Our next stop was Valentine Nebraska. Valentine is located on the Northern border of Nebraska about in the middle of the state. Why go to Valentine? I have never toured Nebraska and when I started looking at possible places to visit I did not find that much. We could have visited Warren Buffett in Omaha but he never answered my calls. I did find a neat walking trail and a a converted railroad bridge. I also figured it would be cool to see some more rural destinations. Valentine, population 2785, would be my Nebraska.
We were in no rush this time and slept in. Then it was off to the airport. I had called ahead and the friendly folks at WestJet had our plane right out front. This time our clearance was a direct climb to our requested altitude and direct to destination. Does not get better than that. The weather was also perfect with a bit of tailwind giving us 187 knot ground speed (215 mph). This was a short hop at around 45 minutes.
Landing at Valentine we taxied up to the self serve pumps and the local staff came to meet us and help us fuel. Parking was close so rather than starting the plane and maneuvering about, he helped me push the plane to its spot. Pushing planes is pretty normal, I carry a bar that attached to the nose wheel so we can steer the plane as we push. It weighs about 2700 pounds gassed up without people and luggage. It is a bit of a chore to push solo especially since I bought my latest tire. I splurged and got the high end ones with Kevlar belts. They are excellent tires but stiffer and makes it hard to get rolling. Once moving they ride well though.
After getting the plane chained down. Yes chained, many places have ropes but some use metal chains. I prefer ropes as they do not damage the paint if they flap up again st the bottom of the plane while attaching and removing. Ropes are also easier to secure and have a bit of stretch. Plane secured now to get our rental car. In larger cities, you can call Avis, Hertz, Enterprise but at smaller spots you need to be more creative.
In Valentine you call the local Ford dealer. Pat took my info over the phone and I emailed her my insurance and drivers license. She left us a nice Ford Taurus parked at the airport with the keys tucked under the drivers visor. I must admit, I asked the airport operator if he had the keys and he just smiled and said to check the car. I looked in the car and could not find the keys but a quick call to Pat solved this. Who leaves a nice car with the Keys in the visor, not us big city folks.
We headed over to our hotel which was rather close to the airport. It was the first hotel I stayed in where I could see my plane from the hotel room. No Marriott for us this time, the The Niobrara Lodge was the best the town had to offer. To be fair it was equivalent to a Fairfield Inn. The staff was friendly and they had our room ready even though we were a bit early for check in.
Our first stop was downtown where we walked the entire main street, it was not a long walk. The biggest store was Youngs Western Wear that took up an entire block. In addition to clothe you could get saddles and all manner of horse tack and ropes. CC did find a cool T-shirt.
We then dropped by the Bunkhouse restaurant for lunch. It was a local place and the menu reminded me of food from my childhood. I had the open face hot roast beef sandwich, CC the grilled cheese and we split a slice of blueberry pie. Not the healthiest but pretty good.
Our next goal was the cowboy trail. Wikipedia describes it as "a rail trail in northern Nebraska. It is a multi-use recreational trail suitable for bicycling, walking and horseback riding. It occupies an abandoned Chicago and North Western Railway corridor." The trail will eventually be about 320 miles long but currently about 200 miles are done stretching between Valentine and Norfolk (I'll wait a bit while you pull out Google maps).
The star of the trail is the old 148 foot tall railroad bridge. Our hotel was near the trail and we could have walked a few miles to get to the bridge but we took the easy route and drove down to the river where they have a nice parking lot that gets you about a mile from the bridge. We walked the bridge end to end and the views were good. except you can't really capture the bridge. We headed back to the highway to really get a sense of the structure.
The next stop was the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge and a Park ranger had suggested going later in the day as you were more likely to see the animals. Valentine is at the extreme edge of Central time and sunset is not until 9:30 PM. This gave us plenty of time to rest up for our American safari.
Around 7 PM we headed out and quickly arrived. They have conveniently located the reserve about 5 miles from town. Unlike Custer where we search for bison for hours, we pretty much came upon them in the first 5 minutes. Bison are big and dangerous so we did all our watching from inside the car. While Custer had been pretty busy and there were more people than wildlife, we were finally outnumbered and we saw a herd. Not sure what the minimum count is to officially be a herd but 30+ was good enough for me.
The bison are spectacular and while we mostly sat and watched, we did initially position so that the Bison were on CCs side and then drove down another mile and reversed so that the Bison were on my side. After we were bison-ed out we drove by some prairie dogs and went to see another waterfall. Oh and the whole time we were back on dirt roads, another dirty car.
After the waterfall we drove back to the Niobrara river launch ramp and took in the nature. We then had the difficult decision regarding dinner. There is not a lot in Valentine. Valentine does have a McDonald's but we opted for Pizza Hut. Even though we were in the wilderness, I was able to pull off the road and using an ancient 3G cell signal, order some pizza and pasta.
