Dark Skies Over Homestead

Safety First - Glasses for
observing solar eclipses

Yesterday I drove down to Beatrice, NE home of Homestead National Monument.  This was also one of the many official NASA observation points for the total Solar Eclipse of 2017.

I left home at 4:00am and drove to the Gage County fairgrounds where I parked my car and took a shuttle bus to Homestead.

I arrived before most of the concessions were open.  I sat down in one  the chairs that we set up around a main stage.  While I waited food and shopping concessions opened and I had the luck to watch Bill Nye (the Science Guy) answering questions on live TV.  I was sitting maybe ten feet from where he was standing.  I'm not a huge Bill Nye fan but I do respect what he is trying to do (educate the public in science) and I might have been a bit star struck.

Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

It was around 7:00am and nothing would really start astronomically speaking until 11:30am.  In the meantime, on the main stage, a folk singer performed (including playing "Moon River" on a handsaw), a NASA scientist gave an explanation of what to expect and what exactly was a solar eclipse, and a PBS band played songs from "Ready, Jet Go".  As you may have guessed, most of the events and entertainment were kid-centric.  Fortunately a guy from Texas struck up an adult conversation with me and we killed the hours talking.

The day's weather had started out relatively clear with only wispy clouds but as the events proceeded heavy clouds moved in and we experienced on and off showers.  While I was a bit disappointed I really felt sorry for all the people who drove many hours to get here.  There were even people from Britain and France.

As the eclipse started the clouds thinned a bit and we got our first view on the sun missing a chunk.  This peek didn't last long before the clouds thickened again.

When the sun disappeared behind the clouds everyone headed for the food trucks.  The lines were so long I decided just to eat the snacks I'd packed just in case.  I did have a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake at 9:00am before the lines formed and it felt wrong eating it so early in the morning but it was very tasty.  I bought a magnet for our collection and, from the US Post Office van, a cool sheet of color changing eclipse stamps.

As we approached totality, when the moon would completely cover the sun, I checked the National Weather Service kiosk where they had a live radar feed.  Weatherwise it wasn't looking good so I slowly made my way to the shuttle bus stop.  Right when totality occurred the clouds thinned again and gave us an awesome view of the ring of fire.  The sky darkened like a sunset on all horizons.  The crowds cheered and we all stared in awe of a total solar eclipse.

Totality.
(A slightly zoomed version can be seen here)

When totality ended I jumped on the shuttle bus and headed for the car.  Despite being on that first bus it still took over four hours (normally an hour and a half drive) to get back home via the clogged back roads of Nebraska.  There had been 8,000 - 12,000 people at Homestead and they said there were over 400,000 people along the area of totality in Nebraska.  They all seemed to return home at the same time.

All it all it was a pretty cool day.

My Return To A Changed Boyer Chute

After seeing all the sand and silt at the entrance of Boyer Chute National Wildlife Reserve on Wednesday, I decided to go back on Friday and see what it was like in the reserve itself.  I drove out to the park and parked at the main parking lot.  Most of the parking lot still showed evidence of sand and silt.

I put on my pack, grabbed my poles, and headed toward the trail that would take you over a bridge onto the island (the island has the Missouri River on three sides and the chute on the other).  I found the trailhead but the trail was totally obliterated.  Instead, I walked the road the trail once paralleled to the bridge that crosses the chute.  From the bridge you can see the condition of the chute.  A chute, by the way, is a channel of the river that runs parallel to the river and connects to the river at both ends.  The chute was in terrible condition.  The water level was very low, even as the Missouri River is fairly high right now, and the chute was full of sand and silt (This is what the chute used to look like).

I crossed the bridge and tried to find the Meadowlark Trail.  This is the only paved, handicap accessible trail in the park.  All the other trails are simply mowed paths through the grassland that dominate the park.  The Meadowlark Trail was half buried in the sand.  A shelter close to the trailhead was totally demolished.  I followed the trail the best I could looking for where a mowed trail branched off from it.  That search was futile as there was no more grass on the north-west side of the island.  It was just a great expanse of sand and silt.  I did find some old tire tracks in the sand that appeared to be following the old trail.  I followed them for a while and then decided the best way to circle the island was to get within sight of the chute and follow it around to the river.

A bench along the Meadowlark trail buried in sand and silt from the 2011 Missouri river floods.

