Adventure to Willa Cather's Childhood Home

This weekend, a friend of mine and I cruised on down to Red Cloud, Nebraska, a historic town for its affiliation with Willa Cather. Sadly, we did not make it there in time to go on an official tour. Instead, we wandered the streets with a tour map we pilfered from an unmanned Opera House lobby.

The air was cold and getting colder, this being dusk and all. The city streets we are but empty of cars and drivers, and we were the only ones on foot. I wore my plaid brown and green pants that everyone seems to think are pajamas, and a zip up hoody. My friend wore his checkered slip ons and is even taller than me (and I'm 6'3"). We figured we looked like a "Big-City" couple, enjoying the sites of this "quaint town" (which is a problem nowadays: two guys--or even girls--hanging out by themselves are often looked upon as a couple.) Regardless of what the locals thought of our sexual orientation, we stuck out like lone stalks of corn that had been missed by a thresher.

It didn't take long to hit all the "major" locations: her childhood home, the house My Antonia was based on, and a handful of other houses and buildings that were used in her fiction or housed inhabitants she based her characters off. We were in and out of the town in less than an hour.

Our only interaction with the locals was my friend being given a smile--then a cold shoulder--to his question, witnessing a group of very drunk people hanging out at the community center, and being gobbled at by a fat dude riding in a minivan. What, exactly, that was supposed to mean, we couldn't guess--but decided we really didn't want to know.

Really, the best part of the entire excursion was the 6 hour conversation during the to and from drive. Big things are on the horizon for the two of us, things that might fail miserably, things that might be life-changing, things that might simply give the two of us a direction and purpose for life. Regardless, we're going to be stepping out soon and trying something big, big, big. Of course, I will keep you updated. In the meantime, let your fantastical minds run wild with the possibilities.