Wednesday August 18, 2004

Hamlet NE to Imperial

The scenery continues to change since we left McCook. The corn fields are fewer and smaller. There's more open range, lots of hills trees, horses and cattle.

Today, I wound up in the middle of a cattle drive. I was standing on the roadside admiring Nebraskas Little Grand Canyon when I heard cows making a racket on the other side of the road. Soon a bunch of cowhands rode up on horses. They all went behind a hill, so I continued walking down the road.

All of a sudden I saw the cattle (180 of 'em!) trotting down the roadside behind me. The cowhands did their best to keep them off the road but the cows won that battle and took over the road. Cars and trucks had to wait.

Me? I hopped behind a guard rail and watched the show.

The herd was headed about a mile down the road, where the adults would be separated from the calfs.

I'll write more about the encounter in this week's story. And… please be patient, we may have limited computer access for the next few weeks, meaning there won't be as many updates.

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