Friday August 18th.
Left St. Paul @ 4:15, taking 494 to 35, then I90 west to Worthington. Traffic on 35 TERRIBLE. Is it always like that?
Tornadoes formed near Iowa border, touching down at Melvin. Luckily (for us) it was heading SE. We passed to the north of it, then headed south on 60, with a great view of the lightning and cloud formations for an hour. I thought we should pull over, but Sean was in some sort of zone, and wouldn’t stop. Arrived at hotel around ten. Peanut butter buns and bed. Sooooo tired. R’s cold is bothering her.
Guten Nacht.
Saturday August 19th.
Lemars, Iowa.
R. & M. both sick. Hotel serves “fresh buttery Taste Spread” and “Breakfast Syrup” on pancakes that slide out the side of a metal box.
There is a mist hanging over the cornfields, and a giant tanker truck full of chocolate in the parking lot.
12:45 pm
Crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska. R. says, “I’m getting very disappointed in the Midwest. All the states look exactly like Minnesota.
Saturday afternoon.
Continued through Nebraska, primarily on Hwy. 30. Stopped in Schuyler to stretch our legs.
“This is where you’re going to find out what small towns in the Midwest are like, Sweetie,” we said to R.
“I’ve already been to Leonard,” she tells us.
Schuyler, it turns out is nothing like Leonard. The first people we saw were two girls in hijabs. Then we stopped off at a little park, and there were a bunch of boys speaking Spanish on the playground. Turns out there’s a meat packing plant in Schuyler, so lots of jobs. Not like Leonard. Sean wanted to stop at a taco truck, we we pressed on.
Arrived in Kearney just after 6. Line at front desk was mostly townsfolk wanting to buy eclipse glasses. Hotel employees already crabby. Began calling pizza places, but no one delivers. Isn’t this a college town??? Ate cheese sandwiches in the room.
M & R went to the pool, but a group of seven middle aged men were drinking Miller Lite and margaritas in the hot tub, so we cut the visit short.
Sunday August 20th
Woke up in Kearney and ate waffles (real butter, but no cream or half and half for coffee; sometimes I miss Wisconsin), then spent leisurely morning in hotel. Set out @ noon to walk at Three Bridges WMA, where we encountered a man hiding in weeds by side of road. Spun elaborate story about car break down on I80, and wanted to use our phone. Sent a couple of texts on his behalf to let his boss know he would be late for work, but refused to hand phone over.
“What’s your boss’s name?” Sean asked.
“Jim.”
“And Jim’s last name?”
“Uhhhh….I don’t know.”
Mildly humorous when texts we sent came in on his phone.
Didn’t want to leave the car unattended after that, so we left and went to the Archway Museum. Seems like a cool place, but it was crowded with a 45 minute wait for headsets, so we left there too. I hope this is all good for the Kearney economy.
Visited Museum of Nebraska Art. Sculptures by Charley Friedman (Macalester 1990. Sean keeps referring to him as a friend of mine. I *think* I have been at parties with him, but can’t swear to it).
Photographs by Solomon Butcher.
Lithographs by George Catlin.
Back to the hotel for naps (M & R still blowing noses, but getting better. Maybe.) Katy & Ed have arrived and are at Motel 6 — or is it Super 8? — across the road from us. Met up at Chicago Pizza for dinner, then early to bed.
Monday August 21
ECLIPSE DAY!!!
Partly cloudy, slightly hazy. Lots of texts exchanged with Katy; they want to go somewhere with clear skies. 30% cloud cover here; 35% cloud cover an hour west; 40% an hour east. Nearest completely clear skies would be either Tennessee or Wyoming so we’re staying put.
10:45 am
Breakfast is over and hotel is starting clear out. Doesn’t look like most people will be coming back this afternoon; they all have their suitcases with them. Meeting Katy & Ed in five minutes to stake out our spot — somewhere between here and Yanney Park.
Eclipse time
Walked a quarter mile or so along Betty’s trail. Katy and Ed brought lawn chairs; we brought a blanket. Set up on the grassy edge in the shade of some small trees.
No one was near us, though several people passed by on their way to Yanney Park. We tested our glasses and got settled while Sean went off for a work and to seek out an alternate spot.
