Driving Nebraska

Sunrise near Kearney, Nebraska

Nebraska is flat!  I was struck by the wide open landscape and the dearth of trees.  You could understand why early settlers resorted to building sod houses, for wood is scarce.  When we saw trees,  often cottonwoods,  it signaled a river or natural water source.

Nebraska landscape along I-80

The Great Platte River Road

Sun halo (sun dog) we saw at a rest stop along I-80

Huge fields with nary a farmhouse in sight

Irrigation machinery

A whimsical Nebraska practice — capping fence posts with old, discarded boots

Power lines across the Nebraska landscape, near sunrise

Nearing sunrise, Nebraska

When we left Kearney, we drove north and west through the sandhills of Nebraska.  This is the mid-grass prairie, but the grass grows in clumps rather than in waving expanses, on undulating low hills.  It is range country.  I was surprised to see windmills dotting the range every couple of miles.  I was also surprised at the hundreds of ponds and rainwater basins dotting the land, many with sapphire blue water.

Sandhills (with pronghorn)

Horse with cottonwoods

The ubiquitous windmill

Sandhill region of Nebraska

I had not seen such natural blue water since Crater Lake.

Train tracks (We saw so many trains carrying coal — I counted 120 coal cars on one train.)