Cruising For Cranes

“Whatever walk of life you are in, we hope you come witness the next migration with an open heart and open mind to see what inspiration might come your way.” (Josie DeVault)

As Ruth and I exit the alluring heights of the Rocky Mountain region into the vast flatland of the American prairie, we must again pick up our driving pace to return home safely to South Florida in the next ten days. Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing some late winter weather conditions along the I-80 corridor of Nebraska. Nonetheless, we found time on Thursday to get off the Interstate for a few hours yesterday in the North Platte vicinity and drive along dirt roads to obtain some fascinating firsthand sightings of the annual spring migration of Sandhill cranes along the Platte River basin. For it’s quite a sight to see for yourself these gangly looking birds with long necks form large flocks in the thousands on these Central Nebraska wintering grounds at this time of year. Turning my attention to the ubiquitous presence of black cows dotting this Great Plains landscape, I also begin to wonder why these docile herds don’t run away to escape their inevitable doom at the slaughterhouse.

Sadly, as mushy snow conditions continued to develop further eastward during our overnight stay in Kearney, future plans to extend our time to search for this crane invasion along now muddy, unpaved roads would have to be scrapped. Vivid memories now surfaced in making this decision of the mucky quagmire we faced two years ago when my low lying, foreign car slowly sunk into the mud and got stuck as we drove along the Platte searching for cranes on the Nebraska leg of this previous road trip. On this somewhat somber Friday morning with extra time to spare, at least Ruth and I could settle in now to enjoy one of the best breakfast sites of our road trip. We next travel on to Lincoln, Nebraska for some nostalgic fun in the familiar company of a close friend and two affectionate cats. I hope the weather gets warmer! Enjoy the photos.