s got all fired up about my bike, an OLD Surly Long Haul Trucker. They really got a kick out of all the old style components. I got a kick out of them getting a kick out of the old guy’s bike. Anyway Teddy fixed up my rear wheel and adjusted my brakes and derailleurs because he never gets the chance to work on stuff made before he was born. Great guy.
Larry dropped me off in Beemer and I was going to ride to Norfolk but only made it to Wisner. By the time I started riding, the wind was blowing so hard in my face that I only made it 7 miles in 67 minutes (6.3 MPH). I was exhausted so took the car ride the final miles to our hotel. We stayed at the New Victorian Inn in Norfolk. Susan connected with Jason Hoehne, the COO of the hotel chain, and he was happy to provide a free stay for us. They have always been supporters of the American Cancer Society and he personally supports the WWP because of deep family ties to the armed forces.
May 2, 2025 … Start of the Cowboy Trail and more importantly, Betty Coffey’s 96th birthday. Norfolk to Ewing. Breakfast at the hotel then off like a rocket. It was cold and the wind was blowing strongly in our faces so we decided to ride 20 miles out and back on the trail. It was super hard work due to the soft sand and the wind. My buddy Steve Brokaw tells me that since we did 20 miles west (+20), then turned and did 20 east (-20), the rides exactly cancel out (20 – 20 = 0), so it’s the same as sitting in an easy chair for 4.5 hours. He said I need to believe him since he was a super duper high level finance guy at Dow Chemical and a few other companies, so Steve knows math. Anyway, after freezing my cowboy buns off, I finally warmed up and slept like a baby.
May 3, 2025 …Ewing to Stuart. We left our motel, crossed the road to the trail and we were off.
In the first hour we rode 8 miles. Making progress on the trail is a ton of work, so we hopped on route 20, which was 50 feet to our left. I rode the remaining 42 miles on the highway. It had a 6 foot wide shoulder so the riding was easy. I rode directly to the south side mini-mart to meet with Kylee and Delma. Kylee, Delma’s daughter in law, is a big deal with the Cowboy Trail Coalition, and Susan reached out to them for information and help. Delma owns the Mini-mart and the Stuart Village Inn and offered us a room in support of our efforts to raise $ for Wounded Warriors. What generous wonderful people.
May 4, 2025 …Stuart to Ainsworth. The ride was a bit windy but pretty good. However, the shoulders on Rt 20 are terrible for biking. There were big cracks every 10 yds or so for nearly the entire day which is a significant punishment for body and bike. We met Kim Bejot and Evan Evans, our FUMC guardian angels in Ainsworth. They let us into the church and invited us to their house for showers, laundry and dinner. We had a great dinner of venison and sausage meatballs, mashed potatoes and vegetables. Fortunately for us and them, we were all whiskey aficionados so I made them Old Fashioneds with Wheat Penny whisky. Naturally they loved them.
May 5, 2025 …Ainsworth to Valentine. We broke camp at the United Methodist Church and drove to the D&B Diner for breakfast. Had a great long ride into Valentine with decent tailwind for the last 30 miles. We met Regina who had given us a lot of info re places to stay in Valentine, at the visitors center. Then we met Jerry Fullerton at the barbecue joint next door. Jerry drove us to his daughter’s rental house where we plugged in for the night. We are dinner at the same barbecue joint where we met jerry earlier. So here's the deal with Jerry Fullerton. Susan, when trying to find a place for us to stay in Cody, reached out to the American Legion. When she never heard back, she called a Boot maker in town and asked if we could stay in their shop. The guy who ran it said he'd like to help but suggested she call Jerry at the American Legion. Long story short? Jerry called Susan back and said we could stay in the legion hall or at his ranch. And oh, by the way, maybe we could stay at his daughter's rental property in Valentine the night before if we needed a place there, which we did.
What a crazy wonderful world we live in. Jerry is a super guy, navy vet, rancher and local school bus driver. He's a wonderful guy and showed us a great time.
May 6, 2025 …Valentine to Cody We cleared out of Chelsea’s house and went to Casey's gas station for big cup of coffee. The ride to Cody was windy and all uphill. We met Tim and Nancy Wampler who were riding the other way. They are going Washington State to Washington.DC. When we got to Cody, we drove to Jerry Fullerton's ranch a few miles South of town then cleaned up. We drove back to town for dinner with Jerry at the Husker Hub, the local steak joint.
May 7, 2025 …Cody to Rushville, then drive to Chadron. We got up early, had coffee. said good by to Jerry and then went to the Legion Hall where we had stored our bikes.
I had a good ride and I had a bit of a tail wind. The sandhills really are an amazing feature of Nebraska. They make up a huge percentage of the state, are about the size of Ireland and a lot less green.
We made it to Rushville and found out that we made a mistake on the reservation and we didn't have room for the night. Susan then worked her magic and arranged for us to skip ahead to the city of Chadron where we're staying in a United Methodist camp for 2 nights. What wonderful people we've met everywhere.
May 8, 2025 …Chadron Area. Helped a group of Methodist Nomads build a Challenge course for youth campers. Rode to museum of fur trapping. Then helped clean up the work site. They invited us to have dinner with them as their final event of their 3 week work project.
May 9, 2025 …Chadron to Hot Springs, SD Great ride north to Hot Springs. Nice road, nice shoulder. Jerry and Ruth Boyd were our warm showers hosts in Hot Springs. They are the nicest people and live in a beautiful 1906 sears kit home. Jerrry drove us to Wind Cave national Park and we had a short visit because the last tour had already left. Jerry made Beef stroganoff for dinner and played guitar and music for us afterwards. We had a wonderful evening.
May 10, 2025 …Hot Springs to Rapid City SD…We took the day off from riding and after breakfast went back to Wind Cave for a tour. Jerry and Ruth came with us and Jerry provided extra color commentary for us in the tour since he was a park ranger there for a few years. Fascinating experience. We left the Boyd’s in the early afternoon to pick up Jim as he makes his heroic return to our epic cross country adventure. We had dinner at a burger joint and went to Mt Rushmore for the evening lighted event then back to hotel in Rapid City.
May 11, 2025 …We took another day off to visit devils Tower. What an awesome site. Larry considered staying to wait for his alien relatives to return to earth to pick him up but decided to come back to SD with us and get a beer. We stayed in Deadwood at the 1899 Inn in a beautiful 2 BR cottage Susan arranged for us. We picked this because its right by the start of the Mickelson Trail. Had buffalo burger for dinner and walked around the little honky tonk town of deadwood.
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