At 11:33 we all put on our glasses and confirmed that yes, indeed, there was an object in front of the sun. This is way cooler than the pin hole in the index cards I’ve used before.
Spent the next 45 minutes or so snacking and looking up at the sun (except for K. who was too anxious to snack). By the time the sun was half hidden, the shadows of the leaves showed crescent shapes between them.
K. kept pointing the shadows out to everyone who passed. Most were pretty interested and surprised, though one guy had a colander with him, so he knew.
Sean’s hat looked pretty cool.
Check out the little half-moon shadows between our fingers: 
After 12:30 or so, we all started to notice it was getting a little darker, like a cloudy day. The temperature started to seem more comfortable too. With 20 minutes to go, there was just a crescent left of the sun, but it was still daylight.
The light was almost otherworldly in the last ten or fifteen minutes. Not quite like twilight, lacking the pink or gold tone of evening, but not quite as green as tornado weather. Getting dark without cloud cover or sundown was…just…strange…..
R. was watching as the last sliver of sun shrank to two beads of light, and then the beads of light shrank and were gone. Sean heard shouts going up from the UNK stadium a mile away. I was adjusting my glasses, and missed the final disappearance, just suddenly couldn’t see anything (and all the warnings about retina burns came to me; had I looked too long? had I actually blinded myself? At this point in the eclipse, absolutely nothing is visible through the glasses, and I was having a little panic until the gasps from rest of the gang penetrated my cloudy brain, and I realized we had reached totality).
We took off our glasses and looked at the Corona…and at the rest of the sky…and at the landscape…and at each other. It was hard to know where to look. It wasn’t as dark as night; we could still see each other, and the trees, and the big mound of dirt at the construction site over near the hotel. I saw one bright light near to the sun, which I think was Venus. R. & S. both saw another, which they think was Sirius.
Sean was reminded of the Seven Chinese Brothers, when one brother would drink in all the ocean and leave the ocean floor exposed for walking around, but only for as long as he could hold his breath. It was like another world, that only existed for a minute.
Side note: when I was a kid, we had a copy of the fiev chieneez brutherz, in the Initial Teaching Alphabet (I.T.A), which had the same artwork as the picture here.
Back to the eclipse….
We’re not sure we had the full minute and 50 seconds that were predicted. Before we knew it, a sudden, blinding bead of light appeared at the edge of the disk, and we all grabbed at our eclipse glasses to put them back on.
And it was over.
The light came back, suddenly at first like a shade was drawn back, and then more slowly. K. & E. broke out champagne, and then Sean and I walked over to Yanney Park. We passed a lot of people on the way, including one guy of about 80, who said, “One of the most interesting afternoons of my life!” (I wish my mother could have come with us. She thought about it, but wasn’t up to travelling).
We all wanted to stay out it until it was completely over, but it was anticlimactic. The crescent shadows under the trees were still there, but reversed, and the shadows between our fingers only showed when we pointed our hands the other way. But really, the sun half covered is much more interesting when the eclipse is coming, than when it’s over. The only thing that was really cool, is that finally some clouds drifted in front of the sun. That’s cool to watch through eclipse glasses!!!
Tuesday August 22nd
Driving down Highway 2 through the sand hills. Wish I could have gotten some decent pictures, but there wasn’t really anywhere good to stop.
We passed a small creation museum in Broken Bow, but Sean wouldn’t let me stop. Black eyed Susan’s grow thickly along the road, and cattle graze on either side.
Passed through the town of Halsey, which had a bike trail leading out of it. “We should come back with bikes!” Sean said. There was a big sign there that read “Feed the need, not the greed. Protect the sandhills.” Wonder what it means.
Stopping now at Nebraska National Forest.
Bessey National Forest and Tree Nursery was a lovely oasis, but we didn’t have time to explore. Chatted with the ranger, bought gifts for R.’s friends, and went took at the river, then back to the car.
Continued drive across sandhills, vast, shifting, with scrub and scattered trees. Further west there were more ponds — but we didn’t see any cranes.
Stopped at Carhenge for a short visit.
