Pulling out of Lincoln on I-80, it didn't take long to find the first kitschy thing to see - the largest covered wagon in the world. It has been a few different businesses over time, including a gas station with a campground around it. It also used to have wheels and windows and a caretaker. Over time, it has fallen into disrepair. Wonder how long it will remain.
We left the Gulf Coast little earlier than we had initially planned, which was a good thing. Serendipitously, we caught the tail-end of the Sandhill Crane migration through Nebraska. I have always loved the Sandhill Cranes, even when they serenaded me in the early mornings in Florida with their "dinosaur" sounds. But I have never seen so many in one place! I know I saw more cranes driving through Nebraska in one day than I saw in all the years we lived in Florida, cumulatively, even if you count every crane sighting as an individual bird (which I know they were not!) Some were doing their little mating dance, and many were flying in. Corn fields were full of them, along the interstate and the backroads. Kearny, NE, says they get the highest concentration of them in the world, and that is the location of the Audubon Rowe Sanctuary, which I missed in my reading while planning this route. I saw so many beautiful birds (not just Sandhill Cranes) through this stretch of the drive. If we come through this route again, I'll definitely want to spend a day at some of the bird sanctuaries or reserves. I spent years trying to get good pictures of birds in flight. Thanks to having a group of birders and excellent guides on the Antarctic cruise, I now know how to do it. Still practicing and need a longer reaching lens, but it's coming along!
We swung off the interstate in Grand Island to see Fred's Flying Circus. Fred is no longer with us, but when he was alive, he liked to spend his free time restoring old cars into cartoon characters and raising them on tall poles so they were in the air and could be seen over the walls of his garage. Upon his death, his family have kept the garage going, including maintaining his "flying circus". It's really a neat stop. We were there on a Sunday, when the garage was closed. I don't think they do any tours when they're open. From what I understand, everything there is to see is easily viewed from outside the walls.
This is the only one that was on the ground. It was great they way the back end is sticking out and the painting on the wall just comes right off of it.
The town was fully decorated with the little blue pinwheels in recognition of April being Child Abuse Prevention Month. The pinwheel signifies the good childhood every child deserves. This has always been an issue close to my heart and one that I've spent many years working within. It felt good to see a town mark it so visibly. I only hope their policies and actions in the courts and administrative offices also reflect this. Far too often, the courts and government agencies exacerbate the problem. But, I'll get off my soapbox - for now.
Another unique thing about Nebraska is that they have a museum that is housed inside an arc over the interstate. The museum is an old western history museum, and having grown up on spaghetti westerns that my dad watched ALL the time, I wasn't really into it. They had a nice looking trail and some shadow bison. It was too cold to hike, but I'll probably build time for that if we come through this way again. Might even go into the museum. It's a nice building and grounds, though.
The fire fighters museum on the way back onto the interstate had the fire dog "R. Hero" ouside. He was adorable!
Back on the road, we finally made it to North Platte, where we just had to check out the trading post, where they have a "tourist trap" on bold display!
They had a little miniature museum of the wild west show
And the exhibit I always love - a "please touch" section with lots of pelts! I was expecting the badger to be softer, but the skunk was cuddly soft!
I don't remember what my offense was, but I'm sure it was pretty bad! Thankfully, Bruce had bail money. I usually like to gather new jams, jellies, syrups, or similar items in my travels. This time, the bail money went on moonshine jelly and Gramma Mazie's Toe Jam (a blend of tangerine, orange, and elderberry). I haven't tried it yet. Waiting for my new blood sugar medications before I ingest that much processed sugar! My numbers have been higher since I got back from Patagonia, so I'm trying to be better-ish.
We finally made it to today's final destination - the Golden Spike Tower in North Platte. The Golden Spike Tower sits as an overlook to Bailey Yard, the largest train yard in the world. It covers 2850 acres and manages an average of 14,000 rail cars every 24 hours. It has 17 receiving tracks and 16 departure tracks with two “humps”used for sorting the cars. When a train comes in, it passes over either the east or west hump, depending on the direction it is traveling. The hump is built up so that it is higher than the rest of the tracks. On the hump, a worker scans the car to determine its final destination. They then switch the tracks so that car (or cars if several in a row are going to the same destination) roll down off the hump, down the track, and onto the track designated for that final destination. At a designated time, a locomotive will back up into a particular track and attach itself to the cars for that destination. Most of the time, the locomotive will be going to either another sorting yard or multiple destinations, so once it picks up the rail cars for one destination, it may pull forward and back into another line of cars to attach those. It can do this for multiple destinations. I found this yard fascinating. There is a movie to give a broad overview on the ground floor, and then you go to the 7th or 8th floor for viewing. The 7th floor is open air, so there is no glass. The 8th floor has docents that will explain what you are watching. I strongly suggest spending some time with the docent. Ours wanted to make sure we understood that a locomotive was not an engine. Instead, the locomotive moves the train using electricity generated by the engine. If you ask me, it's a distinction without much of a difference since the engine appears to be housed inside the locomotive, but he had a lot of other knowledge, and the day wouldn't likely have been nearly as pleasant without the information he imparted to us.
There is a little wooden train scultpure in the courtyard with an arc of flags of the 13 states that are serviced by this train yard.
It's a long way down from the 8th floor
The golden spike was not laid in North Platte, Nebraska. The tracks came together in Promontory, Utah, where the Golden Spike National Historic Park is. This was named the Golden Spike Tower, however, because it was architecturally supposed to resemble the golden spikes that were used to unite the eastern and western sections of the tracks. The word "resemble" is used in its loosest terms. But one of the golden spikes from that uniting is housed in the tower on the 8th floor.
In this video, you can see the cars separating and going different ways from the hump
In this video, you can see the tanker reaching the line of other cars going to its particular destination with enough force to couple with the cars already waiting.
It was still early in the day when we finished the Golden Spike Tower, and our next planned stop was on the other side of Wyoming - the United Pacific round house in Evanston, Wyoming. So we drove on down the road, stopping for the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
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