At 6ish in the morning three long-long barges (filled with stone) passed--pushed upriver by a large tugboat.
During the hearty breakfast, Lisa, owner of the River Inn Lodge, entertained us with stories of the floating hotel's history and small-town life along the river. Next to the floating hotel is the large river-boat, The Spirit of Brownville, on which Lisa and her husband offer weekend dinner cruises. We have often remarked on the retirement advantage of traveling during the week. Only two other couples shared the lodging with us--a young couple from Beatrice, Nebraska on a delayed honeymoon and a senior couple from Plano, Texas who were returning home after escaping the heat for 3 months of employment at Mount Rushmore.
We rolled our bicycles across the gangplank and left about 10:00. We did a quick ride up the main street of Brownville, population 142. (The annual weekend fleamarket two days hence will swell the population to 1000. A 35-foot tall Heritage Tree, dedicated in 2017, displays 18 two dimensional metal sculptures which are attached, branch style, to a central trunk-post. Each is a symbol of Brownville's heritage; Among the symbols are the river boat, Civil War cannon, concert hall, and winery.
Tailwind today on the 19 of the 22-miles of the Steamboat Trace. This crushed-limestone trail parallels the Missouri, winds along steep limestone bluffs, woods, open expanses of agriculture. Acorns, butterflies, fallen leaves and sticks decorated the trail with wildflowers along the wooded stretches.
Eight miles up the trail we got to Peru, home to Nebraska's first college, founded in 1865. Poluation 636 along with 2500 students.
The meatloaf special at KJ Whitehorse Bar and Grill was excellent. As we were leaving a group of Nebraska senior cyclists started arriving. They gather annually for a ride somewhere in Nebraska. Back on the trail, we met Steve and his two helpful companions walking their bikes because of problems with the gears Steve's vintage road bicycle and tightness in his chest. Through cell-phone communication with early arrivals in Peru resulted in rescue by a Honda Big Horned Outrider (look it up).
After 19 miles we arrived at the trailhead 6 miles south of Nebraska City. We splurged on the electric assist to make easy work of the steep hills in those miles. We were "coming home "to Nebraska City and "our restaurant", the Keeping Room. Marney likes the T-shirt wisdom: "Life is short; eat dessert first!" So, to celebrate our 200-mile circuit we did just that--carrot cake for Bob, cherry cheesecake for Marney. Then, for the second course, we took two salads back to our Nebraska City "home", Whispering Pines. Jeanna kindly took the end-of-trip picture of two cyclists, happy with our Nebraska/Iowa adventure together, the excellent weather and the fine people we met along the way.
On Friday morning we packed the Honda Fit, had fine conversation with fellow guests ( Nebraska Ranchers Larry and Dawn) over a delicious breakfast, said goodbye to our host, Jeanna Stavas, paid a visit to downtown murals, and then set out for Broken Bow and our two-day journey home.
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