They said they had about 5,000 to 10,000 people yesterday. We had thought it would be trashed, but it wasn’t. I guess eclipse fans treated the place well.
Wednesday August 23
Fort Robinson State Park
Arrived at Fort Robinson State Park 8:30 pm CDT, though we are now in Mountain Time Zone. Not quite sure what time it is. No trails marked on the park maps. Sean is out exploring now, while R. and I are at the lodge, waiting for his return so we can go down to the restaurant for breakfast.
Wednesday Afternoon
After breakfast (delicious!), did some exploring. Spotted a herd of pronghorns just outside the fence by the swimming pool. Then drove through the bison enclosure, somewhat relieved that the bison kept their distance. Took a short hike, saw magpies and tiny cacti. Hot and sunny, so we didn’t stay out long. Back to the lodge for lunch. Bison burgers for me and S. Ordered a grilled cheese for R., but the cheese was American, and she didn’t eat it. Now, off to the pool!
Wednesday Evening
R. and I swam about half an hour, in the Olympic sized pool, with two life guards on duty. There were a few other people swimming, but had lots of room to ourselves. She’s coaching me to open my eyes under water. Had to leave because a life guard heard thunder, and they always close for 30 minutes if anyone hears thunder or sees lighting. We stopped off at the store and activities building. I was hoping maybe the canteen would sell pizza or something with actual cheese that R. would eat, but no such luck, so we got sodas. There’s a room where you can pose against different outdoorsy back drops, so you can get a picture of yourself riding horseback through the hills without having to actually ride horseback through the hills. There’s also a crafts room (today they had clay figurines to paint), a library, and a little museum.
Decided to go for a family hike, but there was almost constant thunder, so we kept it short, staying in sight of the car. Returned to the restaurant for dinner. I had another burger, S. had fries, and R. split a peach pie with me.
Thursday
Pulled bison sandwiches!!!
But before we get there, took a family hike in the morning, hoping to get out before it got too hot. It was hot. We did see a few other people hiking, but mostly people were out on horseback. The scenery was beautiful, and the pines smell like ice cream, but I think it would really be more fun to ride than hike; it was hot (maybe you get acclimated) and hilly, and you have to go a long way.
These are the trees that smell like ice cream. “Go smell them,” Sean said, so we did, and he’s right.
After the hike, went back to the lodge. S. read and napped, while R. & I went back to the pool. R. said she would go off the diving board if I did, so I did, and so did she. Stayed in the pool for about an hour, then walked back to get Sean, just stopping off at the canteen on the way to memorize the menu. Not much to memorize — mostly just pulled bison sandwiches made from the bison at the park. Although the menu says buffalo, and when I said bison, the guy corrected me.
“It’s buffalo.”
I could have explained that it isn’t, but I didn’t. And just as well; the sandwiches were delicious with Cherry Coke, and I want to stay on the guy’s good side. Luckily we still have some string cheese and crackers, otherwise R. wouldn’t eat at all.
Friday
Leaving Fort Robinson
Thought this place was weird when we arrived, but now I love it and am sad and don’t want to leave. Wish we had time for one last swim, but we need to hit the road, so we packed up quick after breakfast. Grabbing some pulled bison sandwiches for the road.
Afternoon
Took Highway 12 east to Niobrara State Park at the confluence of the Missouri and Niobrara rivers. Our “cabin” is a nice two bedroom house, with a full bath, a full kitchen, and an enclosed back porch with another big table for eating. I could sit and watch the view of the wide Missouri behind the cabin for hours, but inside, there’s a 50 inch TV with Satellite. What to do???
Ha! JK. We did turn the TV on for a minute to look for the weather channel when tonight’s storm got bad, but then immediately the power went out, and apparently there’s a ten minute process or so for the Satellite to resync or whatever, so we gave up and just hoped the storm wouldn’t be too bad.
Pasta for dinner, and we’ll finally eat the Parmesan we’ve been so carefully keeping cool all week.
Saturday morning
Mouse poop, everywhere.
Chewed into our paper bags, and climbed into the mini cooler. Luckily all the chocolate was in the fridge. After breakfast, spent an hour cleaning up after the mice, then parked the car and went for a hike.