According to Wikipedia The Cowboy Trail is a rail trail in northern Nebraska. It is a multi-use recreational trail suitable for bicycling, walking and horseback riding. It occupies an abandoned Chicago and North Western Railway corridor. When complete, the trail will run from Chadron to Norfolk, a length of 321 miles (517 km), making it the longest rails-to-trails conversion in the United States. It is Nebraska’s first state recreational trail. The trail runs across the Outback area of Nebraska.

 

I’m writing to you to share our experiences on the Cow Boy Trail this spring.  It all started with an article in the Omaha World Herald newspaper.  The article discussed the trail and referenced a book, Nebraska’s Cow Boy Trail by Keith Terry.  My wife and I live in Omaha, Nebraska.

Adventures like this have always interested us, and as such, I went on line and got a copy of the book.  I found a used copy of it for $1.88 plus postage, quite an accomplishment in and of itself!

I read it cover to cover a couple of times and then started planning our trip.  We are fairly experienced in bicycling in that I have cycled coast to coast.  My wife and I frequent the Taco Ride (on the Wabash Trail south of Council Bluffs, IA), have ridden the Michelson Trail (South Dakota) and have ridden in numerous organized rides (RAGBRAI, BRAN,  FREEWHEEL, Hotter than Hell 100, Hilly Hundred, Pete’s Century, Mackinaw Island, etc., etc.).  Our practice (when traveling to a location to bike) is to load our bicycles into the back of our small airplane and then fly into a local airport (small airports are very common).  After the bicycle trip we reverse the process.

Riding on the rims with flat tires doesn’t really hurt anything.  And add the middle of the night and the middle of no where to the equation and you still come up with “doesn’t really hurt anything”.

Our Cowboy Trail experiences are documented in the book “Exploits of a Common Adventurer” by kent irwin.