Broken Bridges, Abandoned Mills and Lots of Trains

Saturday was a fantastic day, weather wise, to be out on a bicycle in Nebraska and so that is exactly where I found myself. The plan was to head out to Milford and back for a short 53 mile spin. 


The bike of choice for Saturday was the super speedy Giant Revolt with new Revelate Designs Shrew holing down the carrying duties.


If you're a Lincolnite or have ridden in Lincoln, you're probably familiar with the old Park Blvd bridge that has been closed to vehicle traffics for some years now. Painted on that bridge are lines and signs asking folks to stay inside those lines (not pictured here), ever wonder why those lines and signs are there?


Could have something to do with the fact that the bridge is slowly crumbling, this rail detachment is fairly new or at least I hadn't noticed it before. Might be time to rethink heading out to the edges and jumping up and down, especially after eating a big meal.




Safely on solid ground, we began our push westward on W. Claire and into a bit of a head wind.




Not really sure why but we had never ventured out to Milford before so there were new roads, or new parts of old roads to explore a bit more. Found a perfect bridge over the railroad tracks for bridge beers (in pandemic times, if you want beer you must bring your COVID cup) and train watching, these are very busy tracks and we probably saw 3-4 trains in the short time we were there.






By the time the back end of the group rolled into Milford, the quicker end was nowhere to be seen... it happens more often than you think.



One of the reasons, for me, to head to Milford was to attempt to locate the abandoned William Reed/J.D. Davidson grist mill for which the town got it's name. A grist mill is used to turn cereal type grains into flour and this particular one was built is 1866 and as near as I can find continued operations until 1934. Since I had researched it and had a decent idea of where to look it didn't take me too long to find the exact spot of the old mill, don't ask because I won't tell you where it's at, liability and all that... do the work yourself if you want to know. I didn't venture down to the mill this time but opted to stay back and take a few photos from my vantage point from above the old mill. I can see why there is a robust and permanent NO TRESPASSING sign as it did look like it could be a bit precarious heading down the steep embankment. While the mill was cool and all, my research led me to find out a few other notable things about Milford. Milford is the birthplace to Bill Rumier a journeyman baseball player that managed a 19 year career in professional baseball making it all the way to the majors but only played 3 years (non concurrent) for the St. Louis Browns. Eventually he sort of found his niche in the outlaw leagues after a brief and controversial year in the minors playing for the Salt Lake City Bees; where he earned a 5 year suspension for being accused of throwing games. In 1932 he returned to Nebraska as player-manager of the Lincoln Links where he ended his career after only 17 games. Rumler returned to Milford and worked and lived on his parents farm until his death in Lincoln in 1966; he is buried in the Blue Mound Cemetery in Milford.

Also of note and far less "notorious" Milford born resident was Victor Mills, a long time chemical engineer for Proctor and Gamble from 1925 to 1961 with a break in employment during WWI to serve in the Navy. Victor was no slouch, he created disposable diapers, Pampers specifically, made improvements to Ivory soap, Duncan Hines cake mixes and the was in charge of the concept and development behind Pringles. If that wasn't enough he lived to the ripe old age of 100 years, 5 months and a handful of days; just imagine what he saw and experienced in a rapidly changing world between 1897 and 1997.


We eventually found the other half of the ride wandering about and got back on route and the task of getting back to riding bicycles.




The ride home was pretty uneventful until we got split by a train, it was day for trains. After waiting for those stuck on the wrong side of the tracks, as it were, we rolled back into Lincoln and the end of another great Saturday ride. Temps this week have continued to be almost fall like but Saturday is supposed to be back up to 95° when we set off to Beatrice and the Solstice Quarantine ride (dirty version). Should be a most excellent time.