Home away from home

FORDYCE — Ruth Wiebelhaus invites you to be her guest.

And please, make yourself at home. Her house is your house whether its for a few nights or a few months.

Tom and Ruth Wiebelhaus own Ruthie’s Retreat i Fordyce — a home available for short-term rental on Airbnb, an online marketplace for lodging, primarily home stays for vacation rentals, and tourism activities.

Wiebelhaus is just one of a handful of area residents and thousands across the country tapping into a growing market.

More than 52,000 units were added to Airbnb or Vrbo - Vacation Rentals By Owner, the other leading vacation rental marketplace - in the first five months of 2021 alone and the listings count is expected to increase by 20 percent next year.

Ruthie’s Retreat is a 4-bed and 2-bath home in the southeast part of town, and has been in the Wiebelhaus family for a long time. Tom’s grandmother first owned the house and his mother grew up there. Tom and Ruth lived there also, for 15 years.

When they had the opportunity to move to the country, the Fordyce home was rented for three months to a family member needing a place to stay. When they vacated, Ruthie’s daughter suggested looking into listing the home for rent on Airbnb.

Now, it’s booked about 80 percent of the time. Some come for reunions, some for funerals while others are just passing through. They come from all over the United States and even from overseas.

“Some people come back every year or for a getaway,” Wiebelhaus said. “It’s a chance to get away from the city. You can work from anywhere now - you just need Internet and a place to sleep.”

It’s helpful that Cedar County is a top destination for recreation from fishing to archery with the river close by.

Some are looking for things to do while others come for the sole purpose to get away from it all.

“A monk (from Schuyler) came up and he couldn’t fly during COVID and wanted a little retreat by himself. He stayed for almost a month,” she said.

Wiebelhaus said she’s looking into investing in another property to list for short-term rental.

“I never thought I’d be a landlord. I kind of fell into it. I can make way more income renting it by the week or the weekend that I could by the year,” she said. “I didn’t think it would go over like this.”

Those looking for a little peace and quiet don’t have to look any further than the sunporch and wide open spaces at FarmHouse Inn near Bow Valley.

The home has been in the Martin and Linda Kleinschmit family for nearly 75 years. Martin was raised there and then raised his own family there.

The couple moved off the farm and into Hartington in 2016 and decided at that time to make the home into a vacation rental.

“He lived the majority of his life there and it was hard to move to town. We’ve got a shop there and still work there and spend time there yet,” Linda Kleinschmit said. “We didn’t want it (the house) to sit empty.”

While they wanted to keep the home accessible for their own family they also realized they needed some income to help pay the taxes. And in retirement she didn’t want to sit idle, either.

“I needed something to do and always wanted to have my own business,” she said. “It’s easier than a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) - I don’t have to cook.”

She said every year business has picked up more and more. Even last year, during the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, business was better than she expected.

Many people who stay at the FarmHouse Inn are there for a family getaway or a college reunion. The place is booked from now until December for duck hunters who come in from Missouri.

There’s even been some repeat customers.

“We started to tell the kids they’ll have to start making reservations when they want to visit,” she said.

With six bedrooms, the inn can attract a crowd but still has that down-home feel.

“We’ve left a lot of our stuff there and people have commented that they like the home atmosphere,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a hotel. It’s a house and they have access to everything and can make themselves at home.”

The guest book at T&T Rustic Loft reads a little like poetry.

One entry starts, “Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee watching the golds and pinks of dawn spread across the sky . . . “ and that’s a standard experience for those who stay at the rural Randolph property owned by Steve and Deb Thies.

There’s no extra charge for the amazing sunsets and sunrises.

“I’m going to reward my family and my customers with the beauty of it,” Thies said. “The sunsets are amazing. I had someone say, ‘This is a dream to be out here versus a hotel. It’s peace and quiet.’ “

They got into the short-stay rental business by accident, he said.

He built a shed on his property and put in a water line so he could easily wash vehicles.

Deb said it’d be nice to have a bathroom. Steve added a bathroom.

Then, it’d be nice to have a shower. And so on.

