And Nebraska isn’t flat. Just wanted to dispelled some common misconceptions. Most of Nebraska that people see is along I-80, which is rather flat due to the Platte river. A perfect place to put a highway, but certainly not representative of the entire state as my sore legs can attest to. The hills aren’t as steep as Iowa though, so I’m not complaining.
I’m especially not complaining about Ben and Randy, my hosts for the night. Randy cooked an awesome dinner, including fresh baked bread. Ben renewed my interest in skydiving, which I know some of you reading this are also interested in. When I get back lets do that. They also showed me around Blue Hill, which for a town with a little over 700 people has a suprisingly large downtown. Overall we had some great conversations and a really good time.
Last couple days have been a little long, 88 and 75 miles, so tomorrow I’m only going to do about 45. I’m going to pass through Red Cloud, home of Willa Cather, and my cousin’s namesake. Since I will be seeing her when I get to California it seemed fitting.
*Before the linguists in the audience start leaving smartass comments, yes, I understand everyone has an accent of sorts, but a number of people have been suprised about my lack of a New Jersey accent. I explain that there isn’t one unified accent, and no one from there says Joisey.
[Edit: Corrected Blue Hill’s population.]
Red Cloud, probably named after a famous Sioux war chief, is the setting for much of Cather’s “My Antonia.” If you’re interested in Red Cloud the man, see Robert Larson’s bio. And the flatness of the Platte River region is one of the reasons the builders of the Union Pacific chose it for much of their route.
I have heard people from Bayonne say something suspiciously close to “Joisey”…
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Oh that father of ours. Always with the books. I’ve also been explaining the New Jersey accent (or lack thereof) to people here in España (most of whom have accents of their own; some of whom are from Canada, Chicago, and Wisconsin of all places). Though I will mostly blame dad for our lack of accents. Good on ya pops! Anyway Turkey, I’m enjoying your blog, of course, hope you’ve been getting my emails and can’t wait to see you…whenever that may be.
Hope? Have you not gotten my emails? I replied to each one of yours.
Hm…Strange. I got that last reply definitely. It gets confusing when everyone’s responding and it’s all under the same email heading. But I believe you. I’ll go back and look. Sorry I won’t be able to meet you in Denver. And at this rate California isn’t looking so good either simply because my schedule won’t jive I’m afraid. Still playing it by ear though. I’m home in 9 days, I’ll work from there.
David, stop playin! You know you have a heavy Korean-Armenian accent! 😀
We were happy to have you visit, David. Just a small correction — Blue Hill’s population is a little over 700. But, we do have a remarkably developed commercial “district” for a town of our size.
Thanks for having me. I’ve corrected my post, not sure where I got the 300 from.