66 miles cycling, 398′ of climbing (2366 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.
We had one of the best breakfasts we’ve had at a motel. Great variety, good eating, especially for the day we had coming. We started out dry in Valentine and headed for the Cowboy Trail which runs from Valentine to Norfolk. A bit choppy at the start from all the horses’ hoof prints, it did improve as the morning went on.
However, at about 10 miles, we took to the parallel US 20 which was much the same gradient, but much faster. No offense Cowboy Trail, but you can’t beat pavement. It was Saturday of labor day weekend and traffic was light. We made good progress towards Ainsworth. The other thing that didn’t improve as the morning went on was the rain forecast.
We got about half way to Ainsworth when it started to rain which lasted much of the way. It did finally let up and we got somewhat dry. When we arrived in Ainsworth, we found a Pump-n-Pantry and connected to their wi-fi and checked the weather. Rain coming. A lot. We made a reservation at the Rodeway Inn and hightailed it the mile to get there. We got checked in and brought the bikes inside — they had rags at the door (presumably for the many rodeo folks with muddy boots) and as we dried off the bikes, the deluge started. It rained for a couple of hours before we could venture out, so we napped and caught up on the blog.
On the way in, we had passed the Brown County Labor Day Rodeo in Johnstown. It didn’t look like much was going on and the Rodeway staff told us all the activities were cancelled due to the rain and thunderstorms. The lights in the hotel were flickering as they told us this.
We ventured out looking for a place to eat and walked into town. A very loud and drunk guy and his wife got out of a car in front of the Silver Circle Bar and while talking to them he told us the rodeo cancellation was the first time in 30 years (or 40 or 50, I can’t remember which he told us as I was so distracted by the volume of the delivery). They invited us in but we declined and kept walking. We finally ended up right across the street from the Rodeway at Big John’s Restaurant where they had a salad bar for Dana and a Reuben for me.
After dinner we dried things out to help prep for the continuing rain forecast for tomorrow as we make our way to either Atkinson or Norfolk.
