Pioneers and railroads

We started the day by taking the Lincoln Highway from Kearney west towards North Platte.
This part of Nebraska was a tough place to live during the mid-1800's.

We made a stop at the Dawson County Historical Museum in Lexington. These local museums are always so interesting. The items on display were all donated by local families.  Here are some photos of just a small part of the exhibit.

From an old diner on the Lincoln Highway

We continued west to Cozad which, per a sign, is proudly located on the 100th meridian. We went to Cozad to see the original Pony Express station building.

From Cozad we continued west to North Platte. We particularly wanted to see the Union Pacific's Bailey Yard. It's the largest train yard in the world. 

The 8 story observation tower

This repair facility handles everything from complete overhauls to light bulb changing.

Each locomotive is equipped with sand tanks toward the front of the engine that are filled with sand from the sand tower. Sand is the primary source of traction for locomotives anytime wheels begin to slip. In front of each wheel, there's a nozzle that sprays sand on the track with compressed air. This is an automatic operation each time the wheels slip or the engineer makes an emergency stop.

This photo didn't come out very well but it's tells the story of how orphan children from big cities were sent out west to be, hopefully, adopted by farming families who desperately needed the help. 

The plan was to spend the night at the city campground but it doesn't open until May 1st so we're at the Buffalo Bill State Historical Park campground. $18/night.

Nebraska is a fascinating state.

Nebraska. From Seward west to Kearney

A little history.In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Nebraska Territory out a portion of Louisiana Purchase (1803)lands that were north of the 40th parallel. The 40th parallel became the southern border of the eventual state of Nebraska. Since Congress wanted to create new states of as similar a size as possible, it created Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota to each be three degrees of height so they would be of similar size plus fit neatly between Kansas and Canada. The eastern border of Nebraska is the Missouri River. The western border is 104* of longitude which was the eastern border of the Idaho Territory. North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming share the same 104* border. By sharing the 104th meridian as a border, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming all ended up being about 7* of longitude wide. As an aside, Washington and Oregon are also 7* in width. The Southwest corner of Nebraska is now Colorado. While still a territory, the territorial governor released this land to Colorado because it was both mountainous, thus not conducive to farming or railroads, and was populated by miners who were notoriously difficult to govern. Nebraska was admitted to the Union on March 1, 1867.

 This morning we woke up at the Blue River Valley city campground in Seward. It's located on the north bank of the Blue River.  It was 32* with a light frost on the grass. I grabbed a hot cup of coffee and took Gopher for a walk. Since there was no one else in the park at 6:30, I just let her run free.

The Blue River was mentioned in the books we read about the Oregon Trail. Rivers were perhaps the most hazardous obstacle the wagon trains faced. Finding a safe place to cross was critical. The water had to be shallow enough for the oxen to breathe, the bottom had to firm enough to give good footing to man and beast, the current not so strong as to carry the wagons away and the banks had to have a manageable slope. On a typical trip to Oregon, several people drowned and the oxen plus the cart they were pulling got washed away. River crossings were a much more real danger then Indian attacks.  Actually, at least initially, Indian attacks were quite rare. It was only after the number of people crossing the Country grew so large that the buffalo were being wiped out, that the Indians began to attack to drive the white man away in order to preserve their way of life. We all know how that turned out.

 About 8:30 we continued west following the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Hwy was built between 1913 and 1925 connecting New York City and San Francisco. Like the old Route 66, sections of the Lincoln Highway have been preserved. We spent a most interesting afternoon at the Great Platte River Road Archway near Kearney. It's a fascinating museum that tells the story of the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails as well as the Lincoln Highway. The museum is actually an archway spanning I-80.

