Packing up my stuff in the morning in the city park, Ken Hintz stopped by to make conversation. We talked a lot about the area, my trip, and Cornhusker football. When he found out about me going to high school with Ndamukong Suh, he offered to meet me at the cafe with an extra trading card he had from Suh's senior year.
We got to cafe and talked about coins (I learned that nowhere on a penny does it say the word penny) and my plans for the day ahead. I told him I'd have to take the detour because I didn't know if I could get around the bridge that was out and that I'd hate to run all of the way to it just to be turned around. He told me he would give me a ride to the bridge on his way to setting up flags. Ken had set up a beautiful memorial on the side of Highway 20 just a mile outside of town honoring all of the Nebraskan soldiers that have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The memorial is complete with a board with names, a picture of the state with crosses, and small flags that Ken puts back up regularly after they are blown over in the wind. Before going back to town I got permission from the foreman to cross the temporarily work bridge they had built.
Relieved that I would get Highway 20 to myself for at least six miles, I trekked on to Laurel. This town had recently been the target of a tornado that made national news I saw just before I left on this run. The damage was on the outskirts of town, but it was very clear to see its path. Unlike most tornadoes, this one was very slow moving and stood in the same place for an hour and twenty minutes.
There wasn't much in the 30 miles between Laurel and Jackon. I ran it on a stomachache after eating one too many ice cream sandwiches at the gas station in Laurel. After climbing and descending the desolate rolling hills, encountering a parked trailer with some not too kind words about Obama, and surviving a rush of traffic towards the end, I got to Jackson where I had a quick meal at the gas station. When asked where I could pitch a tent in town, she told me it would be okay to pitch one in the gas station's lawn.
Before heading to the bar, I did a quick walk around the Irish town and discovered the shelter in the city park was pretty much like staying indoors. I would make my move from the gas station to the park at halftime of the Packers game. I got into the bar just in the nick of time to catch the opening kickoff.
After leaving the bar to spend my last night in Nebraska, I ran back to the shelter to avoid the lightning storm that was headed my way. Only in Orchard had I seen lightning illuminate the sky as it did tonight and it was fresh in my mind what that night did to me. I had a much better shelter this time and slept off my sorrows of the Packers getting crushed by the Seahawks.
We got to cafe and talked about coins (I learned that nowhere on a penny does it say the word penny) and my plans for the day ahead. I told him I'd have to take the detour because I didn't know if I could get around the bridge that was out and that I'd hate to run all of the way to it just to be turned around. He told me he would give me a ride to the bridge on his way to setting up flags. Ken had set up a beautiful memorial on the side of Highway 20 just a mile outside of town honoring all of the Nebraskan soldiers that have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The memorial is complete with a board with names, a picture of the state with crosses, and small flags that Ken puts back up regularly after they are blown over in the wind. Before going back to town I got permission from the foreman to cross the temporarily work bridge they had built.
Relieved that I would get Highway 20 to myself for at least six miles, I trekked on to Laurel. This town had recently been the target of a tornado that made national news I saw just before I left on this run. The damage was on the outskirts of town, but it was very clear to see its path. Unlike most tornadoes, this one was very slow moving and stood in the same place for an hour and twenty minutes.
There wasn't much in the 30 miles between Laurel and Jackon. I ran it on a stomachache after eating one too many ice cream sandwiches at the gas station in Laurel. After climbing and descending the desolate rolling hills, encountering a parked trailer with some not too kind words about Obama, and surviving a rush of traffic towards the end, I got to Jackson where I had a quick meal at the gas station. When asked where I could pitch a tent in town, she told me it would be okay to pitch one in the gas station's lawn.
Before heading to the bar, I did a quick walk around the Irish town and discovered the shelter in the city park was pretty much like staying indoors. I would make my move from the gas station to the park at halftime of the Packers game. I got into the bar just in the nick of time to catch the opening kickoff.
After leaving the bar to spend my last night in Nebraska, I ran back to the shelter to avoid the lightning storm that was headed my way. Only in Orchard had I seen lightning illuminate the sky as it did tonight and it was fresh in my mind what that night did to me. I had a much better shelter this time and slept off my sorrows of the Packers getting crushed by the Seahawks.
Ken Hintz and the roadside memorial
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