Tadpole Update - Spokes Fighting Strokes - Sep/06/2014

John C. Anderson
Stroke Survivors Tattler

Road to Margaritaville

from

Anacortes, Washington to Key West, Florida

The Cast: Dan, Catherine, Bill, Dana, David

Date            | Start           ✔︎ = DONE
----------------+------------------------------
Jun 29 Stage  1 | Anacortes, WA; 462 miles ✔︎

Jul 16 Stage  2 | Sandpoint, ID; 342 miles ✔︎       

Aug 03 Stage  3 | Cutbank, MT; 544 miles ✔︎       

Aug 17 Stage  4 | Dickinson, ND; 413 miles ✔︎ 

Aug 30 Stage  5 | Pierre, SD; 485 miles - Half-way thru Stage 5 and in Nebraska.....!

Sep 13 Stage  6 | Council Bluffs, IA; 559 miles

Sep 28 Stage  7 | St. Louis, MO; 570 miles

Oct 12 Stage  8 | Tishomingo, MS; 454 miles

Oct 25 Stage  9 | Mobile, AL; 570 miles

Nov 08 Stage 10 | St. Augustine, FL; 533 miles

Nov 23 Stage 11 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL; 189 miles

Nov 29 End   12 | Key West, FL; End of Ride

Some details from Spokes Fighting Strokes and CrazyGuyonaBike:

DanTrikeMan - Spokes Fighting Strokes:

Please -- If you would like to help me spread my message of Hope to stroke survivors and other patients with HHT, you can support the ride by purchasing one our "Road to Margaritaville" T-shirts at my website www.spokesfightingstrokes.org click on store.

Could you "Share" Please!
Attitude is 90% of life, think positive! "Fins Up"
DanTrikeMan



Day 68: North Point Recreation Area, SD to Niobrara, NE
By David Babcock - CrazyGuyonaBike

Thursday Sep 4, 2014, 56 miles (91 km) - Total so far: 2,067 miles (3,326 km)

After a very quiet night in the park last night we awoke to some interesting weather this morning. The weather forecast had predicted the wind would be out of the north-northwest and that was true. It was already blowing pretty strongly when we got up. What they hadn't predicted was the almost total overcast conditions with dark clouds being blown past us.

It looked a lot like it might rain and that had not been in the forecast. As Bill has said numerous times on this trip "they can predict the wind pretty well, but rain is harder to get right". In any case we got the camp packed up and started leaving right at 8 AM.

The wind was a tremendous boost to our average speed today. We were headed east and south at different times and in either direction it was pushing us along. After climbing out of the river valley near Pickstown we rolled a few miles at high speed and then turned to the south on Highway 21. The road works its way down near the river again and then starts zig-zagging along the bottom land.

At several points along the way I was getting sprinkles of rain. I put the camera away and covered my stuff up but skipped the rain jacket hoping it wouldn't amount to much. And I was fortunate in that respect. It never seriously rained on me but further down the road I came upon very wet pavement meaning it had rained there.

At a bit over 40 miles I came to the junction with Highway 37 and the point where our route left the ACA route. We had decided last night to head to a state park in Nebraska near the town of Niobrara. We had gotten good reports on this park and it meant we would get to go into Nebraska. The Lewis & Clark ACA Route doesn't ever actually go into Nebraska so we made this modification so we could go there.

The traditional state line photo.
The flag on my bike should give you
some indication of what the wind was like.

I dropped down to the Missouri River and crossed over on the Chief Standing Bear Memorial Bridge. On the far side I got a photo of the "entering Nebraska" sign and then turned at the junction just past there and headed straight into the wind. Luckily it was only a couple of miles to Niobrara and then only a couple more to the state park of the same name.

The rest of the gang were already in a site and had almost finished setting up the camp. While I was filling out the registration envelope a ranger came by. He let me give him the money instead of making me walk back out to the entrance station. He also provided us with information about the park and surrounding area.

And he tried to help us with our two guests we had picked up (literally) earlier today. Dan and Catherine had stopped by an abandoned house in the morning to answer the "call of nature" as it were. And they found two puppies in a box while they were there. It appeared someone had left them there. They look to be about 5-6 weeks old.

They convinced Dana to put them in the van and take them with us. She gave them a bath, got some food in them, and put them in one of our empty tubs with some of our small towels we carry to clean the bikes. Here in camp the ranger went and talked to some other campers he knew to see if they would take them, but it didn't work out.

So Dana, Dan and Catherine took the van and drove back into town to see what could be done with the dogs. Before they took off we were visited by a woman named Valerie who works for the local newspaper. She had been tipped off by the ranger that we were in the campground. She took some photos and did a quick interview with Dan and Catherine.

And we were visited by our next door neighbor in the campground who gave us some fresh corn, cucumbers and tomatoes that had come from their garden that morning. So we'll be having corn-on-the cob and other fresh veggies for dinner tonight.

- - - - -
Late Update:
For those of you who are wondering what happened with the puppies, here's the latest: Dana, Dan and Catherine had to drive all the way to Yankton, SD (about 45 miles away) to get them to a Humane Society location. They were taken in by that group and they waved the $25/dog acceptance fee they normally charge.