York, NE is an old college town, The streets were made of cobblestone. The homes is the area are used as dorms. This home was on the corner by the college and is typical of the homes in the area. We stopped and ate lunch here and drove around to see the rest of the town. This is one of the larger towns, it even had a Walmart!!
This town of Henderson is a small Mennonite community with approximately 900 people, however, we noticed there are lots of children and young families.
While staying in Henderson, NE we visited several close by towns. Bradshaw, Hampton, York. These are the typicial buildings that are still being used today. I never saw so many kinds of silo's and used for so many purposes. Bradshaw had a population of 330 people. I stopped and got a haircut and the lady that cut my hair said she was born and raised in these small towns and had 6 kids in her elementary class. She was in her 30's, not that long ago. Every where you looked there was corn for miles and miles and small little towns like these. All the fields looked very lush and green.
Nebraska's nickname is known as the "Cornhusker State". The eye can see for miles is nothing but corn, and more corn, huge hay stacks, silo's and barns. A view from the window is farmland, pine-covered buttes, rolling hills, and lush river valleys.
We stayed our first night in Nebraska at Cabela's. This stop was recommended by a volunteer at the Information stop, as it was about 200 miles into Nebraska. Cabela stores is like a Bass Pro Shop. Most of the store locations offer a full-feature RV park where you can camp in a outdoor setting and enjoy a relaxing walk around the beautifully landscaped grounds. We didn't know when we checked in, the last weekend of July of each year, they have the largest sidewalk celebration and the next day is the rodeo. We got the last RV spot, the next RV stop was approximately another 200 miles down the road. People had tents pitched along with their trailers, and RV's. The man was feeding the geese angel food cake. It rained that night but they were glad for the rain. People from hundreds of miles, including people from WY came for the sidewalk sale. We spent at least two hours in the store, so much to see.
Cabella's is not not the world's foremost outfitter for hunting, fishing, and outdoor gear, they are fun and educational as well. The interesting and informative wildlike displays help adults and kids alike learn more about the outdoors, enriching their experience. Jerry took several pictures of the hundreds of museum-quality trophy animal mounts, many in lifelife displays re-creating natural animal interactions and habitat settings. Giant freshwater aquariums are stocked with fish native to the area.
As we travel through Nebraska we will be stopping overnight a few times, as the State is quite large. We weren't sure where we would stop the first night, however, we were impressed by their rest stops. Each rest stop has an information center, coffee, etc. and a person or two working the desks to supply information to the travelers, all volunteer services. This volunteer at this center told us that Nebraska has been in drought for the past 8 years and they welcomed the rain they have had thus far this year. It had just started raining as we entered the state.
