Valentine NE

Day 16: Rushville to Valentine = 107 miles.

Today I woke up early to attempt to beat the heat. At 5:00 AM it was perfect outside as I rode towards the sunrise. I had used Google Maps to find which stops I could make to get fluids and water. But I'm finding that little towns are dying. I rode past the first little town, but I was so early that everything was still closed. I rode to the next town - town was empty and looked like a ghost town. Then nothing at the next town over and over again. Good thing I was carrying the equivalent of 6 waters and had plenty of food. I wanted to stop for my new favorite gas station item - strawberry milk. There was no stops until Cody, Nebraska. When I pulled into Cody at mile 68 I didn't see any gas stations, but found the C Store. The C Store was the only grocery store in town. What was interesting was the C Store was run by the local high school students. I was at the store for a long time and it was interesting to watch the number of teenagers come and go into the store. It gave the teenagers somewhere to go and a place to take pride in. The teenagers must have been laughing at me as I put on so much sunscreen that my nose was white and was placing ice into socks and into my arm sleeves. I only had 39 miles to Valentine and I was making great time. I had a slight tailwind and gradual downhill - allowing me to average 17 mph for 107 miles. That may not sound real fast, but when your bike is loaded with bags - it's was the fastest ride I've done while touring. I keep finding myself playing "the same distance as game". I've got 7 miles to go - that's the same as riding home from the new bridge. I've got 25 miles to go - same as riding to Cortland. I was moving well all the way into Valentine was thinking of continuing to Ainsworth to get 150 miles for the day. But after talking to my dad, I decided to stop and get some rest. Pushing myself in temperatures over 100 degrees day after day may cause me to blow up. My plan for the next couple days is: Tuesday ride to O'Neil, Wednesday ride to Columbus, Thursday ride home to Lincoln and get a couple rest days before moving east to DC.