| Day 11: Nebraska City, NE, to Omaha, NE
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Day 11: Friday Tm: 4:07:01 It stormed last night and early this morning. But it let up by the time I was awake and ready to go. I enjoyed the breakfast at the motel and got on the road about 7:30 a.m. There is, of course, more stormy weather on the way. But I knew I would beat it by several hours if I got on the road early enough. It was very windy (20-30 mph from the east) again, but otherwise not too bad for riding. There were occasional sprinkles, but no huge downpours. Before long I crossed into Iowa and immediately turned onto a gravel road. (Ugh! More gravel!) Then, onto a minimum maintenance road marked with the intimidating sign "enter at your own risk!" Yikes! I wondered what I was in for! Then I turned onto L31, a country road that parallels I-29 and actually crosses over it a few times. There was almost no traffic, but I could hear and see the Interstate the whole way. Occasionally there were "public areas" for fishing or hunting. I stopped at one of these to rest and saw some geese enjoying the water. Eventually I could see Omaha on the horizon, and I came to my departure from the Adventure Cycling route. I continued into downtown Council Bluffs by following L31 (which turned into a gravel road for a few miles) and the Harry Langdon Boulevard. After that, I made my way through town, past the odd "Golden Spike Monument," and up to Broadway. The bike mechanic I called in Omaha yesterday told me this was the best place to cross the river into the city on a bicycle. But the traffic is crazy, and when I looked at the bridge all I could see was on-ramps and crazy Interstate drivers. There is currently no pedestrian passage over the river at Omaha and Council Bluffs (though a nice pedestrian bridge is under construction). So I called a cab. So my bicycle trip ended in Council Bluffs. I made it. Pictured above is downtown Omaha, as viewed from my dorm room at Creighton University. Here is another view, of the church and of the campus. What an adventure it was. God was with me on this one. I worked hard, but everything always turned out in the end, somehow. There were unpleasant sections, but riding the Katy trail across Missouri and riding on the roads of Kansas was very enjoyable. I'm glad I did this trip, though I admit it was the most difficult one I've completed thus far. I'd do it again. Here are some stats: Total Mileage: 665.49 miles |
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| ©2009, Jason Signalness |
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