Thursday, July 10. Day 11. The Old Codger, but, then, Lucy.
Thursday started alright. We cruised down the line for most of the morning. Then, we came on a big long section with more or less no access and about a dozen or more sites that we needed to check. We decided to wait until Friday morning to try it so I could walk it in the slightly cooler morning. We then ate lunch at Lucy's Place.
This was easily the highlight of eating on the trip. We had lunch here Thursday. I had a buffalo burger and fries and ordered a piece of blueberry pie with ice cream for dessert. It was one of the best pieces of pie I've ever had. Ever. Lucy was the wife of a buffalo rancher and she was the little round-haired elderly lady in the kitchen. She was super sweet and clearly knew her way around the kitchen. The place was full of locals.
One of the interesting things we've seen eating at lots of these small town diners and cafes is the local table. There's usually a big table, or two or three tables put together, where all the local farmers show up and eat lunch together. When one of them finishes, he'll get up and cash out and leave and then, in a few minutes another will walk in and join the others. It's intimidating for us outsiders, but an interesting thing to watch the communal aspect of rural America.
After lunch we hit a bit of a roadblock, one that we have still not skirted. It's a landowner that's given the company trouble in the past. We found out about him, because we asked a farmer we ran into if we could drive down what we thought was his field road. His response was, "I can't give you permission for that. Not my land. That land belongs to XXXX XXXX [Jim and I now affectionately refer to him as The Old Codger], but I don't recommend having a conversation with him." So now we're waiting for permission to get in on his property. We finished what we could in the area and called it a day. We stayed that night in Sidney, NE at the Holiday Inn. There's a giant Cabela's there in SIdney so we enjoyed going in there.
Needless to say, Thursday was a frustrating day and, were it not for Saint Lucy, would have been a total wash.
Friday, July 11. Day 12. Lucy's for Breakfast and More of the Same.
Friday morning we drove back to Lucy's for breakfast. She raised the bar on breakfast. One of the best pancakes I've ever had. It was big and thick and had a hint of the taste of funnel cake, but not so much that you felt like you were at the county fair. It was delicious. And it was a welcome change of pace from the Continental Breakfast we'd been eating for two weeks.
We left there and Jim dropped me off at the end of the long stretch we skipped from yesterday and I started the 4-mile trek to the other end. On his way out of the site where he dropped me off, Jim was stopped by the two landowners. They could be called Old Codgers 2 and 3. They blocked the way and wanted him to get out of his car. He didn't and was very nice and in the end things worked out alright. But it didn't seem like a pleasant situation and I don't wish I had been there. Meanwhile, I blaze through the first mile, though stopping constantly to pull some sort of seeds out of my socks and shoes. The second mile was pretty long. The third was alright, but as I began the fourth I realized I had drained my CamelBak and was out of water for the last mile. I was fine and figured as much, but it unnerved me a bit nonetheless. Jim picked me up and we were neither one hungry, but I wanted another piece of blueberry pie and ice cream so we stopped by Lucy's and I got a piece to go. Again, delicious.
We spent the rest of the day getting to what sites we could without risking any more landowner issues. We finished up and had to stay in Sidney again that night.
Saturday, July 12. Day 13. End of the Line: Cheyenne, WY.
Yesterday, we ran through the final 65 or so miles getting what we could along the way. We heard that we've finally figure out who the right-of-way contact man is so we're waiting until Monday to have him speak with all of the owners to hopefully get us access to the rest of the line. Moving across northern Colorado and southern Wyoming we have seen loads of antelope. They're everywhere out here. Even in part of town in Cheyenne. It's pretty wild.
The line ends at US Highway 85 about 20 miles south of Cheyenne, WY. We checked into a hotel last night and are waiting here until we hear something more. I was able to talk to Mom and Dad, Thad and Amy and their kids and Jen via the web cam and that gave me a nice boost for the night. It was so good for my soul to see them all. Aiden and Ella Grace were hilarious and beautiful. We had a good dinner in the old downtown train station area. After dinner, I made my way back into town, went to Target to buy The Shack by William P. Young, and then to Starbucks for coffee and to read a bit. I really enjoyed the evening. The temperature was in the 60s and it was so nice.
The Shack is a really great book, but the first few chapters have been really hard for me to read. I've almost stopped three or four times. I'm going to finish it on the recommendation of lots of folks, including my brother Will who's reading it even though he hates reading. I figure if it can keep him, it'll be worth pushing through the difficult parts.
Hopefully, I'll update later today to talk about Cheyenne a bit. It's great here.
Do you remember the long table of locals at the Jasper cafe? I thought of that as I read this.
I too am reading that book and almost done, but similarly had to push through most of the book on the basis of recommendation.
Posted by: ICN | July 13, 2008 at 11:13 PM
Gotta go now baby, if I hurry I can still make Cheyenne...
Do you know how many times that song has rolled through my head since we talked to you? Too many. Apparently it is my only significant cultural reference point for Cheyenne.
Sorry for any confusion, Ian. That is not a Lil Wayne lyric.
Posted by: thad | July 14, 2008 at 03:09 AM