May 14 2007 Kearney to North Platte

May 14 2007

Around six I get up and think about breakfast. There is a continental breakfast over by the lobby. I pack up some of the clothes that I washed out and start to pack up my bike.

For some reason, I seem to be worn out. Things are taking me a long time because I seem to be moving slowly. There isn’t really a reason for me to be worn out. I find it frustrating. I almost seem to think I am losing time, but I don’t feel ill. Losing time, not knowing where it goes is often an early symptom that means that I need to take it easy, to rest.

I’ll try to do that later in the week.

This morning, my body still seems to be dehydrated as I am craving water. I try to drink as much as I can, but don’t seem to have much caffeine available that will sit well on my stomach.

An hour later I am still packing up my bike and once again, like yesterday, things are not going well. The weight is off, but it is time to go. I carefully ride off after asking directions.

The people at the front desk could only tell me where the campus is and I am unable to mapquest the Drake Theatre. It is not in the telephone book, at least not where I am looking. I just have UNK Drake theatre.

I drive around on the campus and ask a couple of people where Drake theatre is and they don’t know. Ahh, I see a sign for student services.

When I ask, they tell me that I am very close. To walk across the parking lot and go in the fine arts building. (Actually, that was kind of what I was looking for, but managed to drive by it and not see the huge words on the side of the building so near to me.)

I go in and ask about a projector. I am more than able to give the presentation without a projector, but when people can follow along and read supporting documentation, it is easier for those people to remember the main points.

The presentation goes well, but my tongue trips a couple of times like my brain isn’t as closely connected or as sharp as I desire. Not unusual when I haven’t had enough caffeine, but I decide to relax as soon as I get to the hotel later today in North Platte as a preventative measure.

I eat lunch with Cheryl, Linda and Tammy. Cheryl mentions eating outside, but I am trying to avoid extra outdoor exposure when I have no sunscreen or lotion on. I am catching the beginning of a lot of sunburns that my body doesn’t seem to be adjusting to. It isn’t like my tan is helping me with a base layer, I guess is the way to describe what is happening. We eat inside.

As I am readjusting the load on my bike a man from Australia conducting a survey on the way mid America views god or God, however you believe it. He asks me,

“What one question would you ask God if you could ask him one question?”

Ahh, that fundamental Christian background. I try to tell him that I don’t believe that way, that the question doesn’t work well with my spiritual beliefs, but he doesn’t understand. I tell him again that I don’t really have any questions.

He really doesn’t understand and feels that with my belief system that I could go out and kill people if I changed my mind. So not true.

If I believe that my true job on earth is to

1. Find great happiness, peace and joy and then to
2. Help others find happiness, peace and joy

Then somehow I don’t think that I could just change my mind about what I believe and go out and kill people. How does that respect someone’s inner spirit?

People once again tell me that there is nothing much to see on route 30, but I find things to look at. There is the place where the persons house has decayed so much that they can’t live in it anymore so he has placed a tiny trailer next to it and is living in there.

There is the town that has nothing but huge tanks next to the railroad tracks that look to be filled with fertilizer. And all the stores across the road are boarded up, no one lives there on the main drag. And I have to wonder why there is no one. Is it because of fumes, of people who can’t afford to survive, or do people have what is called cancer clusters here?

There is lots to see.

I really enjoy the ride. The wind is reasonable, enough to keep me cool and keep the bugs off, but not enough to make me ride on the outside of my tires.

When I check in to the Holiday Inn Express, I find out there are the standard free beer and hors from 5-7, there are cookies and milk from eight until nine and that the swimming pool and hot tub are open 24 hours a day. I tell them that “I love you guys.” And I get two nights here, how cool is that?

Because of the chronic pain that seems to accompany me, the hot tub right before I get to sleep really helps me sleep better and longer. At the same time, going in before 11 doesn’t always work. If I don’t get to sleep right away the effect wears off. I am often unable to get to sleep before midnight and the tightness and pain have often returned by then.

I go upstairs, fall asleep for a few hours and then go downstairs. I don’t avail myself of the free beer, but enjoy the food.

Happy Trails, marty