North Platte Nebraska

North Platte, someplace in Nebraska and after putting on more than 600 miles figured a good enough place to call it a night. Another hotel room, this time HoJo’s and these motels along the freeways fill up fast, got the last nonsmoking room. Yea, just as I’m sitting here in Brother’s looking at the bartender trying to clean up with a cigarette hanging out her mouth…so much for not wanting to smell like smoke. Well, got going a little later, but was up until 3:00 trying to get caught up on my blog and for Econo Lodge advertising High Speed Internet…that’s a lot of bull, all they have is wireless. Oh well, got caught up except for yesterday, but that can wait until today. Ok, so got going a little later, but figured it’ll take me two days to get to Kansas City and am still shooting to be home before the 4th, what’dya know, might just celebrate it at home before heading east. Stopped at the Harley shop, you know the one, they have two 06 speakers which’ll work on my bike, but they aren’t going to be any help. The guy at the service desk said if needed an oil change or there was something wrong with the bike to keep me from riding, then they’d treat it like and out-of-towner, but for just speakers I’d have to schedule and appointment. Oh well, disappointed yes, but I guess there’s a reason for my speakers going out so now I’m back to traveling with the wind blowing thru my hair, I mean bald head and my thoughts.

Planned on hitting the freeway so can make Kansas City in two days and I don’t know what it is, but these freeways don’t seem as dirty as the ones in California or some of the other roads I’ve traveled. The only thing I can figure is maybe less traffic and could it be cleaner cars, nah, saw a lot of really nice vehicles on the west coast, but whatever it is, it’s nicer than the west coast freeways. It was a beautiful ride from Salt Lake thru the rest of Utah going thru the mountains and valleys and even some of Wyoming, but once you get further into Wyoming the scenery changes. It reminded me a lot of South Dakota and the ride to Sturgis because some of it looks like the Badlands and there are plenty of prairies like South Dakota. Oh, and the other thing is they have Pioneer village, just like South Dakota which is a car museum and instead of a lot of signs for Wall Drug, out here it’s Little America a Hotel chain…ice cream cones for 35 cents and instead of just one, they are in a number of cities along the way.

Got a good picture of Nebraska’s state sign and that’s only because I knew it was a helmet state so had to make a stop before crossing the boarder to put one on. Not exactly what I wanted to be wearing today, but with the clouds and the rain in the area, it won’t hurt the head as much as the rain does. Got real lucky there too, cuz it looked pretty bad with lightning and strong winds, but there was the break between the storms that if the road just goes that way, I might luck out and not need to don the rain gear…and it did just that. When the road would look like it was heading straight for the heavy rain, and if you’ve rode long enough you know what it looks like, just before getting there the road would turn toward the opening between the storms so only got spit on a little and no heavy downpours or anything…like I said really lucked out.

Ok, in Nebraska and figured I’d find a larger town to see if I could have as much fun as I did the last two nights in Jackson (Hole) and Salt Lake City and also figured have to have some Nebraska beef so North Platte looked like as good a place as any. Fara at the front desk said Whiskey Creek was the place to go and this place is just like the Texas Roadhouses I’ve already eaten at, peanuts and all. Well, the beef was just ok, I’ve had better, but the service from Amy and Amanda was great, too bad they didn’t want their pictures taken…they might be hiding from someone. Also ran into a couple that had just come from Salt Lake City too, they are traveling from San Francisco to Minneapolis, or more precise, Edina where she grew up. Didn’t get there names, but he took a job in Washington DC so they’re moving there…and not necessarily too happy about it because the bay area is a great place to live…heard that from some others while thru there. Anyway, got kicked out of there because they close at 11:00, and I just found out I lost another hour, 30 miles before getting here…oh how I long for Mountain Time. Amy told me Brothers was the place to be so checked it out and there aren’t a lot of bars around here, but this place isn’t too bad. Sat and worked on my blog while chatting with Candy, you know, that bartender with the cigarette hanging out of her mouth and although I didn’t have a connection to the internet, Shalea came over and asked to check out her email – sorry, no connection so can’t help you out…I think she just wanted to see what I was up to and get her picture on my blog. Kansas City here I come. North Platte Pictures.