Little Bikes on the Prairie

Day 5 Crofton, NE to Valentine, NE 227 miles

After a great breakfast and a late start we made our way to the Lewis and Clark Visitor’s Center north of town. On the way we stopped to take a picture of a small hog farm where they actually had hogs outside on the dirt. With today’s factory farming, I didn’t think anyone did that anymore. We spent an hour or so at the visitor’s center and hit the road around 10:30 - VERY LATE!!!

We headed out on Nebraska Route 12, The Outlaw Trail. 20 miles straight aways without the slightest curve in the road and small towns showing little signs of life. Today was our first experience with the prairie winds you hear so much about. We had to lean the bikes into the wind to keep going straight. Nothing too extreme but the wind would throw the bikes around a bit, especially when an 18 wheeler passed us in the opposite direction going about 75 on a small two lane road.

There aren’t too many highlights today. It was a lot of open grazing land, immense acreage, open rolling land and lots of sky. Some might find it boring but it beats the traffic, McDonalds and billboards you’d find on the Interstate. It was cloudy for most of the morning which was a help. At 95 degrees, we would have been scorched by the sun.

One place we did stop was the small town of Monowi, Nebraska. How small was it??? The highway sign leading into town reads population 2. That was before Rudy died though, leaving only Elsie for a population of 1. Elsie runs the world famous Monowi Tavern which is a bit weather worn and very comfortable. She has beer, pop and snacks and the best burgers in town.

We ended up in Valentine, one of the largest towns in the area at a small campground on the Niobrara River. We took a dip in the river, very warm and refreshing after a day on the road.