If you could see my path it would zig zag around a bit as I picked my way around mud, fallen trees, dead brush, and new growth.  Where there had been pools of water and mud, there were now dried areas where the ground had cracked making really cool patterns on the ground.

Patterns in the dried mud - my foot in the picture for perspective.

The sun was starting to come out so I decided to walk through the trees that, before the 2011 floods, circled the island and separated the trails from the water.  That turned out to be a mistake.  The number of fallen trees, low branches, and new undergrowth made it nearly impossible to walk ten feet in a straight line in any direction.  I changed direction again and headed back to the waters edge and walked in the sand.  It was a bit like walking along a beach but the sand didn't compact as much so it was a bit easier.

Life is returning after the 2011 Missouri river floods.

Part way around I came across a large pile of fallen, sun bleached trees.  In my youth I would have had a great time climbing around on those trees.  I would have run along their trunks and jumped from one to the other.  In my nearly fifty year old body I found myself gingerly stepping among the trees afraid of falling ... for no real reason ... and taking my own sweet time to cross the pile of trees.  When I got across I looked back and wondered what I'd lost.  Was it the dexterity and balance of a young body or was it the carefree, no fears spirit of youth?

I once described Boyer Chute as looking like the African Savanna.  Now it is the Sahara.

After the pile of trees I was able to find one of the original trails.  It was a bit overgrown but it was easier to follow than walking through the thick new growth.  Most of the island had been grassland and prairie before 2011 floods.  I was surprised to see how many new trees were growing.  Most of them, between knee and shoulder height, appeared to be cottonwood - there was cottonwood fluff floating around the island. In a few years there will be a lot more trees on the island and the grassland will have shrunk a little.  It will be a whole new ecosystem.  Boyer Chute had changed a lot since the last time I was there.  It almost appeared post-apocalyptic in a way.  It will be interesting to see how it recovers and changes.  To see how much it has changed go view my 2008-2013 Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge Google Photos album which has both before and after, winter and summer, pictures of Boyer Chute.

The high water mark (the light colored band) on a Lewis & Clarke monument by main parking lot.

For comparison, my trekking poles is four feet tall.

I reached halfway around the island and I reached a decision point - I could continue around the island like I'd originally intended or I could take a right and follow a trail that cut across the island back to the bridge.  I was feeling a bit rundown.  My energy levels were not up to snuff.  The sand and the bushwhacking were taking their toll.  I turned right and cut across the island.  The deer I saw on the trail didn't criticize me for my decision.  The hike was about 5.66 miles (9.1 km) and was practically flat with only 475 feet (144.8 m) of elevation gain.  I'd walked it almost a mile per hour slower than my usual hiking speed.

I kept thinking they really needed to get the trails in order.  Thinking a bit more I realized that the first priority would be to dredge and restore the chute.  It may be a while before the trails are back to fully usable condition.

This may be the last hike for a while.  We'll be going to New Orleans (among other places) pretty soon and a two to three week break will probably do me good.

Another Sort Of Pilgrimage: The Way Of Saint Cranes

Every March - early April, the Sandhill Cranes migrate through Nebraska on their way to their summer homes in Canada and Alaska.  The Cranes stop for a spell along a stretch of the Platte River, often described as being "a  mile wide ... and six inches deep."  While there they gorge on waste corn in the adjacent farm fields and rest up for their long journey north.

Like the sandhill cranes, every March - early April, people converge on central Nebraska to see the estimated 500,000 - 600,000 cranes.  They gather on bridges, roadsides, and bird watching blinds at sunset and sunrise to watch the cranes return to/leave the river for the night/day.  We joined this bird nerdy gathering three years ago when we froze out patootees off watching our first crane migration.  We'd been thinking about doing it again when I saw a contest on Facebook put on by Cars, Travel, Food.  Leave a comment on their Facebook page and you could win two free tickets to get into a bird watching blind.  I commented ... I won!  We went.

Cranes zooming in for a landing.

We left Saturday afternoon.  The bird blind tours are held by the Nebraska Nature & Visitor's Center about seven miles from Grand Island, NE.  This is an easy two hour drive for us.  We arrived shortly after 3:00 PM, early for the tour, so we sent into town looking for food.  We've had rather bad luck finding specific places to eat in Grand Island.  In 2009 we had a list of two quirky places that turned out to be closed.  This time the place I'd picked - it had flat screen TVs at each booth ... perfect for March Madness - was not where it was supposed to be.  We never found it.  Like in 2009 we ended up at some chain restaurant which was good enough.  At least we liked the hot chocolate chip cookie covered in ice cream, whipped cream, and Oreo bits.

