Let's Ride

Chapter 16

It was around 1:15 when we began to pass Cheyenne, it was in the low 80's out, I pulled off at a rest area just inside Nebraska and took off my jacket, and put on some sun tan lotion on my arms and face. Jessica said she was getting pretty hot as well, so we packed her jacket away, she was wearing one of my old leather vests over a tee shirt so I had her put on lotion as well. She began to remark on how much she was enjoying the ride, but was wondering when we would be stopping for the night. "Kearney Nebraska, probably around six this evening, we still have a ways to go yet." From time to time Jessica would take pictures, of the passing scene, certainly not things I would, but this was a passage for her, this might be the only time in her life she would ever pass this way again, and I was glad to see she was recording it. I had put a neck strap on the camera so she could wear it around her neck and be able to snap pictures without fear of loosing the camera.

Around 3:30, we stopped at Sidney Nebraska for fuel and some water to drink, the big Cabella's store was off to our west, but I decided to wait until my return trip to stop. While we were getting fuel, a pick-up truck pulled up in the next lane and a guy about my age got out, I spotted the Marine Corps emblem in his back window and a "Semper Fi" decal on his bumper. "Been in or Still in?" I asked him, "Just got out," he replied, I told him I'd been a sergeant in the 1st Marine Division 5th Marine regiment in the 'Stan. We got to chatting, for a few minutes; turns out, he was in the second Marine Division as a sergeant as well. He asked about my bike, "It's my boyfriends, I'm taking her back to Michigan, my sporty would be too rough to do the kind of riding we've been doing." We wished each other well, and soon it was back on the road.

"Were you really in the Marines?" asked Jessica. "Yeah, both Greg and I were in the military, he was in the army, I served in the marines, silly me even got a tattoo." "Ohh cool, can I see it?" "Later" Running across Nebraska was dull and boring, I noticed on the map US 30 ran north of here, maybe I'd take that on the return. Since we were traveling east, the time was working against us, it was around 4:00 in the afternoon when we passed Ogallala but the time zone changed from Mountain time to Central, so now it was 5:00 so that meant it would be around 7:00 when we got to Kearney, I had already made a reservation at the Super 8 there. I had let Jessica borrow my I-pod to listen to, I had the bike radio on, but preferred to use the time to think and day-dream, as the miles rolled by, I wondered if this effort would amount to anything, would Jessica just take off with another boy who promised her the moon, I thought about trying to subtly influence her, I had no idea if it would work but I suppose it was worth a shot.

Right about seven we exited at Kearney, it was getting dark and the lights were all coming on, we stopped at a Pizza hut first for supper, splitting a medium pizza with two salads, I was saving all the receipts hoping Mrs. Winters would hold up her end and reimburse me for the expenses, time would tell I guess. We still had some pizza left over, so they boxed it up for us to take back to the motel. We got a second floor room two double beds. I had Jessica take everything up; while I checked the bike, oil, tires, belt tension, everything was fine, so I joined Jessica who already had the TV on. Since both of us were pretty tired, we didn't stay up late; Jessica took a shower and washed her hair, while I called he mom."Mrs. Winters, hello, yes it's Nikki, we're in Kearney Nebraska, probably somewhere around Michigan City Indiana tomorrow, then Three Rivers the next morning," I also threw in a subtle hint, "I'm saving all the trip receipts for you OK!" She seemed pretty upbeat, so who knows. Jessica talked with her again for a few minutes about what she could expect when she got home, I hoped not a beating, I tried to gauge her temperament, when I talked to her, but who Knew. I called Greg while Jessica was in the shower, "We're here in Kearney Nebraska at the Super 8," "Great, how's the bike running?" "Terrific, no problems, gonna try for Michigan City tomorrow night, I think I'm going to skip the toll road and run 12 in Michigan, there's a split near Niles, I see on the map, it's Michigan 60, runs right up to Three rivers, probably take that." We said some other things that I hoped Jessica didn't hear and hung up. Jessica had the PJ's I bought her; I slept in my tee shirt and panties. Since both of us were beat, we crashed out around nine, in expatiation of another long day of riding tomorrow.