Cooperstown - rest day (9miles)

7-13-2010

This morning we were packing up to the threat of thunderstorms.  Just as we got on the road, it started to rain and thunder, so we took shelter in a cafe in Cooperstown.  After watching the weather, and checking the forecast, Jeff, Doug, Therese, Tom, and I decided that it wasn't worth fighting the wind and risking hail/tornadoes.  So we decided to get a hotel and stay in town.  Don and Joe decided that the were going to try to beat the storm to Fargo.

After waiting out the rain, we found rooms at the Westside motel.  Then rode our bikes up to a really cool museum of a Minuteman missile control sight.

It was a great tour, very interesting to see and learn about this part of our history.

Pretty amazing, huge door enclosing part of the control room.

Each room Is suspended from the ceiling, so that the equipment would be more likely to survive a nuclear attack.  This in addition to being surrounded by 4-8 feet of concrete and 50 feet of packed dirt.

It was cool to see how old the technology was that they used here.  Even though it was closed down in 1997.

The last two people who had an alert in this missile base.

A neat mural that a missileer made in the control room.  Oscar the grouch because the base is "Oscar-Zero."

The misseleers and when and how how many days they spent in the control room.  They would be locked in for 24 hour shifts.

After a nasty 4 mile ride back to town, fighting 15 mph headwinds, we went back to the hotel to relax.  I as able to finish my book, then I took a nap.  Then a little dinner at a burger joint, yum!  Now, I'm watching a little TV and looking forward to sleeping in a bed.

Tomorrow the weather.com is predicting north and west winds all day long.  That should help us to push all the way to Fargo (90miles) where we can meet up with the rest of our group.