Day 21 and we have landed in Syracuse Nebraska at around 6pm local time. The only sights we passed today was just about every John Deere farming implement dealer in the world. Makes sense, because other than every farm equipment dealer in the world, we also passed billions or acres of corn and other crops.
Anywho, last night we hung out in the hotel lounge where Jysicca (yes, I did spell that correctly) was not only the front desk attendant but also our bar tender. She also had a heavy hand when it came to pouring the Russian corn juice. By the time we had finished doing what I hope is our last load of laundry on the road, it was approaching 8pm. It was Sunday night in the metropolis of McCook Nebraska, and there was not many choices for dining out. Jysicca recommended a favorite local pizza joint for us to get take out, but when we called, they were not taking orders due to being booked for a comedy show that evening. Ok, Pizza Hut it is.
We took our paper plates of pizza and wings to the outside patio space that was blockaded with a white aluminum stockade fence, and enjoyed the very pleasant evening outdoors. We continued our conversations for the rest of the evening around that table, and it was a great evening with friends. Sorry, I was wrapped up in the moment, and didn’t think to get any pictures of our night.
From the weather reports we were looking at Sunday night, we knew we would not be having an early departure on Monday. There was a big rain cell moving in over night, and it was moving in the same direction we need to be moving… East.
Around 9:30am, I was done catching up with my real work on my tablet, the bag was packed, and we were showered and ready, but the rain was still falling, but getting lighter. I called Hedgie to get their opinion, and we all agreed to a roughly 10:30am start time. Rain or shine, this circus has to move to the next town.
We were on the road before 11am, with a light drizzle heavy mist falling on our windscreens. The rain would intermittently be light or misty thru out the day, and our ride. No biggie, we have the proper gear for the occasion, and quite honestly it was enjoyable to me for these conditions. It wasn’t the high desert heat melting us, and there sure wasn’t anything to look at riding thru Nebraska, might as well enjoy the cool temperatures of 63 degrees and rain.
I guess it was around 2:30/3pm when we got to Hastings Nebraska and found the Goldenrod Café. It was a good time to stop, we had caught up with the heaviest part of the rain cell in front of us, and a grilled cheese and bowl of chili would be good right about now. So, 4 grilled cheeses and bowls of chili were ordered and delivered. Brother Rick came thru town not much longer after our arrival, so we ordered him a cheeseburger all dressed, and he joined us for our lunch stop. Wish I could say we warmed up and dried out at the little café, but we sat right under the air conditioning vents and it felt like they had the air on blast. But the food was good, can’t have everything.
After lunch, we topped off the fuel tanks, and headed back in to the land of John Deere. We stopped occasionally for quick rest, but pretty much kept rolling. What else are you going to do in Nebraska?
After about 220 miles, we came across a small one bar town, and stopped in at the one bar, for another quick rest. After everybody that ordered a soft drink consumed their soft drink, back on the road we were. Most of them anyways.
I mounted my bike, and turned the power switch on. My Bluetooth helmet had not been synching for most of the day and I wanted to see if it would finally synch this time. Nope. So I put my riding gloves on and fired up the bike. Put it in gear and began to roll out the clutch when it shut down. The kickstand was still down, and as a safety feature, it shuts the bike down. Ok, kickstand up, push the fire up button. Nothing. Notta, zilch.
The guys rallied around me and my dead bike. We tried different scenarios to get it to fire with no luck. We put a battery pack on the positive cable to see if that would help. Nothing. Notta, zilch.
Brother Rick, get the trailer over here, it’s getting loaded up, I’m not holding up the guys and their ride. It was around 5:15pm and as I rode shot gun in the truck with Brother Rick, I started calling the local HD dealership to see how late the service department will be open. 6pm is the closing time, but they gave me a few ideas to try when we get in, to do a hard reset of the ignition and such.
Brother Rick & I got into the Syracuse Inn & Suites around 6:15pm, just behind the boys on bikes. They already had our rooms checked in, so after unloading our gear, the time came to crack a few cold ones and try the suggestions to get my bike back up and running. I did the quick on/off of the power switch 3 times with a 3 second pause between offs, as suggested by the HD service department. No luck. Still dead. Monkey and Ski Doo took the skid plate off for access to the battery to disconnect it and attempt to reset whatever is defaulting. While doing that, there is a 15 amp fuse that monkey pulled out to check, and broke while replacing it. Ski Doo and I walked over the local gas station/convenience store across the parking lot and got a fresh pack of fuses.
While checking out, Ski Doo noticed the display case with the shooter bottles of different liquors, and we made the joint decision that this called for a FireBall for each of us. We stepped out on the sidewalk cracked the shooter bottles, toasted each other and laughed our way back to the trailer where Monkey was impatiently waiting for us.
Fuse replace, battery disconnected, and re-connected and still Nothing. Notta, zilch. We tied the bike back down and Ski Doo and I proceeded to drain the cooler of the cold rocky mountains. Hedgie and Monkey bounced in and out of our session, and that was the rest of our night.
While we were having our session, a friendly fella by the name of Dave, who owns a mobile “hardware” for the farmers around the midwest, joined us for a few cold ones and lively conversation as well. He was quite the hoot, and even I can remember his wedding date: June 9; get it 6/9. Enjoyed his company and I think he enjoyed ours as well.
Dinner was exceptional. Before bed we decided we better do better than the pork chops in a can we had been consuming. The only options left open was the same convenience store/gas station across the parking lot. We wound getting premade/prepackaged sandwiches from the cooler. Chicken salad, ham and cheese and turkey and cheese. Oh boy. After chowing those down in the hotel lobby, and a few quick spins on the lobby slot machine and we were DUN, done.
Brother Rick & I headed to the HD dealer in Omaha, that opens at 9am, we have a departure time of 8am. Hopefully I will be back on 2 wheels before noon.
We shall see,
Bye for now Stick