The Dakotas – Day 47 – O’Neill

66 miles cycling, 398′ of climbing (2480 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Breakfast at the Rodeway Inn in Ainsworth, then an initially dry ride with a good headwind. Today we had a two-person paceline and switched off about every mile or so and even with the wind, we managed a respectable 11.3 mph. Threat of rain all day and we rode in a mist for a long stretch, got a short period of more intense rain, but made it to O’Neill — the self-proclaimed “Irish Capital of Nebraska.” I had to drop the speed a bit near the 60 mile mark. It was quite an effort for both of us and Dana had some left in the tank, but I was running on empty.

Our third night in a hotel because of the rainstorms. Another Super 8 and just as we registered with the Asian-Indian manager and started to bring our bikes in, we swear almost 20 people came out of the manager’s suite room dressed to their Sari nines and piled in a mini-van. We both thought they were headed to an Indian wedding.

It was laundry day and we hiked our load 3/4 mile to the Shamrock Laundromat. Conveniently part of the Shamrock Hotel, which we sure was very charming in it’s day, there was no clerk – only a number to call. We wanted to find out if they really had rooms there, but the laundry was waiting. Washers were $1.25 and dryers $1.50; bargain basement prices less than half the other places we’ve used. We started the laundry and headed across the street to the Good Timin’ bar for some refreshments.

I set a timer for the wash, and had a draft then went back to the Shamrock to finish the laundry. Dana stayed back and, well, you’ll have to ask her to hear her story of the “Cova” discussion with a patron and the barkeep. Quite a deluge of misinformation from what she told me.

We had dinner that night in the breakfast room of the hotel thanks to the manager. The room would normally be big enough, but with two bikes and all the bags it gets a bit claustrophobic. Tomorrow we’d like to get to Norfolk, but have a shorter option at Neligh if the weather’s too bad or we’re too tired. Might be both.