Sidney, Nebraska to Adair, Iowa

Monday, July 23 - Last night was the first time we've spent a night in the RV in Nebraska, so it's time for a new sticker on our map.  Here's Mom sticking it on the map.

We made a couple quick stops to see local art.    

                            Used tires at a Truck Stop                  Arrowheads in Ogallala, NE

Then we went to North Platte, Nebraska.  North Platte is the home of the Bailey Yard, which is the largest railroad classification yard in the World.  It covers 2850 acres with over 400 miles of track.  It's 8 miles long and 2 miles wide at it's widest point.  It handles an average of 155 trains with about 10,000 cars daily.   3,000 of those cars are switched from one train to another while they are in the yard.  They dispense 14 million gallons of diesel fuel into the locomotives each month.  The numbers are just staggering.  Mom and Dad went up in something called the Golden Spike Tower, which is 8 stories tall and gave them a great view over the yard.  Here are a few of their photos.

A map of the whole yard

The diesel repair shop.  Those are all locomotives 

to give you a sense of scale of the building.

This is one of the "humps" where cars are sorted onto new trains.

The cars are pushed up from the left side, then disconnected 

and roll down to the correct track for the new train.  Someone in 

the tower controls the switches to determine the track the cars will go to. 

Under the red arrow, there are two cars that have 

just been released to join their new train.

Panorama - with no zoom.   There are several locomotives parked 

along the edge in the foreground to help you with sense of scale.

It's immense.

After the Bailey Yard, we went to a city park to see The Challenger.  It was built in 1943 and could travel at 70 MPH.  It retired in 1961.  This is the only engine of it's class that is on public display anywhere.  The Challenger is the next to the largest steam locomotive in the world, producing 5000 HP.  The biggest is the Big Boy.  This is me with Dad in front of The Challenger.  

From North Platte, we went a little way down the road and stopped in Gothenburg, Nebraska.  They have a genuine Pony Express Station and a Sod House.   The Sod House is a reproduction, but the Pony Express Station is genuine old.

Pony Express Station

Sod House

We spent the night in Minden, Nebraska.  Sometimes people ask how we eat.  This is my dinner of kibble soup.

Tonight, Mom and Dad had Pork Medallions in Pesto Sauce with vegetables over Basamati Rice.

I know some kids like when they get special meals, but I wish I could eat what they eat!

Tuesday, July 24 - Mom and Dad left me in the RV in the campground today and went to a place called Pioneer Village.  They didn't take any photos, but they were gone almost all day.  They said that there were 25 buildings filled with all kinds of things from American History.  They said that if you ever get to central Nebraska, you should plan a stop for Minden to see it.

Mom and Dad finally tore themselves away in the middle of the afternoon and we moved on down the road.  Tonight's stop is Seward, Nebraska.  We stayed at the Blue Valley Campground, which is run by the city of Seward.  Again, if you are in central Nebraska, it's a great stop a few miles off I-80.

Love, 

Doolin

Rock Springs, Wyoming to Sidney, Nebraska

Saturday, July 21 – We left Rock Springs and continued on to Laramie.  Mom and Dad left me in the RV at a truck stop on the edge of town and they took the Jeep into Laramie.

They went to the Laramie Plains Museum and then they went downtown to see the rail yard and a cool old train with a snow plow on the front.

They went up on a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks and saw a train pass by under them.  If you zoom in on the photo, you can see the Engineer on the train waiving to them.

The next town down the road is Cheyenne and Frontier Days started yesterday, so we were afraid to try to go any farther, but campgrounds are full here, too.  We decided to stay at the Laramie Wal-Mart.  Mom and Dad went to dinner at the Cavalryman Steakhouse that was recommended to them by Uncle Don and Aunt Mary.  They really enjoyed it.  If you are in Laramie, you should really check it out.   

