Cindi does omework with Keegan and Riley.

The first thing we had to do right after I arrived and changed out of my riding gear was change a flat on the school bus (Cindi has four great kids, but they all need rides to school, sports, band practice, or something, so she loads them in a couple years old Tahoe, the big Suburban-style Chevy). I had the kids help me find some tools and we got the flat tire off and loaded into Greg’s car before we headed out for morning errands. After we got back to the house, I took a shower and a nap before Cindi got back from other errand running. It was the weirdest nap I can remember in a long time. I know I slept for about an hour, but awoke with a strange feeling of having to keep moving, or still moving, not sure which.

An Iowa size stack of bacon.

Yellow Spot III had the garage to herself.

and a new light in the kitchen.

The next four days saw me play handyman to replace some light fixtures, a faucet, and a shower door seal, and play with the kids, tour Conagra’s headquarters, have lunch in downtown Omaha, shop for the party, wash and repair Yellow Spot III; I wasn’t going to be without heat in the Rockies! And, I got my haircut!! Greg is a great guy and his new position as VP of Grain at Conagra, his gentleman’s farm, and the kids keep him plenty busy, but he’s no handyman  I found a really nice tool chest out in his shop with some tools in two drawers. The rest were scattered all over the property. I made the joke about my sister wearing the pants in the family, at the BBQ, because she knows where her tools are!!!

One of three new hallway lights.

Iowa sunrise out the front door.

The BBQ was grand. I got to meet a lot of the friends my sister and her husband had told me about, met a few new friends, ate some really great slow cooked pork with fixin’s, and learned a lot more than I needed to about the changing price of commodities (fascinating really!). I even met some folks from Colorado, who confirmed that my route home would show me some of the best sights and most crooked roads the state had to offer.

The front yard and several tons of concrete!

Cindi and I had a really fun time running errands, shopping for the BBQ, chatting, and just generally catching up, but Sunday morning came fast and I had miles to make and places to see before hooking up with friends in Winnemucca, Nevada for the Chiliburger Run in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. I didn’t get as early of a start as I wanted but started my day in warm gear, which was changed to mesh gear by the time I got into Nebraska. I think it was about 78 degrees until I got to Grand Island where a cold front was blowing in a squall. I pulled off at an exit with a little gas station and changed into the warm, dry gear again as the worst part of the storm passed. I got back on the interstate and rode through the tail end of the storm and into clear skies within the hour. It was smooth sailing the rest of the way to Longmont, Colorado at 9:00pm, were I caught a good night’s sleep and was up early to begin the Rocky Mountain Tour! I would see very few straight roads over the next four days. Day’s mileage: 557.