Kearney, Nebraska – Dancing as fast as I can on this 2025 bike tour and rolling with some challenging adventure. Started in Salt Lake, touring the Olympic Training Rink, climbing a mountain, interviewing 5-time gold medal speed skater Eric Heiden, pedaling into Wyoming and then the unexpected.
I pulled into my cabin at the KOA campground in Rock Springs, WY and it was as if someone push me sideways. I was walking down the stairs out of the cabin and it was as if I stumbled out of a saloon. I caught myself and returned to my bunk to collapse and experienced vertigo.
Slept three hours, hoping it would go away and it didn’t. Was it the elevation? Bad water? It was a little scary; the heat was intense too in the mid-90s.
Later as temps cooled I went for a walk and started shopping license plates within the RV Park. I managed to find Minnesota and that’s how I met Randy and Lynn.
They were headed east the next day and were happy to have me tag along – just so I could get to an area where I would be more comfortable.
What a lifesaver. They dropped me in Kimball, Nebraska. I put my bike together and explored the small town.
The next day I finally found my groove pedaling 68 miles to Chappell, NE. I’m on Highway 30, also known as the Lincoln Highway. There’s a big shoulder, it’s paved, and far better than biking on the Interstate in Wyoming.
Stopped in Potter, NE which is home to the famous Tin Roof Sundae and Duck Pin Bowling. The Potter Sundry had a high ceiling and the wood cabinets with decorative brass pulls were from the previous tenant, a pharmacist.
The back counter featured an old-fashioned soda fountain.
Yes, that’s a small Tin Roof Sundae with two scoops of vanilla, one scoop chocolate, a ladle of rich chocolate syrup, covered in marshmallow cream, and topped with Spanish peanuts.
I’m sure my team at A1 Health and Fitness would approve.
Next door, was the Duck Pin Bowling Alley. If you wanted access the sign on the door read, “Talk to Hal at Potter State Bank or call his cell phone,” and then it gave the number.
You knew it was a comfortable small town when your waitress at the Potter Sundry knew the code to get into the building.
“You have to have a partner setting pins,” said Musil. He raced to the end of the lane by the pins and demonstrated the nifty ball return.
The bowling alley was a nostalgic step back in time. A simple sign on the wall surrounded by a gold frame reads, “This sign was hanging in the original Duck Pin Bowling Alley. It was sold to an unknown resident living in Potter. Later it was found and purchased by Shawn Shoemaker and family to be placed back in its original home.”
A map on the wall is pinned with guests showing how far people have traveled to visit the unique bowling alley in Potter, NE.
Side notes on the tour….
Highway 30 runs parallel to the Union Pacific Railroad. In Potter, NE, there were 85 trains that passed through daily. While pedaling I will give an arching wave to the conductor. He normally responds with a lean into his train whistle. I respond with an enthusiastic thumbs up. It is our love language.
Chappell, NE really did a great job documenting its ties to the Lincoln Highway. Pedaling into the small community you can see the enormous granary silos from six miles out.
Click HERE to read the rest of the story…
Was contacted by a friend this week who saw NBC’s Winter Olympics promo which first aired Friday night during the Macy’s countdown to the fireworks in New York. The commercial featured Alpine ski racer Lindsay Vonn, snowboard gold medalist Chloe Kim, and Kewaskum speed skater Jordan Stolz. WOOT WOOT! Be sure to jump on the Jordan train!
This year’s tour is intended to highlight previous Winter Olympics as we head into the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, Italy.
Local speed skater Jordan Stolz is expected to compete in four events and if you would like to be part of Team Jordan feel free to pledge your support by using the QR code below courtesy the Dan Jansen Foundation.
Jansen’s foundation is a 501c3 and he’s agreed to donate 100% of all support noted to Jordan Stolz. Be part of Team Stolz today.
Fort Bridger, WY – The interstates have certainly taken the traffic away from the small towns. But traveling by bicycle you can easily stumble upon some hidden gems that have survived fast-paced progress. In Fort Bridger, WY, a mile off I-80, is a blink of a town that features an historic Trading Post run by the same family for 92 years.
Fort Bridger, WY — Just a mile off I-80, where most travelers race by without a second thought, there’s a quiet little bend in the road. In times past that turn served as a fur trading post and resupply lifeline for pioneers on the Oregon Trail.
In the shadow of the old Lincoln Highway, sits the landmark Jim Bridger Trading Post. For 92 years, this small-town store has been run by the same family; Giorgis sisters, Virginia, 72, and Darlene, 65, wait on customers and relay stories of the past.
The story began with their father, Ernest Giorgis, a tenacious young man fresh out of high school who had the nerve to ask Maytag for a dealership after the local rep passed away. “His sisters and cousins told him, ‘They’re not going to give a snot-nosed kid like you a dealership,’” said Virginia. “But he got it.” And so began Bridger Valley Maytag, a modest appliance shop that soon grew into something much more.
The store evolved into Giorgis Appliance Center, then Jim Bridger Trading Post, as Ernie adapted to the needs of his neighbors—and the changing times. “He even had a little diner in here at one point,” said Darlene. “Called it ‘Ernie’s In’ when he was there, and when he wasn’t, it was ‘Ernie’s Out.’”
But the soul of the place isn’t just in its name changes. It’s in the details—the old cash register that belonged to their Italian grandfather, who immigrated and worked the coal mines before opening a saloon in South Cumberland. “When Grandpa tore the saloon down, Dad used those old boards and rusty nails to build the original store,” Darlene said. “That’s still part of what’s here.”
Though the sisters rebuilt the store in 1982, the past is very much alive. Antique cabinets rescued from a long-gone Lincoln Highway gas station line the aisles.
One even still bears the faded “King Cutter” stamp on the wood. “I wanted to sand it off once,” Virginia said, “and someone told me, ‘No, don’t do that. That tells you how old and valuable it is.’”
The store is a patchwork of generations—appliances still sold alongside fireworks, t-shirts, groceries, and local souvenirs. “People still come for a little bit of everything,” Darlene said. “Fireworks all year, groceries—not as much as we used to—but we’ve got ranch supplies, shirts, snacks… you name it.”
Ernest Giorgis was also a member of the American Legion. One year, the group got stuck with a batch of fireworks they couldn’t sell. “So they asked Dad to take them off their hands,” Virginia said. “Next thing you know, we’re in the fireworks business.”
Over the years, the Trading Post has quietly hosted more than just locals. There was the day Robert Redford wandered in during Fort Bridger’s famed “Rendezvous” weekend. “He didn’t say who he was,” Virginia said. “But I looked up… Click HERE to read more…
This year’s bicycle tour is intended to highlight previous Winter Olympics as we head into the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, Italy.
Local speed skater Jordan Stolz is expected to compete in four events in 2026 and if you would like to be part of Team Jordan feel free to pledge your support by using the QR code below courtesy the Dan Jansen Foundation.
Jansen’s foundation is a 501c3 and he’s agreed to donate 100% of all support noted to Jordan Stolz. Be part of Team Stolz today.