there's water in them sandhills.

for the past several days i've been riding through the sandhills region of nebraska. scenic ranchland is a more accurate description, though everything is actually a sandy hill. for the first few days i had a sweet tailwind. the hills rolled by quickly and over every hill was another never ending expanse of grasslands. day after day nothing but rolling hills. i don't want to make it sound like it got boring, because it didn't, but after 1000 miles of corn it was a welcome sight.



the towns got few and far between. half of them are unincorporated and are more or less just settlements with no resources to be had. the air was dry and the sun was intense so i ripped through water much faster than i had thought i would. luckily there are plenty of windmills drawing water from the ogallala aquifer. the water is delicious and cold. if the windmill is spinning, it's drawing water... unless it has been disconnected, which i came across a few times. it's as much of a letdown as the oasis mirage in a desert.

with 150 miles to alliance the winds changed to a stiff 10-15mph out of the west. not exactly a good time but i had no choice but grind away the miles. if i had to spend an extra day or so among the sandhills i'd be just fine with it, or so i thought,

with 80 miles to alliance the forecast called for westerly winds of 25mph with gusts up to 45mph. that would stop me in my tracks, for sure. i made the decision to ride late into the night and cover the 80 miles instead of being stuck in my tarp, probably far enough from any towns that i'd get anxious from the disconnect. already having done a typical mileage for the day the idea of pedaling on for another 30 miles or so didn't really excite me. as soon as the sun dropped below the horizon the winds calmed down and it cooled off to a comfortable 60 degrees. maybe the rest of the night wouldn't be all that bad.

i decided to get a motel for the night and get out of the wind. staying in town, or on the outskirts, would have been a rough night even with the tarp buttoned to the ground and tuned like a drum. every now and again it's good to get in from the out and feel like a human being, even if just for a night. it had been 10 days since leaving my good friends in lincoln and i was a salty, dirty mess. i deserved a shower and to do some laundry. sometimes those things are one in the same. it's nice to get all of your laundry done at the same time rather than only how much can be draped off the panniers to dry while riding.

now i must head out of alliance and keep heading west into a headwind. pedal, pedal.