Priorities - Part 2, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017

Continued from "Explore It!"

I forgot to mention that I was supposed to change motels this morning because when I originally booked my reservation, tonight was not available. I was to check out for one night, then check back in for Monday night. A Nebraska Wander Freunde Trailblazer Volksmarch club member, Nancy, volunteered to let me stay in her two-room suite at a different motel for one night. I felt very fortunate.

I went to the desk to check out this morning before our Aurora walk. The lady working the desk said, "Oh, you're Susan. You don't need to check out. We have availability for tonight and you can stay in the same room." I was thrilled. 

* * * * * * * 

Our evening walk started in Central City, Nebraska. We arrived close to the start time of the walk to check in, get our Volksmarch books stamped, and pick up the directions. I sheepishly explained to the volunteers at the start table that I lost my ticket earlier in the day on the Aurora walk. Before I could even finish explaining, they held up my ticket. They had found it in the street or parking lot at the Aurora walk and brought it with them tonight. I didn't even have a chance to pull out my receipt that showed I had paid for the walk. Good karma today.

The 11k walk this evening is a combination of a 6k Central City walk and a 5k Dark Island Trail walk. The Dark Island Trail is an out-and-back rails-to-trails walk that goes to a bridge over the Platte River. The goal was to time our walks so we would end up at the Platte River Bridge at sunset. 

The information on our walk instruction sheet for Central City is this:

"Central City was first 'Elvira' and then 'Lone Tree' in 1866 when it became the county seat of Merrick County. The 'Lone Tree' marked the spot where the Mormon, Oregon and California Trails all intersected. The name was changed in 1875. Central City is now home to 2,500 people. Wright Marion Morris spent his earliest years here and wrote about life on the Great Plains as he knew it, living from 1910 to 1988. He was also a photographer. This walk visits his boyhood home."

The Central City 6k was the first walk we did. There's quite a bit of history here.
The elementary ("Grade") school and auditorium were built in 1927 and are still in use today.

Central City's 1927 Grade School

A very cute house

Christ Church, built in 1883 and in continuous use by the congregation ever since, was open and staffed today just for our walk. The church is built in the "English country" style with a wood-carved altar and stained glass windows. The volunteers inside handed out free water to our walkers. That was so sweet of them. 

Christ Church Central City

We passed by the Heber Hord house. The description on our walk sheet reads: "At the turn of the century the Hord family was one of the world's largest livestock feeders with feedlots of cattle (10,000 head), sheep (also 10,000 head) and hogs (7,000 head). The Hord name was also on lumberyards, banks, and grain elevators. The clock in front of the house is dedicated to Monte Hord (a grandson) who was killed on the 104th floor in the North Tower on 9/11/2001."

9/11 Memorial Clock

Walking through neighborhoods, we saw lovely restored homes and the one below, which is in the process of being restored. Our group commented on the wrap-around porch. According to author Wright Morris, this is "the house with the run-around porch...What made the house a home was the run-around porch, a screen that stuck or slammed, a wire basket of dead ferns, a swing that scuffed the paint off the clapboards, a rail to lean on when you threw up, a stoop to sit on when you watered the grass." This home will be a gem once again when it's refurbished.

Just down the street is the Wright Morris Boyhood Home. The home was open and was our checkpoint for the 6k portion of the walk.

Wright Morris was an internationally recognized author and received the National Book Award in 1957 for "The Field of Vision" and the American Book Award in 1981 for "Plains Song." He was born in 1910 in Central City and spent the first nine years growing up there. He wrote thirty other books and many short stories, using Nebraska and his plains boyhood experiences as themes in his writings. Morris died at the age of 88.

Dinnertime was at hand and we were ready for at least a Blizzard. We knew there was a Dairy Queen coming up. When we arrived at DQ, it was getting close to sunset, but we thought we could make it to the Platte River in time for sunset. Little did we know we would have to wait 1/2 hour before our Blizzards were finally ready. I guess I know where our priorities are.

Lotsa hostas!

Blizzards in hand, we ate them as we hastily beat feet to finish our 6k. By the time we got to the start of our 5k Dark Island Trail, the sun was already setting. We had 1-1/2 miles to go to the bridge over the river to see the sunset. We weren't going to make it in time. Darned Blizzards! I made the best of it and took my sunset photos over a field instead. 

I walked onto the bridge to the middle of the Platte River. Susan and Darren turned back when a barrage of flying insects surrounded us as we neared the water. They waited for me to come back. By then it was pitch black...no streetlights out here!

Remains of the sunset over fields

Sunset fading away

Platte River at dusk

Dark Island Trail - bridge to the Platte

A smidge of color left in the sky

Below, Susan and Darren waited for me with Henry Rosales, Executive Director of the American Volkssport Association. It was definitely dark. I'm glad the Dark Island Trail was flat, relatively level, and straight so we could safely make our way back to the finish table.

Darren Medlin, Henry Rosales, Susan Medlin

Another busy day today and tomorrow is the big event: a total solar eclipse. 

(I'm almost finished catching up with the blogs for that vacation!)

