BRAN Gravel: The Load Out

Friday I drove out to Arlington, Nebraska. A small city on the Northern edge of the Omaha Nebraska metro area. It is a town of 1,300 folks, so not a real large town. It will be representative of most of the towns and villages I see for the upcoming week. 

In fact, it will be the fourth largest town on the route. Only Valentine, the starting town (2,633), Wayne, a college town (5,973), and Oakland, (1,369), are larger than Arlington. 

Yes, we will be hitting some remote, not very populated areas. On Day 2 we will be passing through Keya Paha County with a population of 792 people. The smallest overnight town is the first one out of Valentine, Springview, with a total population of 238 folks. (Note: My numbers are Googled and may be off by a few souls here or there)

Things will start out feeling quite remote, I have no doubt. I've been out in Southern South Dakota on a bicycle across that state and the terrain and overall feel should be somewhat similar in Northern Nebraska. I'm especially excited to cross a few villages and roads I was on previously in Northeastern Nebraska between Crofton and Niobrara. It has been just over 30 years since I've been there, so maybe things are so different I will not recognize the places. But it will be very interesting to me, nonetheless, because of my previous passage through the area by bicycle. 

Someone asked me the other day who I was going on this trip with. I said "Nobody". I realize not everyone can do what I am about to do, so please understand I recognize my ability due to who I am. No blind eyes here. But on the flip side, yeah, it has crossed my mind that I probably won't know anyone on this trip.....at the beginning. I'm sure this will change throughout the week, or at least I hope it will. That will be part of the adventure, and I will be excited to see how it plays out. 

This week may be a bit chaotic on the blog compared to the normal postings. My plan is to do daily "Updates From The Tent". These will be short thoughts and reactions to the day I experienced. I'll likely post these in the evenings when we have signal and WiFi available. Or.....maybe not!! You have already read how we will be in very remote areas. I cannot promise anything solid, but I'll do my best to communicate. 

Likewise, any comments left on the blog this week may or may not get a reply right away. Circumstances will dictate when and where I will be able to do this. I would expect at least a couple full-blog reports during the week and possibly more if I can manage this. 

There should be a lot of social media stuff from me. Check Threads, Instagram, Facebook, and possibly X. My handle on the Meta platforms is g.ted.productions. I'll be using the #BRANgravel hashtag if you want to search that. 

That's it for now. Thanks for following along!