Of course, I sat back at the Wal-Mart and had kibble when they got back.  Their leftovers smelled awesome.  Fortunately, Laramie is at an elevation of 7165 feet and it clouded up and we had rain for a bit this afternoon.  It was MUCH more comfortable sleeping.  In fact, over night it got a little chilly with the windows open.  Heaven!

Sunday, July 22 – We left Laramie and headed into Cheyenne.  On I-80, just east of Laramie is a rest area at the highest point on I-80 at 8640’.  That’s about 8600’ higher than our house.  Wow are we up high!!

There was a bust of Lincoln that was at the highest point on the old Lincoln highway and it was moved here when I-80 was constructed.  Mom took a picture of it when she was a little girl and cut off the top of Lincoln’s head.  Of course, back in the Stone Age, she didn’t know until the film was developed, so she wasn’t able to retake it, until now!  I think she did better this time. 

Even if you don’t want to take a picture of Lincoln, Mom and Dad recommend this rest stop.  There is a mini-museum/visitor center that has lots of info about the Lincoln Highway, Wyoming, and some really cool taxidermy animals of the area.  They rate it worth the stop, even if you don’t need the restroom.  

We planned to leave I-80 at the rest stop and take a state highway that was supposed to be very scenic.  However, as we were leaving the rest area, we saw this going down the road that we planned to take.

We don’t know what “it” is, but there were two of them.  The truck behind is actually attached and is a “pusher”, so we thought “it” must be really heavy.  "It" was moving very slow.  We decided that being behind “it” wasn’t a good idea, so we got back on I-80.

When we got to Cheyenne, Mom and Dad found another truck stop for me and the RV and off they went.  This time they went to the Depot Museum and walked around downtown Cheyenne.

I enjoyed seeing Dad’s photos of all the things they saw.

There were lots of neat old buildings and large,

decorated Cowboy boots everywhere.

This is the depot

What is left of the round house

Meanwhile, back at the truck stop, I saw a bull riding on a horse trailer.  You certainly don’t see that every day at home.

We continued on and crossed into Nebraska.  We saw this sign at the welcome center.  Good information, but not very welcoming.

Our stop for the night was the Cabela’s campground in Sidney, Nebraska.  Dick and Mary Cabela founded Cabela’s sporting goods store in their garage in nearby Chappell, Nebraska.  Sidney is the home of the original store and corporate headquarters.  If you ever find yourself in western Nebraska, this campground is a great place to stay. 

Wheat Harvest – I’m going to interrupt this blog to show you some stuff about wheat harvest in the plains.  Where Mom grew up, corn and soybeans are typically harvested by the farmer who planted them.  In much of the central plains, where wheat is grown, harvest is done by traveling crews.  About dusk, I went out to do my business and saw this truck.  Sorry it’s a little blurry, but it’s a semi pulling a flatbed trailer, with a combine on it, and also pulling a grain trailer.  There were 3 of these in a convoy. 

The convoy also included this guy.  I think he’s the maintenance guy and he was pulling a trailer with two large grain heads to go on the combines.

I googled the model number when we got back to the motor home.  The grain heads are 40’ wide.  We are only 36’ long, so that’s BIG!  All of these vehicles said they were from a crew out of Kansas.

Later, we talked to a woman who was camping at Cabela’s with a crew out of Arkansas.  Her son (the whole family travels) had managed to snag his drone in a tree and my Dad lent his Dad our expanding window washing pole that they used with their ladder to get the drone down.  They told us they were planning to leave at 4 the next morning.

We noticed some really long trailers in the campground.  They seemed unusual to me because they were trailers, not 5th wheels.  This morning, as we were leaving, I got this photo of one.  Notice the 3 sets of windows, which are common on RV’s for bunk beds and the 3 air conditioners.  There were 7 young men sitting on the or near the picnic table.  Probably waiting to go out to a field.  

There were at least two of these trailers in our campground with Mississippi plates.   Their crew included this truck.  I think it’s for the mechanic and the crane is for moving the grain heads from the trailers to the front of the combines.