Explore It - Part 1, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017

Aurora Borealis? Aurora, Colorado? Aurora, Illinois? Guess where we are to "explore it"? We are in Aurora, Nebraska to check out the town as part of our Volksmarch Eclipse Weekend. 

On our 1/2-hour drive to Aurora on I-80, we had a beautiful sunrise. In fact, the sky was beautiful most of the day.

Sunrise I-80 east near Aurora, Nebraska

Volksmarch start and finish location

Information about Aurora, Nebraska on our Volksmarch walk instructions states: "The first European settler came to this area in 1861. Aurora was founded in 1871 and named for Aurora, Illinois. It became Hamilton County's county seat in 1876. Currently, the population stands at around 4,500. Harold Edgerton, inventor of the strobe light, grew up here. [More about him later in the blog.]

Today, we are doing a 10k walk and got an early start because is going to be hot. To begin, we went out and back on a neighborhood street and then headed north on Hwy. 14 past the Explorit Center and the Plainsman Museum. Aurora's police officers were on duty to stop traffic when the Volksmarchers crossed Hwy. 14 and kept us safe.

Coming back already?
Nope, just getting started

Edgerton Explorit Center

No time to explore this museum today, but
it looked interesting

More lovely sky

After crossing Hwy. 14, the path before us went through Refshauge Park, a beautiful oasis right off the highway. It was still cool and we had nice shade as we traversed the park.

Me proving I was there

Refshauge Park

From the park, we started making our way around town. We saw a grain elevator, some churches, a water tower, parks, residences, and the Hamilton County Courthouse.

Aurora, Nebraska water tower

Grain elevator

Cool perspective (with my shadow)

What kind of flowers are these?

Brick sidewalks

Presbyterian church

Beautiful homes were the norm on this walk.

The hostas were in full bloom. When we lived in Oregon and Washington, our yards included a number of these.

The building below looks like it used to be a church but maybe was converted to a private home. There is no sign outside indicating it is a church.

The Hamilton County Courthouse is Country Capitol Style as it is modeled in the shape of the U.S. Capitol (except there's no dome and it is built with red brick and Colorado sandstone instead of marble).

Hamilton County Courthouse, 1895

Hamilton County Courthouse

Walkers in front of the courthouse

Continuing through the city, we passed an old cinema, the lime green Espressions coffee shop, and then we circled Cole Park on our way to our checkpoint. A big thank you to all those who volunteered today at the start/finish area, sales table, checkpoints, and those who marked our route with either chalk or bark dust (on the gravel parts of our trails). You made our life easier!

Downtown Aurora, Nebraska

Espressions...more than just coffee

Volksmarchers heading to Cole Park

Walking through Cole Park

One of the beautiful homes on our route

Adorable mail box

NOT an adorable mailbox...this is the real Farmall

We crossed another highway and entered Streeter Park. Streeter Park is large and we followed trails there for about a mile. I think the photo below is a fungus of some type. It sure is colorful!

Fungus among us?

The big shade trees in Streeter Park provided a drop in temperature of about 10 degrees when we walked in their shade. Ahhh!

Streeter Park

Suspension bridge with congregated Volksmarchers

The only shade on the city street was our own.

I was so surprised to find hibiscus in Aurora, Nebraska. Not just any hibiscus, but hibiscus with HUGE flowers. We lived in Hawaii for five years and I've seen my share of hibiscus; we even had some in our yard. But just check out these hibiscus flowers in the following photos. Wow!

Hibiscus in the corner of someone's yard

A different yard with hibiscus. Look at the
size of those flowers!!

Lovely sky over Hwy. 14 and the railroad tracks.

We ended our 10k walk in about 1/4 mile at the Edgerton Explorit Center. But our day is not done. After we had our Volksmarch books stamped for credit, we got a $1 off coupon for the Explorit Center. It was time to see who Howard Edgerton was.

Turns out this museum has a fascinating display about the invention of the strobe light, invented by Harold "Doc" Edgerton. 

Here's where we learn about "Doc" Edgerton

The most impressive uses of strobe lights are high-speed and stop-motion photography. A number of his photos are on display. 

A diver

Description of photo above

"How to Make Applesauce at MIT"

A cat falling and landing

Hitting a baseball

Throwing a baton

The rest of the museum housed hands-on activities. 

This lady was making large bubbles.

I found a really cool place to take my photo.

Bubble tubes

The most fascinating item was this laser music harp. You could play music by moving your hands through the laser beams. There are four laser beams, each beam plays a different instrument. One of the buttons on the front allows you to change the instruments. Darren and I took turns playing "music" on this. It was fun!

Laser Music Harp & speakers

Darren playing a tune

Of course, there was also an exhibit about the Total Solar Eclipse. After all, that's what most of the people were in Aurora for this weekend. All the little towns in the path of totality were booked up.

After our morning 10k walk and a visit to the museum, we headed back to our rooms to rest before the evening 11k walk in Central City and on the Dark Island Trail.

My room at the Best Western in Grand Island.

Check back for the evening's walks as I will post those separately.

To be continued...