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Published: August 16th 2021
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CornToday we were up early as our bodies were still on home time but our clocks were on Central Time. It was easy to leave at 7:30 since we were up at 6 am. Our goal was to get to Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the 48 states. According to our research we had to be there before 5 pm as it closed on Sunday at that time. We were about 8 hrs and 30 minutes away…driving hours, no stops included.
The theme of this trip is loving the deive across this great country and trying to take pictures out the car window! I am in awe at the massive farming operations and the equipment. It is so interesting to be able to observe planting, harvesting, types of bales of hay, corn, corn, corn, soybean, sorghum, wheat, corn, corn, and more corn. There were huge grain silos, more cows than I’ve ever seen, bigger equipment than I’m used to, and corn, corn, corn! Again I say if you haven’t driven across this country, you should!
You find out interesting things as you travel, especially with the Internet at your finger tips. We drove miles and miles with nothing
Crossing the mighty Mississippi but farmland. There were no towns to speak of, just a gas station every once in a while. We suddenly see signs for Marysville, KS. So I researched and discovered it was a town that was on the Oregon Trail and the Pony Express Trail. The thing that it is most noted for is black squirrels! A large community of all black squirrels live there and are protected by the people. They have black squirrel statues all over town. Of course I tried to get pictures of all of them but missed a few.
Karen is a great travel companion. Every day she makes sandwiches specific to our individual taste, packs them in a cooler, and we stop along the way for a picnic. On today’s journey we couldn’t find a rest area or roadside park, so we pulled into a bank parking lot next to a Wal Mart and had our lunch!
It was a long drive across Kansas but we finally made it to Lebanon….at 5:06. Fortunately everything was open which really was just a small church. There was a family there with two little kids who were delightful. They were playing preacher in the church,
The road aheadtaking turns preaching. They sang The B-I-b-l-e and Jesus Loves Me! We truly enjoyed their company!
Our room for the night was in Red Cloud, Nebraska, which was about 20 minutes north of Lebanon. One of the things I love about planning travel is looking for unique places to stay. While looking for a place near Lebanon I stumbled on Red Cloud and the 2nd home of Willa Cather. Now I knew who Willa Cather was and some of the books she wrote. I even knew that a couple of her books were turned into movies. So I decided it was a unique opportunity and we needed to stay there
Typically this house is a true bed and breakfast. There are 7 bedrooms that share 2.5 baths. Because of the Covid, the Cather Foundation decided to rent to only one family group at a time, so we had the entire house to ourselves. It was an awesome house!!! It needed some attention on the outside but the inside couldn’t be more perfect. It was tastefully decorated with beautiful antiques, iron beds, comfortable old rockers, a huge oval oak table with caned seat press back chairs. It was perfect.
Picnic in the parking lot As Karen and I were walking the neighborhood we met a neighbor who hung up her riding mower and needed help. We called for the guys and had her freed up in no time. She was so grateful for “angels sent by God”. She lived alone and would have had to call for help had we not been out walking.
The town or Red Cloud has fallen on hard times. Many of the businesses were closed or only open for a few days a week. Thankfully the house was well stocked with breakfast items as there was no grocery store nearby. We ordered pizza from a local pizza place and salads from Subway. Never fear there was a Dollar General right In the middle of a cornfield!!
It was a relaxing evening and a great respite from driving. Tomorrow we drive across Nebraska heading toward Chimney Rock and Scottsbluff.
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