Bicycling the Lewis & Clark Trail
Omaha, NE to Nebraska City, NE

Saturday, August 28, 2004
Distance Cycled: 56 miles
Average Speed: 14.9 mph

We had a good breakfast at the Best Western motel that we stayed in last night. We then traveled south through Omaha until we reached the only bridge across the Missouri River that is not an interstate bridge. It was an old two lane bridge that starts atop a buff and travels over the low flood plane before crossing the river. It did not have any shoulders so if traffic was coming from the other direction; the cars just had to wait before they could go around us. The good news was that it was slightly downhill and we had a very slight tail wind. After crossing the bridge we continued on this highway without any shoulders until we came to a bicycle path that went around a lake. We jumped at the chance to get away from the traffic and took this bicycle path even though it would add 3 or more miles to our riding day. After getting off the bicycle path we traveled on a road that hugged the hills above the river flood plain. This meant that we went up and down some small hills, none which required us to get into our granny gear. As we went more and more south, we acquired a steady tail wind and our speed increased to 16 to 20 miles per hour for most of the day. We went through a number of small towns but we did not find a place to eat lunch in any of them. We finally stopped at some benches in front of a Methodist Church and ate from the back of our bicycles. When we arrived at our motel in Nebraska City we stopped and ate again at the truck stop.

After checking into the motel, I replaced the cable that operates the rear shifter. Mary Kay did laundry at the same time. Tomorrow, I expect to stop a number of times until I get the new cable adjusted so that it will shift correctly. We all ate supper at the truck stop and then had our daily "map meeting". Time to discuss the route for the next day and make sure we all know what our plans are to find a motel.