Angora

After saying goodbye to Chuck and Karla and family as they departed back to South Dakota in the morning, Tracee and I had the opportunity to stay on in Nebraska and spend time with Karla's sister Carmen and brother-in-law Charles on their cattle ranch. It doesn't get much more 'Wild West' than that!

After stopping for fuel in Alliance we rode a total of about 70 kilometers to the small community of Angora. Carmen and Charles met us there and after introducing us to some local people at the Post Office, took us on a tour of the community before we jumped back on the bike and followed them down a gravel road to their son's place where we parked up the bike in a shed and put our luggage in the back of their 4WD for the ride up the road to the ranch. There was no way I could have ridden the bike in! The road was very soft and sandy and really only suitable for a 4WD.

We spent the afternoon helping around the property (cleaning spouting, fencing for a goat pen). We then set off on motorbikes to check stock/growth conditions. Carmen & Charles were on the trail bike, while Tracee and I were on the ATV (4 wheel motorbike). We hadn't ridden too far before Tracee was telling me to slow down and was getting thrown around on the back. To her credit she wasn't screaming - but  came close I think! To be fair, because of my height, I had to take up most of the seat to be able to change gears, which left Tracee with the metal carrier to sit on and it was a rough ride! Tracee and Carmen then decided to walk back while Charles & I carried on. 

The ranch covers around 12,000 acres, so it was about a 5 mile journey to get around what we needed to. I didn't get off the bike, as there are 'rattlers' around (rattlesnakes) and with the growth, you wouldn't see them!

We then went in to Alliance for the 'Heritage Day' street carnival. This is an event designed to bring the community together. The railroad is the major employer in the town and the company had set up a marquee with free BBQ food - so it was a really inexpensive dinner that we had!

We then  went to a 'drive-in' movie with the family (very American) and watched the 'Lone Ranger'. There was a thunderstorm about 50 miles north/east of us that lit up the sky for the duration of the movie and the drive home! Apparently, there were 60 mile winds and hailstones the size of golf balls at one place the storm had passed through. You can get some extreme weather over here!