We went to the nature center and picked up out tour passes, perused the gift shop (T-shirt and a magnet), and watched a movie about the crane migration.  At 6:00 PM a guide shared some knowledge of the cranes and informed us of the proper bird blind etiquette.  We were then split into two groups and we caravaned out to the blinds.

Whole bunch of Sandhill Cranes

The blinds are nothing fancy.  Big wooden boxes with windows facing the river.  We each had a chair and our own viewing window.  It would have been cold in the winter time.  At least it would have been cold if this were a normal winter.  It was in the upper 70s with a warm south wind when we reached the blind.

As sunset approached so did the cranes.  The nearest crane was probably 80-90 yards from the blind.  Cranes are notoriously skittish as they are hunted everywhere but Nebraska.  While we watched the mass of cranes accumulate on the river's sandbars, we were treated to a rarity.  Among the grey/brown sandhill cranes was a bright speck of white - a Whooping Crane.  How special is this?  There are less than 300 of these birds in the wild.  At one point around 1941 there were only 15 in existence.  Truly a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Whooping Crane among the Sandhill cranes (Click on picture to see a larger version)

The next day we got up early and went to the same place we went in 2009.  While we froze last time, this year it was in the 50s and rather comfortable.  It was windy and there were some low clouds that dampened the brilliant sunrise colors we'd witnessed in 2009 but, despite this, we enjoyed watching the cranes wake up and take flight.

We headed back to the hotel, decided to skip the hot tub (full of little kids at 8:00 AM!), had breakfast at Grandma Max's Diner (with a name like that how could it be bad - it wasn't!), and headed home.  We got back home before Noon so were were gone less than twenty-four hours.

Out of 490 pictures the Wife and I took, I only found 25 worth posting.  Those 25 can be found in my 2009-2012 Sandhill Crane Migration Google Photos album.  As I was looking at the pictures I noticed something.  When on the ground, all the cranes seem to be facing the same direction.  Wonder why that is?

Sneezing Our Way Along The Heritage Highway

Sunday was another Nebraska Passport day.  This time we headed to the prairie and the city of Beatrice (It's not pronounced as you think.  It's pronounced be-AT-russ with emphasis on the 'a'.  Another strange Nebraska pronunciation).

Our first stop was about 30 miles west of Beatrice.  Located south of the unincorporated town of Jansen is the Rock Creek Station State Historical Park.  Rock Creek Station was a stage coach and pony express station located on the Oregon and California trails.  The station's claim to fame is being the location where Wild Bill Hickok shot David McCanles, beginning his gunfighting career.  After getting our passport stamped we headed down a mowed trail past pioneer graves, including one of an unknown school teacher, to the reconstructed buildings near the creek crossing.  First stop was the post office and a ranch cabin.

Following wagon wheel ruts, we walked to another grouping of buildings.  On the way we passed a man wearing a shirt that said "100% Red-Blooded American.  The Wife leaned in to me and asked sotto voice "Should I ask him what tribe he belongs to?"  This got us giggling all the way across the toll bridge to the east ranch grouping of buildings.

The other group of buildings consisted of a toll cabin, a pony express barn, and a bunkhouse.  In the barn an old local guy was giving black smith demonstrations to a group of kids and their parents.  We walked around, took some pictures, and headed back to the visitor's center.  We walked through the exhibits before buying a magnet and leaving in search of lunch.  Pictures of Rock Creek Station are here.

We stopped for lunch in Beatrice and then headed over to nearby Homestead National Monument.  Homestead is the only national park dedicated to an act of congress: the Homestead Act of 1862.  The visitor's center, a building with a sweeping roof line reminiscent of a plow blade, houses an impressive arrays of multimedia displays including a microphone where you can record your own memories of homesteading (The act was discontinued as late as 1976 - 1986 for Alaska).  We watched the movie and witnessed a balanced description of homesteading including its impact on the Native American populations.  Some of the Native American comments were quite poignant.

After getting both our Nebraska and the National Parks passports stamped, we stopped at the nearby Freeman school.  This one room schoolhouse was named after Daniel Freeman, the first Homestead Act applicant.  In the 1890's the school was in the center of a church-state separation struggle when Daniel Freeman objected to the teacher using bible verse in her lessons.  Freeman sued.  Freeman lost that suit.  Pictures of the Freeman School can be found here.

