Scoping out the Cowboy Trail

We were rearing to go this morning, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, in anticipation of scoping out the Cowboy Trail, albeit backwards from the direction we’ll actually ride it. We were on the road by 0800.

The goal of today’s exercise was to scope out the Cowboy Trail and the stops that we planned to make along the way while bicycling. Based on the Cowboy Trail online guide, we concocted what we thought was a reasonable itinerary.  The guide provides a list of facilities and services for each town, but it was probably written pre-pandemic. We were interested to know if restaurants and services were still functioning and to get an idea of what to expect, especially hotels, motels and/or, when necessary, campgrounds.

We also checked out the trail itself. Most of it is packed gravel or crushed limestone. Not quite as easy to ride on as pavement, but we think we’ll do just fine. We noted that neither motor vehicles nor cows are allowed on the trail.

We started in Valentine and then drove east to each designated stop. We checked to see what was open and their hours. We checked out the campgrounds for toilets, water, cost and shady tent sites.  We stopped at hotels and motels and asked their room rates and accommodations. Many town parks offer free camping for a night, but had no restrooms or water.  One rest area/campground was clearly unmaintained with decrepit picnic tables, overgrown grass, a dry water pump and locked restrooms. When we couldn’t find what we were looking for, we stopped in the local fire station, police station or post office. People were more than helpful.

When we had questions or couldn’t find what we were looking for, we sought out local experts for answers.

There are town stops about every 10 miles, but not necessarily everything we wanted at each.  Some towns, for instance,  had no restaurants or cafes, but perhaps a bar or a mini-mart... or no food at all. Some had no accommodations. We didn’t t want to camp out any more than necessary since we’d be sleeping on the ground not our comfy cots. By the same token, some of the stops were clearly too far to ride. We decided 20 miles was a good distance each day to start and then we’d increase our mileage as we felt more comfortable. David can ride longer and faster than I, but for some reason, he enjoys my company so he never complains that it takes us longer to get where we’re going. 

We checked out all the campgrounds. Sometimes there were motel/hotel options, sometimes not. Since we don’t make reservations till the day before, we also wanted to make sure we had a backup plan in case the local motel/hotel had no vacancy.

Our itinerary looks like this:

Stops Miles Cum miles 

Norfolk-Battle Creek-Meadow Grove 17 17 Town Park Cmpgrd**

Meadow Grove-Tilden-Neligh 18 35 Deluxe Motel

Neligh-Clearwater-Ewing 20 55 Two Rivers Motel

Ewing-Inman-O’Neill 20 75 Golden Hotel*

O’Neill-Atkinson-Stuart 28           103 Sisters House B&B

Stuart-Newport-Bassett 22           125 Bassett Lodge*

Bassett-Long Pine-Ainsworth 17           142 Rodeway Inn

Ainsworth-Wood Lake 20           162 Town Park Cmpgrd**

Wood Lake-Valentine 26.5           188.5 Comfort Inn

*Historic hotels **City park campgrounds

We ended our recon in Norfolk having driven the entire trail. It took most of the day. We stopped at the Norfolk Visitor Center and found that we could safely leave the car in the long term parking lot in the trailhead at the Ta-Ha-Zouka Park. A shuttle service exists that can transport from Valentine back to Norfolk, but the price was exorbitant ($410). There were no one-way rental car agencies, but being ever-resourceful, David made a reservation with UHaul to rent a small truck in Valentine with a drop-off in Norfolk.

Now that we’ve done our trail recon and figured out where to leave the car and a way to get back to retrieve it, we feel we’re ready to start riding. David checked and cleaned the bikes and our panniers are packed.

We’ve been checking weather forecasts daily and all looks well for the next week or so, though temperatures are expected to be in the 90s. We’ll be riding early and seeking shade, I imagine, but we’ll take our time and enjoy the ride. Come along with us. You can can enjoy the adventure from the comfort of your chaise lounge.

Cowboy Trail: Days 1-2

New Year Resolutions - 2021

Everything else is different entering this new year, why not my resolutions? I just reviewed my 2020 resolutions and instead of outlining what I/we didn’t do in 2020, I thought I’d see what we did do. It took a good bit of noodling, but I came up with a few things.

We both maintained our weights, ate mostly healthy and exercised regularly. In fact, we walked at least 10,000 steps every day last year… all 366 days. 10K steps equals ~5 miles/day for us. Nothing compared to walking the Via Francigena last year or the Thames Path the year before, but not bad. The yearly total according to my Garmin step tracker was ~4 million steps and just under 1,800 miles. Eating healthy, by the way, is not difficult. It’s become a habit. For the most part, we just avoid sugar and high carbs. That along with regular exercise makes weight management pretty easy.

We had plans to take another ‘long walk’ in 2020, but that, of course, was wishful thinking once March rolled around. Unfortunately, the first half of 2021 is still not promising for a long walk in Europe. Long walks out-of-country are on the back burner for the time being. Maybe a few more miles on the AZT in 2021? Or maybe, just maybe, by Autumn 2021 we might be able to travel abroad again.

We did take two road trips this year. The first, the 9,094 mile ‘2020 Pandemic Road Trip’, included visits and exploring in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, northeastern Nevada and a quick dip into eastern Washington state. The second, ‘The No Destination/No Blue’ trip was spent entirely in Arizona and entirely without Blue. He was suffering from a cracked flywheel and couldn’t move. We have absolutely nothing good to say about the Ford Service/Dealership that took 7 weeks to repair him. Our experience with Ford service in Las Vegas is just as dismal. Enough said! Despite all my whinging, the road trips were wonderful. We avoided people for the most part, enjoyed nature and spent lots of time together.

One of the most fun things we did in 2020 was relearning how to ride bikes. Not sure we ever forgot how, but it’s been awhile. There were some challenges that these 70+-year-old bodies had to overcome in order to ride for any distance, but we managed. We resolve to do more bike riding in 2021… especially on the Rail-Trail routes.

One resolution that I always have trouble with is being a nicer person. David does not have this problem… he’s a nice guy. I, on the other hand, am my own worst enemy in this department. I’m impatient with others and this impatience leads to snarky behavior and a sharp tongue which I usually regret. One way to compensate for the ‘snarkiness’ is to do more community service. I figure it’s like building up ‘nice credits’ so that when I’m inexplicably and unconscionably snarky, it kind of evens out. We’re working on more community service activities in 2021… food banks, trash pick-ups, blood donations… you get the picture. Less snark, more nice!

Another goal for the coming year is to be happier. Actually, we’re both pretty happy people overall, but we want to concentrate on those activities that keep us positive and happy. In these days of the pandemic, civil unrest and economic uncertainty, it’s sometimes hard to concentrate on the good things in life. We’ve found throughout the years that what we do, not necessarily the things we have or accumulate, contribute most to our happiness. Wanting less and more appreciation for what we have might be a key. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but we can certainly strive for more appreciative behavior in 2021.

And what about you? Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them? Do you think resolutions are a waste of time or are they constructive in self-evaluation and self improvement? What are your plans for 2021? Curious minds want to know.

A Holiday Hiatus

As we enter this very different, yet still hectic 2020 holiday season, David and I are taking a hiatus from our normal blog posts. We’ll be staying in Las Vegas for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, enjoying the holidays and making plans for 2021. We will still post a JALF Holiday Newsletter… sometime before Christmas… but in the meantime, we want to take this opportunity to wish you and yours the happiest and healthiest of holidays.

Marcie & David