My cellphone died yesterday for some unknown reason, so I left York and headed west on US34 to Aurora, NE and the closest Verizon store. As it turns out, Aurora is a pretty little place. There is no WalMart or other big chain stores in the area, and consequently the town has a downtown that actually has all kinds of local businesses in it. A rare sight these days. Here are a couple shots of the town square and the county courthouse:
I had to have last rites performed on my cell phone, so after working with the lady at Verizon for about an hour, I headed on west on US34 to Grand Island and the first WalMart I could find. I spent another 90 minutes getting a cheapie phone and finally got on my way to Scottsbluff around 1:00. Because I was running so late, I shot down I-80 for about 200 miles to Ogallala, then west on US26 another 130 miles or so to Scottsbluff.
When Pat and I lived in Denver from 1980-1982, I travelled to Scottsbluff once a month on sales calls. This was the first time I've been here since 1982, and while the town has grown (they, too, now have a Walmart!), the terrain up here hasn't changed. Northwest Nebraska is known as the "Sand Hills". The terrain is rolling, although it may climb or dip as much as 1,000 feet or so in a few miles. The ground appears for all intents and purposes to be sand dunes that are covered with a thin layer of grass. There are virtually no trees, and the underlying bedrock is very weak sandstone. All through Iowa and Nebraska until about 50 miles east of Ogallala there were literally miles and miles of corn fields. In the Sand Hills, there are occasional fields of corn, but the main crops up here are potatoes, sugar beets, and cattle (at about one head of cattle for each 10 acres of grazing land). There are a few sugar processing plants in the area and a number of meat processing plants. Much different and much more arid than the rest of Nebraska.
I took a couple pictures near Ogallala of the Sand Hills and Lake Ogallala in the background:
Around Scottsbluff there are a few interesting things to see, most regarding the old Oregon Trail, which ran through the area. About 30 miles east of here is Chimney Rock, which was one of the "signposts" for the settlers working their way to the west:
I'll be spending some time in the area tomorrow and then on to Denver for 4 days.
Miles today: 379
Total: 2,143