On The Road Again

Posted by Stan Harrington

Once again, we are on the open highways and byways of our great U.S. of A. following a eighteen day waiting period in Lincoln, Nebraska for the birth of our 15th Grandchild (including our two Great Grandchildren). It took a few days longer, but we finally waited him out a few days past his due date. Well worth the wait and definitely the highlight of the trip. Shane Rolland Harrington, 7 pounds 10 ounces. He carries the first name as his Uncle Shane and his middle name was the middle name of his Great Uncle Henry Rolland "Tad" Harrington. Baby, mom, and even Dad are all doing fine.

During our wait in Lincoln, we had a chance to get out and explore the area. So much history to see and learn in this area. We had several day tours out of the area, one particular day we traveled about three hundred miles, however we went from Nebraska, to Iowa, followed by Missouri, then to Kansas before returning to Nebraska. To some, that is no big deal but when you are from Alaska you need to put it in proper prospective. That same distance traveled in Alaska will not even get us to Mt. McKinley from our home.

Tonight, after driving 336 miles we are in Valentine, Nebraska just a few miles south of the South Dakota border. We took a north by northeast course today, but before this trip is over we will be cutting back to the southwest by west, before we turn to go back to our north by northwest course until we hit the eastern foothills of Washington when we will turn north and head for home. Going to be a little longer trip home than normal. Although, at this point we have now accumulated 7,323 miles on this trip. Not that many miles will be added on tomorrow as we have a full day of sightseeing. The primary sites will be the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mt. Rushmore but the Black Hills is so beautiful, we will likely take several side trips. Planning on staying in Deadwood City, SD tomorrow night. I heard that they may have a few casinos, not that I would indulge in this type of activity.

This among thousands of others in Nebraska needs to be mentioned. This is the Johnson County Courthouse in Tecumseh, Johnson County, Nebraska. It was constructed in 1895 and still being used today. Johnson County was named in Honor of Colonel Johnson. While serving in the Army, Colonel Johnson was in combat against Chief Tecumseh. Following the Indian Wars, Colonel Johnson retired. The community as well as the county was going to be named after Colonel Johnson, however, he requested out of of respect, that the community be named Tecumseh in honor of his former combative foe. Beautiful architecture using a combination of brick and stone. However, each small town you pass through in Nebraska, you are likely to see buildings of this stature, either government buildings or churches.