Welcome to Loup City

When arriving in Loup City I met up with a George. George and his wife have lived in Loup City for three years after moving here from Boulder looking to get out of the city. George grew up in New Jersey and is still in shock that after a short time of living here in Loup City he feels like he knows everyone in town. However, he mentioned that he got funny looks when biking up and down the hill training on his bike. Now as the vice president at the chamber office he’s encouraging people that there is more to do than just hunting and fishing in the area, that there is also great biking, kayaking on the lake, hiking, and more. It’s something I recall from my small hometown life, no matter where you’re at you can get up and do anything you want such as head to Europe for a few months or start a new business. A small town has no limitations. In fact George’s business is operated from his house, in the middle of rural Nebraska, yet has clients all over the world. To sum this up, in one way or another I relate to it all. George of course went from a big city to a tiny city. I went from a small town to a big city (at least I consider Lansing/East Lansing a big city). After grabbing a bacon cheeseburger at the Snack Shop in downtown Loup City, George and I drove around to see the sites of Loup city.

There isn’t a movie theatre or a McDonalds within 30 miles. There isn’t a single full stoplight in the entire county. Everywhere you go in town there is someone you know. This is perfect; it’s just like Baraga. Loup City has a population around 900 people, the smallest town I’ve stayed in other than the ranch in Hammond, MT. Towns like these have a special community. George says he’s still not used to waving to everyone as you drive by on the road since he’s from the city. However, I’m quite used to it. Everyone in towns this size seems to drive with their right hand on top of the steering wheel, the reason is because whenever someone drives by in the other lane you kindly acknowledge them lifting a couple fingers to pass as a subtle wave. On my way in to town and driving around with George I honestly think everyone I passed offered a small waving gesture. It felt good. I don’t remember anyone waving when I was driving through NYC last March.

After the grand tour of Loup City I found myself meeting my new hosts, Mark, Deb, and their 13-year-old son Mitchell. The joke was that I might be sleeping in a coffin. Mark is a mortician, possibly the tallest mortician in the world. He also helps coach the high school basketball team and track team. Deb works at the local bank. And Mitchell is a polite young man who is a big sports fan, especially Kansas basketball. So it was a heartbreaking loss tonight. But he was able to make it up and kick my butt in a game of Madden on Playstation. I got my video game fix in with some Madden football playing with a couple 7th graders and an 8-year-old. So it was Mitchell, Brady, Grant and myself. Grant (who’s 8) and I got into one of the most competitive games possible. The entire game, he would score and I would score. I think he had six or seven touchdowns without a single first down, which means every touchdown he had was on the first or second play. It took me about eight plays. The scored was 69-69 (ok, not the most realistic game of football) and I kicked a field goal with 24 seconds left. And as always he through a hail mary, but I tackled him this time. Without any timeouts remaining the clock ticked down to zero and my win was solidified. A great first night in Loup City with a cool family.