Distance: 73.5 miles
Elevation: +1495/-1682
Temperatures: up into the 90s
We bade a fond farewell to John O’Keefe, Kathleen Smythe, and the truly lovely city of Omaha and rode off this morning towards the Missouri River, which we sort of followed most of the day. Today’s ride wasn’t hilly (nice!) but it was hot with an early headwind and a number of short gravel roads. But hey, we‘ve seen these conditions before...nothing new here!
Kurt found picnic tables, shady spots and port-o-lets all along a very rural route today, a strong start to his SAG experience!
We’re moving southeast along the Missouri River, so we started out in Nebraska, entered Iowa, left Iowa for Missouri, then ducked out of Missouri and back into Nebraska again. Tomorrow we visit Kansas, too!
Remnants of the Missouri River's last flood are still in evidence.
Katherine and Mary Kay decided to come along for one last ride so they could stay at the Riverboat Inn, a floating B&B on the Missouri that Carol found (actually, it’s the ONLY lodging in Brownville). Brownville, NE is really cute, with several books stores and shops...it’s a bit frozen in time and definitely markets its historic district well.
Tonight, we celebrated the end of our journey with Mary Kay and Katherine with a riverboat dinner and cruise on the Missouri River. We will miss all three of our girls so much - Kathleen and her calm, generous and lovely presence; Katherine, kind and easy-going and the strongest cyclist we know; and Mary Kay, who has the BEST stories and makes any gathering a fun time!
(Our pathetic cycling glove tans!)
Just Carol, Mary Jo and Becky start out tomorrow for the last leg of our trip...onward to St. Louis!
Highlights:
Three states in a day!
Staying on a riverboat!
Lowlights:
Saying goodbye (for now) to our dear friends
An American Eagle seems most appropriate on July 4th!
