Courthouse to Schoolhouse through a Cave

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Courthouse to Schoolhouse through a Cave

The namesake of Indian Cave State Park only recently re-opened, after having been closed for repairs for a couple of years. Flooding badly damaged walkways and access to those areas near the river. A forecast of clear and 30°C day encouraged a wandering to the local. It is impossible to say how many times it was passed on the way here or there.

A 1920's Richardson County Courthouse stood gleaming in the mid-morning sun of Falls City, encouraging the first small break from the road. Contrary to the forecast, weather made the journey soggier than expected. Gray skies shrouded the city, and passing through Weston, the clouds unleashed their fury. Crossing into Kansas improved the situation incrementally, until arriving to full sunshine in Nebraska.

Google indicated a seemingly random gravel road would prove a more expedient path and it turned out relatively well. Blue skies and wide open space unfurl above a sea of corn in every direction. Harvest is coming soon, and it looked to be bountiful in these parts.

The GoPro picked up the journey down to the cave site. Meandering through an extra bit leading down to the restored schoolhouse and general store from the old river town of St. Deroin proved too much for the device though. It decided to nap only a short distance from the cave. A couple of short hikes later, it had recharged enough to make most of the return trip.

Heading south back along the route Google had recommended, just enough battery power remained to capture the long, empty gravel road. The device gasped a final lithium breath in much shorter time, forcing the remainder of the journey to stills.

Historic structures abound in the little river town of Rulo, once an important crossing point of the Missouri River. Some stand firm and well kept, while others appear as though they might be soon swallowed by the landscape. The camp site of the Lewis & Clark Expedition stands pristine at the corner of the highway, just in front of an overgrown brush spot between the trees. I am sure things were quite different this yesterday, 218 years ago.

Avoiding the chaos of the interstate, the old river road invited much more inspiring views. At the confluence of the Big Nemaha River and the Missouri, sparrows dove and soared in a swarm, snacking on the bountiful insect life emerging from all around the waterway.

A little further along, the Point of Beginning of the Public Land Surveys of the Sixth Principal Meridian lingered at the corner of two fields and a dirt road leading towards the river. It was here that someone hammered an iron monument in the ground and began systematically measuring all of Kansas and Nebraska, most of Colorado and Wyoming, and a portion of South Dakota.

Atchison promised a few amusements, though the entire town was readying for Amelia Earhart Days and digging deeper into the distraction did not seem quite as inviting as originally imagined. Avoiding traffic enabled pause for a corner statement, and an opportunity to catalog another historic schoolhouse.

Weston stood as if no rain had ever passed. Old tobacco barns silently decay among rolling hills covered in corn. The day had turned nicely for wandering among the bluffs and fields surrounding the Missouri River.