Lucky Casper

It was a relatively short drive from Valentine, NE to Casper, WY. If 400 miles is considered “relatively short’ in your world. The drive is starting to affect us both. Mom’s stiff from sitting and getting achy.  And so am I!  We want the driving to end – at least for a short while. We took a break and explored Niobrara – but even that was more driving.

Despite our aches, we were excited to reach our goal: Casper.  Two days ago I had settled into a restaurant with WiFi (thank you!) and was able to find a woman who was offering a spare bedroom on AirBnB in the heart of Casper.  Surprisingly it wasn’t sold. I’m guessing because she put the room on AirBnB at the last minute, and everyone who was traveling already made their plans.

I love smart phones!

We had zero plans. I mean, I had something of a plan that involved an air mattress and desperation. But we had no hotel reservations. Here was a chance to get an actual room, with an actual bed, in the town of sold-out-for-weeks Casper.  We were very lucky.  Somewhere in Illinois while sitting in a restaurant, I was able to find a place, negotiate a rate, and then reserve the room all on my smart phone.  Honestly – I’m so deeply grateful for the power of this smart phone.

After visiting the Niobrara National Scenic River, we stopped in the adorable town of Valentine, Nebraska.  This town has embraced their fun name, and everything in the heart of town had a Heart theme.  (Ha! See what I did there? Pun intended.). Red hearts were painted on the pavements, street signs had hearts on them, and the town signs were very happy to have giant red hearts, tiny red hearts… all in the theme of Valentine.

We stopped to capture some of the scenery before striking out for  miles and miles of farmland, sunflowers, and corn.