This is the main street running through the city of Norfolk, Nebraska. It had such a look of downtown Mesa, Arizona that we had to take a picture!
We had intended to reach Valentine, Nebraska before finding lodging for the night, but by the time we reached O'Neill on US 275, visibility was diminishing due to the rain and fog and we decided to take a room at the local Holiday Inn.
O'Neill has a strong Irish influence. General John O'Neill, founder of the city, conceived the idea of bringing Irish immigrants to the farmlands of the Midwest while he was a prisoner in Burlington, Vermont in 1870. He spent two years traveling through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska, encouraging the Irish to re-settle in O'Neill. He must have been fairly successful. On Saint Patrick's Day in 1969, Nebraska's governor officially proclaimed O'Neill "The Irish Capitol of Nebraska." The city now begins each Patrick's Day celebration by painting the world's largest shamrock in the middle of a downtown intersection. (Now, there's some trivia for you).
It snowed here yesterday and some snow was still on the ground, but the streets and roads were clear, though very wet, due to continuing rain. When we checked in at the hotel the temperature had dropped to 39 degrees. We hope the sky's will clear tomorrow!
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