damned feet!

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I woke yesterday at around 8am and set out for a small village in eastern Nebraska called Unadilla. I was in search of a rural cemetery that had the tombstones of some relatives. I stopped at at the only open place, aside from the farmers co-op, a convenience store that smelled of stale popcorn and cigarettes. I grabbed a Coke and asked the lady behind the counter, the only other person around, if she knew of any other cemeteries other than the one west of the village. She gave me a strange look and quickly said,"no". I paid for my Coke and stepped out to my car. I looked at my licence plate bracket and realized that the "Mutation Research Technology" logo had probably freaked her out a bit. I had this image of her imagining me digging up graves and doing tests on the residents of various tombs.

I started off for the cemetery that I had seen about 2 miles west of town, but not before I was side tracked by a sign saying there was a place south of the village that was preserved prairie. The road took me two miles south and about 3/4 of a mile to the west. I stopped and checked out this untouched prairie for a minute and tried to imagine that everything around me looked like this and then wondered what the hell people were thinking of when they settled here. I'm sure the governments lure of 80 acres free to anyone that agreed to stay there for 2 years or so helped, but still... after a little observation I saw a sign on the gravel road that said, "Minimum Maintenance Road" "Bridge Out". Of course I couldn't resist heading down this muddy road. Even though there were tire ruts from tractors that collected water and made them look like little fishing hole, I figured, somehow this Buick of Grandmas had probably seen its fair share of "impassable" terrain and that this should be nothing. I found myself on the edge of what used to be a wooden bridge caked with mud I swear my car was giving me a dirty look for taking it down this road. I wandered around for bit watching birds chattering in the dead trees. I startled a Red Tailed Hawk as I threw a stone into the water below and decided to get on with my original mission instead of harassing the wildlife of the area.

I pulled into the cemetery slowly looking around for any familiar names on tombstones from my car window. Anyone that knows me probably knows that I have foot issues and my feet were killing me. I pulled down the lane about two-thirds of the way and saw an Ostrander tombstone. I hopped out and hobbled around looking for others and found quite a few. There was , what I thought, an unusually high occurrence of stones with stars indicating a Civil War Veteran and a fair amount of depression era stones that were little more than a piece of cement poured into a square mold and written in with an index finger. I took as many photos as I could get and started back to Lincoln. I made my base "The Mill" because of their lattes and free wi-fi. I did a bit of inputting and left for my aunts house. By the time I got home my feet were killing me. She ran to the store, bought a bunch of mediciney things and spent the evening telling me to keep my feet elevated. They were starting to feel better until I woke this morning. She took me to urgent care this evening. I'll spare you the gory details, but I have a knot on the inside of my right shin that is red and every time I look at it funny it sends a shot of pain through my whole leg. Urgent care said that it was Chronic Dermatitis and Cellulitis. Apparently there really isn't a cure, just prevention. He prescribed Keflex, an oral steroid, to get it under control. I have had this prescribed to me before and it seems to be the pharmacological equivalent to a nuclear bomb. It works quickly and well. Unfortunately this whole thing has slowed me down considerably. I haven't done as much research as I would have liked to but I did get a good number of leads.

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Photos

Unadilla Cemetery
to the south.

Unadilla Cemetery
to the north.

Comments

[jrfromafar]

I know about 'damned' feet
great read. had to google your town to see where it was in relation to york (between lincoln and grand island) that is where my grandfather was born. doubt if any of 'em are buried around there though, as they moved to washington state. finding those old graves are interesting. yes, I have a world class bunion, even blogged about it. the best to you.... jrfromafar

[anonymous]

Feel better
Hope you feel better! Stopping in Nebraska for gas on the way to and from burning man with a hot pink mohawk garnered similar reactions at the convienient stores. Lunch at Perkins in Sydney was the best the, the farm ladies next to us were a hoot! Interesting observation about the rudimentary stones from the depression era.

[Olaf]

Hope you heal fast
You have an awesome thread going here. Keep it up.