12-Nov-2019 -- This was my final of five confluences in 24 hours in Western Nebraska to close out the decade. After visiting the iconic Carhenge monument north of Alliance (see photo) I traveled southwest along US 385 then west along Wayne Road and parked at a small pulloff which was unposted and had no tire tracks in the old snow. I knew I was about 1.25 miles to the northeast of the confluence. I crossed the harvested stalks of an irrigation circle, marveled at the radius length of the pivot irrigation system, crossed an unmarked and loose-hanging barbed wire fence to the south, passed a windmill, and turned due southwest around this corner fencepost, finding myself once again amid the beautiful sand hills of Nebraska. As I meandered around dips and ridges in the soft soil I crossed a single two-track trail that cuts westward through the yucca and scrub vegetation. I noted the bizarre “third-meter-wide terraces that characterize the hills” that Joseph Kerski pointed out from his visit in 2005 and I was reminded of Machu Picchu.

The confluence is located on the face of a sand hill that slopes steeply to the west. I had no trouble zeroing out or taking the requisite photos. Upon my return I saw a set of new tire tracks around my parked rental car, but no new footprints in the snow. I drove off toward Fort Collins, Colorado, and after a two-hour delay for a flat tire in Scottsbluff I made it back home to my wife and son by 5:00pm having just finished the audiobook The Stranger.

It was another successful and memorable confluence trip, and I am thankful to the facilitators of this project for getting us out there to document these unique and underappreciated corners of our lovely little world.

Parked: 10:32am

Temp: 41°F

Back in car: 11:30am

Previous confluence: 42°N,102°W