Motorscicles Into the Teeth of the Wind and Rain

Oh, golly, was it cold yesterday. The thermometer on Ray's bike read 48 when we left Grand Island and soon dropped to 41 degrees where it stayed until about a half hour out of Alliance when it raised up to 44, Nebraska and our next motel.

It rained almost all the way. Not hard, just omnipresent. The wind was gusty and cold. The clouds were low and dark and the day was completely wretched and gloomy. Gas stations on Highway 2 in NE are not what you could call numerous. They're spaced about 70 miles apart, so we had to ride that long before we could warm up.

We stopped along the way and put vinyl gloves on over our glove liners and under the gloves. My gloves and Ray's were saturated by the time we reached the first gas station. I bought a pair of heavy men's winter gloves. The fingers were way too long, but they were warm and above all else, dry. Ray bought a pair of heavy cotton liners, and our fingers barely avoided frostbite. My fingers got so cold in between stations that they hurt.

At our first station we both had big hot chocolates to warm us up. At the second, we had hot chocolate and gas station food. I could not recommend the fried chicken, but it was a 3 piece serving and Ray was filled up with the thigh and leg and I by the breast. The onion rings were less than appetizing. Both had, however, the much appreciated benefit of being hot. We lingered there a fair time until we had to get back out and face the weather. At the third, it was more hot chocolate, and I'm glad they all had it, but I was totally prepared to drink gallons of decaf coffee and plead medical emergency, just to get something warm in me. People from cars felt sorry for us out in that raw weather and didn't hesitate to say so.

The route is one of Nebraska's scenic drives and winds it's way thru the Sandhills area. It was beautiful we think, but honestly we only noticed the landscape particularly once when it wasn't raining and Ray commented that it looked like a scene out of Dances With Wolves. And it did, with Angus cattle standing in for buffalo. There are unfortunately no pictures, partly because we didn't want to risk the camera getting soaked and partly because Ray didn't think it was worth taking off all his gloves and partly because we were so cold we didn't want to spend one extra minute on that road. I bet today it is totally beautiful out there. It's still very green in Nebraska, one of the few years it's stayed green all summer and into fall, the natives tell us. There are supposedly lots of wildlife out in those plains but we could not testify to that as any animal with any sense was tucked away out of the rain.

I have never been so cold in my life. I think I had totally used up my ability to make my own heat. The only warm spot in my entire body was right were the hot chocolate sat in my tummy. About a half hour after we got warmed up the shivers would start again. You know you are cold when your helmeted head shivers too. All the vents on our helmets were closed, our rain suits buttoned up to our necks, rain boots on. We did everything we could do, but it was still TOO cold. Yeah, I know you guys think I'm just always saying that, but for yesterday, it really was true. It was a horrible day and I will never, ever ride in 41 degrees wearing only summer clothing. Nope. Don't ask me to do it, I will turn you down. In fact, I am not sure I'd do it even if I had a heated suit, gloves, boots and bottom warmer.

I turned the heat up in our lovely room and we both took hot showers. We dashed across the parking lot to the Arby's for supper. We had not thought we were in the mood for Arby's but it hit the spot and was just the right size for our supper. After that, we didn't do much and fell into bed about 10. I still felt chilled.

Today dawned cloudy but not too cold. We woke up in time to go to church. There were 13 people in Sunday School and 4 of us were visitors. There were 7 ladies in Relief Society and 2 of us were visitors. The Relief Society President is also the RS pianist. They have a nice little building with room to grow some, 18 benches in the chapel and not one was full. When we came out after meeting, the clouds had cleared and it was a wonderful day. We came back to the motel (went over to church in the sidecar...no ladylike way to get in OR out) changed our clothes and then walked across the street to try Martin's Family Restaurant. It was closed so we went next door to an Italian place, Sam and Louie's. The aroma was delicious, so we figured it was a good bet. We were right! We both decided on lasagne, with an appetizer of fried ravioli. Yum! We had enough leftover that we ate supper in our room. Beats gas station chicken hands down.

After lunch, we decided to drive out to see Carhenge. It's very odd. Why a family decided that this was the proper way to memorialize their farmer father is well beyond my imagining. But it is interesting. The family turned the installation over to the local government and now it's quite the tourist attraction. And free too.








And there was corn growing in the adjacent field, so we decided a picture there would be appropriate. This is field corn and is very near to ready to harvest. There are also many ripe wheat fields in the Alliance area, once you're out of the Sandhills part. The Sandhills are rangelands. But since you know I am 5 feet tall in my stocking feet, you can see how tall the corn is. Notice the corn on the edges of the fields grow a bit shorter than the corn a few rows back. It's always that way with corn.


After the excursion it was back to the hotel for laundry and repacking. Things seem to have gotten scrambled here and there in the luggages and need to be straightened out. So the laundry is still drying, but it's the last load. Ray has parceled out his pills for the week in his pill dispenser. The sun is setting on a beautiful day, the moon is up and tomorrow promises to be sunny and hot. I know. Tomorrow I will probably say it was too hot. But it won't be 103, and it won't be 39, so that will be a treat. We both have sore throats and snuffly noses and hope it won't come to more than that

We're starting to feel like we've been away from home for a long, long time. But I have to tell you that if you've got to be away from home, the Holiday Inn in Grand Island and the Holiday Inn Express in Alliance are great places to be. They have the most comfortable beds we've encountered the entire trip so far, the staffs have been wonderful and the breakfast is not the usual run of the mill stale muffins and toast. We recommend them both. Neither town amounts to much, size-wise, but the people are friendly and Grand Island has a Jimmy John's! We drove 3 miles there just to get a Jimmy John fix. In the absence of Beef Villa, it will do.