The campground was great.  No freeway noise.  No trains nearby.  The only noise we heard all night was from 4:15-4:30 am when the Arkansas crew left.  They were as quiet as they could be, but we heard their diesel trucks.

More later!

Love,

Doolin

Pendleton, Oregon to Rock Springs, Wyoming

Thursday, July 19 – After a good night at the Wild Horse Casino in Pendelton, we were back on the road again.  When we are in Oregon and Idaho, we are always amazed by the triple trailer trucks.  They aren’t legal in Washington.

We made it to Jerome, Idaho by mid-afternoon and decided to check out the Snake River Elks Lodge.  The guide says that they have 4 RV spots with electricity and boy can we use the juice to run the A/C.  It’s in the upper 90’s and I’m about cooked.  We got backed in to our space and connected up, then Mom and Dad went off to explore.  I kept the shades drawn and tried to keep my cool.

I think Mom and Dad had a good time.  They drove the Jeep the 8 miles into Twin Falls, Idaho.  First they stopped at the Perrine Bridge over the Snake River Canyon.  It’s a 1500 foot long bridge (5 football fields) that is about 480’ above the river.  It looks pretty spectacular.

They even watched some people base jumping from the bridge.  If you are unfamiliar with this sport, basically, the jumpers walk to the middle of the bridge, crawl over the rail, and jump off the bridge backward.  They are wearing parachutes and, as soon as they clear the bridge, they inflate the chute and soar down to the river.  Mom and Dad said it was fun to watch, but hard to get pictures because of the angle of the sun.  Here’s one picture.  The parachute is next to the arrow.                                                                                          

After looking at the bridge, they drove to Shoshone Falls.  Shoshone is known as the Niagara of the West.  It’s 212’ high (45’ higher than Niagara) and the rim is nearly 1000’ wide. 

Mom and Dad decided to go out for pizza for dinner, then came back to me at the Elks Lodge.  We had a pretty view.  The twinkling lights are from Twin Falls in the distance. 

Friday, July 20 – Today we continued on from Twin Falls.  We originally planned to stay on I-84 to Salt Lake City and then turn East on I-80.  We’ve taken this route before, so when Google Maps suggested an alternate route that was only 2 miles farther, but would give us different scenery, we decided to give it a try.  Here is a map of our route.  While it was mostly 2 lane highway, there were nice shoulders and climbing lanes where needed.  Overall, a very good road.  We highly recommend it.   

This route took us through a town called Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.  They had a hot spring and soaking pools.  It might be nice on a future trip, but at 95 degrees, we decided that we didn’t need to stop at hot springs.  

We also went through a town called Soda Springs.  They have a spring that is naturally carbonated.  They’ve capped it, but let it “erupt” every hour on the hour for 3 minutes.  We drove into town to see it erupting over the buildings (about 150’ in the air) but it was just a light bubbling by the time we got to the park where it is located.  It was still a pretty neat thing to see the mineral deposits that have built up over the years.

This route also passes through Kemmerer, Wyoming, which is the home of the first JC Penney store.  We had to pull off and take a look.  This is a picture of Dad and me in front of the store.

We made another kitsch stop at Little America, so Mom could relive a bit of her childhood, before going into Rock Springs for the night.

We planned to stay at the fairgrounds in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  The reviews said that there are 1200 sites.   What we didn’t plan on was that the National High School Rodeo competition was going to be in Rock Springs and would fill all 1200 of those spaces, plus all the other campgrounds around.  We ended up at the Wal-mart in Rock Springs.  Those of you who follow our blog may remember that we stopped at a Wal-mart last November, when it was raining.  The rain stopped in the night and we woke to 3” of snow on the ground and on our slides.  That was also Rock Springs.  This time, we were guaranteed that there would be no snow.  It was just too hot.  The thermometer was reading 73 degrees at 3 am.   If we ever come this way again, I hope the 3^rd time will be the charm.  These extremes are killing me.

