The Superior Express -

Lots of things going on in this world today that I don’t understand but thanks to a reader who saved the original clipping, I have this week reread a story the Hastings Tribune published in 1973 that is applicable to this country’s current situation.

For that article, Roy Alleman interviewed Father John Prachar who was then serving the St. Stephens Catholic Church. Later he was to serve St. Joseph’s Church at Superior.

Father John was quick to speak in defense of the freedom he experienced in America. What he said 47 years ago applies today and hopefully, we will have a place to reprint portions of that story in this issue of your newspaper.

The COVID-19 Pandemic rules changed this week but I don’t understand why. The pandemic is not fading away. The number of cases continues to go up almost daily.

Just because we are tired of the rules and long to have life return to the way it was last year, now is not the time to let down our guard. Rather than relaxing the rules, I think we should be even more cautious.

I was pleased to learn face masks are now required in the Superior City office building.

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Rita and I are trying to limit our contacts with other people but neither do we want to hide inside our house. There are indications that one way to lessen the impact of COVID-19 is to increase one’s Vitamin D intake. That is best done by being outside in the sun. I’m not sure we are getting enough but we are scheduling “sun time.”

On the weekend we took advantage of opportunities to be outside. One of our stops was at a bridge construction project on the Jewell-Mitchell County line. As we walked around the site, looking over the construction and taking pictures, we could hear the soothing sounds of a babbling brook (in this case it was a spring fed creek flowing past the construction site.)

As a youngster I wanted to live where I could play in a flowing creek. The Republican River was within walking distance and I got to play there. As a college student I had opportunities to both play in the Kansas River at a place we called Kershaw Beach and in a nearby creek area we students called Pillsbury Crossing. Saturday afternoon I withstood the temptation to slip into the creek but I looked at the creek and wondered if today’s youngsters ever play in that creek.

Heading toward home, we detoured off the highway and visited the Jewell County State Lake. We should go there more often. The roads which link the lake to the highways are scenic and fun to travel. Since we saw her in plenty of time to stop, we enjoyed seeing a cow standing in the middle of the road. When she saw us it was like she knew she shouldn’t be in the road and ran back toward her group grazing in the nearby pasture.

We didn’t like our close-up view of a skunk. As we rounded a curve in the road, Rita and I both saw and thought a skunk ran under our vehicle. We prepared to be bathed in the skunk’s perfume. Thankfully, it was a near miss.

The people who complain about having “nothing to do or see here” are wrong. There is lots to do and see here. Sure you can’t go to the opera but we have some beautiful country vistas. We don’t have a splash pad but we can splash in a natural pool.

In Nuckolls County, we have both the Little Blue and Republican rivers. In season both rivers have large bars of exposed sand.

For bigger bodies of water, we have places like Liberty Cove, Jewell County State Lake, Lake Emerson and Lovewell Lake. The Jamestown Marsh and the Rainwater Basin are nearby and offer other opportunities for water related activities.

In mid summer we see beautiful fields of golden, rippening wheat. During the growing season fields of dark green corn delight our eyes. Now that fall is here we can revel in the sight of fields of reddish-bronze milo awaiting harvest. Throughout the year, cattle dot our landscapes and add interest to our travels.

The Nebraska tourism department has popularized the phrase, “Nebraska! It’s not for everyone.” That may be true, but it is a place for us.

If you have been cooped up by the virus, before winter arrives, take a trip off the well-traveled path.

This week’s Republic News column includes a report on the Do Nothings Club trip to St. Joseph, Kansas. I suspect few of our reader’s have visited the St. Joe coffee grinder business located in one of the community’s older buildings. The trip made memories for the Do Nothings, especially when they were following their GPS guide and missed a turn. They made memories by personally experiencing a “greasy” Cloud County road.

For those who haven’t been there, St. Joseph is about 15 miles southeast of Concordia. If going there after a rain, don’t blindly trust a computerized navigational system for the roads between Concordia and St. Joseph have not been built nor maintained to Class I Interstate Highway standards.