Friday, June 26, 2009

Long Haul Truckers!

I've met a few in the last week in the form of folks touring the USA by bikes, horses, foot & wagons. Now the long haul truckers come into play as 3 of the bike tourers were riding the Long Haul Trucker tour bikes from www.surlybikes.com Smart choice in a touring bike I'd say after owning a Surly bike for the last 3 years & these 3 spoke nothing but positive of their Surly's. One was Jack from www.jackandthecitylights.org who was traveling from Seattle to NY, then on to France, Spain, the Middle East & possibly Australia.

Then came 2 ladies traveling from Boston to California as well as a guy traveling on bare feet with a donkey & his dog trying to get Bill Gates attention, then a minister traveling extremely light on horseback from South Carolina to ?, 2 days ago it was some Mormons retracing the footsteps of ancestors on the Mormon Trail, then 4 old guys biking from Pine Bluffs to Council Bluffs and finally today Carlos & Joe from www.realgeeksride.com heading to Portland from Mass. I think.

This has just been the last week or two & the only ones I've talked too, I've seen quite a few others passing through that I didn't get a chance to speak to, I've got to hand it to them, they're all BALLSY! We've had some pretty extreme weather the last few weeks in the form of extreme heat AND thunderstorms, hail & tornadoes, in a lot of ways I envy all of them though as this is something I want to try someday & I'm taking notes from ALL of them about strategy, equip, miles, rest days, food & everything else that goes with long distance touring. Perhaps I'll get my chance someday.

We have a lot of historic trails through here & I've heard of other groups coming through in the future including an all women motorcycle group re-tracing a famous ride made by some ladies many years ago on Indian motorcycles & some antique car group doing a cross country journey. Routes we have close to us are the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, Pony Express Trail, California Trail, the Old Lincoln Highway & let's not forget the countless fur trappers who passed through here & faded away forever long before Paxton was on the map. Speaking of Paxton, we're celebrating 100 years this year, so if your passing through by bike, motorcycle, classic car, motorhome, horse, wagon, etc. etc. etc. stop & say "HI" & wash down that trail dust at one of our 3 watering holes or stop in the new winery, appropriately named 5 Trails ( www.5trailswinery.com ) for a nice refreshing break for a weary traveler.

3 comments:

Llama said...

I've noticed quite a few folks on the road lately. Do you think there are more out there than usual (sounds like the 30s)? Is that donkey guy still around? He was in Cozad around the third week in May, sounds like he's going in the wrong direction.

paxtoncoyote said...

I believe there's more bike tourers than usual, as far as donkey man, he spent a good week here before catching a ride BACK to NP to do the NEBRASKAland Days parade, then back to Paxton & he was seen walking towards Ogallala then heard from the radio station there the next day, he's probably still there, who knows.

Llama said...

I guess that's what happens with you feed Donkey Man" - kind of like a stray cat.