Day 5, August 6th 2007 (Burwell,NE to Taylor,NE)

I started headed west, or so I thought. It turns out that I took my first wrong turn today in Loup county. I actually started south east and went for about six miles before I noticed and by that time I thought it was too far to turn around.There was a thunderstorm up ahead and lightning was near so I ducked into the nearest farm house on the side of the road. There was a lady named Carla who lived there and she was very helpful. She offered me water and allowed me to use her internet to check the weather. I was there for about two hours and then I was on my way. I started off from her place and headed on the first road west for about 30 miles before I entered Sergant. On the way I passed by the largest windmill collection in the world. I thought it was kind of cool because they have some pretty large events out there and I wouldn't have seen it if I wouldn't have gone the wrong way. In Sargent I grabbed a bite to eat and rested in the restaurant because my right knee had started to ache. I bought some Icy Hot and Tylenol and looked for a hotel so I could get a good rest and ice my knee. I've never had any problems with my knee before, but I guess I've never pulled about 40lbs for this many straight days either. Looking in Sargent I was unable to find a hotel so I asked where the nearest hotel was in town. It turns out that althought Sargent was a town of around 2,000 people, the nearest hotel was 10 miles north in a town called Taylor. Besides the hotel in Taylor the nearest one was 60 miles away. So I headed north towards Taylor and was able to ride about 10 miles downhill. It was great for my knee, but now I know tomorrow will start straight uphill. So I traveled around 50 miles today and only ended up 13 miles west of where I started. The good news is that I had a nice shower and a nice meal and now my knee is feeling better.
Daily mileage: 52.1 miles
Average speed: 12.7 mph
Total mileage: 415.5 miles