from rscottjones

Some recent health challenges (and the resulting physical restrictions) forced us to cancel our big Canadian Rockies road trip this month.

I would have been traveling and camping for nearly a month, with Jen joining me for the middle two weeks, opting to fly in/out to maximize her vacation time. I was really excited about the trip, and was due to head off early next week. But alas, we’ll have to wait until next year to see those gorgeous mountain views.

That’s left us with some unscheduled vacation days that we need to fill in August or September, as we’re already generally booked for the remainder of the year. There aren’t many good options, given the temps and avoiding elevation (one of those pesky health restrictions). To fill some of the time, we ended up building out an 8-day trip to Ohio and Pennsylvania for Jen to mark off a bunch of national park units. Of course, you may remember that I just did an extended Ohio-Pennsylvania road trip in May, so alas, there will be few new things for me to see. That’s ok, I always enjoy traveling with Jen no matter what we do or see.

That shorter trip left us with an additional three day weekend to utilize. Weekend camping trips are out, as it’s either too hot in the low lands, or I’m restricted from higher elevations.

And so we started checking Google Flights to see if there was a cheap ticket somewhere. Welp, nope, not many options other than LA and SF, which we are already visiting in the next 6 weeks.

Except one destination, that is.

$88 roundtrip, nonstop, with flight times that seem optimized for our schedule.

What’s that destination? A place improbably named Grand Island. Where is Grand Island? In Nebraska. The middle of Nebraska.

So we booked it.

What’s there to see in the middle of Nebraska? No fucking clue. I’ve never been there, as my mostly blank counties map shows. But we’re going to go explore and see what we find.

And let’s be honest here; we’ll be happy enough marking off a bunch of these counties, whether we find anything interesting there or not. After all, the whole point of our quest to visit all 3144 counties in the US is to mark off those blank spots on the map. And right now, Nebraska is the blankest state on my county map—I’ve only been to a paltry 29% of the state, all along the edges.

So, we’re flying to Grand Island, Nebraska for a long weekend to visit some random, cornfield- and/or sandhill-filled counties. A somewhat ridiculous trip by most sane standards, but a trip we’re doing anyway. After all, we always have a blast exploring new places together, so I’m sure we’ll have a good time on this trip, too.

And at least I’ll finally make it to Carhenge.

EDIT to add:

One challenge for this trip is that the rental car situation sucks. Not only are the cars generally expensive (about $100/day), but they inexplicably come with a 100-mile per day limit. I haven’t seen mileage limits from major rental car companies in more than a decade, and never for such a rural place where you have to drive long distances to get anywhere of note.

But we found a work around. Because we’re flying in after work, we don’t technically need the car until the following morning, since we’re simply grabbing a late dinner and heading straight to bed. So we searched the local area for an offsite location. It’s half the price and has unlimited miles, which is crucial for a trip like this. Guess which one we booked.

Another minor challenge is that the cheap flight does not include any bags—carry-on or checked—even though it clearly shows that it does when you search in Google Flights. Take note when booking! We’re okay with that, as it’s only a 3.5 day trip and we should be able to fit everything we need into a personal item.

It’s my first time flying out of Mesa-Gateway airport. OHSO Brewing offered us roadie red solo cups so we could bring beer to our gate, which feels a bit Vegas but is a nice policy.

I’m 100% certain that we are the only tourists on this flight to (checks notes again) Grand Island Nebraska 🤣 25.08A

Three Grand Island airport observations:

• ticketing, security, baggage claim, and rental car booths are all in the same room
• there was an RV parked curbside; it did not move for 20 mins. I didn’t see a driver in the front seat.
• other cars arriving to pick up people literally just parked in travel lanes, blocking all traffic. I had to walk 50 feet to scold one to move so our uber could finally get to us 🏷️25.08A

I hate to be critical, but Nebraska rest areas could really use an upgrade. At least a roll of toilet paper would be helpful. 🏷️25.08A

Well, I have clearly been misled… 🏷️25.08A

I had no idea there were cattle phonebooks. 🏷️25.08A

Made the pilgrimage to Runza for this Nebraska classic. Hmm. I get why this is a midwestern thing, but I think once was enough. 🏷️25.08A

Ending the day at a local craft brewery near tonight’s hotel in Alliance. Not sure how many photos we’ll get posted tonight—it’s been a long day of exploring the Sandhill region of the state. 🏷️25.08A

Today’s highlight was probably finally making it to Carhenge—perhaps the last “premier” roadside attraction on my list. Lots of photos to go through; it’s going to take a bit 😂

🏷️25.08A

The Knight Museum & Sandhills Center in Alliance, Nebraska is among the very best small town museums I’ve visited.

