Today, the 30th of June, we had intended to have lunch with Grumpy's cousin, Marvin and Gaylene in Arnold Nebraska. Sadly, their daughter recently died rather unexpectedly so they are understandably occupied with other matters and our visit will have to wait for another time.
This post is from the great (little) city (town--pop. 1302) of Valentine Nebraska, where the First Wife and Grumpy had planned to spend our honeymoon night. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we fell (literally! -- dead tired at 2 o'clock in the morning of the 18th) into bed in Mission SD, about 33 miles from here. Why I didn't drive the extra 33 miles, I will never know.
Anyway, with much planning, and not a little malice aforethought, Grumpy arranged reservations for the Trade Winds motel ("Valentine's Finest!") for this leg of our return trip wandering around the Midwest this summer of 2008. We scouted the town from south to north (our historic route) and from east to west trying to see if any old memories were triggered.
Then we just had to go find the old bridge across the Niobrara, traveled so many pleasant and memorable years ago. Unbeknownst to Grumpy, this bridge is historic in many ways! Not only did these two ancestors of our joint family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren cross this bridge 60-plus y
ears ago, but now we find that it is on the National Register of Historic Bridges and is the only one of its type in the United States. It was designed by a (then) young Civil Engineer from Russia who had graduated from the University of Nebraska some few years before he got the task of designing it!Well, we had to take some photographs of the happy citizens who crossed it 60 years 12 days ago, and then recrossed it on their return trip from visiting Grandpa Zierlein, 60 years and 11 days ago. The Bride (aka, First Wife, alias the Grand Mother) stands near the approach to the southbound traffic.
A return trip was necessary now as it was then. Now the road simply blends into the new highway US-20 eastbound; then it was necessary for the Bride and Groom to hurry back to the Black Hills where they were employed at the Petrified Forest in Piedmont (north of Rapid City).
Hence, the photo of the car coming back across the bridge -- with the Bride intact inside the nicely air conditioned car. The "historic" car was a 1938 Chevrolet Deluxe 85 four-door sedan. The "85" stood for the theoretical brake horsepower of the engine, a value not experienced by the time the power arrived at the rear tires, and especially if the car was driven at the speeds for which it was best suited, namely 45-50 mph, where the RPM was less than half that required to obtain that famously-advertised horsepower.We celebrated this nostalgic return with a delicious dinner at Cedar Canyon Steak House, in downtown Valentine. The First Wife had her favorite, prime rib, and Grumpy growled down a "medium-well" filet mignon, which was actually what I would call "medium rare"!! The menu told what their definitions were, and I asked for the medium well, but got just about what I wanted -- it could have had the branding iron held on it a little longer. It bellowed mildly when I poked my fork into it.
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