The first room that was finished was a kitchen area with the intent to use the space during the canning season.

In 2017, their son got married and wanted the upstairs storage area of the shed turned into a bedroom for his wedding night.

He never thought about renting out the space until the summer of 2019 when construction workers came in from Omaha to work at his church, St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Randolph.

“They were charging us $2,000 for hotels and I thought they can come out here and stay for free, save the church some money,” Thies said.

He officially listed the property on Airbnb about three years ago.

Since that time, numerous improvements have been made including a family and game room complete with a pool table and foosball. Just last week, Thies finished putting up the railing for an outside upper deck, overlooking the corn field with an expansive view for miles.

They used refurbished wood and steel from old buildings throughout the space giving the loft a rustic feel. Deb’s knack for decorating with antiques pulls the whole look together with the goal of highlighting Nebraska’s unique and beautiful qualities.

“I want a home feel for my customers,” he said. “I would not have this loft to rent out if it wasn’t for my wife helping out in every facet of this business. She does a lot behind the scenes and keeps me grounded.”

His next projects include building a gazebo, and adding a hot tub and barbecue area for his family and guests.

From travelers to workers, the loft has been a home away from home for many people. It stays booked about 85 percent of the time, he said.

When people are desperate for a place to stay, he’ll even offer his camper.

He’s met so many different people from all over.

“If they want to talk, I’ll share my history and they share their history. There’s a lot of similarities on things. I love serving people and meeting people,” he said, turning strangers into friends.

One guest from New York has been coming to the area to pheasant hunt for two decades and most recently started bringing his son and staying at the loft. Now the two men talk frequently and send family pictures back and forth.

Other memorable guests have included an Omaha author traveling to nearby Hartington to write about the new brewery there.

An Air Force officer also spen the night at the loft.

Two women from Florida took a run through his cornfield as part of their stay.

“She said, ‘Do you mind if I run through the corn field?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And she said, ‘It’s on my bucket list - running through a cornfield.’ I said, ‘You go right ahead. If you get lost, go to the end of the row and you’ll find our road from there.’ She loved it and it was th best thing ever,” Thies said.

All of the people he’s met along the way remind him that it’s a small world full of good people.

“There are good, salt of the Earth people. We’re not doomed yet. There’s a chance,” Thies sai with a smile. “It’s been amazing and it’s just been a great adventure.”

The Farm House, Wausa

Guests who stay at The Farm House in Wausa sometimes get more than they expect.

Along with a clean, warm home with freshly made beds and a cupboard stocked with staples, they often become lifelong friends with the owners Curt and Kathy Hennings.

“I’ve enjoyed it so much,” Mrs Hennings said. “We’ve just met so many interesting people.”

There’s the couple who brought their guitars and gave the Hennings a concert on the front porch.

“He started playing this song and about halfway through I realize this song is about us,” sh said. “He had put words about Curt and I in this whole song.”

They left a CD and the Hennings have heard from them through Christmas cards every year since.

The Hennings’ first foray into short-term vacation rentals started with renting the basement of their own home in rural Wausa.

It was 2013 and a large vintage vehicle auction brought nearly 10,000 additional people to Pierce.

“Everyone was trying to find a place to stay,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about Airbnb but with my daughter’s assistance we listed and within two hours it was booked.”

Next, came an occupational therapist from New York who wa working at a Pierce nursing hom for three months.

“Her Dad brought her out from New York and left her with us. After two months, she liked i so well that she ended up getting an apartment in Norfolk. She had one of our farm cats and sh made her Dad come all the way from New York to get that cat.”

Last summer, the Hennings attended her wedding.

Even more personal relationships were built when the Hennings purchased a neighboring home.

At first, a farmhand lived there. In those early days, a youth pastor also lived there for about a year.

Not wanting the house to sit empty, the Hennings listed it on Airbnb about four years ago and transformed it into a home-stay rental called The Farm House.

A lot of work has gone into refurbishing the home including taking off three layers of linoleum to reveal the original hardwood floors underneath. The flooring is one of the many features that guests comment on about the three-bedroom and one-bath home along with the decor, comfortable beds and the countryside space to roam about the property.