Well worth the price of admission (it’s free! and one of only two city-operated museums in the state). High quality displays and a comprehensive portrayal of the region. 🏷️25.08A

Made some good progress on ye ol’ county map today (dark green counties). Only need 6 more to hit the 50% mark (my interim goal for each of the 50 states), which I should easily do tomorrow. 🏷️25.08A

Perhaps my favorite thing about the Nebraska landscape is the sunflowers—both farmed and wild. So of course we poked around a sunflower field for a few minutes last night. 🏷️25.08A

Really enjoyed our stop at Second Chapter Brewing in Ogallala. The brewery took over the old city library location and really nailed the theme. What a fun spot! 🏷️25.08A

Is this the Nebraskan Cowboy equivalent of a sock over the dorm room doorknob? We didn’t go any further to investigate… 🏷️25.08A

Plotting today’s general route during breakfast. 🏷️25.08A

We did the Golden Spike Tower tour at Bailey Yard—the world’s largest rail yard—in North Platte. I’m not a train guy, but I think I’ve been to most all of the major train spots in the country by now. 🏷️25.08A

It’s not the Fourd Seasons, but we did manage to snake a free stay at the Crown Plaza tonight. 🏷️25.08A

We caught the last bit of sunset over the Platte River tonight. 🏷️25.08A

We stopped in Arthur today to see its 3 claims to fame: what was the smallest county courthouse in America (while operational), the only straw-bale church in the country, and…uhh…one of the last remaining metal playgrounds that were seemingly banned everywhere else in the country. 🏷️25.08A

Oregon Trail marker in front of a cornfield. Approaching peak Nebraska. 🏷️25.08A

North Platte is very proud of its connection to Buffalo Bill, so we stopped by his Scouts Rest Ranch, which is now a state historical park. 🏷️25.08A

My Nebraska County map is looking pretty good after day 2! I surpassed the 50% completion mark, which was my primary questing goal for the trip. We’ll grab a few more tomorrow on our way to the Grand Island airport to fly home. 🏷️25.08A

Have you really truly been to Nebraska if you haven’t toured a sod house? This one was at the Sand Hills Journey Scenic Byway Visitor Center near Broken Bow. They also had a barbed wire collection, which must be mandated by state law for Nebraska museums. 🏷️25.08A

On trail(s). 🏷️25.08A

Scott, Lookout! Tower…is missing its platform. This fire lookout tower burned recently. 🏷️25.08A

Fred’s Flying Circus

Business really picked up after they tweaked the name from Dickie Diddles.

There’s a bar & live music venue in Ogallala, Nebraska called Driftwood, and they have this cool large guitar made from driftwood over their door. We didn’t have time to stop in, sadly, but I bet it’s a fun place.

Trapped inside. (Exeter, NE)

We visited a petrified wood art museum in Ogallala, Nebraska. It’s crazy that these framed art pieces and music boxes are made completely from petrified wood! The museum also had a bunch of cool rocks and arrowhead displays.

We toured the Genoa Indian Industrial School, which was modeled after the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School that we recently visited in central Pennsylvania. We appreciated the private tour we got from the well-informed high school girl who staffed the site that day; the kids are alright.

Jen would not let me spend $10 to laugh at the displays at the creationist dinosaur museum in Broken Bow. I still feel a bit cheated.

A fav stop was the (recently burned) Nebraska National Forest. The origin story of this place is wild—basically, a local professor convinced Teddy Roosevelt to designate this treeless tract as a “forest reserve,” so he could then hand-plant one. Until recently it was the largest man-made forest.

This shopping center mural was basically the first thing that we stopped at after getting our rental car in Grand Island, and yeah—we saw lots of sunflowers, some cows, three good sunsets—but not a sailboat (umm…it’s Nebraska)

Curve before curve

Behold Carhenge, a highlight of the trip!

Quintessential rural Nebraska

Our central Nebraska weekend trip was a clear success. We had more fun than anticipated and saw a huge chunk of the state—collecting 44 counties in total (in green). We’re even considering a return trip soon.

I think traversing the Sandhills region was our consensus favorite part of our Nebraska trip. It’s a subtlety beautiful area, and one we’ve heard about for years but hadn’t yet experienced. I expect some tanking through the Sandhills to be on a future itinerary.

A few final shots:

Forgot to mention that I completed my A State Park in Each State quest during last weekend’s Nebraska trip. I’ve now wrapped up 29 of my 64 quests, though of course I’m eyeing a few new ones, too.