As I headed out of the camp ground this morning, I headed north to RT 51 in town. On my left is Battle Creek Airport and they have flight training here. I love this picture. Do you see the airplane in the tree?

I stopped at Sparky’s for a cup of coffee and as I was leaving a lady came running across the parking lot yelling for me to stop. She was so excited to see me and wanted to share with me that her husband; a Veteran passed away. She said she has a small café’ in town. The town actually has two café’s but she said hers is just open in the morning. I was ready to go but she asked if I could come with her to see what she did with one whole room in her café’. The walls are full of pictures of Veterans from a number of different wars and she wanted to show me pictures of her husband and his purple heart.

I headed over took some pictures and she walked back the two blocks with me to my rig and kept thanking me. When I got back to the rig, there were more folks waiting on me.

I headed west and it started raining harder. I passed a State Trooper  that had his radar set up. He didn’t stop me so I guess my speed at 14 mph was good.

There were a lot of corn trucks passing me tooting their horns. It was nice scenery but it was raining hard so I couldn’t take pictures.

I got to the Missouri River and the bridge was old and narrow. I was a little weary going over it, especially when I met a semi-tractor and trailer approaching from the other direction. He had me a little nervous, as I hugged my side of the bridge, concerned I would hit the side. There wasn’t a whole lot of room and I was making sure our mirrors didn’t hit as we passed each other. I was glad to get over it and into the town of Decatur, NE!

The camp site was along the river. I passed a nice restaurant and I was excited thinking I know where I am heading after I get set up! However, after I set up, I noticed that I had no Internet or cell phone and I wanted to make calls and catch with my blogs. So I checked and found another campground but was another 20 miles west. I was ready to quit, but decided to continue on and if it’s a nice campsite and has Internet, I will stay two nights.

I headed west out of Decatur and right away, I thought about the hills in western PA. I think that’s the first I had to shift down for over two weeks. I headed south 3 miles off of my route to Lyons, NE, and when I arrived in this town on Main Street there was a small café’.  I turned in and was excited to know, I will get a good home cooked meal tonight!

The people in the café’ were all excited and they came running out, saying they saw us on TV and wanted to get pictures. Even the cook came out, so I don’t know whose meals were getting cold.  My meal was paid for and they thanked me for stopping in. They said they are a small town and they don’t get much excitement out here.

I found my campsite and it’s on the west end of town and the best part is, I have cell service. I was exhausted climbing all those hills and riding on rough roads all day. The street I came in was Main Street and it was an all brick road. Very rough, so I crawled down Main Street to the camp site 5 mph. I crawled into bed to rest and it wasn’t long the word got out again, that I am in town. Cars kept coming all evening. Just when I am thought I could rest, someone else knocked  on the door. But it was good talking with them and they gave donations. I talked to a Miss Slaughter; a Gold Star Mom that lost her son and she was interested in Operation Second Chance and how we are helping Veterans and First Responders. It was a good day. I am reminded that the next time I do stop at a hotel, I will grab one of those, Do Not Disturb signs (thanks for the advice Andrew).