Inspired by the Sand Hills

Our last day has been spent winding our way through the rugged beauty of Nebraska's Sand Hills.  I'm not certain what I was expecting, but it pales in comparison to the real thing.

And, a couple of things I had forgotten, even from our "growing up" days on the prairies of South Dakota, was how wide open these spaces really are.  Driving west from Brewster to Alliance we would go for dozens of miles without seeing a sign of human habitat or for that matter any other humans -- with the exception of the seemingly never-ending string of coal trains.  Trains traveling west to east would be 100 to 200 cars long, each car piled high with Wyoming coal.  Trains heading with us on the trail were up to 300 empty cars, rumbling along on their way back to be re-filled.

For one stretch of road, we drove alongside an empty car train for a full 7 miles before finally getting from the back of the train to the double-engine doing the pulling.  And we were traveling at 67 miles per hour (had the speedometer set at that so no question about the exact speed).

A traffic jam out in these parts must be when there's a car every mile or so, because we would meet a car, and then, the next thing you know, 8 or 10 miles would pass and sure enough, there would be another one.  Behind us, we never saw a car in the rear view mirror the entire 200 miles.

And, finally, we had forgotten about the deer herds that roam on the Plains, and they seemed genuinely startled to see a car on "their" road.  Several times we had to slow almost to a stop as deer after deer bounded across the highway, some (and I am not making this up) seeming to give us looks of utter disdain that we would dare impede upon their territory.  And, they probably had a point.

On to Scotts Bluff and (not to be missed, says my Visitor's Guide) Car Henge.  More later.



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