Along the Geronimo Creek: Highpoint roadtrip

Day Three - My Birthday. Thanks everyone for the calls and messeges. As I was leaving Bonny Lake, I pulled along side a big RV that had stopped in the road. I couldn't believe my eyes..There it was in the road...a big Bull snake...I haven't seen one in a long time. I jumped out and caught it and shared my herp knowledge with the RV couple and their grandkids. They seemed appreciative that their grandkids got to see the snake close-up but I couldn't conjole them into touching it. That morning I had breakfast at Riverside Cafe in Wray, Co. The local crowd and waitresses were very friendly. I sat next to a big table of folks that all seemed to be related. An old guy that was sitting in close proxsimity to me, struck up a conversation when he noticed my Texas A&M cap. He told me that they were gathered to celebrate grandma's birthday and when I told them that it was also my birthday, they made room for me at their table and we visited...mostly about the drought in Texas and how the blue wheat (color when wheat is stressed due to insufficent moisture) had turned green after the recent rain. Very pleasant group of people whose kindness helped me have a great start to my birthday. After driving, driving and driving some more on gravel farm roads in Southwest Nebraska, I found the highpoint. And by the way kids, I did all of it without GPS. The first occupied farmhouse in a longtime and the last house before the highpoint looked like an American Picker goldmine so I pulled in to talk to the owner and get a closer look at his house. His name was Charly Vacha and his barn and yard were full of old cars and tractors. While we were visiting, a young lady drove up looking for the highpoint. Finally, I meet another highpointer. Marcia McCarroll, from Colorado and she has done 15 highpoints.

We followed each other up to the highpoint and had some great conversation sitting at the top of Nebraska. Her story is very interesting as she was doing the highpoints in memory of her husband,Gerald Myers ,who died two years ago while climbing Denali. When we left the highpoint, I decided to stop and visit some more with Charly. Charly has alot of old 1940 and 1950 cars that are still in running condition. I was tempted to buy something for my birthday but I was too far from home. Charly seemed to be pricing them right for a buyer. Two hours later and I was on the road to Scottsbluff to find a motel room and clean up. McDonald's provided Birthday supper.