A journey down the ‘spine of America’

Charles Roamer chronicles his travels through Southwest Nebraska in his book, “83 Odyssy.”

courtesy photo

McCOOK, Neb. - As 2026 rings in the 100th anniversary of U.S. Highway 83, one man is celebrating the trek he made down the 1,885 miles running from the northern to southern U.S. borders and was fascinated enough by what he saw and experienced to tell the tale.

Charles Roamer of Fort Collins, Colorado, penned the book 83 Odyssey---An Adventure Down the Spine of America on U.S. Highway 83 (Atmosphere Press, June 2024), which includes a noticeable mention of McCook and the surrounding area. Roamer traveled from the Canadian border in North Dakota to Brownsville, Texas, on the Mexican border in the fall of 2014. He calls it the “spine of America” because of its location near the center of the continental United States.

He explained that his in-depth narrative is a mix of personal adventure, interesting historical and geographical information, experiences with people and some social commentary.

“[The journey] inspired me to write 83 Odyssey, which is as much about the interesting places I encountered in America’s deep hinterland as it is about me,” he said.

McCook, Oberlin and North Platte make an appearance in Chapter 18, where he wrote about the local landscape, as well as significant facts about the towns and their history. Roamer’s description of the area is chock full of historical details, enough to entice any local history buff to grab the book, as well as insightful commentary on his experiences with those he encountered along the way.

Some of what he wrote about included the site of the World War II U.S. Army airfield, Buffalo Jones’ largest surviving buffalo herd, the George W. Norris home, the Harvey P. Sutton house, Heritage Hills Golf Course, a hot air balloon festival and other worthy mentions.

“...in this [chapter] I mentioned having lunch at the local Runza restaurant, which I thought is an interesting largely Nebraska chain business. I also describe U.S. 83 intersecting U.S. 6 and U.S. 34 in McCook and give some facts and statistics about these old U.S. Highways, like I do about other U.S. Highways that U.S. 83 crosses paths with. And regarding McCook as a railroad town, I mention the current rails being used by the BNSF and Amtrak,” Roamer explained.

Roamer added that the anniversary makes his story an important one to tell, and he hopes the book will draw more attention to these types of anniversaries amid the commemoration of America’s 250th birthday.

In November, the book was selected as a 2025 Goody Business Book Award winner in the Travel and Hospitality category. More information about the book can be found at charlesroamerauthor.com.