July 10, 2013: A Trip Home from Lincoln

A little morning stroll past Memorial Stadium

I was talking to Garrett on the phone Saturday night, telling him about my upcoming Sunday plans.

"I'm going for a bike ride in Lincoln in the morning," I told him.

"Did you run out of places to ride in Omaha?" was his response.

Hmmmmm. I didn't know the answer. Why were we riding in Lincoln? Perhaps I am too eager to join the fun without asking questions. Earlier in the day, I put out a post looking for someone to ride with on Sunday. I received an invitation to join two for a ride in Lincoln. It never crossed my mind to ask, why were we going to Lincoln? All I knew was that a van was involved to transport bikes.

As I pulled into my friend's driveway, I was anxious to get resolution to my question. Why Lincoln? Scott quickly apprised me of the situation. A rental car that Kerri had rented for a family vacation needed to be returned to Lincoln. So the idea was to drop off the rental van and ride our bikes home. Of course. A biking adventure. And I do love an adventure.

So that is what we did. Wheels removed. Bikes and bikers loaded. A van drive to Lincoln.

And then we got lost. With printed Google map instructions, Kerri on her phone asking for directions, and Scott trying to map it on his phone; we were still lost. I will take credit for saving the day with my I-Phone map app. It did leave a hesitancy on our navigation skills on our impending exit from Lincoln. But somehow we pulled it off.

I had never ridden my bike on Highway 6 before; certainly not from Lincoln to Omaha. I had driven it. Many times. I am quite sure there were trips home from Husker games that surpassed our 2 1/2 hour length of time bike ride back. Lesson learned: Bike beats car in a log jam of vehicles.

It was careless freedom riding with my fun comrades. We did act a bit like college kids; hooting and hollering past our beloved Nebraska stadium and showing excitement in being acknowledged with a train horn. We survived the forty-five miles on a highway shoulder filled with road kill and loose gravel.

But Kerri planned our route well with a wind out of the west and directly to our back. The rolling hills were a cinch to conquer. All in all...a sweet ride. And the company was pretty darn good too.

No road...no problem