Peggi told me it was my turn to add to this blog so here goes.
     We're in Crawford Ne and we'll spend tonight at Fort Robertson just outside of town.
     Remember when I told everyone in one of my mass E mails about all the idyllic towns we encountered traveling through Nebraska?  We've hit nothing but "crap towns" for the last few days.  I'm not going to name them because I don't want a bunch of angry tweets from their Chamber of Commerce.
     Back to the ride details. I'll start with last Saturday May 25. We did 93 miles that day and we hadn't planned to do that much.  Sometimes you start the day and it gets away from you.  Originally we'd planned to do 66 miles which was a fairly modest goal considering the tailwind that day and the flat terrain.  We got to the 66 mile mark early in the afternoon and since we had the tailwind and some riding time left in the day we decided to press on to the next town 14 miles down the road.  When we got there we discovered it was one of the aforementioned "crap towns".  They had a RV park but if there hadn't of been a sign identifying it as such we would've thought it was a salvage yard.  Plus it was right next to a train track that had coal trains thundering by every 45 minutes.  We checked the city park and it was overgrown and the neighborhood it was in was very loud barking dog friendly.  So we decided to press on to the next town 12 miles down the road and also keep an eye out for bushwhacking (stealth camping) possibilities.  you know: cemeteries, old buildings,  tree lines, Lutheran Churches and so forth.  More about bushwhacking later.  We couldn't find any place to set our tent en route and that is how we ended up doing 93 FREAKING miles.
     Bushwhacking; There are several requirements for bush whacking locations.  We don't open gates, cross fences or ignore No Trespassing signs (most of the time).  It has to not be visible from the highway.  But the biggest downside of bushwhacking in Nebraska is the goatheads that are everywhere.  Goat heads are also called Texas Tacks by some bike riders.  They're kind of a mutant cockle burr on steroids and will punch holes in your tires repeatedly.  Small hard to find holes too.  They hide in the gravel and weeds beside the highway.  Goatheads are probably Nebraskan's most prolific crop as far as I can tell.  Peggi said they should make it the state flower even though it's technically not a flower.  What am I? A horticulturest?  I suggested they should make it the mascot for Nebraska University instead of the Cornhushers or Huskers.  They have some big goofy looking farmer like cartoon person with a cowboy hat representing "The Cornhusker" They haven't husked corn by hand for 75 or 100  years so that's kind of a silly concept. But goatheads will be around for a long time after we're gone.  "The Nebraska Goatheads"  Has a nice ring to it don't you think?
    OK, I'm getting dirty looks from the librarian so I'd better check out.
     One more thing before they throw us out;  yesterday we did 76 miles and once again had other plans when we started.  Same thing.  Tailwinds and a flat road was our undoing.  That wasn't so bad but for the last 20 miles we had thunder storms and occasional hail.  Trying to find somewhere to hide from hail in the middle of a treeless enviornment and no buildings is challengeing.
     We're going to ride over to Fort Robinson now to set up camp and do some sightseeing.