Valentine, Nebraska
November 13, 2022
What a day!
My plan was to drive from North Platte to Winner and Ideal, South Dakota and then onto Wall, SD. I don't think I made it halfway there.
From the map, all I could tell was there wasn't much in the way of towns between North Platte and Winner. What the map did not tell me was that I was going to be driving through the Nebraska Sand Hills (which can also be written Sandhills). Once again my senses were overwhelmed. On a 130 mile drive, I took 250 photos. I just couldn't grasp the vastness, the remoteness, the rolling hills, the emptiness. Here is nothing but grass (and some exposed sand) for as far as you can see. US 83 is not well traveled -- I may have seen 50 pickups and 18 wheelers. I don't think I am off base to compare it to driving through Monument Valley. Sure Monument Valley is more stunning but the Sand Hills are beautiful. Especially because I did not expect anything like them.
I've learned that the limiting factor for my daily wanderabouts may be my photography. I got to Valentine three hours ago and all I have done is go through my photos. Gosh, I wish I were a better photographer. I thought several times about breaking out my drone but I would have been flying it over private property so I thought better of that idea.
The topography today had me thinking it would be a perfect place for a golf course -- expect the weather is pretty severe and it is uber remote. Coach Harris informed me there is a super exclusive golf club near Mullen. I'll have to post about it.
Let's see if I can list the highlights:
Loved all the windmills that are in the fields to bring up water for the cattle. I am told this area is over the Ogallala Aquifer which would explain why I saw center-pivot sprinklers on the few corn fields I saw. Sand is not a good base for growing crops.
The topography reminded me of Bandon Dunes and Scotland.
Loved seeing a nine-hole golf course in Thedford, a community of under 300.
I think I saw two gas stations between North Platte and Valentine.
After multiple hours in the middle of nowhere, Valentine, a city of under 3,000 people, seems like a major metropolitan area.
It must be wild living on ranches in the Sand Hills. I thought of the cost of running power lines to such remote locations. Can you get the Internet? How often do folks make a run to North Platte for groceries and other staples? (I realize out west, people think it is usual to spend a whole day driving to and from Walmart.)
I know the joke about Suburbans being a "Texas station wagon." Well, in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma I have seen so many Expeditions (white), Navigators, Suburbans and Tahoes.
It's 21 degrees at 540 pm. Too cold to sleep in the truck? I'm going to give it a go.
Three videos from today:
Videos I took strung together
Slideshow of windmills (I'm fascinated)
Slideshow from the rest of the wanderabout.
Sad to say, I could not see any of the videos.....