Our time here in Nebraska was a lot shorter than I expected. After our brief visit from Iowa, we headed straight to South Dakota before returning to the cornhusker state. We only had a couple of ride days in the Sandhills, and the views were amazing, but I think most of my group would agree the days pedaling here have been the hardest on the trip so far.
We had to combat brutal headwinds, tricky crosswinds, steady hills and a daunting repetition of rolling, earthy lumps. Despite all the difficulties, we witnessed some of the most brilliant displays of mother nature here. We had to wake up at 4:30 for pretty much all of our days, but we got to see the sunrise. Even saw the sun set on one day.
We learned a great deal about the cultural and ethnic atmosphere from a superintendent at a school in Cody (which only had like seven kids graduate last year). Cody was a few miles from a Native American reservation, and his heart went out to many of the people suffering through the poverty and degradation of said locations. Many of the locals back in South Dakota didn't appreciate or enjoy the presence of the Natives, but it was a wonderful change of pace to hear someone who had a heart for the needs of the reservation's population.
Cody also didn't have a grocery store for over a decade, so the town thought it would be a good idea if the youth from the high school teamed up and built one. So they did, and now it's primarily run and maintained by the kids. The store was built using packed straw, and one of the pictures shows the inside of the wall as proof.
In Chadron we had less contact with our host, but the pastor of the church where we stayed was uber friendly. Our day off was in Chadron, so we had prom. Here are a few pictures from the escapades. Sorry I couldn't post the song Ian sang to me to ask me to go to prom with him (I mentioned before people drew names out of a hat and had to ask whoever they were given). If you want to hear it, just email me and I'll send it to you. PS, we were supposed to be an American flag...lol not so good but whatevs.
Next stop is Wyoming. I can't believe how far we've come so far. It still hasn't really hit me. We're using a bicycle to cross the country. Crazy.
Couldn't resist the urge to post some sweet lightening pics I caught from a random storm. Welp that's all I have for now so thanks for listening with your eyes! Cheers to the good life.
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