The Journey -- Leg Five
Fort Morgan, CO to Omaha, NE

Day 28 -- Saturday, July 5: Fort Morgan, CO to Wray, CO

The Rocky Mountains are only a memory now as we cycle out onto the flat vastness of the Great Plains. This region is often described as having the most homogeneous (and monotonous) topography of any part of the US.  The Great Plains were formed over geologic time by sediment from the rising Rocky Mountains filling in the vast inland sea that once lay between the Rockies and the Appalachian Mountains. The natural vegetation on the Great Plains is grass and once great herds of buffalo grazed on these grasslands. Here in eastern Colorado, in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the drier climate results in short grasses. In central Nebraska  more plentiful rainfall generally results in taller (one to three foot) grasses sometimes known as "prairies".  Both the tall and short grasses develop a deep network of roots (known as "sod") in order to extract the maximum amount of water from the soil. The early settlers in the Great Plains were referred to as "sodbusters," because it would sometimes take as many as 20 animals pulling a single plow to break the sod.

Day 29 -- Sunday, July 6: Wray, CO to McCook, NE

At mile 9.5 we enter Nebraska . . . set your watches back 20 years! At mile 53.7 we cycle into the central time zone . . . set your watches ahead one hour.  Dinner with the McCook Jaycees tonight followed by a slide show presentation on PUSH America.  Lodging at the McCook Junior High School.

Day 30 -- Monday, July 7:  McCook, NE to Axtell, NE

We are in Tornado Alley!   This is where more tornadoes occur than anywhere else on earth and where most monster, mile-wide twisters roam. Tornado Alley stretches across the open prairies of the Great Plains from central Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and into Iowa. Why here in the heartland?  Just the right combination of conditions including the flat terrain and the clash of warm, moist air flowing in from the Gulf and dry, cool air tumbling off the eastern slopes of the Rockies.

The North Team had a memorable visit at Bethphage Mission in Axtell. It is a residential facility serving people with severe and profound disabilities.   Bethphage Mission and the Axtell Fire Department organized a Bike Rodeo in conjunction with the team's arrival.  Ninety local kids turned out for some fun and education about safe biking.

Day 31 -- Tuesday, July 8: Axtell, NE to Grand Island, NE

At mile 20 we cross the Platte River.  The skys are quiet now but from February through April each year central Nebraska hosts the largest concentration of migratory birds anywhere in the world! Over 10 million birds call this area their temporary home. The forty mile stretch of the Platte River valley west of Grand Island is one of the primary stopping points for half a million sandhill cranes as they migrate along the central flyway from their winter homes in Central and South America to their summer habitat in southern Canada. The migration is a spectacle that draws bird lovers and tourists from all over the world to Grand Island.  Most eyes are on the cranes. But there's plenty else out there to take in - geese and ducks by the millions, as well as bald eagles, prairie chickens, wild turkeys, peregrine falcons and perhaps the endangered whooping crane. The area is more than just an attraction to these birds - it is a true staging area, a place where they stay a while, feeding and resting and establishing pair bonds while waiting for their respective breeding areas further north to be released from winter's grip.

Day 32 -- Wednesday July 9: Grand Island, NE to Lincoln, NE

Dwarfing the rest of downtown, the central tower of the Nebraska state capitol building protrudes four hundred feet (14 stories) into the sky over Lincoln. Topped by a twenty-foot statue of a farmer sowing grain on a pedestal of wheat and corn, its remarkable phallic appearance - an adventurous departure from the usual architecture of state capitols - has prompted the nickname "penis of the prairies". Reminds me of a certain new bank building in downtown Winston-Salem. For once there's no golden dome, and superb iridescent murals in the foyer depict the native american heritage and early pioneers of the state.  From the fourteenth-floor observation deck you can survey the flatness of the surrounding farmland.  Click here for a live view of the capitol and beautiful downtown Lincoln.

Photo and caption from the Thursday, July 10 1997 online edition of the Lincoln Journal Star.
Halfway Home. Push America, a group made up of national Pi Kappa Phi fraternity members, cycles past the City-County Building in Lincoln Wednesday on its way across the country to raise funds and public awareness on behalf of people with disabilities.  The annual Journey of Hope includes about 60 cyclists, who make overnight stays in 100 cities en route to Washington, D.C..

Day 33 -- Thursday, July 10: Day of rest in Lincoln, NE

The University of Nebraska main campus, with about 21,000 students, is just north of downtown Lincoln. To say football is big in Lincoln is an understatement! The Cornhuskers have four national championships to boast about including back-to-backs in 1994 and 1995. Lincolnites follow the Cornhuskers with an intensity that is hard for out-of-towners to comprehend. There is absolutely no separation between town and gown and no fewer than 66 businesses in town use Cornhusker, Husker or Big Red in their titles. There is no state pro sports teams or other major universities which may explain why an estimated six percent of the population of the state gathers at 73,650-seat Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoons in the Fall.  Every game has been sold out since 1962. The place to be before a game is Barry's Bar and Grill, where the favorite libation is tomato juice and beer.

Day 34 -- Friday, July 11: Lincoln, NE to Omaha, NE

On today's ride to Omaha, the North Team will pass the 2,000 mile mark! Omaha, Nebraska's largest (pop. 340,000) and most easterly city, sits on the banks of the Missouri River. As a major terminus on the first transcontinental railroad, Omaha made a logical alternative to distant Chicago as a marketplace for Wyoming and Nebraska ranchers to sell their herds of cattle. By the turn of the century massive stockyards spread along the southern edge of town, and the city still handles well over one million head of livestock per year.   

The city is a visibly a prosperous place, with a great zoo, several notable museums and a lively entertainment district.  Originally laid out with wide boulevards and great expectations, like so many other cities, suburban sprawl has sapped some of the strength out of the downtown area. A world-class facility in every sense of the word, the Henry Doorly Zoo, Lied Jungle and Scott Aquarium yearly attract more than a million visitors. The Great Plains Black Museum presents the history of African-American people on the prairies. Malcolm X was born in Omaha in 1925, though his family moved to Michigan immediately thereafter, in the face of Ku Klux Klan death threats to his father. You can also visit the lavish home where President Gerald R Ford was born -- he too moved to Michigan as an infant, after his parents separated.