Another Journey

Greeley County – Spalding

About mid morning on Tuesday, August 10th we left Lincoln and headed over to Spalding for the Greeley County Fair. We parked next to the livestock arena where the Beef Show was taking place. After the beef show, we sat up shop next to the grandstand where a singer from Branson was to perform.

We were also next to the 4-H Food Stand. They make 75 homemade pies every morning – and boy were they yummy! Before the concert began, Greeley County sponsored a Children’s Parade and Car/Tractor Show. It drew a large crowd making ticket sales a piece of cake! It was also a beautiful evening at the fair! We had a great time with the Central Four (Greeley, Valley, Sherman, and Howard Counties) 4-H Staff and we were sad to leave them!

After the fair, we headed to Halsey to stay at the 4-H Camp one last time. However, as we were almost there, we decided to continue our way to Valentine to cut back on our driving time in the morning. Once in Valentine, we stopped at the Motel 8 only to find that it had a ‘No Vacancy’ sign on their door. We then traveled over to Comfort Inn only to find out that they were full also, but luckily, they had another hotel under the same ownership just down the road. So finally, we ended up sleeping at the Dunes Inn & Suites. Thanks ladies for making our stay great!



In the morning, we had an extra hour and half to sight see before we needed to head to Gordon so we decided to get a couple more stamps in our Nebraska Passport! Our first stop was Smith Falls State Park – Nebraska’s newest State Park! It was also our first experience with a waterfall! Did you know there are1,302 gallons of water that pass over the falls a minute from 7 springs that are 3 miles away from Smith Falls? After getting our stamp at the visitor center, we hiked our way to the fall about a half-mile away. What a beautiful landscape and scenery! So pretty! Our next stop was the Niobrara State Park a couple miles down the road. We didn’t have much time to spare here, but we both plan on coming back to site see more!



Sheridan County – Gordon

After our tours of a couple of Nebraska’s State Parks, we drove the entire length of Cherry County (Nebraska’s largest county,) which by the way took an hour, to the town of Gordon located in Sheridan County. Waiting for arrival at the fairgrounds were 10 4-Hers and parents ready to sell tickets! We had such a great, enthusiastic group - selling tickets was a breeze! Thank you Sheridan County! We had such a great time!



During the fair, a couple of the 4-Her’s had a shake from a local store in town called the Covered Wagon. They raved about how amazing they were, so we just had to stop before we left. What a neat experience! The restaurant (well drive-thru) was shaped just like a covered wagon, and you drove through it to order and pickup your food! Reese ordered a Crème de Mint shake and Molly had a Peanut Butter shake and we shared a mix veggie basket. Talk about amazing! We might just have to make a special trip back to Gordon just for their shakes!

Rock-Brown County – Bassett

We hurried our way back across Cherry county, through Brown county and over to Rock county for the Rock-Brown County Fair in Bassett. We crashed the 4-H family barbecue and later checked out the team roping across the way. Thanks Rock-Brown for having us out! That night we went back to our friend Mary’s house in O’Neill.



Holt County – Chambers

We left O’Neill around 9:30 AM to head to Chambers. The Holt County members were very welcoming to us – the Fair Board members were very helpful and friendly!! We had a great location in between the food stand and show arena. The fairgrounds were busy with 4-H members and parents checking in 4-H projects and participating in the dog show. Holt County even had their own water bottles! The design was very unique and creative! We vote that Holt County has the best public bathrooms as well! Megan Lubke, the Extension Assistant, made an awesome announcement about the 4-H Truck Raffle for us across the entire PA system! Thanks! We had lots of fun!



Cass County – Weeping Water

We traveled almost for 5 hours all the way to Weeping Water zig zagging across the state after we left Chambers. We were lucky to have a great spot next to the Tractor Pull which pulled in several hundreds of people even in the dreaded heat! We had a couple of CWF members selling tickets with us to help raise money for their trip. Along with the 4-H Truck, they also had a large shed donated by a 4-H Parent out of Richardson County whose kid was going on the trip as well. We made a great pair! After a few hours in the heat, we headed back to Lincoln for the night. Molly had Orientation for her school job at the Burr Hall Front Desk and Reese left to go back to Iowa for one of her friend’s wedding! It was sure nice to sleep in our own beds for a change!