On the way home I counted my passport stamps and found I had ten.  I'd reached the first milestone that would get me a t-shirt.  Adding in my head the last three or four attractions that I could get on day trips, I realized I would never reach the next milestone of eighteen.  I decided right there that it wasn't worth the effort or the gas to get the remaining attractions within my reach so this will be my last Nebraska Byways Passport post.

One last thing.  After spending the day out on the Nebraska prairie, the Wife's and my allergies kicked into high gear.  We sniffled, snorted, and sneezed our way back home.  We decided that if we were pioneers we wouldn't have survived the first allergy season on the prairie.  We're both medicated today.  My pill seems to be wearing off so I think I'll go get another.

Hiking Nebra ... Oh, Never Mind

This was going to be another hiking post.  Thursday I drove two and a half hours to Ponca State Park to do some hiking.  The park in located along a wide spot of the Missouri River.  The north part of the park is meadow while the south and west are forested loess hills.  The thing about Nebraska State Parks, or more specifically their websites, is that they don't post good trail maps.  The map I found was of poor quality and didn't have any trail lengths marked.  This makes planning a hit or miss proposition.

Now, I'm not sure if it was my need to get on the trail or what but I let my need overshadow my better judgement and I ignored the weather forecast.  Rain was in the forecast for the morning and I totally failed to even check if the weather was different two hours north.  I asked myself "what was I thinking" as I drove through the rain on the approach to the park.

The rain did let up as I arrived at the park headquarters.  I went in and picked up a better trail map along with a sheet of brief trail descriptions.  Back in the car I looked over the map and headed to the first trail that looked promising.  Ponca State Park has ten trails totaling about 20 miles.  The trails range from 0.8 miles up to 4 miles but, after studying the map a bit I saw that there were a lot of little connector trails that would allow you to combine loops.  I set my sights on a combination of the Old Oak, Bloodroot, and Corps of Discovery trails that would yield a five mile trail whose difficulty would range from easy to moderate to difficult.

I reached a trailhead for the Old Oak Trail, geared up, walked up to a plaque with a You Are Here map and felt the rain restart as I studied the map.  I didn't have a rain jacket (It was on the list in my head but I forgot to check that list when I'd left that morning) and I was carrying my camera.  I don't think I would have minded getting wet but hiking without my camera ... I feel like I would see the most amazing thing and I would not have any proof.  I looked at the trail.  It was a narrow, packed dirt trail that, after all the rain we've had, was mud.  It was also a hilly trail so I could see myself slipping and sliding my way along the trail - I would find this a plus if I were 10 but at 47 I was less enthusiastic.

I got de-geared and got back in the car and sat there listening to the patter of rain on the car roof.  Not wanting the day to be a complete waste, I drove around the park making a note of the diverse terrain and the location of various trailheads.  The rain let up a bit so I decided to look for the sole geocache in the park.  I parked near the archery/pellet gun range.  This is one thing I haven't gotten used to yet.  In California you would rarely have any type of firing range in a state park.  In the Nebraska/Iowa area, most areas, including wildlife refuges, have at least archery ranges and some are closed to hikers during hunting season.  I walked along the closed asphalt road that went through the range.  Most of the targets were just stuffed canvas targets but there were a few stuffed dear and bear to be used as targets as well.  I reached the cache location and found it ("Nebraska 4-H GC - Dixon County") fairly quickly despite the fact that the GPS was jumping all over the place.

As I walked back to the car the rain started anew.  I sat in the car and ponered how I could salvage the day.  Salvation came in the form of the Nebraska Passport program.  I pulled out the passport and looked to see if there were any attractions nearby.  The Lewis and Clark Visitors Center about forty miles west seemed to fit the bill.  I left the park and headed for Crofton, NE on the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway.

Most of the drive west was through rain.  All that rain was heading towards Ponca State Park so I think my decision was a wise one.

The Lewis and Clark Visitors Center is actually located north of Crofton on the banks of the Missouri River/Lewis & Clark Lake just south of Yankton, SD.  The visitors center overlooks the Gavin Point dam/power plant.  This center, run by the Army Corp of Engineers and the National Park Service, has displays about Lewis & Clark, the Missouri river, and the Army Corp of Engineers.  I looked through the exhibits, bought a travel magnet, and got stamps in both my Nebraska Passport and my National Parks passport.

