The Cobblestone Inn is a nice motel but the breakfast just didn’t present what I was looking for.  Since we had been in Broken Bow on previous trips I knew where to go – the City Café.  It’s a small town diner in the middle of town with really good food.  We swung back to the hotel to pick up our friends and headed out on NE-2 going south-east.

The goal for the day was to get on US-34 heading east.  That was accomplished easily near Grand Island, NE.  We dealt with a short stretch of road construction but all was well until we neared the Iowa border.

The temperatures ranged from low 70’s to low 90’s.  We once again avoided all signs of rain which would force us into the rubber suits.

We typically run both the bike navigation system and my trusty old Garmin GPS.  Jana is a great navigator and carries the old reliable (usually) paper map.  On this occasion these 3 methods gave us 3 different routes.  None of the routes was straightforward.  We had been riding for 100+ miles without a break so we did a much needed stop at Plattsmouth, NE.  I took advantage of the stop to grab a Subway and to get the Garmin squared away.

The Garmin took us on another “shortcut” through Plattsmouth and we finally found Old US-34 which was supposed to take us across the Missouri River into Iowa.  To actually cross the river we had to pay $1.00 each to drive across an antiquated bridge.  These are the only pictures we took today.

I was a little concerned about the condition of the toll bridge across the Missouri River.

The river crossing was safe and over with quickly.

The Missouri River at Plattsmouth, NE.

Both bikes safely across and into Iowa.

The rest of the day (about 120 miles) was spent on US-34 heading for Osceola, IA.  If you have ever been across Iowa you understand why there are no pictures.

I swear I did not plan the hotel stop to be right in front of a Harley Dealership.  Nobody will believe that.  Another T-shirt was added to the collection (I really needed one more).  We’re trying to decide what to do about dinner.

We’re about 500 miles from home.  That would be doable in one very long day but the temptation is there.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.