total out-and-back automobile mileage: 1165
Our trip home coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Nebraska Junk Jaunt, the largest garage sale in the state, stretching 300 miles. On the final Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of each September from 7 AM to 7 PM, 400-500 vendors in 35 central Nebraska towns show their wares to about 25,000 "Junkers" (enthusiastic antique and yard sale folks) from all over the country. From Grand Island on the roads heading northwest, we kept seeing the official pink signs indicating the sites of sales. We had wondered why, back in April, we could find no rooms available in lodgings in Broken Arrow or in nearby towns for this weekend. Now we know why. We had been on the waiting list at the designated historic landmark, The Arrow Hotel (built in 1928) in Broken Bow. Somewhere in Iowa we got notice of a cancellation that opened a room for us. There were excited folks at the hotel's complementary breakfast in the morning--about to head out to find their treasures. What an amazing annual event for central Nebraska! We kept seeing pink Junk Jaunt signs along the road as we headed west to home. The last one on our route, "BrewBaker" is a combined coffeehouse, bakery, gift shop. We got all three: good coffee, good pastry, and (on the sidewalk out front) a 75%-off supplemental birthday present for Marney--a combination grip-and-stand for Marney's cell phone..
We are always happy to return home to Ft. Collins; we arrived about 3:30.
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