Left Red Cloud mid day traveling west on the 136, quite overcast but warm, and not a promising day for pictures, but there were some occasional short breaks in the clouds, so patience was rewarded. Still using the 136 photo from last years trip because it was perfect, and I wasn't going to do better this time around, or maybe ever for that matter. Only in retrospect do you realize how fortunate you were. I keep telling myself this. Anyway, about 10 miles west of Red Cloud is a town called Invale. I remembered passing it last year traveling east to get to Red Cloud before sundown, and I remembered seeing a partially broken down building that had clearly been the post office as was clearly marked on the front wall. Didn't get the chance to get back, but did make a mental note for next year, which is now.
What a difference a year makes. As this photo shows, something terrible happened here, and there have been many irreversible changes since we were last there and sadly, none of them good. This is all that's left of the main street, north side...
Burnt, broken, and generally decimated...a testament to the obvious fact that nobody seems to care, or there is nobody left to care...
This is the imploded shell of the post office building which did not fare well over the intervening winter, and exists now only in my memory...
The only intact building east of Maine Street, abandoned, but intact...for now...there are so many hundreds and hundreds of these kinds of building throughout the Sandhills...so what to do with them. After all, Invale just seems like a town you would drive by at 50 mph and not even see, so why bother...
Well, they still have Jesus, and a population of about 95 clinging to some hope that the second coming will improve their lot.
This is the side of town west of Maine Street...Intact, but not too inviting...Of the many abandoned houses available for immediate occupancy, this was one of the more appealing ones...
Onward on the 136 to Riverton, about 29 miles down the road. The picture there wasn't much more encouraging...
They have a post office, which has chosen to remain anonimous...
A florist...
And a bar next to another apparently abandoned building with plants growing inside, which kind of covers the north side of the main street and for the most part, Riverton...Didn't see the church, but the clouds were closing in at a rapid rate and we were not in the mood for exploring. Sorry the 136 report thus far was not all that encouraging, but the bigger question is, how to restore a sense of relevance to the irrelevant??? By recognizing that all of these once vibrant farming communities are not at all irrelevant, but a link to the past that is worth preserving for its own sake, even if there are not enough antique shoppes, art galleries, or Dollar Generals to fill them and pay the rent...do something Nebraska!!!!!! Please. Maybe only someone from New York really gets it, or thinks he does!#@%%^
Prove me wrong....
Pablo
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