Children especially enjoy a bedroom with a zoo animal mural and a play room just their size.

Hennings looks back fondly on the memory of her very first customers at The Farm House - an Omaha family who wanted a family getaway with their children with plans to visit the nearby Missouri River.

“At the end of the weekend, she left me this long note. She said, ‘We never got away from the farm. The kids loved the leaves, they would build the pile and jump in.’ Now they come back and they call it their farmhouse. They’ve been back five times,” Hennings said, celebrating birthdays or back for a family getaway.

The Farm House is booked nearly every weekend through the summer. In fall, hunters will rent the place for 10-15 days at a time.

She’s also hosted those working in the area - from fiber optics to telephone to windmills and medical - all with interesting stories to tell.

One couple from Germany found themselves staying at the Hennings’ home on their retirement trip. They wanted to avoid cities and enjoy country spaces on the trip. She was fascinated by the fireflies that came out at night when she was sitting on the back patio garden. He was interested in the antique shops nearby.

Yet another couple from Germany moved to New York for the husband’s work at auto giant BMW. The company flew the couple to California and then they traveled by BMW back to New York, seeing the country along the way.

Processes have changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and Hennings doesn’t always get to forge those personal bonds with her guests.

“I miss that,” she said. “It used to be I would always come over and give them a tour of the house, ask if there was anything I could do for them. I’ve gone away from that just because people want their distance.”

The reviews from past guests indicate that all of Hennings’ special touches don’t go unnoticed.

And judging from the Hennings’ growing Christmas card list, the personal friendships continue.

Ionia Cottage, Newcastle

If walls really could talk, the Ionia Cottage in Newcastle would have quite the tales to spin.

It was originally located in Ionia, northeast of present-day Newcastle - home of the Ionia “Volcano.”

According to the Nebraska Historical Society, the “volcano” was discovered by the Lewis & Clark expedition in 1804 when they passed a bluff that appeared to be on fire and was still very hot.

Thirty-five years later, a man named J.N. Nicollet set out to prove that it wasn’t really a volcano and determined it to be a decomposed bed of iron pyrites that came in contact with water that resulted in the heat.

Early settlers in the town of Ionia continued to fear the “volcano” and its potential for eruption especially after an 1877 earthquake. The next year, the Missouri River undermined the bluffs and a large section of the “volcano” fell into the river, according to the Historical Society. Much of the town was destroyed and the “volcano” story died out after the town’s post office discontinued services in 1907.

The cottage was moved along the river bottom from Ionia to where it now resides about three miles north of Newcastle. Current Owner Mary Ellen Ellyson’s grandfather donated the acre it sits on and it became a schoolhouse where Ellyson’s grandmother taught.

In the 1970s, Ellyson’s parents moved to the area from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and renovated the school into a home.

They stayed for some time before it was turned into rental property.

About 25 years ago, the property was gifted to Ellyson where she also rented long-term to family and friends. Then she used the home as an office for several years.

When she retired, she decided she couldn’t let the place sit empty. But she also didn’t want to rent the property on an annual lease to people she didn’t know.

“I wanted to come down and check on it. It’s not just a source of income. It’s a family thing. It’s sort of fragile because it’s old,” she said.

In 2017, she decided to list the home for short-term rental on Airbnb. She’s still choosy about whom she rents the twobedroom and one bath home to. And she closed in 2020 completely for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given all that, she says the cottage stays as full as she wants it to - much to her surprise given its remote location. She provides landmarks along with highway names and mileage markers as directions to guide people off Highway 12.

“Who would think? Who would drive up here?” Ellyson said. “Most people say, ‘Wow, this is isolated.’ Most people like that. They want that kind of place. For some folks, this is astonishing. They’re not at all used to it. It’s unique for them.”

The cottage was the perfect fit for a man on sabbatical from a Chinese university, writing a book to achieve tenure, but also for the mother of five who needed a three-day break alone.

Guests come for family reunions, outdoor recreation, or just make a pit stop on a longer journey.

“They come for various reasons - not necessarily to experience this place but some do come for that,” she said.

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