Willa Cather

Wednesday June 24

Driving thru Nebraska saw a sign to visit the original Pony Express Station in Gothenburg, Nebr.

Why not?! 

Inside a family was visiting and listening to the docent. When she said the youngest pony express rider was 11, the man looked at his son and said "Some 11 year olds don't even know how to cut the grass!"

Spent the day driving to Red Cloud, Nebraska, the home of Willa Cather who wrote about prairie women in the early 1900's. Heavy rains the last few days had swollen the Platte River to remind me of the beginning of our Thames River walk in England a few years ago. 

The local RV park was full so it was serendipitous that I should end up in the Cather family home that has been converted to a B & B. Wonderfully filled with antiques, some of which were original to the home.  I'm told I'm in Willa's actual room!  Probably not in the bed with her actual DNA however.

Walked around the town a bit, had some dinner and sat on the front porch with my feet up pretending I lived here. There is one other guest, a mystery woman who has had her door closed all evening and later will be two men from the phone co. who stay here often. Haven't seen them either.

Went to bed and began to catch up my journal and blog.

Willa's and my room...........

Didn't get much done because at 10 pm sharp the electricity went off.  Guess it's time to go to sleep!

 

 

 Thurs June 24

Woke up at 7 am to the shrill loud sound of an alarm like an air raid alarm. I think it was just meant to wake everyone up. Can't be sleeping in these little towns. There's just SO much to do. Haven't seen but one of the other three people who stayed here last night. The guys must have come in late. Asked him if he had electricity last night and he said yes.  His room was right next to mine upstairs. Downstairs the electricity was all on. I can only imagine Willa didn't like the electronic devices I had plugged into her room!  No charging got done so I plugged in to an outlet in the antique dining room.

Had a nice chat with the neighbor whose little dog was named Marilyn. Don't remember her name. Headed into town two blocks away for the walking tour of Red Cloud.  The main industry in this town of about 1000 seems to be Willa Cather. A foundation was formed 20 or so years ago that maintains the buildings that are associated with her youth. Beautiful old bank with the kind of lobby most of us grew up with.

train station that took most of the young people out of town

Opera House which is being restored as the office of the Willa Cather Foundation

Seeing all of this makes me want to go back and read Willa's My Antonia or Song of the Lark