SHELBY TO VICTORIA SPRINGS -- ANSELMO, NEBRASKA

9/8
 After leaving our parking lot campground, the first order of the day was to find the Camping World and peruse its aisles. Camping World is like an department store for campers and their owners, and a VERY seductive place. Everything for your camping vehicles and then some. Toilet paper? You got it! Lawn chairs with fancy prints? Yup! Darkening film for your windows? Of course! Carpeting, strings of lights, flags, and on and on. Lots of things you also think you need, but you really don't. In Council Bluffs, Iowa ( don't you love the name?) we found the place and left with our pockets a little lighter.

       Next on the list was to find some Nature's Variety dog food for Xian.By now we're in Nebraska.  As we were on our way into Lincoln to a pet store we had researched, Bill spied a building with a sign on it announcing. NATURE'S VARIETY, so he made a quick turn into the driveway off of Cornhusker Highway.( Bill is very talented at making sharp turns and U-ies  when you least expect it.).As it turned out, this building was a distribution place for Nature's Variety, not a place to buy the food. However, the office staff is a wonderful bunch of people, and Linda Miners, the account manager, very gladly gave us a 40# bag of Xian's favorite flavor, along with a box of biscuits which are a new product. Nature's Variety is a grain-free food for both cats and dogs, and one that was recommended by Xian's veterinarian. Of course, after those gifts, Bill had to put Xian through his paces: "down-and-unders", "leave it, take it", etc. They all loved it, and Xian left a happy dog.
   After our good luck stop, we drove for many hours today. The day was gray, gloomy and windy, some rain spitting on our windshield. Because we had lingered so long in the AM, we couldn't make our original destination, but we did find our first really lovely state park-- Victoria Springs at Amselmo, where the cottonwoods arched protectively over our camper and we were the only ones in the park. Nice, but somewhat eerie.
( Och! Posted this a day late and am afraid of losing it if I delete it in the editing section.....oh well! I'm sure you'll understand! )