Motorcycle gangs, time travel, and the Pony Express

Greetings from Omaha! We've made it through three days on the road and have been enjoying the trip. Today, we left Littleton, CO and made our way to Omaha, NE. Nebraska is one of my favorite states. We got in a little later than planned but that always seems to happen to us.

As we left Littleton this morning after the delicious awesomeness of Krispy Kreme donuts (thanks Amy), we saw this on the highway:

Sheriffs in formation. I've never seen police officers ride in formation outside of parades and special escorts so this was kind of cool. After this, we kept seeing groups of motorcyclists together along the highway.

I don't really know that much about motorcycles or the people that ride them so several questions came to mind as I was driving today:

1. What constitutes a motorcycle gang versus a group of riders? There was one group that had about 12 bikes (maybe more) so I'm wondering if they would be a group or a gang. Do they get to make that call or is there like a motorcycle gang approval process?
2. How does one decide what to where when riding a motorcycle? For example, if you were riding on the back of a motorcycle going down a major highway with lots of semis, people hauling stuff, and other traffic, would you wear jeans and a pink tube top?
3. Along the same lines, if your state has no helmet law or a lax enforcement policy, would you still wear one? Or is riding a motorcycle really the last bastion of badass rebel coolness so you just say to yourself, "Suck it safety!"?

Scott made the reverse trip with me just under two years ago when I moved to California. We discussed the idea of stopping when the time zone changed and taking pictures but we never did. Then the movie Paul came out and there's a scene where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's characters to this on their UFO road trip. You know, it's time travel. Scott and I decided that we would do it on this trip. And today was the day. We researched where the time zones change and decided that we would wait until the change from Mountain to Central time. If you want to try this one your own, it happens between Paxton and Sutherland, NE.

The pictures in front of the sign are in Mountain time. The pictures (we tried action shots but the road was really hilly) are in Central time. Time travel rocks. We almost passed the sign (Nebraska has to do a better job of warning us when stuff is coming) so I puled over and we walked back. I'm sure the people passing by were laughing at us when they figured out what we were doing.

Final thought of the day (it's late and we have a long day tomorrow). We passed by one of the original Pony Express stops not to long after our time travel photo op. One of my favorite tv shows growing up was The Young Riders. The show was about a group of Pony Express riders and their lives out West. There was the girl passing as a boy (and of course falling in love with one of her fellow riders), the deaf boy, the Native American, the Kid, and young versions of Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok. Melissa Leo was also on this show (she helped run the Express station) and eventually married the sheriff. Melissa Leo has been on three of my favorite tv shows ever (this one, Homicide, and Treme). Maybe my obsession with mail and sending postcards is connected to my love of the Pony Express and the Old West. Some of you might even be the lucky recipients of Pony Express postcards. You just don't know.

Tomorrow we head to Detroit. It will be another long day and it will bring our total state count to 10 by the time we get to Michigan. Here are some more fun photos from today. Good night!

Haul and Oates enjoying Nebraska

Scott and "Paul" at a truck stop in Grand Island

The Gateway to the West