The rest of the day was a long drive back home with a stop for lunch in Norfolk, NE.  The day turned out pretty good.  I now had enough intelligence to plan my next trip to Ponca State Park.  I found a cache.  I picked up some stamps, and a I found a new magnet for our collection.  My only real regret was not stopping to take a picture of an old building north of Norfolk.  The red building sported a large sign that said "Wee Town".  Wee Town is, apparently, a ghost town that once was home to nearly 50 residents.

Nebraska Byways Passport: Mines, Forts, Baseball

In early August, the Wife and I went on another roadtrip to pick up some Nebraska passport stamps to add to the ones I got in July.  This time we would visit the three attractions on the Loup Rivers Scenic Byway.

Our first stop, after a nearly four hour drive along country highways through small central Nebraska towns, was Happy Jack Peak and Chalk Mine.  The mine is located outside the town of Scotia, NE.  We stopped at a filling station to ask directions.  Even with the directions, I managed to miss the parking lot several times.

Entrance to the Happy Jack Chalk Mine.

The chalk mine, actually a diatomite mine, is one of only two known to exist in the United States and is the only one open to the public.  It is also advertised, according to the brochure I picked up, as:

"[N]ot just Nebraska's biggest underground adventure, it is Nebraska's only underground adventure."

In the office we payed the modest entry fee, the guide picked up a large hand lantern, and we went into the mine.  She told us about the history of the mine, the one death in the mine, the wild high school parties and dances that were held in the old mine, and pointed out interesting features in the soft walls including fossilized rodent burrows.  It was pretty cool in an odd sort of way.  We even saw some wildlife - a bat.  We left with a chunk of free souvenir diatomite (it's outside with our two chunks of Crazy Horse memorial).  More pictures of the mine can be found here.

We left and headed north in search of lunch in the another small town, Ord, NE, before going to our second attraction of the day, Fort Hartsuff.  Fort Hartsuff was built during the Indian Wars to protect settlers and friendly Native American tribes in the area.  The Fort is located in the Sand Hills and, due to the scarcity of trees in the area, was built of a material similar to concrete.  We watched a movie in the visitor's center before walking  through the buildings.  Once again I had to face the fact that most forts just don't look like the forts seen in the Westerns.  More Fort Hartsuff pictures can be found here.

Fort Hartsuff - Beautiful day on the parade grounds.

While we were talking to the ranger, she asked if we'd hiked up the short trail to the top of Happy Jack Peak.  We hadn't.  The view of the Loup River is supposed to be spectacular.  Sigh.  I'll have to go back sometime though I doubt I'll make it since it really isn't on the way to anything.

Out last stop was about an hour or so south in the town of St Paul, NE.  In a storefront space we found the Museum of Nebraska Major League Baseball.  It was a pretty good set up with interesting displays of the many major league players that had some tie to Nebraska such as Wade Boggs from Omaha.  It was put together better than the Bob Feller museum, though that museum was in a more interesting building.  I ended up not taking pictures here.

My next passport trip will probably be a solo mission as the Wife is back in school and college football season starts soon.  On the list of attractions: the Stuhr Museum, the Kearney Archway, Red Cloud, and more.  Stand By.

Nebraska Byways Passport: Forts, Clans, Poets

Last year the Division of Travel and Tourism of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development held a Nebraska Byways Geopicting contest to promote tourism along the nine scenic byways around the state.  After winning first prize I was looking forward to seeing what the state would do this year.  The result, announce a few months ago, was a Nebraska Byways Passport Program.

The passport program gives out free passports in which you can get stamps from twenty-seven different attractions, three on each byway.  If you get nine stamps, you get a free T-Shirt.  Eighteen stamps gets you a digital picture frame.  All twenty-seven stamps gets you a FLIP video camera.  To top it off, for each nine stamps, you get entered in a drawing for a $1,000 Laptop.  When I first heard of this I was excited.  A flip camera sounded like a cool addition to my gadget collection.  Then I started doing the math.  To get all twenty-seven attractions you would have to go all over the state and, to get to some, would require hotel stays and lots of gasoline.  Over 1,400 miles of driving over 27 hours.  A FLIP camera at Amazon.com costs between $100 and $200 depending on the bells and whistles.  You would spend much more on hotel, food, and gas.  The only thing that made it worth the while would be winning the $1,000 which was not guaranteed.

