Notes From The Tent: Day 4

 A short day on tap after a sag ride and overheating the day before. But before I get to the ride into Crofton, I have to tell the story of Tuesday night. 

It started out well enough with steak dinner at the local Czech Hall, an old theater/dance hall which, for the small size of this village, was huge. It probably could easily hold a thousand people. 

During the dinner word started circulating that we may have to abandon the campground to take shelter in one of three buildings in the village. We’d have to pull up stakes, pack everything up, and wait to see if anything would come of the severe weather threat.

Fortunately for us the powers that be decided to allow us to make our own call. I and many others decided to stay in the campground. The storms came, but it was a garden variety Mid-West thunderstorm and besides a bout with hard rain and a few gusts of wind, it was more than manageable. 

Before the storm Jacquie Phelan and Michael from the BRAN staff hung out and we chatted by my tent. Jacquie doesn’t sleep in tents unless she has to, apparently. Anyway, she asked me if things got bad, could she sleep in my tent. I mean, it sounds weird, but I said “Sure”!  I’d rather she be safe and dry, right? 

But it didn’t come to that and the people she was with got her taken care of. 

Anyway….  

Due to the rain Michael announced in the morning that gravel was off the menu because he wasn’t interested in a mud fest.  BRAN kind of took it on the chin last year because of a day on the gravel route with some stretches of mud. 

So, out of caution he made the call. Now I had a little over 40 miles on pavement to get to Crofton. I wasn’t too disappointed. 

I got to ride through Niobrara and see the site where 31 years ago I and two others stopped and through a series of minor miracles were able to continue a cycling tour. 

Then I got to see the same roads between Niobrara and Crofton we rode back then. I will say now a LOT has changed and I had forgotten even more things. 

And I hit 46.8mph on a long downhill coming into town. That was fun

Crofton is- so far- the best town we’ve stayed in. Big welcome into town. Lots of food choices within a short distance of the campground. Nice set up too. 

Going to eat spaghetti tonight and- hopefully- drift off to sleep and Day 5 of BRAN where I have been promised we will do the gravel route and stop at a dairy farm to pet cows. 

Stay tuned.