The Scenic Route is a new Grand Island Independent blog dedicated to the small towns and rural areas of Central Nebraska — all the places that make this state what it is.

I’m Mark Coddington, the regional reporter for The Independent. I’ve been covering 16 counties in this part of the state for three years, crisscrossing the highways and byways from Albion to Aurora and Broken Bow to Burwell. I grew up in Geneva, a town of about 2,000 in southeast Nebraska where most everyone knew your name, and they usually knew what you were up to within a few hours of the time you did it, too.

The Scenic Route is a place to highlight some of the pressing issues in Central Nebraska’s small communities and the fascinating stories there, too. The 16 counties I cover encompass a remarkably wide range, from the fertile crop farmland of Hamilton County to the Sandhills of Loup County, but many small towns in this part of the state are far more alike than they are different. I hope this blog can help rural residents see the resources and challenges they share with their neighbors across the area.

Perhaps more than anything else, this blog is a place for us to gather and talk about what Central Nebraska’s rural communities are all about, where they’re headed and what rural life should look like in the future. Your participation and conversation are a huge part of that, and I encourage you to share your ideas, questions, complaints or (my favorite!) story ideas in the comments or by emailing me at mark.coddington@theindependent.com. (Keep it civil, of course.)

Rural Nebraska may not typically be in the media spotlight much, but there are just as many stories to be told and pertinent issues to be considered here as anywhere else. Let’s get started, shall we?