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!)

Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center Volksmarch - Sat., Aug. 19, 2017

Fifteen minutes from Grand Island, Nebraska is the Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center on the Platte River. This is the location for either a 5k or 10k walk today. Crane Trust has opened its tall-grass prairie along the Platte River to us for our walk and mowed trails through the tall grasses.

According to Crane Trust's brochure:

"The Crane Trust and its Nature and Visitor Center are dedicated to the protectection and maintenance of critical habitat for cranes and other migratory birds through leading science, habitat management, community outreach and education."

At the Nature and Visitor Center, you can see:

• Guided Crane Tours (during migrations) 
• Genetically pure bison herd
• A movie about cranes
• Educational displays
• Miles of natural hiking trails
• 35-foot observation tower
• Hornady Art Gallery
• Crimson Crown Gift Shop

Normally, people flock here in the spring to view the sandhill crane migration, although temperatures can be 20 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit. Even Jane Goodall shows up for VIP tours. 

When we arrived at 8 a.m., we checked in for the walk and headed out to see what we could see. Since it is two different 5k loops that start at the same point, we will decide halfway through if we will do the second loop. The initial part of the trail is paved and passes informative displays on sandhill and whooping cranes. 

Sandhill crane info

Whooping crane info

Whooping crane migration facts

I hope you took time to read these if you are into birding. The information is so interesting. 

Sandhill cranes are one of the oldest avian species in existence. Each year, approximately 500,000 sandhill cranes pass through the Platte River Valley in mid-February on their northward migration. They spend 4-6 weeks resting and replenishing energy reserves before continuing northward to Canada, Alaska, or Siberia. There is also a fall migration.

The whooping cranes are much bigger and much rarer. Whoopers stop over from 2-3 days to rest and feed. Both can be seen at Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center during migration times.

Our path took us past a few more plaques telling about the genetically pure bison herd, the riverine wetland, and plants and animals that we might (or might not) see. 

A 35-foot observation tower loomed over us on the left. I was the only one in our group who went up to see the view of the Platte River. Turns out, it was the best view of the walk!

Volksmarchers at Crane Trust

View of the Platte River from the observation tower

Pedestrian bridge across the Platte River
from the observation tower

Pedestrian bridge from river level

Reading an interpretive sign

The Platte River at Crane Trust from river level

The cranes roost in the open in shallow sandbars of the river. During the day, a single meadow may contain 100,000 birds. Bird concentrations as high as 10,000 birds per 1/2 mile are not uncommon. Unfortunately, they are not here at this time of year. Although, we did see one sandhill crane standing in a different river on our way back to the motel.

From our first 5k trail we did not see much more of the river. We heard from others later that the second 5k portion did go along the river for a way.

One last view of the river before we walked through
the tall-grass prairie

As we walked along the river, I heard bob whites but never saw them. The trails were mowed through the tall meadow grasses. If they hadn't mowed, we would have been up to our waists or shoulders in grass!

A gentleman walking through the mowed meadow

I was surprised by the number of wildflowers we saw, many of them were new to me. Here's a sampling. (Sorry, I don't know the names of all of them.)

A type of goldenrod

Goldenrod

Woolly verbena (?)

Purple loosestrife (?)

Snow on the Mountain

Wild bergamot flowers

Rocky Mountain bee plant

Below are some pod plants that remind me of "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" movie I saw when I was a child.

Pod plants

Once we were in the meadow there was very little shade and no more views of the river. Other notable sights were the old windmill and a pond. No bison were in the meadow today. (That is a good thing.)

A very large toadstool

The windmill

A pond we passed toward the end of our 5k walk

It was hot and we decided not to do the second 5k walk. We met up with some more walkers on the bridge and stopped for a photo.

Once we had our Volksmarch books stamped, we spent time in the Visitor Center watching the movie about cranes, looked at the animal displays, and spent time in the gift shop.

Sandhill cranes (photo captured from the movie)

Sandhill crane artwork

Another beautiful piece of art

Visitor Center lobby and gift shop

Mural above front entry desk

It was lunchtime so Susan asked the ladies in the gift shop where would be a good place to eat. They suggested Runza, which is a local chain. A Runza sandwich is a large pieroshki (meat/vegetable filling wrapped in an enclosed bun). They were okay, but not our favorite. I've had home-made ones before that were much smaller and much tastier.

Our activity tonight was supposed to be a star party out in the country. A number of people were going to set up telescopes on a ridge and they invited everyone to come out to see the Milky Way, planets, and whatever else they could find. We found out at the end of our walk this morning that the Star Party was canceled due to a forecast of inclement weather. Oh, well. That's okay. We made the most of it.

After lunch, I took a two-hour nap and then Susan, Darren and I went to see "Logan Lucky." It was a fun movie about a couple of hillbillies who decided to rob NASCAR. All of us enjoyed it. It was a smartly done, tight, robbery movie with a lot of hijinks and "dumb" criminals. I can see a sequel coming. 

We had the evening free, so I worked on photos and blogged. The thunderstorms hit around 11:00 p.m. The rain pounded on my motel room window. 

Time for sleep. Tomorrow we have a 10k and an 11k walk. 

Lights out.