Day 33, Friday, May 23

to

Imogene, Iowa to Papillion, Nebraska

Just after midnight I heard music. John and I are both prone to waking in the night and reading it writing on our phones, but it seemed unusual for him to be listening to music. I got up to see what was going on. I discovered another bicyclist had just rolled into camp with his dog.

Jay was from Council Bluffs, Iowa, where the Wabash Trace terminates. He was attempting to make his dog, Via, the fastest dog to run the Wabash. I do not know what Via thought of this  plan, but she did not look distressed. I chatted with Jay a bit about our respective attempts, but not for long. I needed my sleep.

Once we hit the trail we had a pretty big milestone. Five or six miles north of Imogene we crossed the midpoint of our route across the country. I did not know exactly where it was, but we stopped for a celebratory selfie within a half mile or so of that midpoint.

John seemed particularly heartened by this. I have to admit I got a mental boost, too. After all, if we could complete one half of the continent, why not the other? 

The rest of the morning we took it easy, with stops in Malvern for coffee and the bicycle tree, and in Mineola for an early lunch.

We reached the end of the Wabash in Council Bluffs. We still had a few miles left in Iowa, though. There was a bicycle trail that wound around an industrial area.

The path was smooth and flat, and we made quick time of it, eventually reaching another big milestone, the Missouri River. We crossed on Veterans Memorial Bridge, putting Iowa, our eighth state, behind. 

We still had seven or eight miles remaining to our Warm Showers hosts, Meg and Jim, in Papillion, Iowa. This meant a little climbing through more rolling hills on the southeast side of Omaha, but they were nothing like Missouri and there was no wind.

Meg and Jim were absolutely wonderful hosts. They are both avid cyclists that have a lot of touring experience, including the Cowboy Trail. That trail is how we will cross much of Nebraska. Jim had also completed a crossing of the US using the northern route from Washington to Maine. We spent a lot of time talking to them about their experiences. 

Jim has actually attempted the crossing twice. His first was cut short about half way when he was hit by an inattentive driver. But he recovered from his injuries and completed the entire route the next year, including repeating the first half. 

We really could not have had better hosts. I had an appointment at a bicycle shop in Omaha the next morning to replace my entire drive train. Jim drove me, in Friday afternoon holiday traffic, to drop it off, probably ten miles away. We took John and his bike along, and after we dropped mine off we went to another shop closer to their home. Jim had arranged for someone there to squeeze John into their schedule. 

When we got back to their house we had a fantastic lasagna Meg prepared, along with several desserts.i don't really know how she finds time because she is training for an Iron Man.

This was one of our better days on the tour, thanks to the beautiful Wabash Trace in Iowa and the welcome we received at Meg's and Jim's home.