29 Days until GAWR - Overnight Camping Test - Searching for the Northern Lights.

Loaded the bike up with full gear and water - weighing 67 pounds. Then I rolled the bike up the stairs from the basement to the main floor - I suddenly realized how heavy the bike was. The bike felt like a tank. I had become too used to riding light weight carbon bikes. Once outside I was not sure how to swing my leg over the seat to mount the bike. I finally leaned the bike over and stepped over the top bar to get on the bike.

As the bike rolled down the driveway I could immediately feel that the bike was going to handle much different. I then rolled down the gradual hill on Driftwood Drive - the bike rolled nice. At the bottom of the hill I turned and started to climb a very gradual uphill road - I quickly learned that a 67 pound bike moves much slower up hill that a light weight gravel bike. I accepted the fact that I would be moving slower and just started riding.

My travel plans was to ride the Jamaican Trail to Cortland then turn around and ride to Branched Oak Lake to camp out over night and hope to see the Northern Lights. I wanted to start the ride on a smooth bike trail to get the feel of the heavier bike before riding on gravel roads. Near Raymond, I started riding on gravel roads and quickly learned the the heavy bike moves very slow going up short steep hills. I was only going about 5-6 miles per hour up some of the hills. I had better learn to get in a easy gear and just spin steady up the hills.

When I finally got to Branched Oak Lake to set up camp, I was surprised how few people were camping in the tent area - only 3 tents. I had expected more people to be camping in an attempt to observe the Northern Lights on this rare night where the Northern Lights could be seen as far south as Nebraska.

I was able to set the tent up in about 20 minutes, much faster than my practice attempts. Earlier in the week my brother-in-law Derek helped me get all the strings preset to the correct length on the tent - this made my setup much easier. I then set my alarm for midnight and attempted to go to sleep. My alarm would then wake me up at midnight and I would get up to look for the Northern Lights. That was the plan.

I had trouble falling asleep and rolled around for awhile, then relaxed and was almost asleep and the party crew arrived. The quiet outdoors suddenly became a party.

People from all over Nebraska started showing up to view the Northern Lights from their cars. Cars were driving into the camping area with their headlights pointed right at my tent - my yellow tent then would glow light a neon yellow lightbulb. Then people started walking around with flashlights just a couple feet away from my tent. I was a little uncomfortable because my bike was laying right next to my tent. I had locked my bike to the tent, so if anyone attempted to steal my bike I would feel the vibration and wake up. Then someone started playing loud rap music - the boom / boom sounds vibrated through my ears. I thought about getting up to ask the DJ to turn the music off, then I realized that is how someone gets shot in a campground. It is probably not wise to approach a drunk stranger in the dark and ask them to turn off their music. I just laid there and attempted to relax and maybe view the Northern Lights. Around 1:00 AM people left, it became quiet and I feel asleep. The worst thing was that I never saw any Northern Lights. The next day, I saw that some people could view the Northern Lights from Branched Oak Lake - and they posted their pictures on FaceBook. I doubt they actually saw the lights - I think they just took pictures with their camera / phone set to a slow shutter speed giving the picture an illusion of bright Northern Lights.