From 60 million bison to 541. When we were in Minnesota a few years back, we visited a USFS exhibit on the timber industry in the Great Lakes area. There was a mural depicting the battle between conservationists and the timber industry in the mid-1800's. The Senator from Minnesota, who was against any controls on the industry,  stated "There is enough timber in this area to last for all future generations".  By 1900 there was no marketable timber left anywhere in the Great Lakes region. Let's see. Global warming is a hoax, air and water pollution is OK because it's too expensive to fix, mercury in your drinking water isn't all that bad, emissions from coal fired plants are not killing the forests, we're not overfishing the oceans, on and on and on. It's clearly time to eliminate the EPA and those whiny, tree-hugging liberals.

1950's Lincoln Hwy diner

And here we are tonight. A wide spot in the road.

From home through Iowa

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 Left home at 7:20am. We drove to the Santee Lakes State Park in Santee, SC. It’s only about 10 minutes off of I-95 so it makes for a convenient overnight stop.

 We stayed at Alex’s house from the 11th through the 16th. The original plan was to head west on the 15th but a huge, and violent, storm front covered the Great Plains states. We waited until the storm cleared the area. On Saturday we went to both Finn and Teagans soccer games and then on Saturday night, there was a birthday party for “T”.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

 We left Alex’s house about 7:30am. The drive west took us through rural Virginia and Pennsylvania. It’s been a good Spring in this area. Rain and plentiful sunshine. The farms and woods are all beautifully green. Tonight we’re at a rest area on the Ohio Turnpike. For $20/night, you get a separate RV area with electric hookups, water and a dump station. It’s the first time we’ve run into a setup like this in our travels. It’s certainly convenient if you’re just transiting through an area. Of course, if you chose, you can park, for free, in the truck parking area. We’ve stayed in the truck rest areas before but it’s not our first choice. Between the noise of the idling trucks and the exhaust fumes, we never get a decent nights sleep.

 Wednesday

 Another long driving day; nine hours. The goal was to get out of the very congested areas from around Akron, OH to west of Chicago, IL.

 Tonight we’re camped all by ourselves, along the bank of the Hennipen Canal at Bridge 23 near Annawon, IL. What a wonderfully peaceful place this is. From this point on, our driving days will be limited to perhaps two hours. http://www.dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/parks/r1/hennpin.htm

I-80 through PA, OH, IN, and parts of IL has been converted to a “turnpike”. As best I can tell, that simply means toll booths were built. The PA part cost $18. It cost $27 to get through OH, “only” $7.50 through IN and the small part of IL was a measly $1.35. $53.85 in tolls. For the money, I would have expected high quality roads. Only IN roads were in decent shape. All other states were very much in the need of work. The OH rest areas were great; probably the best we’ve seen, although FL has very nice rest areas as well. PA and IN were fair, at best. We didn’t get much for our money.

 Thursday

 Gopher and I were up this morning about 6:30. When we went outside, there was a guy nearby fishing for carp with a bow and arrow. He would walk along the canal bank and look for telltale ripples in the water then take a shot. I watched him get one carp that he guessed to be around 6#. He said, he’s taken them up to 10# and has seen them pushing 15#. Mostly he just does it for sport but said carp are real good smoked. In Iowa we filled up with gas at “only” $3.57/gallon. That’s the least we’ve paid on this trip. The most expensive, to date, was $3.99 at a Flying J in IL. We drove the 45 minutes to the Clark’s Ferry C.O.E. campground in Montpelier, IA. There are several COE campgrounds all along the Mississippi River but this is the only one opened in April. We had our choice of campsites and are now camped directly on the west bank of the river.

What is now the state of Iowa was part of the Louisiana Purchase(LP) of 1803. The eastern border of IA is the Mississippi River which was the eastern boundary of the LP. The western boundary of the LP , over time, became the crest of the Rocky Mountains. To the north was the 49th parallel which, with the Convention of 1818, became our border with Canada. All, or parts of, thirteen states were eventually formed from this huge area. At the time of the transfer of the LP to the U.S., no really knew when the northern or western borders were. IA was admitted as the 29th state on December 28, 1847.

