We started our trip in (A) Lincoln, Nebraska and headed towards (E) Denver, Colorado on I-80. It is about 8 hours in a car, but takes much longer because you have to make several stops, so here they are.
I must tell you travelling that part of the Interstate 80 was probably the most boring time I have ever spent in a car. This is what you see for hours and hours...you just feel it will never end.
(B) Great Platte River Road Archway Monument - Kearney
Being on the Mormon, Oregon, California Trails, the Pony Express and the Lincoln Highway Kearney is home to several museums. One of them is Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, which spans Interstate 80. It contains exhibits that trace the history of the Great Platte River Road from the Oregon Trail days to the present.
(C) North Platte - Bailey Yard
North Platte is a railroad town and home to Union Pacific Railroad's world's largest rail yard Bailey Yard.
North Platte is served only by freight trains today, but during World War II the city was famous for the North Platte Canteen. Tens of thousands of volunteers from North Platte and surrounding towns met the troop trains passing through North Platte, offering coffee, sandwiches and hospitality.
The Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center is an eight-story building which overlooks the railroad staging area. The tower and visitor center are open to the public year-round.
(D) Ogallala
The town's name comes from the Oglala Sioux tribe. It is also known as Nebraska's Cowboy Capital and it first gained fame as a terminus for cattle drives from Texas during 1875 to 1888. These trails are known as the Western or Great Western trails. Cattlemen met in Ogallala's hotel and saloons with Texas cattle drovers and haggled over prices to be paid for cattle which were used to stock Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana, and were also shipped east on Union Pacific. The business boomed during summer months. Today you can visit Ogallala's Front Street Museum depicting the era. It is open year-round at Front Street and is one of Ogallala's western and historical attractions.
Lake Mcconaughy is located 9 miles north of Ogallala. It is a reservoir named after Charles W. McConaughy - a grain merchant and mayor of Holdrege, Nebraska. It is a popular location for fishing, boating, water sports, camping and hunting.
I also got myself a souvenir at Ogallala. At that time we were about to relocate, and I wasn't sure whether it would be to Chicago or China. Yes, that is how crazy my life was at that time. So, I wanted to have something from Nebraska, just in case I was moving to Illinois - another US state or from the USA, in case I was moving to China. I wanted something that would represent both, and this was perfect - a photo album, but it is not your typical photo album. This one is made from a recycled car license plate made by Littlearth http://www.littlearth.com/home.html
And when it seemed that we would never leave the flatlands, here it was in front of us, out of the blue - the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. That is the moment when an entirely different adventure started...in Colorado. I will write about it later.
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