Nebraska!

Nebraska – Thursday, June 27

I spent the morning in South Dakota with my dad and Joan, and also took care of things like laundry and financial records. Around noon we headed up to the little town of Tea, outside of Sioux Falls, which is known for its steakhouse – an unpretentious little place, but they have the best steak in South Dakota! So I enjoyed a t-bone lunch and knew I wouldn’t need much to eat for the rest of the day! We drove back to Beresford and I loaded up the final things into the van, and then took off for Nebraska, and 60 miles later I was in State #39!

The Missouri River separates South Dakota and Nebraska, and the big Lewis and Clark Lake was right there. It’s actually more of a reservoir since there’s also a big dam. I had hoped to start with my walking there, but most of the recreational opportunities seemed to be on the South Dakota side, and the visitor center had closed early, so I admired the huge dam, and continued south into Nebraska. There’s not much in this part of Nebraska, and after about 30 miles I came to the little town of Randolph, which proclaims itself to be the Honey Capital of the World. It was a tiny little town, and Tula and I got out for some walking, and after a little over 1 1/2 miles, we had kind of covered everything we could. I didn’t see any evidence of bee keeping or honey making! It was just a small farm town with the typical train tracks and grain elevators and all. But there were more of those really fragrant trees, so the town smelled good.

I drove another 25 miles to the town of Norfolk, where I was going to stop for the night. Since I got a mid-afternoon start from South Dakota, it was already evening time by now, but I had read there was a Cowboy Recreational Bike Trail, and with it staying light so late, I knew I could still do some walking. I found the trailhead at TaHaZouka Park along the Elkhorn River. It was a pretty park and a pretty trail, and Tula and I got a couple more miles in, then I put her in the car and covered 5 more miles, finishing up about 9:30pm just as the last of the light was fading. It was a pretty trail, winding along the river and past cornfields, and I watched the sun go down behind all the corn. I was really happy to get all my walking done today, despite my late start.

I didn’t make a donation today with the limited time in Nebraska, but it’ll be easy enough to double up in the next day or so. I already have a couple ideas for tomorrow.