Of course, that is not the point of the contest.  The point is to get out and see Nebraska.  So that's what I did.  I figured I could get stamps from twelve attractions on three day-trips.  The first day-trip was along the Lewis & Clarke Scenic Byway and the Lincoln Highway Scenic & Historic Byway.

The Wife was attending a teacher's workshop at Fort Robinson (One of the 27 attractions, by the way) so my first byway foray was a solo mission.  (I am writing this weeks after the actual roadtrip.)  I set out to the closest attraction, Fort Atkinson which, strangely enough, is located in Fort Calhoun, NE.  I went in the visitor's center and sat through an interesting DVD about the history of the fort which was set up to protect fur traders in the area.  After the movie I pickup my passport pre-stamped with the Fort Atkinson stamps.  I drove from the visitors center to the restored fort.  There's a short hiking trail that leaves from the fort going down the bluff through a wooded area.  Since I had a few more places to hit that day I decided to save the hike for another day.  Fort Atkinson pictures can be found here.

Fort Atkinson, Fort Calhoun, NE.

My next stop was Winnebago, NE, location of the Woodland Trails/Honoring-the-Clans Sculpture Garden and Cultural Plaza.  Of the four places I would visit today, this was the one that interested me the most.  I had this image of Native American sculptures on some grassy hilltop honoring great warriors and statesmen.  As I entered the town of Winnebago I noticed the new hospital advertising substance abuse clinics beside rundown buildings and dusty roads.  I cruised down the main street looking for some sign.  I was about to give up when a small, generic green DOT sign that simple said "Sculpture Garden" came up on my right side.  I turned into what appeared to be a strip mall with a Dollar Store and a few other stores.  The road ended in a circle.  In the middle of the circle were twelve lifesize statues.  At first I thought that this couldn't be it but then I noticed, over the entrance of a building on the opposite side of the circle that said Woodland Trails.

Honoring the Clans Sculpture Garden - Winnebago, NE.

I walked over the building and went in expecting a visitor's center.  What I found instead was a consignment shop.  The owner said hello and said that the art in the store was all Native American from the region and was sold on consignment for the artists.  I got my passport stamped and walked around.  Some of the art was pretty good but it was also expensive (One small painting of some quail was $2,400).  There was no movie or any real explanation about the statues outside though the owner of the place said they represent the twelve clans of the Winnebago and that they had been carved by a local artist.

I went out, took pictures of the statues and the plaques (In English and Native American).  They were well made but, frankly, I was a little disappointed.  A mini-mall was not the place for these statues.  They deserved better.  Honoring-the-Clans Sculpture Garden pictures are here.

I left, shaking my head, and headed for my third destination, Bancroft, NE.  Bancroft was the home of the first Poet Laureate of Nebraska commemorated by the John G. Neihardt State Historic Site.  John G. Neihardt wrote about the prairie, pioneers, and Native Americans.  One of his best known works was "Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux".  The museum had a small movie theater, a research library, and an exhibit room in the shape of a medicine wheel.  In the gardens outside the museum was a small cabin where Neihardt did some of his writing along which a medicine wheel garden.  While the garden had some flowers, colored to match the symbolic colors of the medicine wheel (White, Yellow, Black, and Red), I was a little too late in the growing season.  Nevertheless, it is very well done.  A few John G. Neihardt Museum pictures can be found here.

John G. Neihardt Museum - Medicine Wheel Garden - Bancroft, NE.

The last stop of the day was the Louis E. May House in Fremont, NE.  The house, owned by the Louis E. May foundation, was built by the first mayor of Fremont, Theron Nye.  (Why it's not called the Theron Nye House, I do not know.)  Built in 1874, the Lincoln highway would pass by the house almost 40 years later.  When I got there, the elderly ladies who gave tours had no idea about the passport program.  They had seen the passports and the stamps and had wondered what they were.  I grabbed the stamp and stamped my passport as I explained the program to them.  They gave me a tour of the house.  Of the four places I went to this day, this was the most underwhelming.  It was just a grand old house filled with rather amateurish displays.  Returning the house to period setting would have been a better use of the house.  A few Louis E. May House pictures can be found here.

Theron Nye House, Fremont, NE.

All together, I was on the road and at attractions for about eight hours.  I took mostly two lane country highways.  It's the only way to see the country.

Part two of my Nebraska adventure was on the Loup Rivers Scenic Byway where I visited three more attractions, this time with the Wife.  Stand By.