Day 8 - Minden, NE to Valentine, NE

At 6:25 this morning, I woke up to a strong wind rocking the motorhome.  When I opened my eyes, I realized that the sky was orange.  If you've ever been in REAL thunderstorms (ie. not California versions of thunderstorms), you'd know that the light and the color of the sky can be really, really odd!  So, I woke up Greg and got the kids out of the tent.  We collapsed the tent and our EZ-Up, pulled in all the loose debris of camping with kids, and waited out the storm.  Thankfully, it skirted around us and was moving fast.  There was a lot of lightning and thunder but nothing too close.  What a way to start the day, though.  Nebraska has had record rains this year and many parts of the state are flooded.  Thankfully, this storm didn't do too much to add to the problems.



Some of the mid-westerners sort of sneered at our reaction to the storm.  Personally, I think making sure my belongings didn't spread themselves all  over town and that my kids weren't outside during a lightning storm just makes sense.  It wasn't as if we screamed and ran around yelling about the sky falling. But, then again, how would they handle a little 5.0 earthquake . . .

After breakfast, I went into town to  laundry and dishes while Greg finished fixing the motorhome.  When I got back, he was done and ready to pack up.  We got all loaded up and organized and walked back for one more visit to Pioneer Village.  I wasn't up to much  walking around so I planted myself under a tree at a picnic table with my Kindle.  It was glorious.  When Greg and the kids were done, we had ice cream at the snack bar and then hit the road for northern Nebraska.

Greg and I really prefer to travel on small by-ways rather than main highways.  Due to our time constraints, we'd really hustled on our way over so I-80 was the best bet.  Today, we were only on 80 for less than a half-hour.  We headed up 183 to 2 and then to 83.



It was a great drive.  We loved the small towns we drove though . . . Broken Bow and Valentine in particular were great towns.  We chose our route so that we could drive through the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge.  It was so beautiful  - full of wetlands and birds.  Well worth the choice of this route.


Remember the flooding, I mentioned? This was on 83 . . . it was a little alarming to drive into . . . even while watching the truck ahead of us successfully drive through.

Through sheer dumb luck, we ended up at an amazing campground. Fishberry Campground is amazing! Beautiful, new facilities. Free WiFi. Clean, functional bathrooms. And a gorgeous view. . .