Nebraska

Nebraska has surprised all of us. It is a beautiful state. We have been riding in the far most western part of the state, which is different that the rest of the state. Starting in Kimball, NE we immediately started seeing bluffs as we drove toward our first ranch destination, the Flying Bee.

Some of you may have seen the Best of America TV show about the Flying Bee, which was a wonderful representation of the ranch and all it has to offer. We stayed at the campground in the lowlands surrounded by the bluffs, which the owner decribed as "National Park scenery." She was absolutely accurate. People don't know what they are missing if they only drive by on the main highways and don't get off onto the county roads to see some of these beautiful sights.

One of the highlights at this ranch was to ride in a Pony Express re-enactment. Both Jim and I carried letters on the Pony Express route as fast as we could and passed the pouch to the next rider. In the re-enactment in June they charge $5.00 per letter just as they did in the day when the Pony Express was in business. Can you imagine how dear those letters were to pay that price in 1860?

We continue to ride northward and Nebraska gets more beautiful as we see pine trees and the terrain becomes more hilly. We have been staying at a series of guest ranches that have treated us like royalty, serving us dinners as they would their regular guests. One of the ranches serves Dutch oven dinners, cooked over an open fire. Delicious.

We are looking forward to South Dakota and Mt Rushmore by next weekend. Unbelievable. It's going so quickly!