The sandhills of Northwestern Nebraska

When we left South Dakota, we took Highway 385 south and stopped at Chaldron, Nebraska for the night.

Across the street from the parking lot of the hotel, there was a restaurant called Runza.  Wonderful!  A great place to go for dinner.

We have friends at church who lived in Nebraska before moving to Kansas and we had heard them speak of runzas.  Similar to what we call bierrocks.

The runzas at this restaurant were rectangle in shape but tasted similar to our bierrocks.

This is a bierrock, pronounced "bee-rock".

These are usually filled with ground beef, cabbage and onion.  Our German Mennonite ancestors brought these over from Prussia back in 1874.

It rained during the night.  What a beautiful view from our room.  I was confused by the time on the clock.  I was thinking Nebraska was on the same time as our home in Kansas, but actually, it was in Mountain Time.

We left Chaldron on Highway 20.  A new road we could highlight in yellow!  I highlight all roads we've been on in yellow and on every trip, our goal is to add another yellow road.  

At the town of Gordon, we turned south on Highway 27.  It did not disappoint!

The roads wound up and around sandhill after sandhill.  

We stopped at a historical marker.

I'll have to see about checking out a book of hers.  I was not aquainted with this author.

I had read a book in our church library about those Japanese balloons back in 1944.

American White Pelicans are migrating over Nebraska!  

We texted the kids. "We found where we want to retire!"  Miles and miles of sandhills.  Fills my heart with such joy!

One granddaughter said "You could have miles and miles of love if you moved up here with us!"

We saw more wildlife than people.  We passed a few ranchers in their pickups.  But there were so very few homes - I don't know that we saw a house at all?

We pulled off at Ellsworth, an unincorpated company town with a population of 32 in 2000.  I had to go to the bathroom so bad and there had been no place along Highway 27.

This store was a company store for the Spade Ranch; it was built in 1898.  When we walked in, it smelled like an old store.  My grandpa's barn had that "old" smell.  Not a bad smell, more nostalgic.

"Can we use the restroom?" we asked the proprietor.

"Only if you buy something."

I bought a little bag of chips.

I would highly recommend taking this highway if you have a chance!

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"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?" - Corrie ten Boom