When I was a young pup, one of my favorite writers was Tom Allan of the Omaha World-Herald.
His column titled, “Nebraska Byways,” were educational and heartwarming.
Allan shared hundreds of stories about the unique people that worked hard to make their Nebraska villages or hamlets a better place to live.
I though of Tom Allan this past weekend as I drove through dozens of Nebraska towns.
I traveled to Red Cloud, located on the banks of the Republican River in southern Webster County to retrieve a secondhand table saw my daughter and her husband purchased for their wood working business.
My 350-mile trip to RC was covered in two days.
First it was a stop in Cozad to see old friends.
The town continues to expand with new businesses, buildings, and houses. A new gym for Cozad High School is under construction. The new structure will offer more floor space than the current gym, which opened in 1967. The current facility is the envy of most Nebraska schools. I can’t image the lust that will be created when the new facility opens in August 2024.
Cozad folks are proud of their community.
All one must do for proof is drive around this hay town of 3,977 people and admire how they care for their homes and lawns.
Very few would fall in the category of unkempt.
On Saturday evening and Sunday, I visited more friends in Red Cloud.
Willa Cather’s hometown now offers residence for 1,000 people.
Not much changes in Red Cloud from year to year.
The football boys now play other six-man teams, and a new parking lot was constructed near Warrior Field, but that’s about all.
The lawns in Red Cloud are more of a brown than green as rain is badly needed in the Republican Valley.
The proud Republican River is flowing slowly, and the sandbars continue to grow.
Other towns that I had not traveled to in many moons were Blue Hill for Saturday night supper. The Blue Hill Tavern offered wonderful pizza served by the sweetest waitress. You don’t forget people like . . . well, I can’t remember her name.
The Sunday travel from Red Cloud took me through Inavale and Riverton. Most of the businesses have dried up and the old buildings along U.S. Highway 136 have not received a fresh coat of paint since the Eisenhower administration.
However, the churches in these small towns appear to be in pristine condition.
It warmed my heart to view the TLC received by God’s houses.
My travels included tours through Franklin, Bloomington, Republican City, Alma, Orleans, Oxford, Edison, Arapahoe, Elwood, Eustin, Farnam, Gothenburg, Arnold, Stapleton, Thedford, Mullen, Whitman, Hyannis and, well, you know the rest.
Other than the people with whom I visited, the best part of the trip was driving in a steady rain between Bridgeport and Oshkosh on Friday evening.
May that part of the trip be repeated in Alliance and Hemingford sooner than later.