Day-24 .. Thermopolis & Wind River Canyon

Did I mention that it's almost MAY and it's still ...  brrrr !

These guys joined us for breakfast :

We're ready to explore.    On to Hot Springs State Park.   I didn't bring my swim trunks !   Doggone it, it would've been so relaxing to melt in the hot springs.   The railroad used to bring people here for this.   They'd stay for a month at at a time.   My body, that's been driving for 24 days, could use some melt time.

see the steam rising in the background ?

'tatonka' !

Funny story about the next picture.   We drove back through downtown and were stopped at the only stop light when I looked over my shoulder and saw a good picture opportunity.   I hopped out and asked Jim to drive around the block.   I wanted to show the dinosaur silohuetted against the sky.   I sat down on the ground and twisted around to frame the shot.   A lady came running up and asked if I was OK.   I jumped up and said I was just taking a picture.   She had a day pack on and spoke with a heavy accent.   I asked if she was Scandinavian.   She said "No, I'm German."   We had a good laugh and chatted a little more before she continued on her walk.

On to the AMAZING Wind River Canyon. 

the canyon walls drop surprises now & again ..  yikes !

At the southern end of the canyon are tunnels on each side for trains and cars :

state park at the southern end of canyon, liked this sign

Came back home for lunch and a nap .. whoa, did I say nap? yes!  just what I needed after all of this gawking and neck craning.   After a rest we headed back downtown to see a few more sights.   I liked this street sign :

Across from this sign was a statue of a cowboy and a list of livestock brands :

Then it was on to Merlin's Hide Out.   A neat store of fur and leather products and buffalo robes.   He has provided several of his products for use in Hollywood movies.  Take a peek at their website:  merlinshideout.com

One more stop.   Drove out to Bridger Crossing.   Historical sign :

A treat for Jim and Carol was a Western Meadowlark singing it's lovely song!   A good day.   Delicious meals by Carol, interesting facts and history information by Jim, and a funny encounter on my rear end.   And, to top it off, I get to watch playoff hockey, Colorado Avalanche vs San Jose Sharks as I write this blog post.    Hope you're enjoying some of our sightseeing.

Day-23 .. Nebraska - Wyoming .. brrrrr (again!)

Oh dark thirty start again knowing that I had a lot of miles and a lot of stops for signs and interesting buildings.  (unfortunately, I forgot that I would gain an hour by moving from Central to Mountain time)   Between Kearney and Lexington on I-80 a shooting star flamed through the dark sky !   Neat !   Maybe an omen for a good day ?

100-miles to North Platte.  Jeanette had reminded me that I needed to check-out and take pictures for David, Matt, and Marty, .. our train buffs, of their famous rail yard.  North Platte's rail yard is the world's largest railroad 'classification' yard, which means they sort 3,000 cars a day using two 'humps'.  (look that up)

I got there just as dawn was cracking and took this picture thru a chain-link fence :

This is only a small part of the yard, here's an aerial Wikipedia pic :

A reward for this effort turned out to be the travel on Hwy.30 West.   Another lucky choice.    Yea!  More small towns to discover.  First was Paxton, Nebraska and Swede's bar and dance and banquet hall :

this is for our Swedes, Jim & Ruth Ann

The first ominous sign .. it was getting colder going WEST !   Now 35-deg. and the wind was blowing at about 30-mph ... brrrr

The second ominous sign was taking a picture of this sign .. I could hardly stand-up!

Ready for some neat historical signs ?

Went through quite a few old, small towns with interesting Main Streets.  I think another fun road trip would be to document thousands of small town America and their Main Streets. 

Jim suggested that when I got to Ogallala I should take diagonal Hwy.26.   As you have surmised I'm all over this diagonal idea.   This highway turned out to have a treasure trove of interesting sights.    The big surprise, to me, was that Chimney Rock was on this route.  It's been on my bucket list forever.   With joy I approached this marvel that guided travelers on the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, gold rushers, and for many millennia .. native peoples.

