56.4 miles and 1966 miles overall
Today we woke to sunshine and left the delightful city park in Valentine, Nebraska, heading east towards Ainsworth with our ultimate destination being the Long Pines recreational campsite 9 miles east of Ainsworth proper. In a nutshell, today was a very successful challenging day. We picked up the Cowboy Trail in Valentine, a lovely rails to trails conversion. A 187 mile section form Valentine to Norfolk NE has been developed with a nice limestone fine gravel surface. Old trestles have been upgraded to make them safe for hikers, bikers and horseback riders. We continued down the Cowboy Trail until the town of Wooden Lake. At that point we took a leisurely lunch including a nap time requested by Steve, which was enjoyed by all. After lunch Colin continued down the Cowboy Trail. It was too loose and sandy for the likes of Bob and Steve so we hit the main highway and reunited with Colin in the county park in Ainsworth. We’ve generally been blessed with favorable winds but in the last couple days things have shifted a bit and that looks likely to continue for the next several days. Over the course of the day the winds shifted ending the day with a stiff breeze “on our nose.” Finally making camp we shared a can of peaches that gave us enough energy to make dinner. Dinner was andouille sausages with applewood smoked bacon mashed potatoes, a side of crispy, crunchy, sunflower, cabbage, salad, and dessert was little cinnamon buns.
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