4th of July, Nebraska Style: Arapahoe

Is there really a more American way to spend the 4th of July than by shooting guns in small-town Nebraska while biking from coast to coast? I think not.

July 4th started out awesome, with Franklin United Methodist members taking time out of their holiday morning to cook us a delicious breakfast! We took a little longer than usual getting ready because we had to deck ourselves out for the day. All of my 4th of July stuff made its debut. Temporary tattoos and body paint were obviously a must.

You may be patriotic, but I love America.

My bike complete with star garland and a flag on the front

Ashley! She was all about these decorations from her experience as a cheerleader :)

Kiera! This body paint got all over me when we took a picture together...

The ride went great, with mild weather and a fun atmosphere since it was only 60 miles and we were all decked out and looking forward to our rest day. At our water stops, we had an America-music-only policy. An American Pie dance party may or may not have occurred. Energy and spirits were high all day.

All I could think for most of the day was "O beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain" as we passed endless amber waves of grain.

Upon our arrival into Arapahoe, we were immediately spoiled by our hosts! Cheryl, Rube, and Ellen at Arapahoe United Methodist had organized every detail of our visit and had everything waiting for us. They handed us papers that detailed our itinerary for the next two days... I felt like they were a travel agency!

After digging in to our care packages from the mail drop, we separated into our respective destinations. Some of us were in homestays with church families, while some were put up in a hunting lodge right next to the church. We all met back up for the community dinner in the park, then hung out at the lodge as a team until it was time for fireworks.

Chelsea and Maroun at the community dinner we were invited to

4K water van outside the Hunt Nebraska lodge

Inside the Hunt Nebraska lodge

Reading material in the hunting lodge... hashtag Nebraska

The Arapahoe fireworks were really quite impressive! We learned from our hosts that a well-off man in town puts on the show all by himself, and that it's the biggest show in most of Nebraska. 

We awoke on our rest day mostly rested and ready to hit the town. 

Things to do in Arapahoe: 
1. Golf
2. Shoot guns.

Sun's out, guns out... We chose option 2. (The owner's name was Nate Swanson... so basically I was getting to shoot guns with a guy with the last name of Swanson... Parks and Rec fans, does it get any better???)

Anyway, Hunt Nebraska was kind enough to take us all shooting at their gun range for free. It was the first time many of us, including me, had shot a gun. Personally I was terrified. But it was a blast! We did trap shooting with shotguns (I missed all of them, lol), then did some target shooting with pistols and rifles.

"Wait a second, who let me hold this thing??"

Conclusion: gun shooting is not one of my strengths!!

The high school principal was the one that was helping me with the shotgun. He was a really nice guy. I also got to talk to Nate's 12-year-old son, who knew more about guns than I ever will in my life. He told me all about different guns and hunting experiences and half the time I had no idea what he was talking about so I just nodded. As he said, "I'm a country boy. I shoot stuff." 

I also learned that in Nebraska, you can get a "school permit" that allows you to drive a car to and from school when you're 14! 14!!!! I thought that was pretty crazy. There was also a 16-year-old boy hanging out with us that said he drives an hour each way to high school because his farm is so far out in the country and Arapahoe has the nearest school. I just can't imagine that! Props to him for his dedication, though.

After shooting, we were all totally worn out from the 98 degree weather...and we were starving since we're used to stuffing our faces every 2 hours. So we had lunch and a relaxing afternoon, and then we congregated back for dinner.

Something unique happened at dinner: Dan's team cashed in on the reward we've been owed by Andrew's team since Day 1. What am I talking about? Well, as you may recall if you read my early blog posts, we played a training game back in March where you earned points for exercising, and Dan's team won. The deal was that the losing team would serve dinner to the winning team at some point on the ride. This hadn't happened yet and we had kind of forgotten about it, so we decided to do it this day.

Each member of Dan's team was matched up with a member of Andrew's team to "serve" them for the meal. Team Dan was not allowed to get up; Team Andrew had to get all the food and do all the work.

So, Andrew was assigned to serve me. Luckily, he used to work in service at a 5-star hotel, so he had the routine down. He greeted me with "ma'am" and presented all the "menu" options before going to get my food. It was pretty funny and it was also funny to watch everyone else as well. I tried to get Andrew to cut my food into tiny pieces for me... but he said that's where he drew the line. The community members that had joined us for dinner enjoyed watching this.

5-star service

Some servers were not quite as delighted.

At the end, he even brought out a bill. Steep prices!

FYI I gave a 300% tip.

Dave giving a presentation after dinner for the community.

The team outside of the church :)

It's safe to say we all had an amazing time in the small town of Arapahoe, Nebraska. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and we couldn't have asked for a better place to have our 4th of July rest day. Thank you, Arapahoe!!!

P.S. I'm a little behind on my blogging, but stay tuned for two new posts tomorrow: one about 200 miles in 2 days & the transition between Nebraska and Colorado, and the other the first of many Rider Profiles, where I'll introduce you to one of my teammates!