35 Cycling in to Omaha
Parmele Friends
We six guests of Carroll’s Parmele House gathered for breakfast at 8:00 AM. Good good, sort of an upscale breakfast burrito accompanied by fruit and a bread pudding sort of dish. Funny we felt close after only a few hours of being together. Then we scattered like dust in the Nebraska prairie wind.
Getting us back to Hwy 75 wasn’t easy, as Carroll had warned. Very steep hills that left us panting and sweating in the early hours of the day. Once on the Hwy we found a rough shoulder with lots of those steel belted tire fragments that we know lead to flat tires. It was only slightly more than 20 miles in.
Warm but do-able. Passing Offutt Air Force Base was interesting. The planes fly right
Omaha Snow?
over the Hwy. As you pass under the approach there’s a sign, “Don’t be startled by sudden Jet Noise.” Another anomaly, the sign stating that we’re riding on the Emergency Snow Route.
We easily found our way to Hotel Magnolia. It’s an enclave just a few blocks from old town and a bustling business district that’s accented by high rises. The staff was wonderful. We checked in and just pushed the bikes to ther elevator and up to our room. As we began setting up camp but the AC shut down. The Maintenance Engineer reset it and left. It didn’t sart to cool. We called again and VOILA, they upgraded us to a huge corner room overlooking the street corner. Our new perch for the next 3 days.