North on Highway 83 from McCook...

Spent the night in McCook, the "Go To City of Southwestern Nebraska".  Don't know what it means, or who makes these things up, but I suppose it makes sense to someone.

McCook is one of those moderately large sized towns that were once railroad hubs, were quite prosperous centers of commerce and community, and while they no longer serve the function for which they initially evolved , they are still well maintained and struggling for an identity and sense of purpose.  Just spent the morning, walked around and had coffee at Sehnert's Bakery which I had been looking forward to.  Just about everything there that was not bread was deep fried, but our travels through rural Nebraska would indicate that out there, this is considered good eatin'.  The main reason we look forward to our stays in McCook, is the great Sumatra coffee at Sehnert's.  Always pleasant surprise.

While I did mention below that I needed to take some pictures of the other side of the street some afternoon, next time around,  I did find this photo I took last year sitting under the tree at Snert's, as we like to call it, drinking a cup of sumatra.  As I imagined, the other side of the street looks about the same as this side.  That's our rented car in front there.

While this is not meant to be an exhaustive overview of McCook, the rest of the town does not vary much from the photos shown, so you get the idea.  Clean, and well maintained for the most part, like so many once important main streets, and in search of an identity now that the soul sucking box stores parked along the highways at the edge of town have stolen their reason for being.  The main street in McCook, Norris Avenue is paved in brick and gently slopes down to the railroad tracks.  These photos cover close to one block on the side of the street the sun was shining on.  The other side, which was shadowed, and not photogenic at the time, looked kind of the same.  Lots of empty storefronts,  lots of people trying to make a go of it.  Didn't know I would be doing a Highway 83 thing when we were in McCook, so I will try to get back,  next time as always, if there is one.  

                                                                   Pablo