When Tria, whom we met a couple of days ago, heard we were going to try to ride to Merriman on a 100+ degree day, she generously paid for us to use a friends cabin in Cody so we could ride less and have a restaurant and store since her town didn’t have those. We got an early 6am start as planned and ate a quick breakfast at Casey’s gas station. Highway 20 was very empty as we had hoped and the commuters into Valentine were going the other way which was nice.
In the tiny town of Nenzel we met and chatted with 4 more cyclists heading to RAGBRAI
Our early start workday and we finished riding at 11am. We found the cabin/house and after settling in, we rode across the highway into downtown Cody, population ~100. We got some fruit at the market run by local high school students and ate lunch at the Husker Hub bar and grille. The chicken salad hit the spot.
After some organizing and resting we went back to the Husker Hub for dinner and drinks and met the owners, Heather and Shane and we talked about the area and learned a bit about ranching. Heather also gave some route tips. One of the locals reminisced about riding the train before it was retired/abandoned. Interestingly, part of the reason was it was a smaller gauge and incompatible with standard cars and needed expensive repairs.
I was curious, which came first, Cody Nebraska or Cody, Wyoming. It appears that this Cody was started in 1886 and The town in Wyoming was 10 years later. This Cody was named after a railroad foreman and the one in Wyoming was named after Buffalo Bill Cody. I like Cody’s slogan – “a town too tough to die”.
ride on! I love tracking your trip. you guys are inspirational