Roadtrips and Filling the Well

This week, I didn't create anything, per se, rather I went on a short road trip to fill my creative well.

These past couple of pandemic years have been difficult on everyone. And, we all know, creative people need that influx of new and different ideas or old concepts done in new and creative ways.

We all have methods to find mind images and notions to spark our imaginations. For me, few things compare to a road trip for filling my creative well. So a couple of friends, Jess and Deb, and I headed to Kearney, NE. They had not yet seen the cranes on their northward migration and were excited for the opportunity. We started out Monday morning... telling stories and laughing and joking. We avoided the main, homogenized highways, sticking to the secondary roads to see the variety the countryside had to offer.

A few of the buildings we wove our tales around...

At lunch, we saw the first and only robot server in Nebraska. What tales that sparked!

Then as we continued on our way, we saw myriad buildings and architecture, a variety of trees, hills and ravines, and signs... all conversation starters and generating ideas.

Sandhill cranes around Kearney, Nebraska...

When we arrived in Kearney, we paused to check in to our hotel, before heading to the fields to look for cranes. Listening to their calls, watching their dances, feeling the cold wind as they flew, all provoked awe and wonder in each of us.

After an hour or so, we headed back to town to grab dinner and pick up souvenirs before driving back to a river overlook for sunset.

Sadly, the weather turned and the rains started... so we returned to our room. We got our beverages, changed into dry clothes, and played a fun game of fact or fiction.

Creative ideas and fun stories...

Tuesday morning found a thin blanket of snow covering everything. We checked out of the hotel, packed our belongings in the car, and said farewell to the cranes.

Then we traveled east towards Hastings. While wet, slick, dirt roads prove harrowing funny tales in later years, once on them, in the moment, we had no choice but to press onward and hope for the best.

When I found pavement again, I think we three were done with the torturous adventure of slimy roads. We all breathed a sigh of relief and determined to stay on solid road for the duration of the trip.

Some of the landscape and signs...

We decided a bit of a stop at the Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum in Hastings, would help calm our frazzled nerves.

The owner/curator, Harriet, is amply verbose, and we made our escape after only an hour or so. Seriously, if you are ever in the area, do stop by and look around. You won't regret it... lots of creative fodder there.

The Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum...

Then after lunch, we made our way home (driving on pavement). So much friendship, conversation, innovative thinking, and laughter packed into two days.

I took so many pictures... too many to include them all! My creative well is filling again, much to my delight!

I'm looking forward to the next road trip!

(My thanks to Jessica Adkins for letting me use her two pictures of the cranes in the snowfield.)