My wife discovered an amazing cure to insect bite itch...

[GreyGeek]

Re: My wife discovered an amazing cure to insect bite itch...

GG, re NE--
As a kid living in Illinois, on family vacations, circa 1953-1960, used to visit my grandparents--Czechoslovakian farmers--in Crete and Wilber and surrounding small towns.

Yup, the Czech Festival is still a big thing!. Swedes populated Stromsberg and the surrounding area, about 20 miles from Clarks, and Clarks had a large population of Poles. THEY told Polish jokes but no one else better... Lincoln had a large German and Russian section. Like the old saying goes, "Everyone in America is from somewhere else." Some just came earlier than others.

[GreyGeek]

Re: My wife discovered an amazing cure to insect bite itch...

.....
Hey, I've been to Wilber! "Czech Capitol Of Nebraska", right? I visited it entirely by accident, in the summer of 1975, while driving home to Ohio from a camping trip to the Rockies. I wanted to avoid the freeway and see more of Nebraska, and just followed one of the "blue roads" on the map.
.....

You must have traveled East on Hiway 6, the main East-West hiway before I80 was built. Then you went South to Wilber and then took 41 to eventually end up crossing the Missouri at Brownsville. The route you took is one of the best scenic routes through Nebraska. Another is along hiway 2, which bisects the state diagonally from the NorthWest to the SouthEast. It's even better.

[dibl]

Re: My wife discovered an amazing cure to insect bite itch...

You must have traveled East on Hiway 6, the main East-West hiway before I80 was built. Then you went South to Wilber and then took 41 to eventually end up crossing the Missouri at Brownsville.

That sounds about right. I remember that we had pitched our tent at a campground at Kimball the previous night, and a fearsome thunderstorm came up and threatened to blow us directly to Kansas. In the morning, after a not-very-good night's sleep, we (wife, 18 month-old daughter, and wife's grandmother (in my 1974 FIAT 124 station wagon) followed I-80 east to Scout's Rest, and enjoyed a visit there. Then somewhere around Kearney or Grand Island I decided it was time to get off the freeway and follow the state routes, heading for northern Missouri. I had no clue about Wilber until we passed the wrought-iron gate of a cemetery, and I noticed that the name of it was in Cyrillic. So that curiosity was solved when I saw the sign for "Wilber, the Czech Capitol of Nebraska". It was total happenstance, but a very enjoyable and memorable few hours there. I think we made it to Chillicothe, Missouri that evening and found a state campground for the night.

[oshunluvr]

Re: My wife discovered an amazing cure to insect bite itch...

It's such a small world! My wife's father is from the now missing township of "Pischelville" NE (her maiden name is Pischel) which is (was) in Knox county. Her cousin lives with his wife at the old crossroads with a sign in the yard that says "Pischelville, Pop. 2"

Her family was Bohemian and the place was chock full of both Poles and Czechs at the turn of the 1900's.

If you're google inclined, Noibrara is the closest town now...

[oshunluvr]

Re: My wife discovered an amazing cure to insect bite itch...

BTW, I'm from Olathe Kansas - a good stones throw from Chillicothe...

[GreyGeek]

Re: My wife discovered an amazing cure to insect bite itch...

Probably one of the greatest adventures Nebraska offers is to canoe the Niobrara River from Valentine to Niobrara, or sections thereof. Most trips are one day affairs traversing a segment of the river from 25 to 50 miles. I haven't heard of anyone canoeing the whole river, but I imagine that it has been done.