We picnicked in our room and I watched some TV for the first time since beginning the trip.
We were in no rush this time and slept in. Then it was off to the airport. I had called ahead and the friendly folks at WestJet had our plane right out front. This time our clearance was a direct climb to our requested altitude and direct to destination. Does not get better than that. The weather was also perfect with a bit of tailwind giving us 187 knot ground speed (215 mph). This was a short hop at around 45 minutes.
Landing at Valentine we taxied up to the self serve pumps and the local staff came to meet us and help us fuel. Parking was close so rather than starting the plane and maneuvering about, he helped me push the plane to its spot. Pushing planes is pretty normal, I carry a bar that attached to the nose wheel so we can steer the plane as we push. It weighs about 2700 pounds gassed up without people and luggage. It is a bit of a chore to push solo especially since I bought my latest tire. I splurged and got the high end ones with Kevlar belts. They are excellent tires but stiffer and makes it hard to get rolling. Once moving they ride well though.
After getting the plane chained down. Yes chained, many places have ropes but some use metal chains. I prefer ropes as they do not damage the paint if they flap up again st the bottom of the plane while attaching and removing. Ropes are also easier to secure and have a bit of stretch. Plane secured now to get our rental car. In larger cities, you can call Avis, Hertz, Enterprise but at smaller spots you need to be more creative.
In Valentine you call the local Ford dealer. Pat took my info over the phone and I emailed her my insurance and drivers license. She left us a nice Ford Taurus parked at the airport with the keys tucked under the drivers visor. I must admit, I asked the airport operator if he had the keys and he just smiled and said to check the car. I looked in the car and could not find the keys but a quick call to Pat solved this. Who leaves a nice car with the Keys in the visor, not us big city folks.
We headed over to our hotel which was rather close to the airport. It was the first hotel I stayed in where I could see my plane from the hotel room. No Marriott for us this time, the The Niobrara Lodge was the best the town had to offer. To be fair it was equivalent to a Fairfield Inn. The staff was friendly and they had our room ready even though we were a bit early for check in.
Our first stop was downtown where we walked the entire main street, it was not a long walk. The biggest store was Youngs Western Wear that took up an entire block. In addition to clothe you could get saddles and all manner of horse tack and ropes. CC did find a cool T-shirt.
We then dropped by the Bunkhouse restaurant for lunch. It was a local place and the menu reminded me of food from my childhood. I had the open face hot roast beef sandwich, CC the grilled cheese and we split a slice of blueberry pie. Not the healthiest but pretty good.
Our next goal was the cowboy trail. Wikipedia describes it as "a rail trail in northern Nebraska. It is a multi-use recreational trail suitable for bicycling, walking and horseback riding. It occupies an abandoned Chicago and North Western Railway corridor." The trail will eventually be about 320 miles long but currently about 200 miles are done stretching between Valentine and Norfolk (I'll wait a bit while you pull out Google maps).
The star of the trail is the old 148 foot tall railroad bridge. Our hotel was near the trail and we could have walked a few miles to get to the bridge but we took the easy route and drove down to the river where they have a nice parking lot that gets you about a mile from the bridge. We walked the bridge end to end and the views were good. except you can't really capture the bridge. We headed back to the highway to really get a sense of the structure.
The next stop was the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge and a Park ranger had suggested going later in the day as you were more likely to see the animals. Valentine is at the extreme edge of Central time and sunset is not until 9:30 PM. This gave us plenty of time to rest up for our American safari.
Around 7 PM we headed out and quickly arrived. They have conveniently located the reserve about 5 miles from town. Unlike Custer where we search for bison for hours, we pretty much came upon them in the first 5 minutes. Bison are big and dangerous so we did all our watching from inside the car. While Custer had been pretty busy and there were more people than wildlife, we were finally outnumbered and we saw a herd. Not sure what the minimum count is to officially be a herd but 30+ was good enough for me.
The bison are spectacular and while we mostly sat and watched, we did initially position so that the Bison were on CCs side and then drove down another mile and reversed so that the Bison were on my side. After we were bison-ed out we drove by some prairie dogs and went to see another waterfall. Oh and the whole time we were back on dirt roads, another dirty car.
After the waterfall we drove back to the Niobrara river launch ramp and took in the nature. We then had the difficult decision regarding dinner. There is not a lot in Valentine. Valentine does have a McDonald's but we opted for Pizza Hut. Even though we were in the wilderness, I was able to pull off the road and using an ancient 3G cell signal, order some pizza and pasta.
We picnicked in our room and I watched some TV for the first time since beginning the trip.
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