We bid the mountains a fond goodbye and hit the flat farmland and prairie grasslands. And that was about all there was. It was quite different seeing a vast horizon all around me. In every direction I could see nothing but open fields, no trees or buildings, just the horizon.

The weather was great, sunshine all day with temperatures warming into the low 70's.

Today was a different kind of nothingness than the Nevada desert. There were occasional farms, especially early and late in the ride. The middle was a designated National Grassland, with flowering cacti and an occasional antelope. The road was crappy, to be nice. Much of it wished it was asphalt, but was just bumpy stone smashed into tar. One five mile stretch had six-inch wide, two-inch deep bumps running the width of the road. It was jarring and our butts ached.

Eventually we got to a construction area where they were tearing up the road and rebuilding it with real asphalt. But for almost 15 miles they had no road surface, it was gravel. So we hopped in the van and drove through and then got out when the construction was over. Of course, we were back on old road and didn't get to enjoy the new smooth surface.

Dottie drove ahead and got us a hotel on the other side of town, so we still pedaled 92 miles, even though we got a lift through the construction.

The mountains we left earlier loom as we looked back across the prairie.

A horse stands by a windwill with nothing else around..

Cattle skulls adorn fence posts in front of a ranch..