Day 62, Monday, April 29, 2024: Gothenburg, Nebraska to Hastings, Nebraska

Carnegie libraries visited: Gothenburg, Holdredge, Shelton, and Harvard, Nebraska

Gothenburg Carnegie Library

Mary greets me just after the Gothenburg library, one of only two Carnegies designed in the Jacobethan revival style, opened at 9 a.m. (The other library is in Ashland, Nebraska, in case the mystery of its location was going to bug you all day.) She wears a monogrammed gray polo shirts emblazoned:

Gothenburg

Public Library

Mary

She is friendly, greeting each person who comes into the library by name; all the patrons this sunny spring morning are regulars. She is glad to hear about my project, and tells me that I might find this book helpful. There, on her desk, the book Gothenburg Area History is already open to the section on the library (I told her that she had read my mind). Without giving details or naming names, it begins with “In 1913, serious effort for a Gothenburg library began.” The earliest two librarians, Miss S. Frances Botkin and Miss Fern Hugo ran the library for its initial fifty years (with Botkin serving 26 years and Hugo 24). Alas, no other information about these individuals was readily available. 

At noon, I headed to the Y. It shares the minty fresh new building with Gothenburg Health, which provides both clinical and hospital care. The wellness room – where the exercise equipment were located – served as a gym and physical therapy center. Only one other person was ‘just working out’, while a couple of others were receiving physical therapy. After I finished my ride on the stationary bike (which informed me, disconcertingly, that my left leg was generating 54 percent of my power, and my right – that is, my sore leg – was producing only 46 percent) I moved out of the way to stretch my muscles. My go-to stretch is what I call “The Crucifix” in which I begin by lying  flat on my back, arms outstretched, with one leg crossed over the other, before twisting my torso. While looking over to one side, I see a small cluster of people looking at me, and one walking my direction. I had forgotten that this was a rehab center. The nurse informed me that someone saw me lying on the ground and thought that I had collapsed. Or died. I assured the nurse that I was fine.

It was an eight library afternoon. I worked only at the Gothenburg library, stopping briefly to take pictures of the others. The final library was in Harvard, a small town. The next stops on my itinerary were also in villages. I’ve gotten soft(er) over the weeks, and Harvard had no hotels, where I am now used to parking overnight in my car, sweet car. I wanted to sleep where I had a bathroom, hot water for tea, and where I wouldn’t be awakened by police, so I backtracked to Hastings (unfortunately, the Special Scoops Ice Cream Parlor was closed for the night). But, ugh: when I walked into the Hampton Inn, it was hosting a free beer happy hour. I walked by the taps, found an out of the way table, and settled down to write.