May 19, 2024
What a day, or I should say “night.” It started with a little thunder and few drops of rain about 1 am and worked itself up to a major storm with some of the loudest thunder I’ve ever experienced with even heavier rain and, of course, wind. I was safe in dry in my tent and after watching the flashes and hearing the thunder for a bit I fell back to sleep. I woke up frequently and checked conditions in the tent and they were fine but about 5 am I found that water was getting in from somewhere. I guessed that it might be because the rain fly was not staked down on the ends of the tent but after a while I discovered that I was sitting in a pond.
I selected this spot because it was high and flat but the ground just could not take any more water and it flowed under the tent. I stacked stuff up in a way to prevent things from getting too wet and my air mattress mostly kept my sleeping bag out of it but it eventually took on some water too.
I kept an eye on the radar map during this and here’s what I was seeing. I’m the blue dot.
When the storm picked up again I stayed in the tent and sort of organized and packed the best I could. At one point the thunder was just continuous rolling booms. Luckily my bike is waterproof.
Eventually, about 9:45, it let up and the radar map showed it was time to move. Things felt heavier as I loaded them up due to the water they were carrying. Here’s a photo of where my tent was.
When I picked up the tent, a field mouse ran away from under it. I guess it needed shelter from the storm too.
Here’s the bike ready to go, just before 11 am.
I got onboard and decided that rather than make a tight u-turn where I was, I’d make a wider one and exit through the campsite next to mine which was unoccupied. I’d walked it and it seemed fine so off I went. The loaded bike weighs more than I do so that ground that felt solid when I walked across it gave way as soon as I hit the grassy strip between the sites. I felt my rear tire want to spin and go sideways as it started to make itself a mud hole. The traction control indicator lit up (big surprise) and I had my feet dragging the ground working to keep the bike upright. I knew not to stop and kept feathering the clutch and carefully giving it the gas to keep moving as I could feel that rear tire slipping in the mud. I finally got to the hard gravel and heard lots of mud being thrown in the fenders.
On the way out of the park I stopped to look back at the storm.
The main goal was to put distance between me and that storm so I took the highway that headed northwest out of Kansas and into Nebraska. I know that I’ve been through Nebraska but can’t remember exactly when but it was probably a few years ago on a car trip to Pennsylvania as I remember coming close to Omaha.
Today’s ride took me through no big cities, just through rolling hills that replaced the flats of Kansas. The Google map had me on state and county roads as there are no interstate highways that provided a faster way to get to where I am going.
I did the usual stops for gas and such, In Oberlin there were a dozen or so bikes gassing up at the station across the street. All Harleys from the look of it.
I pulled over for a photo in Palisade.
In Grant I took another photo and also stopped to use the restroom at their city park.
I was thinking of stopping for lunch in Ogallala but the place I’d picked was too busy and there was nowhere to park the bike where I could keep an eye on it so I just kept going. While there I had to take a photo for a friend who texted that he used to live there.
By the time I got to Oshkosh I needed gas and wanted a snack to replace my lunch. The weather up ahead looked foreboding and a guy told me he’d just come from that way and it was looking bad. I got my rain gear on just in case and snacked on a few cheese sticks.
According to the radar map, the coming storm was headed right for me but I figured I could outrun it and shoot the gap between the main storm coming from the south and a smaller one in the north. I got out of town and stopped just to take photos of what was coming from my south and ahead to the west.
I wanted to stop and see Chimney Rock up close but that’s when the rain threatened so I had to satisfy myself viewing it as I went by. I only got a few sprinkles. Photo from Wikipedia.
Outside of Minature I stopped for a few photos.
My friend who lived in Nebraska told me that he did his student teaching at the high school in Scottsbluff so I took a few photos for him. This school replaced the one where he taught.
The rest of the ride was all about dealing with crosswind. Lots of it. I had to slow to 55-60 mph to where I felt I had control of the bike.
Another issue with riding these 2-lanes in this part of the country is the number of cattle-hauling trucks going by in the opposite direction. Many semis create a wall of wind as they pass but nothing like these do with their huge perforated trailers which is like a shock wave or sonic boom. Hanging on through that can be unnerving.
When I got to Torrington, WY is was warm and dry and I stopped to shed my rain gear and sweatshirt.
In Guernsy, WY I stopped for gas as I am really close to campground and I like starting the day with a full tank.
At Guernsy Lake State Park I rode around and looked at various sites. There are very few people here so I wanted to get a site in an unoccupied loop rather than to crash their solitude plus I have to have a site that I can get the bike in and out of.
There is a huge lake and the road that leads to the campgrounds is as twisty as The Dragon. The loop I selected was not in the first-come first-served list so I needed to make reservation. I’ve got good cell service here but their registration site is as convoluted as it is picky and it took about 20 minutes to complete the transaction
The first job once I’d parked was to get the tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, and a few other things hung up so they could dry out. It’s breezy and in Wyoming’s dry air it really did not take very long. This is a nice park and my site is located above the lake.
I got the now dry tent set up and my equipment stowed just as the wind picked up. I sat in the tent for a while, working on the blog entry, and when it calmed down I heated up water for my dinner, a Three Cheese Mac and Cheese that was great with some Diablo Sauce saved from Taco Bell.
Once the wind was down I went out to look at the moon and take a few photos.
It was a 379 mile day.
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