13 August 2018
So, it’s not even 10 PM and we are in our PJs, unwinding after another fun day. We could not find a single place in Colby, Oakley, Oberlin, or McCook to have breakfast, so we opted for a quick bite and a big iced tea at Sonic before we left Colby. Took us until day 3 to stop at Sonic – I think that’s a record!
We traveled up US 83 out of Kansas and into Nebraska, and saw very few cars and almost no big trucks, so we made great time. We had traveled this road before, so we didn’t make stops in those towns this time, especially since not much is open on Sunday mornings.
We decided to have lunch in North Platte, and we chose the Lincoln Highway Diner because we love the Lincoln Highway. It was an okay choice – we’ve been pretty underwhelmed with food options so far! We each had the hot roast beef sandwich and we left the bread and some of the mashed potatoes behind. It was tasty. Since it was a for real diner, you know they had pie, so we did, too….
We continued on Hwy 83 to Thedford, where we hopped on Nebraska 2, which is a scenic drive across the middle of the state. Lots of green rolling hills (if you’ve been to Scotland or Ireland, it’s very reminiscent), plenty of wildflowers, and NO traffic. We passed two cars, one motorcycle passed us, and two cars that were ahead of us briefly turned off. That’s it. Five other cars going the same direction that we were in almost two hours. We saw more trains than cars!
When we hit Allliance, we figured we may as well stop in at Carhenge (again). We were first here in 2007, on the Roadside Giant Tour. It hadn’t changed much, although now there is a little gift shop/concession stand and a for real parking lot. We drove on through Alliance and turned north to Chadron, NE.
We got to town about 5:30 and checked in our hotel and settled in, then went back down the road to the Chadron State Park for a little hike. We had done very little but ride and eat all day! We drove a couple of miles up a gravel road and then did the Black Hills Overlook trail. The scenery is so interesting here – think the prairie meets the badlands – and we were walking right along the top of a ridge. It was VERY windy – there were times we felt we could be blown right off the trail. Thankfully, we were not wearing our Sister Bertrille headgear (or any headgear!) so we stayed on the ground.
The sun was just setting as we drove back to town and headed to the Country Kitchen for a nice salad. Finally! We were about sandwiched out. Then we had to try out the famous ice cream shop here….
So that was our day – not too exciting, but a nice day for a Sunday drive!
