Oct 23, 2020 - Home

Elkhorn, Ne although we were slated for another couple of days on the road, the severe turn in the weather made Jim worry. The expected low tonight is 25F which is cold enough to freeze pipes. Our sprinkler system was still on - hence the concern. When we left Ft. Morgan, it was chilly with a strong wind suggesting that the storm predicted for the weekend will have some teeth to it. Because of the marathon drive (6 1/2 hours of driving is HUGE for us!) we had no sight-seeing stops. One can, however, see the Great Platte River Road Archway...

Oct 6, 2020 - Ogallala to Nebraska City

Date: October 6, 2020 Tonight’s Location: Nebraska City, NE Campground: Victorian Acres RV Park Mileage: End - 88145 Start - 87804 Total Miles for the day: 341 Weather: Sunny, little breeze, tail wind Temperature: start 40º (75% humidity so it felt really cold!) High 85º Wildlife count: Coyote, Year List: 332 Birds: We woke up on the eastern edge of the mountain time zone, so the sun was up early, and so were we. Left at 6:05 for the McD’s across the interstate from the park – their breakfast burritos were very skimpy compared to others...

Oct 5, 2020 - Travel: Casper to Ogallala, NE

Date: October 5, 2020 Tonight’s Location: Ogallala, NE Campground: KOA Journey Mileage: End - 87803 Start - 87497 Total Miles for the day: 306 Weather: sunny Temperature: start 49º High 84º Wildlife count: Pronghorn, Deer Year List: 332 Birds: Up at first light, hooked up, and drove up to the truck stop – picked up coffee and breakfast. The rising sun as we drove down the hills was beautiful. This route is lovely, with no traffic, good road and lovely scenery. We’ll plan to do this again. Ate lunch at a roadside interpretation stop – we...

Sep 21, 2020 - Toadstool Geologic Park

Bridgeport, NE We are back in Nebraska but are only passing through on our way to Colorado. While in the state, we are making a few stops in the Passports and Parks programs. One of our stops is Toadstool Geologic Park. The park is named after its unusual rock formations, many of which resemble toadstools. We set off on the loop trail with a guide book to help us. One of the things we learned is there are many fossils along the trail. We saw a 3/4 mile of trackway that "tells the story of prehistoric migration". Supposedly we could see...

Sep 5, 2020 - Jim, bottle painting, carburetor repair

It's 100 degrees but a cool front is supposed to be here next week. Really brutal. Jim stopped by and I had about an hour conversation with him. So glad that we were able to meet up. Ray was asleep so he missed out on that. Dian wanted me to come over to paint a bottle so I went over to their place. I'm not an artist so she had to do much of it. Chuck showed me his tatting and let me select a bookmark and a doily. Such a talent and greatly appreciated. I was supposed to go to Ann's thrift shop but ran out of time and told her for sure will...

Sep 4, 2020 - Candy game, model t, George Norris

Chuck and Dian meals, don, Katherine, Christina, Jonathan, tatting, bottle painting, airport noise, etc. It's always busy in McCook. Dian came to get me early and we went to an art show at the college that is an international traveling watercolor exhibition. Then we went to the beauty shop to get me a haircut as I wanted a good cut - first once since leaving Ocala. I then went to tour the George Norris Home that I have been wanting to see - never visited it before. The curator knows Dick and had a good one on one tour. Also saw Ben Nelson's...

Sep 3, 2020 - Trails

Candy game, model t, Chuck and Dian meals, don, Katherine, Christina, Jonathan, tatting, George Norris Home, bottle painting, airport noise, etc. We are at Dick's place at the McCook airport. The ambulance service is not as busy as before but Dick got us access to their WIFI. The tree that was in our way is now gone. Dick was at a meeting so Chuck met us as the airport and helped us set up. Lots of good airport noise from other large planes taking off. We are invited to their place tonight for a light dinner. Dian always has such good...

Sep 1, 2020 - Kool aid and menards

We drove to Hastings to visit their historical museum that includes the history of KoolAid that was invented here. Nice exhibits that brought back memories of making Kool Aid growing up. They played video of various commercials. The storefront of the Perkins general store was replicated in the museum. Edwin Perkins developed a liquid drink concentrate but had problems with bottling it so found a way to remove liquid from it to become powdered Kool Aid. The idea of displaying packages in boxes on store counters was his invention also....

Aug 30, 2020 - Stuhr museum

We toured the Stuhr museum today. This was a repeat from a previous year but worthwhile as we saw the house where Henry Fonda was born. A main road in Grand Island is Henry Fonda Blvd. Apparently he had little interest in this but some of his children have visited. There was a Railroad town and we went to various homes and businesses in the town. The tinsmith gave us a good demonstration of his craft and we have a better appreciation of that trade now. The Fonner Rotunda had closed but the director insisted that we come in and stayed so we...

Aug 29, 2020 - Nebraska State Fair

This is the 150th Nebraska State Fair and the fact they are having it is significant. Due to Covid it was hard to plan for it and it's mainly 4H events and a few displays. But we enjoyed it - just not what would normally be. We did get to try some sorghum cookies and goat chili and grilled lamb. It was a little cooler today - in the 80’s so was pleasant to walk around. It was easy to see how big this normally is and it's a site that was built for the fair. There were some music acts in the evening but we didn't choose to stay for that.

Aug 28, 2020 - Ford oil change

Terrible WiFi and narrow sites. People banging on the door at 8 last night, problem getting awning in so he could open slide. 5th wheel on opposite side left this am, other one looks to be here for the weekend. Went to the Ford dealer for an oil change and got Ray a new battery for the awning remote, now it comes in much better. There is a class c next to us the next night and the awning had to be retracted for it too. Surprised they rent out the patio spot so often nightly . So hot, supposed to be in the 80’s tomorrow and we’ll feel like...

Aug 26, 2020 - Last day Bakers candy

Last day - went to the Bakers candy factory that is very close to us and selected some boxes for McCook and home. They have all different flavors to choose from and have Husker wrapped candy too. These are called Melt Aways and are chocolate with multiple flavors, very good. We just took it easy today