Here we are again folks. Live from Central City (although I haven’t seen Barry Allen so I think the Flash is fiction). Had another curveball thrown my way this week, but also notched a big PR, and then promptly paid for it the next day. The week ended on a pretty high note, so hoping to carry that through.
Off we go.
Day 92- Rested. After 54 miles in 2 days my body begged for rest so I obeyed.
Day 93-Covered 24 rainy miles from Blair to Fremont. I knocked out the first 18 miles with no break, felt pretty good too. However, upon reaching Arlington the wheel(s) fell off. I went up onto a curb at Casey’s for a snack and my front wheel fell off….again. There was a gentleman there who used to be a mountain bike rider and he said he may have some stuff to fix it. He walked home and I never saw him. The hour grew late and storms were inbound, so I towed the tire and began pushing in the storm on two wheels. Made it about a mile and a woman gave me a ride the last 5 miles. Her son was a 2x youth state wrestling champion and she’d had family members who’ve struggled with various mental health conditions. Had some friends donate a hotel room, so I checked in and crashed. I got up the next morning and covered the five extra miles while I waited for the bike shop in town to open up.
Day 94-After the town of North Bend, NE refused to allow me to camp in their park, I didn’t have anywhere to go today. So after getting the gear to repair the tire (and a backup if it happens again) I had lunch at a Thai/sushi place. First time having Thai and it was FANTASTIC. Had a gentleman from Columbus donate 250 bucks for a room/wheel/drink/whatever so I got another room and plotted a new course for the next day.
Day 95-Knocked out my biggest day to date. 33 miles from Fremont to Schuyler. It was pretty flat most of the day. I had a 5-7 mile stretch of US 30 where there was barely any shoulder and rolled my left ankle….twice. But eventually stumbled into Schuyler at their city campground around 10. Got camp set up by headlamp and zonked the heck out.
Day 96- This should’ve been an easy day. 17 miles from Schuyler to Columbus (not the good Columbus). Google had me take primarily backroads, and the roads were gravel, and sand in some spots. So pushing 80ish lbs through gravel and sand burnt my legs out even more than they were in general. I couldn’t eat enough yesterday to both keep my energy up and fuel myself for this day and it bit me in the ass. I detoured back to US 30 and struggled to keep any pace. I met a man named Steve who was biking across the country and we chatted for a bit. I found a little restaurant about 3 miles from the hotel for the night (a room we thought was comped and then they charged me when I got there) and after smashing my food I had so much energy. Got to the hotel and crashed.
Day 97-20 miles from Columbus to Silver Creek. I sent an email to the Fishers Grove RV Park and they allowed me to camp there. It was a flat walk and I got there around s 530/6. The host of the park showed me where to set up, gave me a plethora of snacks, and posted about the walk on their community Facebook page. I had people coming up and talking to me almost immediately. A group of three families invited me to come hang out with them for the night and I took them up on it. Turned out one of the men actually did a lot of construction on the Distribution center I used to work at. Totally small world. We talked about mental health, “solutions” and my experiences with suicide and theirs. They also went together and got me the room I’m in currently so I didn’t have to worry about where to sleep. Another family who wasn’t at the park this weekend saw the Facebook post and donated a room to me for tomorrow in the next town as well. Small town America is really the best.
Day 98-Covered 23 miles from Silver Creek to Central City. Pretty boring walk. Stopped at Clark’s Cafe in Clarks, Nebraska (home of Twitter co-founder Evan Williams) a town of 369 people. The waitress was surprised at my 13 dollar tip on a 17 dollar bill and gave me a hug after she heard about my purpose. She also told me that the 6 person table that ordered 100 dollars worth of food from her left a zero dollar tip. Finished the walk and got to the hotel where I ordered Pizza Hut (the only thing that delivers here) and am about to crash. Did hit a woman today who spun around to give me 10 bucks and she asked why I’m doing what I’m doing and when I told her she started tearing up and thanked me. She said something about her mom and her husband drove off.
Tuesday I hit Kearney which is the “technical” halfway point. My feet hurt at the end of most days. My hips are starting to hurt (which is furthering my worry of the labrum issue), but they’ll literally have to drag me off the road in an ambulance to get this walk to end before I hit San Francisco. I’ve met too many people who follow this for pain to derail me. Also discovered Ted Lasso today and man what an awesome show.
if anyones got recommendations for shows that are on Netflix, Apple, Prime (any of the services I can download when I’ve got WiFi) let me know.
Thanks for following along guys. I know it sounds lame but I look forward to comments and communicating with y’all. It keeps me sane…ish.
-Joe
