Heading East

Cassie rolls in Nebraska grass

Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018

We turned out backs on the Rocky Mountains this morning and headed east--it’s finally that time. East is never as much fun as going West--especially on Interstate 76 in Colorado. This is truly one of the most boring and unattractive stretches of road we have ever had to drive on-- but it happens to be the best connection between the Denver area and I-80, the direct route home. Meanwhile, it was hot as heck again--into the 90‘s. That’s what coming down out of the mountains will do, I guess!

So we drove.... for about 3 hours without stopping, until we finally crossed the state line into Nebraska. It is amazing how Nebraska is immediately more attractive than that stretch of Colorado! We stopped soon after crossing the border at a Flying J, where we ate lunch, and then filled the propane tank. Cassie rolled in the grass. The entire stop lasted about an hour altogether--for some reason our lunch stops always do! We got back on the road again at about 2:00, and about 15 minutes later, it was 3:15! We’d crossed over into the Central Time zone.

The loss of an hour wouldn’t matter too much, except I wanted to stop at the Golden Spike Tower, and I thought it closed at 5:00. It looked like we’d be passing by at about 4:20, and I knew that wasn’t long enough. But Joe said, “lets stop anyway and maybe it IS long enough.” And then Google told me that it closed at 7pm, not 5:00! And Google was right (the website I’d looked at earlier was wrong?) Anyway, we got there at 4:30, with plenty of time to visit.

The Golden Spike Tower is an observation tower overlooking the Bailey Yard, the world’s largest rail yard, in North Platte, Nebraska. There is an introductory film which gives a brief overview of the activities at the rail yard-- how the cars get sorted by going over two “hump yards”, the enormous engine shop for repairs and overhauls, etc. Over 10,000 railroad cars go through the yard per day over 315 tracks. The tower has two observation decks-- the 7th floor, which is open (and you can hear the sounds of the yard), and the 8th, which is completely enclosed (yes, there is an elevator!)

View of green Nebraska fields.

We went inside, and were greeted by several lovely women, and a sign that said that “well behaved dogs were welcome.” They even had dog biscuits waiting! So we went back to the RV and brought Cassie in with us. She showed off her tricks for dog biscuits, and won them all over. Meanwhile I was looking around the gift shop, which was full of train-related toys, clothing, and other items. We watched the film, then went up to the 8th floor.

View of the rail yard

The view was beautiful from up there, over the green Nebraska fields to the south, and the multiple train tracks to the north and west. The engine repair building was longer than 3 football fields (the entire rail yard is 8 miles long!) The coolest thing was watching the cars going over the humps to get sorted. The train gets pushed up a hump, and then each car individually rolls down whichever track is designated for it, and it automatically couples with the car in front of it when it rolls into place. They are precisely placed, so I am sure it is entirely computerized, but watching the cars just rolling onto each track all alone is fascinating. And so the entire train is put together depending on where it is headed.

There were two retired railroad men up on the 8th floor, chatting with visitors and answering questions. They mentioned that the volume of rail traffic had increased in the several years since the video was made. The rail yard runs 24/7, so trains are constantly moving in and out.

Besides the views and the information from the railroad guys, there were several displays, and a corner where a video from PBS called “Orphan Trains” was running. The latter was about the years when children (ages 6 to 18) were shipped from New York out to the midwest and were basically “given” to families who wanted to adopt them. The idea was that they had no family in New York, and the people out west needed extra hands to work on their farms. Sometimes the children were not orphans; their parents would relinquish their parental rights so that the child would presumably have a better future, if the parents could not afford to raise them, or didn’t want them. But this was, of course, traumatic for the children. I watched the video for a while--it wasn’t really about trains per se, but the trains were the means of transport, and midwestern families would go down to the train depot and pick out a child from those on the train. This actually went on for 75 years, even though it sounds utterly barbaric now!

Time line of the Baily Yard

We spent over an hour at the Golden Spike Tower, and then decided that rather than stay in North Platte, we would put some more miles behind us. So we drove about 45 more minutes before stopping in Cozad, a small town which is located along US 30. US 30 is the original Lincoln Highway route through Nebraska, and we picked up some traveler’s guides in the Tower telling us all the historical places along US 30, which runs very close to I-80. Anyway, Cozad is on the route, and their town park has about a dozen RV parking places. For $10, we have electricity, water, and there’s even a dump. It’s a nice little park-- a lot of green right behind us, with a walking/exercise path, and of course playground and volleyball courts. The railroad is nearby, and the trains will be going by all night--we feel quite friendly toward them (it sounds like being home in HP.) Really a good deal for the night, especially since if the weather doesn’t cool down enough, we may want the air conditioning.

So that was today. We are eating a little bit late, because of the time change, I guess. Tomorrow we will continue along the Lincoln Highway and/or I-80 toward Lincoln, Nebraska, where we are planning to stop at a museum on the campus of the University of Nebraska.