We have allowed ourselves a day in Kearney for a couple of reasons. One is the reason I talked about in yesterdays blog post about a past memorable trip through this part of the world.
Secondly, we wanted to visit the Golden Spike Tower in North Platte, Nebraska.
This 95 foot high tower overlooks Union Pacific's Bailey Yard....the world's largest rail yard. A photo in the entryway gave us a sense of the size of this thing!
The Bailey Yard covers 2,850 acres just west of North Platte. As you might notice, we're not staying in North Platte, so we had to drive back west a hundred miles to visit the yard. Nebraska is pretty flat agricultural land out here!
This view west shows the repair and service buildings on the left. Locomotives can be serviced in a NASCAR-like pit stop facility called a Run-Thru. Locomotives are serviced in 45 minutes without detaching them from their trains!
The enormity of this yard is mind boggling: An average of 140 trains a day pass through here and over 14,000 cars daily!
This is a closer look at the service facility. Refueling racks are on the right, with pipelines running underground directly to storage tanks that are filled from midwest refineries. Each locomotive holds between 1,000 and 2,500 gallons of diesel fuel depending on the type, size, and purpose of the locomotive. Car wheels are changed in this area as well, using new equipment that allows a crew of four to change the "trucks" in 8-12 minutes instead of the previously required time period of up to 12 days.
This panoramic is difficult to comprehend, but know that the area is huuuggge!
Named for former UP president Edd H. Bailey. The statistics are incomprehensible: Between 1900 and 2500 employees; 315 miles of track; 985 switches; 766 turnouts and two "humps". When cars need to be sorted, they are run up on "humps", the eastbound being 34-foot high and the westbound 20 feet high. Decoupled from their train, each car rolls down the backside of the hump, and through computer-aided switching and braking, is directed onto a "bowl" track which is used to form trains headed for destinations across North America. Locomotives appear as if by magic, hook up to the newly formed train and disappear into the distance!
OK, a hundred miles from Kearney to North Platte, and a hundred miles back. Since it doesn't get dark in these parts until 9:30pm during the summer, we just had to find something else to do! So off to the east of Kearney to visit the Great Platte River Arch.
Spanning Interstate 80, the first of the cross-country highways built as a result of a vision by President Eisenhower, who had personal experience with the need to move people and material in a quick and efficient manner, the Arch commemorates the Pioneer Spirit that uprooted thousands of families and sent them on the largest voluntary migration in history.
Outside, the story of two brothers is told in bronze. In August of 1864, Robert and Nathaniel Martin, 12 and 15 respectively, were putting up hay with their father George when they were attacked by Indians. the brothers fled by horseback but were hit with four arrows, one of which pinned them together. That arrow can be seen at their hips. The boys tumbled to the ground, where they were left for dead, but remarkably were found alive the next day. They both survived and raised families. What a story!
The hardships faced by pioneers are narrated from their own written records. This Mom struggling to push her family's wagon through the mud later wrote that "each step is more than I can bear."
Castle Rock was the well known landmark that guided pioneers through the Platte River Valley. From St Joseph MO, to just west of Ft Laramie, the trail followed the Platte River. Then the trail split into three distinct paths: Salt Lake City, UT, Sacramento, CA, and Oregon City, OR.
Not all the families made the journey successfully. One out of ten died, and the death of overworked draft animals was the primary reason. Oxen couldn't pull the heavy loads over high mountain passes that didn't have enough water and grass to provide strength. Pianos, furniture, and wood stoves were abandoned along the way...somehow those things aren't so important when you're cold, hungry, and tired.
This mural represents the entry into the Rocky Mountains from the flat Plains.
Of course, the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in California increased traffic by tens of thousands. The unfortunate beneficiary of this was the man who owned the mill, John Sutter.
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 made western expansion a no-brainer. For a ticket costing $50, the West coast was only three weeks away!
With the invention of the automobile, an alternate method of transportation was needed: The Lincoln Highway, which was the first paved road from Coast to Coast, led to traveling, camping, and sightseeing in this beautiful country.
Check out the fancy windshield wiper on the "24 Ford!
We followed the Archway across Interstate 80 and back, and passed through the Great Platte River Valley and from the 1830's to modern times along the way. What a journey!
Our last stop was at an observation window looking out onto I 80. What a contrast in traveling methods! Interestingly enough, a radar detector is mounted in the window and noted that more than half of the vehicles were traveling at more than the 75 mph speed limit!
So there you have it! 200 plus miles on the car, eight and a half hours for the dog to be cooped up in the motorhome, and a nice soup and sandwich lunch at The Espresso Shop by Caravan in North Platte. Throw in tornado sirens, sudden rain, and gusty wind, and you have the makings of an exciting day!
Our next few days are going to be simply an endurance contest. 291 miles to Des Moines, 249 miles to Sheffield, IL, and then into the motorhome factory in Nappanee, IN, another 210 miles through Chicago. We'll be there for a week or so and will take pics as we can.
Back when we can!
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