During my journey so far, I have planned, organized, and made decisions about everywhere I was going to stop, where I was going to stay, and where I was going to eat. However, this adventure is different. I am traveling with my great friends, Cheryl and Doug Roberts (from Thanksgiving in Hilton Head back in the beginning of my trip), to Canada and Alaska on a 6-week road trip where I would see lots of stuff that has been on my bucket list. They started their trip from very northern Maine on April 12th. They took the direct route from Maine to Nebraska by going to Atlanta and the Florida Panhandle. (sarcasm intended) While in Western Nebraska, On May 2, they arrived in Alliance, Nebraska. I first took them to see the Knight Museum and Sandhill Center that I helped develop when I worked for the city there, and they wanted to see Carhenge, so we went there next. We met up with Becci Thomas, the Museum Director and designer extraordinaire for the Knight Museum tour. I just had to get a picture of my doppelgangers.
We then went on to Carhenge which is a top roadside attraction in most rankings. Built during a family reunion in the 1985’s by the family of Jim Reinders in the exact orientation and dimensions of the famous English Stonehenge. It is supposed to have some mystical properties around each of the two solstices. There is other art made from car and car parts. Owned by the City of Alliance now, it is called a Car Art Preserve.
Grandson Wyatt took Cheryl and Doug on a tour of the farm, doing most of the narration and all of the driving. He is nine. Meanwhile, I finished packing, and shortly after dinner, we headed to Harrison, Nebraska. Harrison is a tiny hamlet west of Crawford. Crawford is west of Chadron, which is north of Alliance at the South Dakota border.
We left the farm late to get the first stop. It was nearly dusk when we arrived in Harrison. I started the trip off in great style by transposing the numbers on the address where we were heading. We ended up in a ramshackle shack with no doors or windows! It was supposed to be an Airbnb, and we were a little astounded at its condition. Cheryl said she was aware it was an older lodge, but she did expect it to have modern conveniences like windows and doors.
Cheryl checked the lodging address again, and we then turned around and went about four miles back on the dusty, dirty roads of Western Nebraska, where we found a small cottage. We had found the correct address! It was older, but was a great improvement from the first place, and not a bad place to spend the night. While I didn’t get a picture of this location, but it was well-appointed and comfortable.
The next day we toured Fort Robinson State Park, which had both been home to Buffalo Soldiers and the place where Crazy Horse was killed.
We would leave for South Dakota on the 4th of May but Doug and Cheryl got to see one beautiful Nebraska Sunset before we left the state.
