once in a lifetime...

This morning, as we headed out of Nebraska, we agreed that we would take the advice of one of the men we met in the bar last night. We weren't going to visit any rest stops off of the highway. We were going to veer off the beaten path, get in adventures, and visit small, small towns. We figured this trip was a "once in a lifetime" trip, so our cliched, overused, tongue-in-cheek excuse for doing anything was, "Come on, it's a once in a lifetime trip."

Just past this Nebraska landmark...

...we saw a sign for a town called Sutherland. We decided to pull in for lunch, only to find a town with a population of 1200, which was virtually abandoned. So, we got back on to the highway, and headed for the next town. This town was Paxton...

When we pulled into town, we saw how small it was. It was quite unlike anything we were used to...



It had it's own bank...



And this Pit Stop...



Notice... Beer. Food. Wine. AMMO.

Then we saw this restaurant...



Now, last night, Mike had told us about a restaurant in Nebraska that was famous because of its owner, a big game hunter that had his prizes all over his restaurant. We kind of forgot he told us about such a place as we entered Ole's... but then immediately remembered when we saw the following things...










Either this was the exact place that Mike described or big game restaurants are very popular in the flatlands of Nebraska. We sat down, ate our glorious meat-filled meals, and posed for this photo, courtesy of our waitress...



Afterwards, we shot this video, showing just how small Paxton, Nebraska is.


Paxton from Ragtag Productions on Vimeo.

Notice Patrick's reaction at the end of the video? Do you know what happened? He got stung by a hornet! On video! We laughed and laughed at his misfortune. Then, we continued on the drive towards Colorado Springs. Towards the end of Nebraska, we pulled over to look at a map and discuss our route...




While at this stop, we all did something we haven't done on this entire trip --- We peed on the side of the road. Now, here's the thing. We've been very, very good about peeing in rest stops. We've timed our trip accordingly and never had any problems. But, we were in the middle of nowhere now. And we had to pee. So, we did. And wouldn't you know it? The one time we decide to pee on the side of the road, we hear the sound of a car pulling up behind us. I was sure we were dead men. I was sure this was either a police officer or the farmer that owned the land. I was sure we were in for some trouble. Nope. Want to know who it was?

It was a man. In a pickup truck. Asking us for directions.

Could there be a more awkward time to ask someone for directions?

We moved on. Iowa and Nebraska pretty much looked like this...



...so as we got into Colorado, we were happy to see this...




On our way to Angel's friends place in Colorado Springs, we passed through miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of farmland and cows and hay and corn. We were eager to find more small town places, and when we passed the following small restaurant...



We quickly decided we should turn around and eat there. This was, after all, a "once in a lifetime" experience. So, turn around we did.

Inside, we found a woman behind a counter, tending to a table of only one customer - a woman and her three children. We ordered the blackberry pie, and the woman we believed to be the customer told us, "I made that pie." It turns out she was no ordinary customer - she was the owner's wife. The waitress asked us where we were from, and we explained that we were New Yorkers on our way to Los Angeles. At that point the owner's children could not stop staring at us. At several times their mother told them to stop. We figured they weren't used to strangers. In their bathroom was a box full of pamphlets about becoming born again. On the back of our check, the waitress hand wrote "God Bless You." This was God's Country. And the people were very nice. And the blackberry pie was delicious.



We headed into Colorado Springs. We were treated to a lovely dinner by Angel's friend Michelle and her boyfriend George and they took us to a local bar. This was a good day.