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