Trip 5: Day 34 (Holdrege, McCook, Imperial)

Started out yesterday with a bad breakfast that got my stomach upset for a while, but I eventually worked through it. The drinking the night before probably didn't help much either. I made a bit of a pledge to stop drinking for at least the rest of the trip. If anything, I may get some THC products, like the pot chocolate, while in Denver, because why not.

The turn-off for Kearney, strangely, is a very popular turn-off. Most of the traffic in both directions on US 6 seemed to be turning there. The first town west of the turn-off for Kearney is Axtell. Approaching Axtell, and looking directly west (US 6 is on a west-southwest course here), you'll see a few larger buildings. This is Mosaic at Bethpage, a Lutheran ministry dedicated to helping disabled people live full lives. Though the actual church and housing complex is located here, there is also a very large thrift store in Holdrege that supports the organization. It was very peaceful here, just in walking around. There is a museum (the "Talbot Museum") and a gift shop, but neither were open on this Sunday. I guess I was supposed to be in church...

The Funk School

The next town was one that I had written down for a stop: Funk. I wanted a picture of Downtown Funk. It was a bit sad -just three buildings - but none of the few businesses there took advantage of their town's name.

Downtown Funk

Old railway station, now a
professional building
Downtown Holdrege

In Holdrege, I stopped at the McDonald's, which seemed to be one of the only places in town with wifi. And the wifi was quite good. I've begun to rely on McDonald's for wifi access, particularly on Sundays.
Sundays are tough in small towns. Most businesses are closed, except for a couple of restaurants that serve after-church crowds. Even supermarkets are sometimes closed. So, even if there is a coffee shop, local museum, brewpub, or something else of interest, it's likely to be closed. Holdrege was no different. I ended up eating at a Runza, as I thought this was the place time I would be able to get it. Runza is a Nebraska chain that serves the namesake style of pocket sandwich that is found mostly in Eastern Europe. Most of the sandwiches are ground beef based and contain some cheese. The Runza chain also has regular burgers, sandwiches, french fries, etc. I don't usually eat here. It's pricey and I like to say that you will always end up with the name of the place in the end ("the runs-a"). But it's probably better than McDonald's, which was my other choice, and I had already spent enough time there for one day.



McCook was the next major town. I had intended on visiting a museum there - Museum of the High Plains - but it was closed until Tuesday. Everything else was closed and, again, I ended up at a McDonald's. It's too bad, because I had been there before and really liked the town. It has a little German bakery in its downtown area that has wifi and some excellent pastries. But, strangely, McCook's brewery is open Sundays. Loop Brewing has been there for several years, and sits in what looks like an old BNSF building right along the tracks. They had five beers plus a root beer on tap when I was there.

US 6/34 split

West of McCook, US 34 and US 6 finally split. The most direct way to Denver is US 34, to the left but, of course, I took US 6. The result was a shockingly low amount of traffic. I would go for several minutes at a time and never see any cars. This allowed me to basically stand in the middle of the highway at times and take pictures of the evening. I'm sure that US 34 is not exactly bustling. The I-80/I-76 route has taken most of the traffic from both of these routes, and all that's left is the little bit of traffic that runs between the various small towns along it.

This part of the Plains is my favorite. The landscape is of grassy, broken canyons and hills with almost endless vistas. Homes are few and far between, and the irrigated farms that have dotted the highway up to this point mostly drop off, leaving fenced ranchland. This is essentially the same landscape you find to the north in the Dakota Badlands but not quite as dramatic. However, tourists never venture into this area. They have no reason to.

Past the 6/34 split, you go into an especially desolate area, where the few towns that exist are over 10 miles apart. Palisade is first. Aside from a saloon, much of the town is empty and extremely quiet.

The next town, Wauneta, is larger, and is where US 6 once turned to the north, before Enders Reservoir was constructed and US 6 was rerouted west to reach it. There is no indication of the historic routing here from signs. The former turn is now used as a public truck parking area, as indicated by a sign when entering into town, and the old path is obvious.
I stopped a bit after Wauneta onto what looked like an old routing of US 6 closer to the railroad track. It was not or, if it was, it was so old that there was no longer any evidence of grading. Thinking of it now though, since I was west of the original northern turn of US 6, this wasn't the original routing anyway. I got closer to some of the dramatic, sandy cliffs that you get in this part of the Plains though.

Before going to the campground, I stopped at Imperial to buy a candy bar. Imperial is one of my favorite towns in the country. It's cute, people are generally friendly, and it's in a beautiful setting. Frenchman Creek, which US 6 follows west from here, forms the long Frenchman Valley, making Imperial a bit flatter than the surrounding areas.

Camping was at Champion Lake, also a part of Frenchman Creek, west of Imperial. Strangely, I had originally intended on camping here when I first came through in 2009, but tornado warnings drove me to the small Northside Motel in Imperial, where I ended up having a pretty decent night. Camping worked out though. I was alone, it was quiet, and it was not excessively cold. I had pulled out both the lighter bag and the mummy bag, and began the night on top of the mummy bag for padding with the lighter bag draped over me. At about 3am though, it got cold enough to warrant the mummy bag, so I got inside - pushing the lighter bag to the bottom to use as padding - and slept fairly well for the rest of the night.
Camping pictures. It was a beautiful sunset.