with only the rail cars full of coal rolling beside us to keep us company.
The biggest excitement of the drive came just a few miles from our destination, when we saw the blinking sign that alerted us to water across the road. What?!? We don't have too many options for alternate road detours in this area! But we saw cars meeting us that had gone through the water crossing. So we waited our turn and slowly waded across the long expanse of water.
When we made it to the other side, we were only a few miles from our destination in Valentine, Nebraska. We're staying at a half-price Passport America park--Wacky West Campground. Even though we love the town's name, our main reason for coming to Valentine is to kayak the Niobrara River. To scope out the area, we made a trip down to the Niobrara Wildlife Refuge just three miles from our camp site. We found a herd of bison as we drove along one of the gravel roads inside the refuge.
Driving the car through this peaceful wildlife setting was just like a nice hike in the country, but easier on your legs.
Besides hunting wildlife, we are also checking out the road conditions through the refuge. We love kayaking rivers, but it's always complicated to figure out where to put the kayak in and where to take it out of the river. Even more complicated is figuring out how to use our available transportation to get between those two spots. One option is to bicycle between them, so we are checking out the gravel roads through the wildlife refuge that one of us (Mark) would have to bike to make that happen.
Valentine has a great bike path called the "Cowboy Trail" that goes right beside our campground. Too bad it does not go alongside the river to make that shuttle up the river easier. Instead it heads straight southeast out of town. We took our bikes on that path one evening, and it was a pretty ride in the country. This is a nice level path, as it once was the bed of the railroad that connected parts of Nebraska.
Our destination is just two miles away, and it turned this into one of our favorite rail-to-trail rides ever. We are headed to the old train trestle bridge that spans the Niobrara River 140 feet below. It looks like a ordinary ride over a wooden bridge from this angle.
But when Mark hiked down to get a side view, you can see that this ride was extraordinary.
If you look very closely, you can see Denisa waving from atop the bridge. We'll zoom in, to prove that we really were at the top of that big trestle bridge.
We also took pictures down the side of this old trestle bridge that was built in 1909.
The views of the surrounding countryside with the Niobrara River snaking under us were really nice as the sun was preparing to set.
Valentine calls itself "Nebraska's Heart City" and we already think we're going to love it here.
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