Ever since I heard the album Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen, I have wanted to go. I recently got the chance to visit. Hazard, however, was an hour north of where I was so was not able to get there this time!
Last week I took off for Kearney, Nebraska for five days of storytelling at schools, their library and finally at the Country Club for the evening festival performance. I got back yesterday after a day and a half of flying and long layovers in airports! The trip was a lot of fun, and work. Flying over a snowy Mid-West was wonderful. The last part of the flight was on a small plane filled with eight people, including the crew! (The journey home had a packed plane, and I was told that “packed” was more normal.) The snacks were way better than the ‘usual’ airlines, too. The people of Kearney are friendly and the organizers took care of both myself and Priscilla Howe who was the other featured teller. In the days we were there I told over 30 stories at 12 presentations, did a visit to the local tv station to promote the event with board member (and awesome human being) Marlene Hansen, and presented a 3-hour workshop to college students studying to be Social Studies teachers at UNK.
Priscilla visited a senior center, and a bunch of schools too. We got to hang out with each other, and also with Allen deBay, another storyteller. Allen is from Kansas and tells mostly personal stories, but on Festival Day before my segment, he told an original story to the families, which went down well. Robin Bennett, another local storyteller/author, also told an original story before Priscilla told her family stories (pictured above) as part of the festival. The whole week was a lot of fun and Priscilla and I, although good friends before, were great friends after the festival. The events were well planned, the schools happy to have us, and the audience appreciative of the stories. The drivers, and there were many, were super people, not just driving us to the gigs, but showed us around a bit. And Priscilla taught me how to play dice! (No money was at stake during the game of dice!)
I have to admit I need to be more aware of my age during performances! At one school I was performing for two hundred and fifteen 6th graders and was having a lot of fun. I was in an auditorium, on a stage, raised four feet from the floor. As I was jumping down to get in amongst the kids, I ran back and launched myself from the floor up onto the stage. I made it, but only just. The next time I went up the steps!
Allen and I made a short visit to the Archway Museum, a tribute to the adventures and people who moved to Nebraska, the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails, and all roads that led West. Priscilla was doing something else, although we did invite her. It was a very interesting stop. There was even a 1950’s open-top Cadillac which Allen and I wanted to take for a spin! Sadly, there was no way to drive it out of the museum, and I had to wonder how they got it in there in the first place! I also got to see the Platte River, a very important place in America’s Western history and featured in many of the Western books I read with my Grandad.
Kearney is a wonderful town of about 14,000 people and is typical, I was told, of the mid-west with its many brick buildings. I would love to go back another time, maybe in the spring or summer and visit some of the other sights there.
An old grocery store which was empty for a number of years and is now a bar and gallery. So glad they kept the original signage
One last thing about the trip: On the way back home there was a very short time period where I had to get from one gate to the next. Walking quickly (it’s rare that I run these days, but I do walk quickly) I got to my gate for the fourth and final leg home as they were calling my group, the last, to board. Sitting on the plane, looking through the window, I saw my one suitcase waving at me from the airport. I waved back, and felt awful leaving it in Washington, DC, but we were reunited this morning and the case was very happy! Unpacking, I found that TSA had opened my case and tickled it, so it had a fun time while we were apart! I will be telling that story (as told to me by my suitcase) on Story Story Podcast on the 1st March.
I hope you are doing well.
Peace,
Simon
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