Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Tour de Nebraska Impacts Local Business
Participants of the TDN enter Kimball from the east. One method of transportation for the TDN was the tandem bike. See more photos, Page B8.
Luggage was transported for the participants from place to place, but each person had to find his or her luggage after a long day of cycling.
These three residents of Lincoln hang out in front of Beer and Loathing. They were enjoying the singing of Dave Stahla.
In less than 24 hours the 467 Tour de Nebraska riders, friends, family, and support staff were in and out of Kimball but their impact will last a bit longer for Kimball and the riders will have seen the beauty of western Nebraska.
Motels were full of riders and family members not up for the camping experience. First Interstate, Days Inn and Motel Kimball were full and Super 8 was near capacity. A few individuals hit the Four Winds Golf Course after their ride into town from Sidney, while other headed west to Oliver Lake or the Wyoming state line.
Nebraska Coffee felt the impact of the TDN riders.
"We were very busy with the cyclists," owner Terri Dyer said. "We had several in the afternoon on Wednesday. Thursday morning we were slammed with riders for breakfast and their morning coffee.
"We ran out of half and half and one of the riders heard this. She ran to the store bought half and half and dropped it off and took off without letting us pay her."
Dairy Queen was busy as a result of the numerous riders in town.
The Eagles said they served somewhere around 175-200 people on Wednesday night. The ladies from the Eagles were exhausted after their 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. work schedule. They went through 36 pounds of spaghetti and 30 pounds of hamburger meat.
Troy Harper from Main Street Market reported "I was a little disappointed as the (the riders) didn't know about the deli-I made the deli stay open three hours longer but we did not have many riders eat at the deli." Main Street Market donated to the breakfast burritos fund but said they weren't mentioned and that riders didn't know about the deli.
Java Blend reported that it was like a regular busy day, nothing really special.
Vince's Corner said it did not impact them-Although Henry Heeg said they receive more business from construction workers and railroad crews than the TDN.
Both Beer and Loathing and Chute 7 had food and drinks for the locals and the riders. Beer and Loathing had a potato bar and Good Times Chute 7 had sloppy joes and salads. Both, Beer and Loathing and Good Times Chute 7 were pleased with the attendance at their evening meals.
The Goodhand Theatre figured they had about 60 people attend the movie Wednesday evening.
Most of the riders were from the Omaha and Lincoln areas so they were still functioning in the Central Time Zone. By 6:45 a.m. on Thursday, the tents were down and packed and most of the riders had passed through the underpass and were on they on their way to Banner County, the Wild Cat Hills and Scottsbluff.w∑W
