Ohhhhh Nebraska
Day 2 of my adventure and it. was. a. thriller. Have you ever driven I-80 clear across Nebraska? If you have, you know the excitement that ensues on that journey. hahaha If you haven’t, let me paint a picture for you.
It’s Fall, the end of October to be specific, and I just had a lovely evening catching up with an old friend who graciously hosted me at her house for the night. (if you missed that blog post, you can read it here) Before I headed out for a day of driving, I took a look at Google Maps to see what my adventure would look like. 342 MILES ON A SINGLE INTERSTATE?! ALL IN NEBRASKA?! cool cool cool. Love that for me. lol I wish I could say I had a more positive outlook, but as this blog indicates, I was anticipating a very boring day.
That is, until I remembered I had made some really rad playlists for myself, bought a few audiobooks, and had an idea of where to stop midday for some fun. Sure the sights from I-80 would mainly be crusty cornfields after harvest, but there was Kearney, NE to look forward to! What is in Kearney, NE you ask? Well according to my brother, who shortly before I left on my adventure, told me about a trip he took a bunch of youth on years ago, and the kids were OBSESSED with the short stop they made in Kearney. What was supposed to be a quick, one-time, pit stop along their travels, turned into them returning on their way home because the kiddos couldn’t stop talking about it. I still didn’t quite know what all Kearney had to offer, but I knew I had to go.
So! Off I went, from Omaha in the AM to Kearney by around lunchtime. This day I decided to bust out my favorite Taylor Swift songs playlist to jam out to along the way. She had quite the year, didn’t she? I sang along and drummed on my steering wheel and was generally having a pretty dang good time :) As I got closer to Kearney, I started looking for signs to see what types of attractions I could experience. Maybe the kids my brother took on that trip loved a specific diner or massive ear of corn sculpture… hmmmmm Or maybe my eye would catch on a sign for Stagecoach, a gift and jewelry shop. I’m actually not sure why my eye caught that sign. I’m not really a souvenir type gal and I literally just sold a ton of my stuff so I could fit what I own in my car. I wasn’t exactly looking to add to my load.
But! That’s where my lil heart wanted to go, so to Stagecoach I went!
There she is, in all her glory.
Inside the shop itself was decked out for Halloween as it was Oct. 31st and I could tell people were coming into that store specifically that day for last-minute costumes as they had quite the selection to choose from. I also noticed a large amount of Native American art, jewelry, and clothes. From what I could read at the store and the website, it seemed as though the owners had a long-standing relationship and partnership with tribes in the area as the family was studying silver smithing under some of the Navajo artists that sell their creations in the store. Cool!
Although I didn’t end up purchasing anything that day (I really didn’t want to start my adventure by adding more items to haul haha) I recommend stopping by if you happen to be in Kearney, NE :)
After some lunch from my trunk cooler and testing out the cardboard blackout window shades (thanks for making them mom!) it was time to hit the road for the rest of my drive across Nebraska. End goal for the day? Sedgewick, Colorado! To be honest, the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. I listened to a few chapters of “Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe” by Laura Lynne Jackson after I ran through the rest of my TSwift playlist and took a chance on local radio and was pleasantly surprised to come across a local tribe’s live music.
I ended up in Sedgewick late afternoon at the Sedgewick Antique Inn. I soon found out that Lupe, the owner of the inn, was quite prolific in this teeny tiny town of around 200 people. Not only did she own the inn, but also bought the old high school and was fixing it up to eventually be used as an event center and she had multiple rental properties as well. Lupe is one of those people that can talk to anyone and enjoys doing so and I was happy to listen to her entrepreneurial stories and cheer her on with her creative ideas.
I learned after I arrived that this inn is marketed to and primarily occupied by hunters. No frills, but I enjoyed it very much!
I actually bumped into another person while grabbing dinner at a nearby diner who wanted to share their life story with me as well. haha I don’t remember this guy’s name, but he chatted my ear off as if I was an old friend and part of the community. This particular area of Colorado has a lot of ranchers and hunters and the diner I stopped in definitely had that vibe with cowboy hats and boots worn NOT for aesthetic reasons. An older version of me might be afraid of what these folks might think of a visibly queer person coming into their diner, but Oct 31, 2023 Whit didn’t lead with fear. I stepped in through the door as if I belonged and enjoyed myself hearing about a rancher’s life story from California to Colorado.
It’s one thing to intellectually know that I create my reality and that the beliefs and thought forms I have reflect back to me, and it’s another completely to embody and live it. My Sedgewick experience was a little taste of the inner work I have been doing and it was so lovely to see it play out.
Next up, my drive in the mountains to my first month-long stop!
With joy and love, Whit