 Friday

We took the very rural route from last nights campground on the Mississippi River west to Pella then to the COE campground where we are tonight. One article I read about IA said that right at 95% of all the land is in agricultural use. Nothing has been planted yet because the frost danger hasn’t passed, but the farmers were busy preparing the fields for corn, soy beans, sunflowers, and such. We passed dairies and hog farms. It’s spring time and there were foals, calves, and piglets everywhere.
 Pella is an interesting town. We were here a few years back as well, but can’t recall just when. We’ve traveled so much over the last several years we have trouble keeping track of where and when. This part of Iowa was settled by the Dutch in 1843. In 1847, 800 Hollanders left the Netherlands in four ships seeking freedom from religious persecution and settled in this part of IA. The land in the newly created state, was being sold for $1.25/acre. This is where the high quality Pella window factory began. On our last trip, we toured the largest working grain mill in the US. It’s powered by a Dutch style windmill. We also took a nice walk around the city square in Pella stopping at the Jaarsma Bakery for a Dutch apple pie and a few oatmeal cookies. We figured that since we basically bought apples and oatmeal, it really doesn’t count as junk food.

Lots of tulips.

  This COE recreation area is part of the Lake Red Rock complex. Lake Red Rock is Iowa’s largest lake. We’re at the Howell Station campground. It’s the only campground open this early. We got a great site overlooking the Des Moines River. First thing, we all took a nice walk while the sun was out. Tonight it’s supposed to get close to freezing.

Come Memorial Day, the pleasure of pulling into a campground and having a choice of prime sites will come to an end until Labor Day. From Memorial Day until Labor Day, the plan is to avoid campgrounds with electric hookups. That tends to eliminate the majority of campers.

 Saturday

The plan was to spend another day at the Howell Station campground but it was cold and cloudy with a misty rain so about 1:00 we gave up and continued the trek west. Tonight we’re at the Carson City Park campground. $5/night for a site with electric and water. It a very well maintained park with a baseball diamond, a soccer pitch and a play ground. It’s us and one other RV.

Sunday

This is our last day in Iowa. Today’s first stop was the Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs, IA. It’s a National Parks designed facility that explains the four historic western trails. The Lewis and Clark expedition, and the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. There is a very informative movie plus an extensive display of metal sculptures depicting the time from the Corps of Discovery through the westward migration on the Lincoln Highway.

 Tonight we’re at the City of Seward, NE, Blue Valley campground. $7/night for us old folks.

After that, it was off to the Whole Foods store in Omaha, NE. They have the very best prepared salads we’ve ever come across. Tonight’s dinner was crab cakes and salmon patties from Whole Foods.
Then we stopped to visit the Holy Family Shrine near Gretna, NE. The shrine is located on a beautiful 23 acre site overlooking the Platte River Valley.

The Oregon Trail.

In the past, we have frequently planned our travels around a central theme. Over a period of three different trips, we explored the entire Corps of Discovery Expedition (Lewis and Clark), of 1804-1806. One year we followed the War of 1812 all along the Great Lakes. Another year it was historic rails-to-trails sites in New England, another year we went biking along the historic canal systems like the Old Erie Canal.

Since we’re heading to Oregon this trip, we thought we would study up on, and then follow, portions of the Oregon Trail. We both have Kindle readers and found one free book on Amazon about the Trail and another historical novel for $0.99. We enjoy learning our history via historical novels. We find them much more interesting then reading a history book. Before we went to Alaska years ago, I read Michener’s Alaska. I’ve also read his Texas, Mexico, Chesapeake, Hawaii, and more. All worth reading.

We’ll follow the parts of the Trail that ran through Nebraska, just a small part of the Wyoming portion, Idaho, and Oregon. Our detour south to Colorado to visit family and then the newly remodeled Dinosaur National Monument exhibits, will make us bypass the majority of Wyoming. Another time perhaps.

We’re all ready to head out on Tuesday morning. One more doctor thing on Monday and that’s it. The camper just got a bath and a partial wax job, the inside is clean, new tires (Goodyear G947 RSS) and the mechanic says we’re ready for the road.

We've been home for right at seven weeks; that's plenty long enough.