This day marks
THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE DAYSÂ of hearty, and joyful howling on Sherwood brought to you by the Sherwood Howlers.
THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE DAYS.
CLOSING IN ON OUR APRIL 12, OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. SIX DAYS AND COUNTING.
PONY UP, PARTY DOWN
HOWL TONIGHT FOR OUR WOLF BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
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AMERICAN TRAVELS
Day #4
Lincoln, NE to Hershey, NE
Sandhill Cranes
After an obligatory Starbucks stop, we leave Lincoln, the capitol of Nebraska and home to the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers and travel west on route 34. Those farm boys sure can play football and Nebraskans do love their Cornhuskers. Memorial Stadium has been sold out for Cornhusker home games every year since 1962.
Next stop, Seward, NE where one can visit the “Parade of Flags”, a spectacular presentation of all kinds of flags, lite up at night and blowing in a stiff breeze when we were there. One can find all 50 state flags, armed services flags, a POW flag, and the American flag as well as U.S. Territorial flags lining the Suhr Pathway trail.
Nice way to welcome visitors to this Nebraska town of 1,176 souls.
We travel along route 34 across the Great Plains of Central Nebraska, through small agricultural towns known for producing corn (maize), soybeans, alfalfa, sorghum, cattle, and hogs. Grain solos and irrigation rigs dominate the landscape. Grand Island, NE, (population 51,000) is next, where we crossed the Platte River, the shallowest river in the world. For most of this course the Platte is wide and extensively braided, making for a complicated riparian system of sand bars, islands, and channels. Perfect for migrating birds. We follow the Platte through more agriculturally based small towns, with the Mormon Trail to Utah and the Transcontinental Railroad on the north side of the Platte and the Oregon Trail and Pony Express Trail on the south side.
A 40 mile stretch of the Platte, between Grand Island and Kearney is a resting place for Sandhill Cranes traveling their migratory path from wintering grounds in Florida, the Rio Grande Basin and Mexico on their way to breeding grounds in Alaska and northern Canada. They stop here briefly to refuel on spent corn in the agricultural fields in the basin.
The week before we arrived the “Crane Hot Line” reported that around 500,000 birds were scattered about. Yes there is a crane hot line, maned or more correctly “womaned”, by Sally, a chipper octogenarian who has been providing bird lovers with daily reports about crane comings and goings in the basin forever. When we got there, many cranes had already moved on, but we saw thousands, in groups of two to five hundred. By April 15th Sally reports they will all be gone most likely.
For reasons unknown to us they have always “bottlenecked” in the Platte Basin, long before farmers supplied the spent corn largess to them. A grand and glorious phenomenon indeed.
It is quite something to see these gorgeous birds gliding about, feeding, flipping their tails, moaning, hissing, honking, and rattling their bugle calls, given on the ground as well as in flight, which one can hear 2.5 miles away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbn8yIq7_LM
Next, we pass through Cozad, NE (population 4,000) and cross the 100th meridian, an imaginary north-south running line that splits America in half. Generally speaking, east of the 100th one can grow non-irrigated crops. West of the 100th, forget it. Irrigation is essential, except for some crops, like dry land wheat. The further west one goes the drier it gets.
Finally we pull into East Southerland State Wildlife Unit, smack dab on the north side of I-80, and camp for the night on the shores of a clear lake with a few Canada Geese and American Coots as companions. All night we are serenated by semi-trucks flying by at 80 mph.
Day #5
Southerland, NE to Wheatland, NE
First stop – Ozzie’s Sinclair for gas. They have a different view of COVID and law enforcement in these parts.
Next comes Sidney, NE, the world headquarters of Cabela’s.
We are traveling up the Platte basin with wind generators, wind mills, cattle, corn fields, and trains on display, finally to Kimball, NE, (population 2,500) in 1870 the furthest extension of the Union Pacific Railroad, Here we turn north to intersect route 26 at Scottsbluff, NE (population 15,000). Just west of Henry, NE (population 106) we entered Wyoming (Dick Cheney country).
We made our way to the Wheatland Reservoir #1, a manmade lake where we spent a pleasant evening camped alone after a contingent of local boys and girls blustering about in monster trucks had their fun.
Apparently, in this neck of the woods one way to celebrate Easter is to get loaded up on booze, break out the guns, fire up the monster trucks, and drive around whooping and hollering, get a big bonfire going and cap the night with fireworks and gun fire while screaming, “He is risen, he is risen.”
But all went well. After the show, the locals left, a welcome quiet descended and American coots put on an entertaining feeding display, diving and dabbling their way across the glassy stillness of the lake.
Great Horned Owl hooting away in the night.
Day #6
Wheatland, NE to Ashland, MT
From Wheatland we traveled north on I-25 to Glendo, WY, (population 205). In Douglas (population 6,000) we turned north on route 59 and passed through portions of the Thunder Basin National Grassland, then on to Wright, WY (population 1,260), then Gillette (population 32,000), near Devil’s Tower, an 867 foot shear-walled igneous monolith towering over the Black Hills landscape, a must see wonder of nature.
Lots of prong-horn antelope begin to appear, which are not antelope at all, but a kind of deer.
North of Gillette we come to Biddle, MT (population 61), home of the Cross Ranch Mercantile. “If you can’t get it at the Cross Ranch, you don’t need it.”
On to Broadus, MT (population 468), where in past western adventures we have eaten at Maggie’s CafĂ© – “CASH ONLY IF YOU PLEASE”. Broadus is also the location of a story about a welder by the name of Chance Lambert who I have written about.
We turn west on route 212 and make our way to one of our favorite camp sites, the Holiday Spring Campground in the Custer National Forest, for a pleasant repose.
Day #7 Holiday Springs to Butte.
A day of dash through Billings (109,595), Big Timber (1,396), Bozeman (46,746), and Belgrade (8,685) to get to Butte (33,964) before snow, sleet, and rain.
We make Butte escorted by fair weather and check in at a pet friendly La Quinta.
Tomorrow, Corvallis, MT, home of our dear daughter, Sarah, and her husband Chad.