Steamboat Trace (Gf)

As I write these Grandfather (Gf) blogs about traversing the country on Rail Trails; rides that preceded the official start April, 2012(see prevoius Segment #1 post), I will try to slip in some interesting or entertaining tid-bits to spark some interest for the readers. I rode the Steamboat Trace at least twice back when I worked at the University of Nebraska College of Dentistry in Lincoln. It is a true Rail to Trail, built in the late 1980's using the abandoned rail line of the Burlington Northern Railroad---a railroad company that now belongs to the second or third richest person in the world, OmahanWarren Buffet. One of my rides was a forty-two mile round tripper from just south of Nebraska City, Nebraska (Headquarters of the Arbor Day Foundation---we have all heard John Denver singing about saving trees and joining the ADF) twenty-one miles down to Brownsville and the twenty-one miles back. Another time, Connie dropped me off and I rode to Brownsville while she visited a few antique shops there. Both rides were perfect, with cool fall temperatures(jacket weather!) and a carousel of color from changing leaves. About half way down the trail I was able to divert off to Peru, Nebraska. Peru is the home of the first (1865) and oldest state institution in Nebraska---Peru State College. Over the years Peru State dodged attempts to close its doors. The college now enrolls nearly two thousand students, including over three hundred fifty postgraduate students. Peru State was a early player with internet education. Their on-line credits boasted the school to new levels of respect, sparing its demise. 



The Steamboat Trace in a thirty mile trail that

runs almost straight north and south, a good thing
for me and my passion to gobble up latitudes.

The trail was in great shape every time I rode it
but there were years when the Missouri River
flooded and messed up the trail bed. Peru State
is about midpoint on the west side of the trail.

One Steamboat Trace ride was on a football Saturday. A home game for the Cornhuskers. A football Saturday where Memorial Stadium (Husker Town) swelled to the third largest populated spot in Nebraska. I remember that I had become "fed-up" with Nebraska football.  Too much illegal junk went on during the years we lived in Lincoln including the Scott Baldwin travesty and Coach Osborne's obstruction of justice. So much crap that I was at the end of my rope with Huskermania. So here I was riding on the Steamboat Trace while fifty miles away  the Cornshuckers were trouncing some lesser team in Husker Town.  So when I heard a band playing and the roar of a crowd, I was in a quandary. "That can't be from Lincoln." "Its too far away," I thought. As I diverted toward the sounds of a fall afternoon, I saw a sign for the Oak Bowl, the home field of Peru State football squad and its legendary coach Lou Sabin. Sabin coached at every level and likely a record number teams compared to most coaches. Lou's nickname was "Two point two", meaning his average stint per coaching job, was 2.2 years. The fact that he was a successful coach for the Buffalo Bills, made the one year stop at Peru State a special deal for the tiny school. After my discovery of the Oak Bowl, I headed on down the trail towards Brownsville.

Like the Katy Trail, the Steamboat Trace parallels the Missouri River exposing beautiful soaring bluffs with hawks, buzzards and eagles floating on the updrafts. It's said that Lewis & Clark noted these very cliffs and bird nesting holes in their journals. Like all trails there are great historical flashbacks to stimulate you as pedal on!

I met Connie at Brownsville where she had done some antiquing and discovered the renovated opera house. We liked Brownsville so well, we went back to spend a night in a quaint bed and breakfast cabin. I hope we can get back there someday and enjoy a musical at the Brownsville Opera House.