PLEASANTVILLE

Aurora Nebraska  June 14, 2015

So far this trip can be best described as a drive-thru flyover. We have stopped for nothing; not the Pendleton Mills, not a photo of the stunning red rocks in Utah. We ignored Wyoming for the most part, missed the great Salt Lake, did not stop and see Victor, and passed under the Great Platte River arch  at 62 miles per hour. After all the miles of open land and farms and the occasional mall, we had no high expectations of Nebraska.

We were wrong, at least here in Aurora. after 1500 miles of travel, five states in five days. Serendipity has deposited us, down a long road lined with corn fields as far as the eye can see, road weary and saddle sore in Aurora, a classic American town that looks and feels like the location of the movie Pleasantville. 

 This town well-kept  Best of all, the campsite, in the park, behind the fabulous water center, welcomes campers for free, for up to four nights.  That’s where we are today, day six of the trip.

The streets here  are paved with red brick and lined with. mature trees in full summer leaf. The houses are in the Victorian style, or bungalows. Fresh paint, large lawns, flower filled front gardens. A beautiful, large and important building in the center of town is rich red clay and brick. There is an old bandstand, of white marble, that I think was where George made an impassioned speech in the movie, Its a Wonderful Life.

We spent a peaceful night sleeping in the quiet park. I spent the early afternoon swimming in the perfect pool at the edge of the park. $3.00 for the pool and the showers. The water and air temp both 84 degrees. My dishes are washed, we are both showered, the dogs are happy. All is good here so we are staying another night, relaxing and refreshing for the next leg of the journey. As I said, this place is truly … pleasant. It gives me that slightly hypnotic sense of having stepped back in time (which I do not consider a bad thing.)

 There's an Old-fashioned ladies dress shop with mannequins in the window. The bar and grill is exactly what you'd expect, and closed on Sunday.The people seem genuinely nice, such as the old gentleman watering the flower baskets on the lamp posts who pointed us in the right direction, or the couple who admired our dogs,  or the lovely lifeguard at the pool who told me about her home town– in glowing terms. 

Even in the course of these few days, we have established a travel rhythm. H drives two hours, I drive two, then H takes over til we camp. In this way we have been traveling more than 300 miles per day. The usual schedule is 9 – 4:30 on the road, and then the long evenings to enjoy in camp. We prefer parks, state or otherwise to RV parks. Most nights have been without services (and two were free), but we did spend one night in a KOA in Wyoming (for the showers) It was surrounded by enormous white crude oil tanks. There is a boom in this area because of all the oil coming in via fracking. Its been great for the local economy we are told.

Later, we drove through a wild storm in Utah, watching lightning flash and the storm approach across the vast open sky. And we drove across lots (and lots) of vast open land – referred to by family members variously as “the big nothing,” and “the place where America stores its “empty.”  (Thank JZ) This is not exactly so. There has been lots of rain this season, so the vast stretches of land along the roads is filled with life, wildflowers, grasses, cattle, antelope. The fifty shades of green we are seeing is in strong contrast and lovely to the dry grey gold of our southern travels last winter.  I do recall that this was the scene of the Dust Bowl, so, even the rain squalls that keep arriving are vey welcome.
And of course, seeing the Rockies appear on the horizon has never failed to thrill me.

Early on in our trip we determined that our primary goal is to get back East and see family and friends and eat lobster. All the things in the middle are less important. So we are hauling. But we are really glad that we have stopped our eastward tear long enough to enjoy and appreciate the beautiful place we are in now.Tomorrow it back on the road.

A note about finding serendipity (AKA Aurora Nebraska) – we found this using an app called AllStays that showed it on the map along I-80. There were no signs on the road, so without our technology, we might not have found it.