Westward Ho!

July 20th from Hermosa, SD

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We spent a fun week in Lincoln, NE before moving on West to our home state of South Dakota.  I always had this impression that Nebraska was long, flat, and boring.  I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong.

We picked Lincoln because it was 1) close to an airport; and 2) Mary said there was lots to do.  Since I was going to be gone for three days doing a couple of diabetes programs in Louisville, it was a good thing she was right.

Our first excursion was to the SAC Museum which is about halfway between Lincoln and Omaha.

This is an SR-71 - this was, and still is, the fastest aircraft ever built.
When you consider it was designed in early 1960's, pre-super computer,
you will begin to understand how special it really was.

The museum is a good look back at the Cold War era and our nuclear deterrent.  Nebraska was the home base to the Strategic Air Command.

Right down the road from the museum was the Nebraska Wild Animal Park.  We thought this was your basic commercial drive through park but it was not.  It is run by the Omaha Zoo, pretty inexpensive and very well done.  We unfortunately didn't plan ahead for this one and left the good camera in the motorhome.  These are the best we could do with our iPhones.

Bald Eagles

Bison (see, South Dakota does not have a lock on these)

Sand Hill Cranes

White Pelicans

There were also Elk, deer, bears, wolves and more.  Maybe the best deal in wild animal parks in the US.

The next visit was to the Nebraska State Capital.  We had a great tour guide who showed us the workings of a pretty unique building.  The current building is actually Nebraska's third capital building.  The first two were not made of materials that could withstand the harsh winters.  The current building, which was built around the second building, is made out of Indiana limestone - just like the buildings in much of Washington, DC.  It is also the second tallest capital in the US.

One of the many mosaic murals in the building

Our last night in Lincoln was spent at a ball game - The Salt Dogs (named after the local creek that runs behind the stadium).

As you can see in the photo, it was a dark and stormy night.  Nice ball park but attendance was way down because of the impending bad weather.  As it turned out, no rain delays and the game went 9 innings with the Salt Dogs winning in the bottom of the ninth.

Next stop - North Platte, NE

Because Nebraska is soooo long (or wide depending on your viewpoint), we decided to break it into segments.  North Platte seemed like a good jumping off point since it had a couple of things it is famous for.  Starting with, Buffalo Bill Cody who maintained a home in North Platte that served as his family home when he wasn't traveling with his Wild West Show.  Buffalo Bill was a mega-star of his era and you will find towns and museums all over the west that reference him.  His ranch on the north edge of North Platte is known as Scout's Rest.  His house was a favorite stopping off point for other stars, dignitaries, and royalty of the era.

The other major draw in North Platte is the Union Pacific Railroad.  The UP was the founder of North Platte as it turns out that the area is exactly half way between Omaha and Denver which made it kind of a natural for a rail and locomotive servicing area.  Today, the UP's Bailey Yard is the largest rail yard in US.  The view below is about half the yard and shows the locomotive repair facility and the eastbound hump and classification yard.  Trains, with cars destined for specific areas, are "built" in the hump yard which uses computers and gravity to sort incoming rail cars into outbound trains.  There is a westbound equivalent as well.  The whole yard area is about a mile wide by 4-5 miles long.

All the locomotive power today is diesel powered but steam engines are still everyone's favorite.  This is a 4-6-6-4 Challenger that sitting in the North Platte city park.  Fueled up and ready to run, it weighs over a million pounds.  It looks like you could fill it with water and light the fires and take it for a run.  UP still runs one or two steam engines for special excursions.

Sidney, NE

Last stop on our Nebraska journey was Sidney.  In the past, it was a merging point for cattle trails and also the Oregon and Mormon trails.  Today, it is home to Cabelas Sporting goods.  We stayed in the Cabela's campground and enjoyed the short walk to the store.  We did take advantage of their huge Summer sale while we were at it.

The sunset photo above was taken at the campground.  The general direction was towards Scottsbluff, NE where a large thunderstorm was brewing.

The picture above was taken on our way north to South Dakota.  See, Nebraska isn't all flat.  Actually, this area is part of the Nebraska National Forest.

Next stop - Hermosa, SD for a couple of weeks.