Weekends for me are normally chock full of activities throughout the free time for most, and finally, for the first time since before the winter sports season began in early December, a free weekend was enjoyed to do whatever I wanted. So what did I do? Of course, I hit the road for “Crane Alley,” in and around my homeland of Central Nebraska, the Shelton, Gibbon and Wood River area’s to soak in the noise and wonder of the Sandhill Cranes.
The “river road,” as I always called it growing up in Shelton, didn’t disappoint, and while there are still more cranes that should be passing through the area, that over 200 mile drive this past Sunday sure served it’s purpose...some welcome down time doing things that I enjoy doing, and not what “I have to do.”
I must have looked the part of an “out of area” visitor, as my start in Minden to take the river road from west to east began with a stop for some fuel and a drink, with one person asking me, “are you here to watch the cranes?”
I of course replied, yeppers, they’re just fun to park and watch their actions and “gangly” ways, as they carry their out of proportion bodies through corn and soybean fields.
So as I began the slow trek along the river road, after the gentleman in Minden asked if I was in the area to crane watch, it led me to wonder what those people that live on the river road think about the annual migration of these thousands and thousands of birds, because after all, to them, I can only assume that it has to be a pain, especially to the handful of tractors that I came across in the fields putting down fertilizer, in the same fields that the cranes were roaming in.
These birds aren’t quite, especially when they come in the large flocks that they come to Central Nebraska in.
A constant honking from Sandhill Cranes can be deafening, and when you live in their resting area’s, and hear that constant noise coming from these birds, I’d have to think that it gets old.
Growing up “in town,” that constant noise throughout the day and night time hours wasn’t heard in town, but when you drive the river road, especially with the windows down, the noise is constant.
I remember when I grew up in the Shelton area, I rarely took the river road drive, because the Sandhill Cranes always seemed to be trivial... no big deal.
But I guess, as I’ve gotten older, and I enjoy seeking out the big birds of Nebraska, like the cranes, the eagles, even the migrating geese, the crane season has become a necessity in my life, as I usually make at least two trips along the river road. Sunday was trip one. With the migrating cranes, always comes a heavier presence of bald eagles, and other opportunistic birds that live off those cranes that don’t make it out of Central Nebraska, either due to exhaustion, or illness... the cranes become an easy meal for the predatory birds of prey.
The other part of the river road drive are the memories that the road comes with, not necessarily because of the cranes, but my father and I took that drive from Wood River to Minden and back home often. It was dad’s way of getting away from it all for a few hours, and I suppose, that is the same purpose that I try to make a couple of trips along the river road each year during the crane season, not to mention, the trip gave me an opportunity to “turn off work,” and just enjoy the trek, as much of that trip, while gawking at the gangly birds is for that purpose, some of that trip is also just to remember the “good ole days,” with dad.
Trips with him weren’t necessarily full of conversation, at times, it was extremely quiet...I guess that is the Duncan way of filtering out the clutter of a busy work week, and just enjoying the peace and quiet.
So while Sunday’s trip wasn’t overly quiet, thanks to the Sandhill Cranes, it worked it’s magic to the point that when I walked in the office door Monday morning, I told Pam, I could easily have taken a three-day weekend, as Sunday’s road trip did exactly what it was meant to do, relax me.
I realize the Sandhill Crane trip isn’t what some would call relaxing, but to others, like me, it clears the mind and it gave me several hours to just enjoy the drive, just like my dad and I enjoyed back in the day.
