Traveling the Back Roads

In yesterday’s post, you had to listen to me whine about the lack of Internet access and the inability to have a working cell phone but still…I did enjoy my trip to Nebraska.

My husband’s company requires that he travel throughout the country so I have had a lot of opportunities to  “go  along for the ride”. The big cities are always fun to visit as they offer a lot of things to do but there is a certain charm to the rural areas as well.

There might of been a time that just riding around looking at the countryside would not have been interesting to me.  That would of definitely been true if I had small children in the car (the very thought of it makes me jittery) but as an empty-nester, I love looking around at things, stopping to check out the sites and “flavor” of the little towns that make up America. There is always some cute little business, or a great little diner just down the road.

Thought Number One….Cedar Creek Pottery

Just 7 miles outside of Beatrice, Nebraska sits a old Lutheran church that was built in 1895. 
This would seem to be an unlikely place for a pottery studio…yet it is.  An unusual studio to be sure.

Hubby and I were driving along a country highway, when we spotted the sign and turned onto a gravel road.  After a few miles we saw the church and thought we needed to investigate. Upon walking up to the door you are greeted by a sign:

We let ourselves in, turned on the lights as instructed and looked around.  

After a few minutes the potter, Ervin Dixon came in.  Ervin is a very quiet man, or at least he was while we were there.  He is known around the area as the “country potter”.

Dixon was an art student in the 60′s and 70′s who initially wanted to create welded sculptures. After earning a MFA from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, he started a teaching career at the University of Miami. A few years later he moved back to the area where he grew up near Beatrice, Nebraska. For more than 30 years, Dixon has created his art and embraced his small town roots.

At the beginning of each year he starts with around 9000 pounds of clay and by October he has formed and fired all of it. He holds an annual sale to show and sell his pottery although anyone can drive up to the church and let themselves in.  Be sure to turn on the lights.  Ervin will come over in a few minutes.

Thought Number Two–Did I See What I Thought I Saw?

As we were driving to Cedar Creek Pottery, we saw a boat sitting in a pasture.  This probably wouldn’t be worth noting if there had been any water around…any at all…but no…no lakes, rivers, not even a pond.  Yet, here it was a small boat in the middle of a pasture.





Then there was this…. Someone felt the need to point out the fact that the road was a “dirt” road.

Perhaps, the sign maker should have elaborated and said “Dirt or Mud Road” depending on the weather. Clearly someone didn’t figure that out.



I have seen the signs on roads to point out possible deer in the area but I hadn’t seen signs that pointed out duel inhabitants before.




To be continued….what is waiting for me back in Kansas


Read more at The Art of Being Conflicted