HOME???

The sky warned of a storm approaching so we stopped for the evening in McCook, Ne. a turn of the century town with a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It did pour and hail but despite the nasty sky no tornado in this tornado alley. The next day at Arapahoe we left US 6 for US 136 which the map showed to be a straight line across the farm belt as far as Indianapolis, Indianna. A mile into the new route we passed the little town of Edison, a once thriving river town of abandoned and ruined red brick buildings overgrown with weeds. What happened? A few miles furthur I stopped to read an historical marker as I had done regularly on this trip. The marker described a flood in 1935 when the Republican River widened 2 to 4 miles to depths of 8 feet killing 100 people. Eliot was at the apex of 2 intersecting rivers and never recovered. A set of lakes and dams have been built to curtail future flooding. I searched in book stores and asked oldtimers but no one seemed to remember what must have been the flood of the century.


Willa Cather grew up in this land. We drove down the streets so familiar to her and saw her child hood home. Much of Red Cloud, her native home, seemed closed.The Homestead National Monument of America was closed when we arrived. Its nearby town Beatrice, housed the fanciest turn of the century buildings I've seen. Many were empty, some were being restored even with gold trim. A Victorian Queen Anne home turned Inn in Auburn captured us for the the evening.

The next day found us in the Missouri River town of Brownsville that was hosing its annual Writers event. Three bookstores line the 3 block historic district. A health food store and artists shops and community center filled up the rest of the space. We met an artist who said he was trained at the Pratt Institute who also claimed to be a Naval Academy graduate. After 3 hours of walking and talking and buying used books we crossed the river into Havana and to the Dickson Indian Mounds Museum. A rainstorm followed us into Danville, Illinois and dinner at a roadhouse restaurant described as" the best". No one mentioned the deafening hard rock band that made it impossible to talk to the waitress or eat in comfort.

The drive across Indiana and West Virginia except for occasional stops at pottery barns on US 40 were uneventful. Stopping for dinner in Maryland, a farmer family couldn't believe we were going to drive 80 miles to Annapolis. For me who was driving well over 300 miles a day his concern was surprising. However, not caring to arrive after dark to a house I hadn't been in for some months, we took his advice and spent our last night on the road in Clear Spring, Md.. The next day we were on the Interstate with big 18 wheelers and speeding cars with drivers who had faces etched in tension. This was the East I would have to readjust to or....it was tempting to think about turning around and heading west again on my 2 lane highways through small town Mayberry America.

At 2:30 on April 27 we arrived at 35 Eastern Ave to end my blue highways road trip of 11,532 miles with 200 new books and 5000 photographs and a life time of memories,