The (almost) final map

It's been awhile since I updated the ninety-three map, but here it is for your viewing pleasure. There is one red dot for every location I stopped to attempt to take a photograph. I was going to try to count them all, but I kept losing track before I even got halfway through the map.

All told, I spent nearly 40 days photographing Nebraska and shot over 4000 exposures along the way.

And I'd love to do it all over again.

Wynot Stop Here?

Three years ago today, I began what would eventually become ninety-three. I didn't have any idea that the series would turn into this big of a production, an obsession that has stuck with me ever since that day. The good news is that I'm just about to wrap up the project for good. After my travels today, I feel as if there is only one county's photograph that I need to improve upon.

It was a very moody gray day when I woke up in O'Neill this morning. The sun came out as I went north towards South Dakota and the clouds didn't return until I came through Wisner on the way home. My main focus today was Cedar County and I visited almost every town in the county that I had not stopped in to this point. I'm much happier with what I was able to come up with this time around.

The above photograph is of the now defunct drive-in movie theatre in O'Neill. It's definitely seen better days. The only operating drive-in theatre left in Nebraska that I know of is in the town of Neligh. That theatre had Toy Story 3 listed on the marquee when I drove by yesterday.

Edited to add... A reader points out that there is a drive-in theatre still operating in Alliance. So that makes two.


And another photograph, from my trek through southern South Dakota that went over both the Fort Randall and Gavins Point dams. The old worn out Pepsi logo was on the side of a building next to a car wash in downtown Wagner.

Also visited: Pickstown, Marty, Tyndall and Tabor, South Dakota. Spencer, Butte, Menominee, Fordyce, Constance, Bow Valley, Wynot, St. Helena and Obert, Nebraska.

A failed return to Rose

The photograph above pretty much sums up my travels to Rock County today. The Elkhorn River has been flooding all the way from its beginning to its end near Omaha. After a detour near West Point on the way up here, my plans to revisit the area around the near non-existent town of Rose were foiled by the water over the road shown above. While I have a lot of confidence in my Subaru, I do feel it's best suited for dry land.


Despite the flooding doing its best to get in the way, today was a beautiful day once the clouds cleared in the morning. Best of all, due to the highway to Rose being under water, I had time to take a short drive on Nebraska Highway 7 north of Bassett to the Niobrara River. I always forget just how impressive the elevation changes coming into the Niobrara valley can be, and this may be the best place I've found to cross the river. The photograph above just doesn't do the scenery out there justice.

It's another drive to add to my list of the best ones in the state. I'll have to put together a list for this blog one of these days. If you're heading out to see the Sandhills, it's well worth the drive up here to see the Niobrara on the way up to Valentine.

Also visited: Wisner, Neligh, Long Pine and Newport.

Pawnee City, Nebraska

Pawnee County, along the Kansas border in eastern Nebraska, has been another county that just doesn't seem to cooperate with me. After two visits, I still felt like I could do better with the photograph of the county for ninety-three. I am happy to report that I was able to find something that I am satisfied with on the third try. This leaves me with only a trip up to the northeastern part of the state to call the project completely finished.

Above is detail from a shop window on the downtown square in Pawnee City. The appropriately named Memory Magic deals in scrap booking supplies.

It has been just about three years since my last trip to Pawnee City. The last time through, I photographed a rundown building downtown that someone had written SOLD in one window and NEEDS ROOF BAD in another. Sure enough, despite all the time that has passed, there was the same building with the same writing scrawled in the windows.


July 2007 above, today below. Not much changes in a small town, other than the paint slowly peeling away from a window.