I have begun to realize that I have been taking good weather for granted on our many outings. This year has not been a good year for weather or photos. Florida was a cloudy, overcast bust for the most part this February. After 4 rainy, overcast, unseasonably chilly days in Omaha, which really weren't wasted since there's not a lot to see there anymore since they tore down most of the buildings and replaced them with parking lots, we finally got the bad weather out of the way just as we hit the road for the beginning of our Highway 83 road trip through Kansas, the only segment of 83 we haven't seen, but first a quick stop in Lincoln for some Yia Yia pizza and to stock up on some Huskerware. As we were leaving Omaha, where Jackie was attending the Berkshire Hathaway convention, the skies began to clear and it started to warm up, which boded well for our next two weeks on the road which began as we headed south from Omaha toward Highway 136.
Highway 136 runs east/west along the Kansas/Nebraska border from Auburn, where our cousins live, to just before McCook, where we will pick up Highway 83 south to Kansas. We are starting this segment of the journey in Red Cloud, home of Willa Cather, and in fact stayed in a guest house that was her family's home and is run by the nice ladies of the Willa Cather Society, of which we are proud and active members in good standing. (See posting dated 7/23/12, "Red Cloud Redux"
As we left Red Cloud, the weather was still with us, bright and sunny with rich blue skies and very photogenic clouds, providing me the opportunity to reshoot parts of the 136 that I didn't do justice to on August 1, 2012 (which can be seen on the blog entry of that date titled "Highway 136 west from RedCloud".). Given the severely deteriorated state of many of the towns back then, I didn't expect much, so I was quite surprised to find these broken down towns in almost exactly the same condition I left them nearly 5 years ago as you can see on the 8/1/12 posting.
Traveling west the first town we entered was Inavale, the photos speak for themselves. The remnants of a white structure next to the red one was a post office, which was closed, but still intact the first time we passed though here 7 or 8 years ago.
Yes, the Pepsi machine does work, but the bigger question is why, in this world of constant and often cataclysmic change, is this row of 4 buildings exactly as I left them 5 years ago. Civic pride would normally mandate clearing the debris, but there are obviously other, inexplicable forces at work here. (See posting
Fifteen miles down the road, which appears to be the interval at which Nebraska towns were spaced so that farmers with horse drawn wagons could bring their crops to the grain elevators along the railroad siding, was the town of Riverton, which also appeared almost exactly as I left it.
The only significant change to Riverton is that Smitty's Bar and Grill, the only apparently functioning business in town, other that the post office, has closed down. When I was last here, it was quite a busy place. Either the ladies temperance movement prevailed, or the poor farmer's economy has driven people back to buying a cheap bottle and taking it to the basement. This is a photo of my reflection in the window of the now abandoned Smitty's still celebrating Nebraska in it's own way.
After another hour or so we were in McCook once again and having lunch at Sehnert's bakery before picking up Highway 83 for our trip south into Kansas. For a more detailed photographic exposition of McCook, please see posting of 7/2/12 entitled "North on Highway 83 from McCook".
Onward and southward to Kansas,
Pablo
