Crossing Wyoming

Today we crossed Wyoming and had an interesting day enjoying the western views that are so different. From frequent signs that "if lights are blinking, exit I-80 because it is closed ahead". We saw snow on the tops of mountains and lots of snow fences along the way. I missed taking a picture of a huge shovel that was at a mining operation - it must have been 7 stories tall!

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Today we only traveled a short distance - from Sidney, NE to Cheyenne, WY and what a delightful state capitol this is! Everything is very accessable and no parking meters with lots of parking available downtown.
We visited the State Museum and then Bill went into the State Capitol and even met Max Maxfield, The Secretary of State! My knee had decided that enough walking was enough and I missed the fun.
We are spending the night at the Moose Lodge with 30 amp service, water, and WiFi.
This evening we headed back downtown for dinner and there was a concert going on in the park across from the old railroad station which is now a Pub and Museum.
We found a geocache and a neighbor came out to see if we needed any assistance - very friendly and then he directed us to see the Big Boy Locomotive in a park. It was delightful to see all the people and the families enjoying the park and it was near sundown.
We have been enjoying all the "Big Sky" views - this cumulus cloud was spectacular and yet quite a distance away. It feels like you can see forever!

A Day in Sidney, Nebraska

Last night and again tonight we are camped in the Cabelas' Campground. This is the original store location and the corporate headquarters. This morning our mail arrived thanks to Barbara and we followed its trip from Big Canoe to Sidney on a USPS app for the phone - very cool. We had heard about a train derailment when we were at Bailey Yard and today we saw it in Sidney - quite a collection of wheels and cars. We wondered if a crane had moved the cars into a nice pile for future removal.
Shopping in Cabelas was our afternoon adventure - but mostly looked and had lunch there. Might get in some geocaching later - need a few caches from Nebraska!

Making Hay Bales

Did you ever wonder how they make the hay bales? We enjoyed watching this operation. First the tractor raked the cut hay into long piles. Next the baler drives along and rolls the bales and then stops and dumps them! Next the truck loads the bales and moves the bales to the collection area and dumps them off - all pretty cool!

North Platte's Bailey Yard

Yesterday we departed Lincoln and headed to Sidney, NE with a long stop in North Platte, NE to visit Bailey Yard which is the largest railroad yard in the world. We enjoyed the humping of the railroad cars (both east and west bound) to form new trains and the moving around of the engines. Their locomotive repair facility can handle around 85 engines for routine maintenance or rebuilding at once. A retired employee of Union Pacific was in the tower answering all the questions of the visitors. The yard is 8 1/2 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide.

Lincoln, Nebraska

We arrived yesterday and we are parked at the State Fairgrounds Park with full hook-ups which has enabled us to tackle the laundry. We had to head to the car wash and get the Land Rover cleaned up - it was fifthy from being towed in the rain behind the coach.
Today is a beautiful sunny day with the wind blowing and we have used the day for sightseeing and shopping. We visited the Home Depot for more Gorilla Tape and restocked the food at a local grocery. This is one of the fun ways to see the local people and they are most helpful and extremely friendly - just as we have found all people we have ever met from Nebraska. Outstanding people!!!
The State Capital is most impressive and of course Bill checked out the U. of Nebraska Stadium! The campus is very pretty (at this time of year). At the book store they were selling foot warming booties, mittens, and all sorts of cold weather gear!

Independence, MO

Today's plan was to visit downtown Kansas City in the morning then to head over to the Truman Library at noon. Guess all good plans are for changing your plans for the morning brought very heavy rains and thunder that went on for long periods. The new plan of the day was to sleep-in and read. By noon the heavy rain had mostly stopped although we did get wet getting into the Truman Library. We were at the library for several hours and then headed to the Trails Museum. To go West you generally headed to St. Louis and then went by steamboat to Independence, MO. Here is where the California Trail, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, and the Mormon Trails all started. Before departing Independence all the provisions needed to be purchased and loaded, wagons obtained, and animals obtained as well as scouts to lead the way. Our great prairies start here and you do not need to cross the Missouri since it turns north. The railroad eventually came here as well and replaced the wagon trains.
I wonder how many of current day Americans would have the strength of character to attempt this trip. I am reading the book Oregon Trail as we travel and it is amazing what people accomplished along the way.