Throw back Thursday

Thursday, July 19 - Yesterday we traveled through the Columbia River Gorge.  This is probably one of the most beautiful stretches of Interstate Highway in the United States.   I would have taken pictures to show you, but it wasn't as pretty this time.  The clouds on the hillside ahead of us are actually smoke from the Substation Fire.  The further we drove, the hazier it got. 

Last night, I asked Mom if she had any pictures from our previous trips through the Gorge that I could use.  She let me look on her hard drive and I found this one.

It wasn't from any of our trips and I didn't recognize anyone in the picture.  I asked her about it and she said that this was taken in the Columbia River Gorge in 1966.  It's Mom (she's the girl) with her brother John, her Dad, and her brother Gary.  Grandma was always the photographer.  I never met Mom's Dad.  Mom told me that her Dad died when she was 11 1/2.  That's almost exactly the age that I am now.  Kind of hard to believe that Mom has lived with me for as long as she lived with her own Dad.  She also told me that her Dad was born on July 19, 1908, so today would have been his 110th birthday.  She told me that he would spend every winter planning a big family vacation for the summer.  It was usually 2-3 weeks and the whole family would pile in the station wagon.  The year this picture was taken, they went to Disneyland in California, then north along the Oregon Coast, through the Columbia River Gorge, and back to Illinois.  They always ate lunch that Grandma packed in the cooler and this was the day's lunch stop.  Not sure what they were eating, but it must have been good.

I'm glad that Mom's Dad taught her to read maps and plan trips, so we can be going on this big adventure.  She says that we are going to visit some of the places that she went on those vacations and some new places that she and my Dad have found.  Next time I post, I'll tell you more about what we've been doing this trip.

Love,

Doolin 

On The Road Again

Wednesday, July 18 - Well, we are back on the road again.  Mom and Dad tell me that this trip is going to be longer than any we've done so far.  We are going to be gone more than 3 years (in dog years.  That's about 6 months in human years). 

They've told me about two big stops that have definite dates.   It's been 40 years since Mom graduated from Obedience School (she call's it high school) in Geneseo, Illinois.  There is a big reunion on July 27th and 28th, so we need to be there by then.  While we are there, we will see Uncle Gary and several of Mom's cousins and old friends.  Our other big date is Christmas in Ft Worth with Dad's family.   I've already sent my forwarding address to Santa Paws.

In between, we are going to see something called the Atlantic Ocean.  We are even going to see it from Canada, since we are going to Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, the Canadian Provinces we will be visiting.  I'm a little worried about how we are getting the RV to an island, but I think Mom has that figured out.

Mom and Dad have a whole big list of things that they want to see and do and a general path of how we will get from one to the next, but we don't have a firm schedule.  If you want to know where we are and what we are doing, you will have to follow my blog.

The reason we don't plan, take today for example.  They planned to be on the road by 9 am.  Well, we had a small problem with the water pump at our house.  Then, there was too much stuff to fit in the Jeep to take to the RV at the barn, so we had to make a 2nd trip.  We were finally jacks up and rolling a little after 10.  BUT, we needed to get fuel and propane.  We'd just left the gas station and Dad got a phone call from one of his newest clients.  He was stopped at a stop light, so he put the coach in park, got up, Mom sat down in the driver's seat, and when the light turned green, she took over driving.  Never a dull moment on our trips!  Anyway, it's now 12:30 and we are "already" 60 miles from home.

If you would like to follow our adventures, you can follow by email.  If you are on a regular computer, there should be a box near the top of the page on the right side.  Type your email there.  You will get an email to confirm that you want to get my blog and you need to respond to that.  After that, every time I write something new, it will come to you as an email.  No need to check back here.  If you are using a mobile device, go to the bottom of the page and click on "view web version".  Then, you will have the box near the top right of the page and you can do what I said above.

You won't get any spam from registering for my blog.  Just the emails from me about our trip and you can cancel at any time.

Even though we are away, we still enjoy hearing what you are doing, too.  Leave a comment at the end or you can send me personal email at Mom's email address.

Love, Doolin