{"id":2513,"date":"2023-08-19T13:31:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T18:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2023-08-19T15:39:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T20:39:52","slug":"cozad-to-the-100th-meridian-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/2023\/08\/19\/cozad-to-the-100th-meridian-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Cozad, to the 100th meridian (again)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the band Tragically Hip: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BCFo0a8V-Ag<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 100th meridian is a traditional dividing line between a more humid east and a semi-arid west. To the east homesteaders sometimes worried about clearing their homesteads of trees. To the west, the worry was more about having enough land\/water to graze some cattle. Water law, homestead practices and other areas adjusted appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, I celebrated the 100th meridian by cycling US 83 which is not far from the meridian. On my ride I’ve already crossed the 100th a few weeks ago in my cycling on US 83 in the Dakotas. Cozad is along the 100th and my motel is on meridian avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today wasn’t as hot as I expected, but I also was on the road early and kept going to avoid riding too much in the afternoon. There was a light headwind the last 15 miles but I still didn’t stop to read historical signs. Otherwise the route was straightforward: follow US 30 past Elm Creek and Lexington to Cozad. I am definitely in areas where crops (mostly corn) are irrigated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Early morning light leaving Kearney. It was already ~70F and felt humid. However, the temperature really didn’t rise much the next hour or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A rhino pulling a covered wagon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The agenda laid out: Elm Creek and Lexington today and North Platte after that. Occasional trees but not many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Elm Creek, population 979.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The grain elevator. I stopped briefly here for a stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I counted eleven trains today. The rail line is very active. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lexington was slightly larger at ~10k people. This had been my backup plan if it was extremely hot, but this wasn’t necessary. I did start riding more slowly because of a head wind. I also made a quick detour to a pharmacy in Lexington because my helmet strap came undone and wouldn’t hold up as easily. I worked a combination of super glue and safety pin that should hold from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reached Cozad just past noon, but then had a slow lunch to avoid showing up at the motel extremely early. A straightforward ride: flat, good shoulder and closing against the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
Elapsed Time<\/th>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMoving Time<\/th>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDistance<\/th>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAverage Speed<\/th>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Speed<\/th>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tElevation Gain<\/th>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCalories Burned<\/th>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t<\/thead>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
07:15:07<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
hours<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
04:54:40<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
hours<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
51.04<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
mi.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
10.39<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
mph<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
17.23<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
mph<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
711.94<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
ft.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
3,173<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
kcal<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/tr>\n\t\t\t\t<\/tbody>\n\t\t\t<\/table>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the band Tragically Hip: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BCFo0a8V-Ag The 100th meridian is a traditional dividing line between a more humid east and a semi-arid west. To the east homesteaders sometimes worried about clearing their homesteads of trees. To the west, the worry …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nebraska"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2520,"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mvermeulen.org\/gone2look4america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}