July 16, 2013

View of the day-The Niobrara River south of Valentine , Nebraska...Al is not thinking of jumping.

Today was a pack up the camper day, as we decided to move on.  There wouldn't be any combining here for a couple of weeks and we didn't have any work lined up anyway, so it was time for a different view.

We got the camper closed up and took off south...that's right, south.  We stopped in Winner for fuel, then headed west to Mission, SD.  It was a slow go, with the one lane traffic due to road construction, but at least we got to drive on the newly poured cement part of the highway.

At Mission, we turned south on the US83 highway and headed for our destination...Valentine, Nebraska.  It had been a few years since we had travelled this stretch of highway.  When we worked for Johnson Harvesting out of Arcola...not the Minnesota crew...this was the regular route down to Cherokee, OK.

We found a campground close to town, then went to see some of the sights.  We went south of town to take a look at the scenic overlook of the Niobrara River.  They have taken out the rail line and have made a walking trail that will eventually be 300 miles long from Norfolk to Chadron, NE.  

We could see the walkway went around a corner and thought that was the way to the overlook, but once we got around the corner, Al said "we've been duped".  The trail went on and on, but Al was having none of that, so he went back to the truck and Marilyn carried on...it looked like a train trestle in the distance and she wanted to inspect it.

We had just had a late lunch or as Al likes to put it, "supper at old people's time", so a walk was just what was needed to work it off.  On the top of the ridge where the walkway was, the breeze was blowing at a good clip and it was just the right temperature to make the walk enjoyable.

After getting down the road, she could see the trestle had been made into a wooden walking bridge.  Marilyn had to see what the view was like by crossing it.  It was well worthwhile...a gorgeous view.

The walk back was a bit longer and apparently, the last mile was uphill...thongs were not a good choice. New thongs, at least.

After the stroll, we went back through town and home to the camper so Al could watch his MLB All Star game. He concedes bragging rights for the automatic aiming dish to Marilyn...it works like a dream and he was up and running in 5 minutes.

Someone with the initials Marilyn gets to say "I told you so"...