Date: 17 May 2001 (Thursday)
Start: Offutt AFB Nebraska
End: Carney Park, O’Neill Nebraska (210 miles)
Today was a quiet day.
The first order of business was to settle my jury duty summons. I called Bob Marse at the PW County Court (standing in for the Jury Duty manager) at 703-792-6034 and told him of our retirement trip. He asked questions and said he was envious of us. Then he asked what month I could serve and what day of the week. I told him the day didn’t matter, but I’d like to serve in October. He agreed and said he’d issue a new summons to report to jury duty in October and send it to the house.
Then we left the Offutt AFB FAMCAMP. That’s a really nice campground; I wouldn’t mind spending time there and looking at Omaha more in depth.
But taking US275 across town to the west is an ordeal. It’s rough, parts of it are being repaired, and there a lot of traffic. Once out of Omaha, it’s not a bad road.
The land has been flat most of the day as we traveled up the Elkhorn River valley. The towns have been getting smaller and farther apart. Gradually the land has gone from farms to sandier soil with only occasional irrigated fields, and lots of grass with beef cattle feeding on it.
Near Wismer NE there were a tremendous number of commercial cattle feed lots with hundreds of cattle in them. It’s a terribly smelly operation – you can smell them for miles. They’re all on side hills, I suppose for the natural drainage.
We didn’t notice any new birds or any wildlife at all.
We went to the local supermarket for a few things, then to the package store for wine to go with sphagetti for dinner, then the drugstore for cortaid and a postcard for Tripp. Everyone we spoke with was open and very friendly.
The weather was cool most of the day, around 70f, and partly sunny.
We’re camped in Carney Park, the city campground that is part of a complex containing the ball diamond and rodeo arena (I guess we’re officially in the west with a rodeo arena here). It’s a nice basic place, water & electricity & restrooms, but with a twist – no fees for stays less than 3 days, but contributions are welcome. We contributed, of course.
We’ve been following an abandoned railroad right-of-way most of the way here from Norfolk, NE. Very close to the campground is a nice old brick depot on that right-of-way. As I was taking a hike tonight, I walked part of it and encountered a guy using a cane walking the other way. I found out from him that it belonged to the Chicago & North Western railroad and was part of their main line from Chadron, NE to Norfolk, NE. This depot should be renovated and used for something constructive as it appears to be in excellent condition.
