Day 7:

All in all things went well at the Wilber Hotel last night; I am grateful to Fr. Doug for taking the smaller bed and allowing me to have the double. Luckily I had earplugs, at one point I was convinced that Fr. Doug was running a chainsaw in the room. Actually it sounded like he was running a chainsaw with the throttle totally open cutting down a large sequoia. I thought I was going to have to call in Greenpeace to stop the destruction until I put in the ear plugs and fell asleep.



Wilber Hotel. A great place to stay if you are into things Fr. Aron likes.

Fr. Doug got up earlier than me, of course, and made his way out to the front porch of the hotel to pray the Divine Office. After getting ready we went to Mass at St. Wenceslaus Church in Wilber. It is located in Bishop Fabian Bruskewiz's Catholic Disneyland, aka the Diocese of Lincoln (Lincoln has the highest priest - people ratio in the country). The Lincoln diocese has 80,000 Catholics and has 42 seminarians.  The priest was gracious and, much to my delight, there many young families. 

After Mass we returned to the hotel where we had a buffet breakfast that included sausage biscuits and gravy and oddly enough, a salad bar. When we finished our breakfast we headed out to tour the Nebraska countryside. I am telling you if you see one mile of Nebraska, you have seen the whole place. Actually I enjoyed tooling along I-80 listening to an AM station that played old country. It made the hours I spent driving on the prairie feel like I drove hours on the prairie. Though for some reason it wasn't all that bad.

Along the way I wanted to stop at the Nebraska State Fair, however Fr. Doug said if you have seen one state fair you have seen them all. After awhile we did get off the interstate to see a small museum that showcased a sod house. Sod was the common building material of the men and women who came west as a result of the Homestead Act. Knowing that the middle of the United States contained a great wasteland of sorts the government devised a plan to get people to develop the land. Beginning in 1862 the Homestead Act gave 160 acres of land, for free, to anyone who would live on it, cultivate it, and build a house on it. The catch was it was still government property for 5 years at which time an inspector would come to see if you held up your end of the bargain. If you did, the land was yours. Building materials out on the praries were hard to find since this area contained virtually no trees and the homesteaders could not afford to buy bricks. The thick prairie grass,  with a root system far thicker than our modern lawns, made great building material when it was cut into strips of sod and fashioned into a home. Very few of these structures still stand.

Fr. Doug's dream rectory

 

On the lookout for the Schwan's man. Been waiting for the better part of 35 years.

 

No, I am not interested in vinyl siding.

 

Bring me my supper. Wait, I live here alone. Never mind, I will just wait for the Schwan's man to bring me my chicken patties.

 

Heating with cow chips

 

Fr. Doug and a local. The entire work of art is made of barbed wire 

 

Barbed wire buffalo. We never had this much fun in shop class

 

When we visited the sod house we learned that insanity was a big problem for the homesteaders. Loneliness, lots of work with little payoff, rough living conditions, and disease pushed many to the edge. While we have thus far been able to avoid such maladies on our trip, we did come dangerously close today. First of all Fr. Doug was pushed to the very end of his patience (he didn't crack) when I sang along with You Picked a Fine Time to Leave me Lucille at the top of my lungs. Secondly he must have been overwhelmed by the shear tackiness of the Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte, Nebraska.

 

 



 Fort Cody, defending souvenirs since 1950

 

Fort Cody is one of those "only in America" kinds of places. The "free museum" is a mechanical wild west show. The fort has many items including plastic western figurines, tomahawks, cow pie frisbees, and ashtrays with Gerald Ford pictured on them (he was a Nebraskan after all).

 

Quite possibly the biggest image of Buffalo Bill in our galaxy

 

"I will trade you three fox hides and a beaver pelt for one plastic sword"

 

Fr. Doug leaves the fort a better man. Please note the even better man who died defending the toy guns inside (he is hanging by the G in trading)

 

 

 

After our rather surreal trip to Fort Cody we hit the trail once again and headed for Denver. When we reached Denver we stopped at the legendary Buckhorn Exchange for supper.

 



The Buckhorn Exchange

 

 

Founded in 1893 it is a Denver landmark. Teddy Roosevelt used to frequent the place on his famed hunts out west. I made reservations for most of the places where we dined. I should have called here, but didn't. If you plan to go to Denver make reservations if you want to eat here (we were consigned to the bar area due to a lack of reservations). For dinner we had alligator, elk, buffalo sausage, and salmon.

 







 Fr. Doug enjoys Elk almost as much as he does Alligator

 

Interior of the Buckhorn Exchange, aka plans for St. Joseph's rectory

 

 

After Denver we headed to Leadville, Colorado where we are lodged for the night at the Delaware Hotel. A typical 1880s hotel it is located in heart of the city with the highest altitude in the United States.

 

The Deleware Hotel

 

Looks like Fr. Doug is about to fire up the  Husqvarna 460 Rancher

 

Lobby at the Delaware

 

Stairs that lead to the hotel room. After 612 miles today, these steps are not all that amusing.