Rolled out of the two block town past a Vietnam War relic and into the beautiful countryside.

Our rancher from last night, spoke of the “six mile hill”, quickly explaining after seeing the look on our faces, that the hill was in six miles, not that it was six miles long. We approached and climbed it (while avoiding the crop-duster) with relative ease along with the few miles of ups and downs that followed.  This was the beginning of the Sand Hills.  These fields of sand were softly painted and the clouds in the distance seemed airbrushed into our morning canvas.  Incredible to think that sand dunes can foster such lush grass and hold water, too.  An hour into the ride we came to a freshly paved road that offered tremendous relief form the speed bump filled shoulder we had encountered since entering Nebraska.A light cool morning breeze and flat smooth road, we were feeling good and started boasting about doing our long ride today, instead of tomorrow as scheduled.  All our giddiness was quickly squelched when we hit mile 40.  Our flat road started rolling and rollingand the un-forecasted northeast breeze that had plagued us all morning was gaining strength.  We still made it to Buffalo Bill Cody’s hometown, our planned stop for the night, shortly after noon, 55 miles done.  Slid into a booth at the local food trough, ordered a to die for grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mayo and cucumber with super hot fries!!  Lunch was devoured way before the thought of taking a photo ever occurred.  We checked our pulse (not our sanity) and the wind direction (changing to NW any minute) and decided to forge on.  The wind did keep us cool, but kept toying with us; coming from our side only to turn and hit us in the face.  But the scenery remained enjoyable and somewhat distracting as we rolled along waiting for the wind to change to our advantage.Pedaled past a couple towns, the Minnechaduza Creek and crossed the Central Time Zone sometime in the afternoon  The sky was crystal clear except for ever changing clouds in the south.

Two doors before our hotel, the “golden arches” beckoned us in for a delicious chocolate milk shake; hot and very low on energy, it was well worth the stop.  Since we lost an hour with crossing the time zone, by the time we were showered and had downed a few ice cold bottles of water, it was time to go to dinner.  Hard to find pasta in these cowboy towns, but we hit the jackpot this time; there were more tender strips of sirloin then pasta on this plate.  Perfect remedy for a 94 mile ride.

As a side note, we would like to thank all that have contributed so far, to the EOD Warrior Foundation.  Celebrating our first 1,000 miles, we contributed today, too.