July 05th, 2021

7/5/2021

Independence Day
We celebrated the fourth of July yesterday with friends in Omaha, NE. Getting into town wasn't easy or for the faint of heart, and I mean that figuratively and literally. About 20 miles out of town, the day went from a sleepy Sunday morning feel to a really busy, "I've got places to be" feel. Drivers seemed much more aggressive and the hills really picked up. This part of NE is not flat at all!

Hills really slow cyclist quite a bit, so we rolled into our friend's house about 2 hours later than what I had imagined halfway through the ride. Main roads and side streets only go up or down, there's nothing flat around these parts. So we were panting and sweating like crazy as we fought the traffic. After taking one of many breaks, we elongated the last 14 miles to 18 to get on a series of paths to get us off the roads. It made for a much better ride.

We arrived at our friends home and all of our moods immediately switched from semi angry to overjoyed. Its amazing how that can happen just by finishing a hard 58 miles at a friend's home, on the 4th of July.

We are roughly at the halfway point of the ride. We'll be surely able to say that we've entered the second half once we depart. Thank goodness we're not leaving today, we need a rest day! But these are some of the derails of the first half of the trip.

Ridden roughly 1700 miles
Gone through one set of tires on FBs bike
Swapped out FBs rear rack
Have been hosted by 7 Warm Showerrs hosts
Tanned up pretty good
Gone up and over Continental devide and 10276 foot pass
5 days with rain thus far
Humidity is ticking up
Seeing a lot more towns and places to get food and water
Seeing lots of corn and soybeans
Seen quite a few dying towns
Introduced Subway into our diets (easy lunch)
Left the flat part of NE behind
Planning schedule for the remainder of the trip soon

Ok, we have many tasks to take care of today on our rest day, so I better get out of bed and start that list! Hope you had a great Independence Day!

7 Comments

Bob Ryan

7/5/2021 09:28:19 am

How appropriate to be spending Independence on your bicycles touring across the country. There are few greater feelings of total independence in this life than bicycle touring. You have everything you need on your bike and you supply the power to get there. It’s a beautiful thing.
Thanks for the updates. Get ready for that Iowa tailwind! Be well and be safe.

Fernando Barrios

7/5/2021 05:26:47 pm

Bob
That was one topic I started writing about. but to be honest, I was so tired when I started writing that post that I had to roll over and go to bed! I'll save that for the book!

FB

Christina Audas

7/5/2021 04:00:56 pm

You all continue to be my heroes! Great pic of you all too. Keep on keepin and may there be many continued blessings along the way!

7/5/2021 05:28:18 pm

Thanks Christina!
I saw Kevin Dolan yesterday. he came up from Kansas City. We both agreed you were the premier guitarist at UCSC during our time

7/6/2021 01:02:30 pm

Aw thank you dear friend - that means so much coming from two amazing musicians! How cool you got to see Kevin- give him my regards if you talk to him. I always remember him - such a nice guy and great sense of humor!

7/5/2021 05:26:39 pm

There is something very impressive about burning through a set of tires! Halfway across, great job! I'm recording a couple TDF stages for you in case you want to watch some other people pedaling hard when you get back.

BTR Chris link

9/7/2021 11:11:41 pm

Your family is an inspiration to all. I admire what you do and I always pray for your safety in every ride you do.

July 05th, 2021

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