Day 7: Valentine, NB to Peru, NB

Today wasn't meant to be a short day of written thoughts or short on pictures.  Driving from northern Nebraska to southeastern Nebraska was gonna be pictures of small towns and corn and whatever beauty that Nebraska had to offer.  The time change fucked us a bit.  the central time zone is a bitch when you're traveling from west to east.  We thought we were gonna make it to Valentine by 9:30.  In small towns, 9:30 pm is a lot different than 10:30 pm.   Restaurants were closed and hotel options had dwindled.  We found a room... but our choices of food were McDonalds or Pizza Hut.  We had gone 12 hours without food, so Pizza Hut was really the only option.  It's a little embarrassing to admit that the pasta at Pizza Hut was more than better than nothing.  We slept until what we thought was 8... that's what Willow's tablet said.  It was actually 10.  We lounged in bed until 8:30.  It was actually 10:30. Check out time was 11.  We rushed into the shower.  We threw our clothes on and still got a knock on the door by a ginger inquiring why the hell we were we still occupying the place at 11:10am.  We panicked and left.  Nobody wants somebody with that many freckles mad at them.

We had breakfast at the barn next to the hotel.  I updated the blog from there while everybody stared.  I think they wondered what the city boy was doing on his damn porn machine right there in the middle of their restaurant... in front of THEIR kids.  Breakfast wasn't being served anymore... so I made due.  Ham and Cheddar.  Which turned out to be one slice of ham and forty slices of american cheese on white bread.  We ate, but spent most of the time writing yesterdays blog entry.  It was about 12:50 when we finally left.

We listened to the map with big ears.  The map convinced us to travel an hour out of our way to follow a scenic highway.  You know... the little green dots along roadways on a map that let you know there is something beautiful to be seen.  Like the ones in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota that we followed with immense joy and no disappointment.  Some fuckers in Nebraska paid Rand McNally a hefty sum to fool poor bastards like Willow and I to follow a route that had little to do with scenery or any kind of beauty at all. There was little more to those green dots than flat farmland and a gas station every 100 miles or so.  There was the Nebraska National Forest that HAD NO FUCKING TREES at all!!  There was a national wildlife refuge that had NO FUCKING WILDLIFE at all.

So we drove... and we drove... and we drove. And out of that out of that, you get this... not many pictures but a lot of bitching.

We did come across this:

This was the most hilarious thing we have come across so far!  "If Evolution Is True, Then The Cross Doesn't Matter".  RIGHT?!?!?!  Here's the thing... Evolution IS true!!  Nobody disputes that anymore!!  And then look!!  There is a fucking dinosaur next to this fucking thing... Oh my fucking jeebus... so perfect!!

Though western Nebraska lacked in the beauty we became accustomed to in other states, it redeemed itself in the fact that Willow's dad, her step-mom, her step-brother, her step-sister, and nieces and nephew live here.  Nebraska could be Arizona and still be the most beautiful state in the country.  We drove our way through Grand Island, Lincoln, and then Nebraska City.

We sped through the state, trying to make our way to where Willow's dad was playing in his band this night.  Disappointed that we didn't make it. Disappointed that we gave up an hour for a scenic highway that had no scenery.  We made it to Peru  as the sun was setting

We arrived at her dad's amazing piece of property situated above the Missouri River.  80 acres of heaven down country dirt roads that seemed to sing out Ferlin Husky songs as we drove down them.

The moon was full.  The stories exchanged were pleasant.  The look on Willow's face... the look of being at home in a place she's never been.  It was the look of love for a father she rarely sees but always looks up to.  It was a place who's breeze brushed against her face as though she has always lived here.  Those things, exactly one week into our trip, made Nebraska the most beautiful place we have been so far.

Tomorrow there's a barbecue.  We get to relax for the next two days.  We'll tell you about tomorrow tomorrow!!

For now though.... goodnight!