The next sign kept me from wandering too far from the trail :

Hwy.26 continued into Wyoming where I wanted to stop at Fort Laramie, an important support center to travelers & emigrants for a 100-years plus.

Started with just a couple of buildings but grew substantially in the late 1800's.  Visitor's center was well done.

Time to move on to get to Jim & Carol's in Thermopolis for dinner.   The third ominous sign were these clouds.

You've seen these before .. haven't you?   Yesterday!   And .. all day long on the radio, they were warning Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming that .. SNOW was coming.   It was chasing me on my drive to Washington DC and now it's trying to get me again!  I think I'll name these clouds 'followJOEsnowdumpulus'.

On the trip through the middle of Wyoming I noticed that the Pronghorn Antelope really stood out against the 'winter' (it surely doesn't feel like Spring!!??!!) prairie grass.   I know I've reached Jim & Carol's house when I see this 'dueling Kansas State-Nebraska' monument out front :

I take notes during the day to remember for my blog input at night.  Jeanette had this notebook made, cover showing pictures of our family's Captiva trip :

and a look at TODAY's entry information :

See my note about sagebrush?   You know, the 'deer-warning' signs?  I think, especially for TOURIST drivers like me, there should be SAGEBRUSH WARNING signs, to tell us not to brake or change course because we were startled .. just plow thru them!   Especially needed in these states : Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Eastern Washington !!!

start odometer  :  112114
4/29 odometer  :  112701

day miles    :     587
trip miles    :  5792

Day-22 .. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

A long, long day of .. driving.
Illinois - Missouri - Iowa - Nebraska

It all started well.  I said goodbye to Tom last night and gave Charlotte a hug at 4:40am and she gave me some energy bars and chocolate.  I was able to navigate out of the neighborhood and find Hwy.36.   The 142 miles from Decatur to the Mississippi River was a pleasant drive.   I picked up Quincy's AM station WTAD and enjoyed the information being given ..

birthdays and anniversaries, local news like : " the Jewish Temple B'nai Sholom was closing because they were becoming an older congregation and no new Jewish families were moving into town", and some more news that I should've picked up on ... Flood Water Level Warnings have been issued, and they gave river levels at different spots along the Mississippi.   Now, the bridge going over it had no issue, but .. I should've thought ahead about the .. Missouri !   More - later.

Hwy.36 is a nice 4-lane highway.   It's close enough to towns to allow me to get off and explore.   I saw this interesting church in Lakenan,MO :

St.Roses Catholic Church

A sign, next to the church, caught my eye :

 I'm not sure if the Priest wanted people to know ... ?

Down the road, I decided to explore .. Brookfield, MO.

On the way back to Hwy.36 I stopped at McDonald's to use their restroom.   On most smaller highways there are not 'rest stops'.  So I have to find places like this.   I feel guilty if I don't patronize them.   Since I'd driven almost 200 miles, I decided to order breakfast.   While waiting in line for my order I noticed a younger man (~20) also waiting.   I asked him how he was doing.  At first he was startled, he then said "OK, a little tired, I work 7-days a week, 5-days on a farm and 2-days at a garage."  I said "whoa!".  It then flowed (in 60-sec) ... "well, we have a baby coming, and we need to save up and prepare..".   His order came up and he turned to say good-bye and I put my hand on his shoulder and wished him well.
My heart was really touched.   It must be Sunday.

I thought, maybe, it was going to be a good day.   Found a couple more radio stations and listened to a eclectic mix of music and cruised down to the western Missouri border.   I planned to cross at Hwy.136 into Nebraska and start stair-stepping up to I-80.   No, no, no  ...  remember those flood water warnings ?  The roads leading up to the Missouri River bridges were under water.   Hwy.136, Hwy.2,  and I-29 were closed .. these signs were everywhere :

This is the view as I came to the 'end' of Hwy.136 :

I drove through Hamburg, Iowa and it appeared that the southern part of town had been under water :

I bounced all over Western Missouri finally headed north on Hwy.275, all the way to .. Council Bluffs, Iowa.   There I picked up I-80 and headed West, going through Omaha and driving by Lincoln.

