During my 1,700 mile trip across Nebraska last summer, I knew at times the trip would seem long.  Especially since I was traveling by myself.  Nowhere else did that seem more true but when I was the center part of the state.  The Sandhills.

This part of the state seemed to stretch for miles.  Even beyond the horizon. The road seemed to last forever.  But I tried to be in the moment and enjoy the views.  At one point during my Sandhills trek, I literally stopped my car in the middle of the road.  How could I not take a picture?

And the photograph turned out exactly as I hoped.  Breathtaking.  As I put it on my list of top photo choices, I even hoped it would be on the Detour Nebraska cover.  Yet somehow, this picture did not make the cut for even being a part of the book.  That made me sad at first.  Yet then I realized that perhaps you have to be from Nebraska to understand the wild beauty.  To me, this picture was the essence of the state.  Instead of being on the cover, I get to feature what might have been one of my favorite trip pictures on my blog.  And here I can convey exactly how much this view took my breath away.  So much so that I wrote an ode to the Sandhills.  And even more so to the One who Created the beauty of it all.

Sandhills
Ode to the Sandhills

Driving through rugged Nebraska

The landscape spoke of isolation and hardiness

Of a strength that goes beyond external

To inner fortitude

When I beheld the Sandhills scene before me

How could I help but stop my car

To try to capture the moment

Forever on film

God’s country lay before me

As far as the eye could see

Beauty that literally took my breath

I sighed in wonder at it all.

Author: neodyssey

My name is Gretchen Garrison. I started this blog about Nebraska in 2013. So far, I have written three books about Nebraska and Lincoln.