When visiting my 81 year old mother in a small town in central Nebraska (Miller if you must know), I found myself fading in and out of sleep on her incredibly uncomfortable couch.

I was alone in the house.

I had plenty of rest.

So I wondered… why was I fading in and out of sleep.

Then I listened.

And I heard.

I heard absolutely nothing… Nothing man-made. No cars. No lawn mowers (it was after lunch). No engines. No “road noise”. No yelling kids. Absolutely nothing.

What I did hear was the ebb and flow of the wind that is so ever-present on the Nebraska prairie. I heard the birds – tons of song birds.

It had been a long time since I had no man made stimulus. Just me and nature – ok – I cheated – me and nature from my mom’s couch with tons and tons of open windows. But there was nothing else. Honest.

It was amazingly restorative.

Which got me to thinking. Maybe all the cool places aren’t the ONLY places that are cool?

Consider Comstock Nebraska.

In a short afternoon, or maybe even an hour you could see the whole town. But that isn’t the point. The point is to literally stop and smell the roses.

Visiting Comstock this summer I noticed a little RV park. It wasn’t much, but the point isn’t that the park has to be the fanciest place on the planet – just a place for a little peace and quiet.

There are some really neat water features like the Calamus Reservoir State Recreation Area where you can get some fantastic fresh water fishing without having to deal with any other people. Many fishermen know that it is hard getting to fish by yourself anymore. Well, it is still possible in Nebraska. Another closeby dam is Sherman County Reservoir.

Not only are there local lakes, there are two really nice rivers called the Middle Loup and the North Loup Rivers.

You would also have access to the sandhills which are pretty darned fascinating all by themselves.

Comstock itself has a yearly music festival (see the picture below) as well as the video gallery below.

The ladies (and probably some men) of the community have created an amazing community garden called the Centennial Garden.

Comstock also has a wonderful park with beautiful big fluffy trees that have wonderful shade.

Go see the Dowse Sod House. I mean really, a sod house. With a history and kept up by people who really care.

There are other things too – like a few businesses, but I really wanted to focus on the cool things.

 

The coolest thing

But the coolest thing is this… If you would be willing to forgo some of the fancy big-attraction things and spend a couple months in central Nebraska, perhaps just thinking, being quiet, being still, and enjoying the peace, then you might find yourself looking back at you.

Imagine mornings with moderate temperatures, crisp blue skys free from ozone haze, smells of summer, birds, and sometimes, just the ebb and flow of the wind. Imagine coffee from your Keurig (I still love mine), getting up with the sun and going to bed with the sun, stars so bright they hurt your eyes, and just imagine the power and energy of the natural energy of the universe seeping into your soul.

That was kind of what I was thinking when sleep and wake washed over me like waves when I was laying on my 81 year old mother’s couch.

What do you think?

P.S. pictures below.

Pictures (if you can’t see them, then click on the article title and then you will be able to see them).

 

 

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