I saw these same horizontal-row clouds last October driving into Wichita.  A day or two later .. snow & ice.    Hope not.    Surely it's too warm for this, right?   Oh yeah, this morning I heard that the Chicago White Sox home game the night before was cancelled due to .. snow!   ... 
It's almost May !

Screamed across I-80 and made it to Kearney.   Checked-in at a Holiday Inn Express and am now watching the 2nd playoff hockey game between the Colorado Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks.   .. ahhhhh, just what I needed !!

Tomorrow ... me and my conestoga-RavRover will navigate to Thermopolis, hopely via Hwy.26 out of Ogallala,NE  to  Fort Laramie,WY

start odometer  :  111442
4/28 odometer  :  112114

day miles  :     672
trip miles  :   5205

Day-21 .. Buckhart Tavern, Mueller & Staley Museums

A morel mushroom egg plate started my adventurous day!   We took the dogs for a morning hike out in the woods surrounding Tom and Charlotte's house.   Mike and Jake and Mt.T galloped ahead spooking bunny rabbits and later a white-tailed deer.   Charlotte pointed out :
wildflowers-  Spring Beauties, Red Trillium, Dutchman's Britches, Woodland Flox, Wild Leek, 'Yellow' Violets, and Jack in the Pulpit.
trees-  Shagbark Hickory, Oak, Ohio Buckeye, Osage Orange (Hedge Apple)

Then,  a 32-mile (one way 😏) drive through the countryside to a wild and wooly tavern within a small 'village' or collection of homes in Buckhart.   Let me give you an idea :

in 'Blue Highways' this tavern might be considered a 4-calendar establishment

I saw these 4 guys earlier in the trip !

Hieronymus Mueller Museum
Brochure asks 'Are you a historian, .. sociologist, or curious about how water gets into your home?' ... I'm sure you are and I'm about to give you info. and pic's about this interesting man and his family.

He was born in Wertheim, Germany in 1832.  (I was there in the early 60's!)  He was trained as a machinist.   The social unrest and revolutions in 1848 forced him to leave for America in 1850.    He had a knack for understanding mechanical devices.   This led to his appointment as Decatur's first 'city plumber' in 1871 to oversee the installation of a water distribution system.   A short while later he invented .. The Mueller Water Tapper, a device that made new connections to water main pipes without disrupting the flow of water.

He also patented the first sanitary drinking fountain.   His company becomes a leader in this field.   When you see a fire hydrant .. check what name is on it.   They make most of the U.S.'s hydrants in their Albertville, Alabama plant.

Staley Museum
A.E. Staley was another success story that helped bring business and employment to Decatur.   His start as a salesman working out of his home in North Carolina turned into a business where in 1902 he used a building in Decatur to mill and package 'Cream Corned Starch' as his first product.  His company later produced a variety of syrups and laundry products.

Then ... he pioneered the production and processing of soy beans finding uses in food products and animal feeds.   He arranged a railroad tour of Illinois to visit farms and assure them that if they grew it .. he would buy it.

In 1930 his employees moved into a newly built art-deco LARGE office building often referred to as the 'Castle in the Cornfields'.

Wikipedia pic

                                                            Wikipedia pic

You may remember my notes from the October blog entry about Decatur and the picture of the Staley mural, that A.E. Staley (Augustus Eugene) formed baseball and football teams.   George Halas, the future legendary NFL coach was the player-coach for the football team.   Known as the Decatur Staley's the team eventually moved to Chicago to become the Chicago Bears.

Came home and Tom oriented me with the washer and dryer and I washed a load of clothes.    Tom & Charlotte started preparing the ingredients to make a homemade pizza for dinner.   As a last night treat and honor, they served Veuve Clicquot champagne !   A fun visit!  Thanks! Tom & Charlotte 💓

On through Missouri to Nebraska .. heading eventually to Thermopolis, WY.