NEBRASKA

Nebraska — Field Journal mid september.

heading east to chicago for my brother’s wedding. i had one night in nebraska, and i tried to spend it slowly. the goal was to slow down enough to match the local speed. the air was still warm, but you could feel fall coming. the season was turning but hadn’t finished turning. the plants were near the end of their year. stalks were wilting and the grasses had gone dry and pale. everything was spent, but nothing was dead yet. i came in across the panhandle to scottsbluff, where the bluffs rise up out of the flat and then fall away again.

from there i followed the platte river valley east to lake mcconaughy, water in the middle of the plains. when night came i didn’t know the camping laws and didn’t have time to figure them out. i had a schedule, and i needed sleep more than the perfect spot. so i slept at a rest stop along i-80, with the steady hum of 18-wheelers going by all night. i woke up to a crack of thunder right above the interstate. it cut through the hum, and it was a good alarm clock. in the morning i left the interstate. i cut south through the hills toward ellsworth and spent a long stretch on county roads, through towns that don’t see many visitors. they were quiet and stoic out on the plains, and they were holding up well against the wind, which never stops. this isn’t a travel guide. it’s a record of a season, and of the in-between days before a family celebration. it’s slow on purpose.

if you’ve only seen nebraska from the interstate, this is a look at what’s off of it. — route colorado → nebraska panhandle → scottsbluff → platte river valley → lake mcconaughy → i-80 (one night) → county roads south toward ellsworth → east to chicago

when: mid September 2026

filmed and edited by payson wick

#nebraska #fieldjournal #slowtravel #roadtrip #platteriver #lakemcconaughy #backroads #smalltowns #vanlife #earlyfall