7-12-2023 Flaming Gorge, UT

The drive to our next stop was a little boring, freeway all the way with no alternative back roads.  Every now and then, there is no other choice.  Eventually, for the last short distance, we could get off the freeway to head south toward our next camp.  Ah, the beautiful countryside!  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  There isn’t one ugly molecule in Utah (except for the taxes).

 But let’s back up the truck a few days.  We spent 3 days at the KOA in Manila, 8 miles from the Lucerne Valley Marina and Swimming Beach on Flaming Gorge.  We have finally escaped the rain and icky weather.  At last, warm sunny beach weather! 

Because of the rain and snow melt (controlled by the dams, of course), the water level at the gorge is 8 feet higher than it was last year at this time.  It was a big surprise to see the beach about 1/3 the size it was last time we were here!  Because of this, the water was shallow and warm a long distance out.  Out where the breeze created ripples and the water turned dark blue, the temperature was a different story altogether.  Note to self:  Don’t fall off the paddleboard out where it’s dark blue.

 

Beach 2022

Beach 2023

Glacier 2023

Glacier 2022

With the reduction in size, the beach was really crowded our first day but the next day we managed to find a great spot near a cove in the lee.  Rob was pretty excited to get his paddleboard out for its maiden voyage!  He got good at it immediately, using it kayak-style.  I only took one bath when I got sideways in the swells from a boat wake.  Thawing out was no problem sitting in the sunshine with a sandwich and a cold beer.  It just doesn’t get any better than this!

Maiden voyage for Rob and his paddleboard!

Without looking back up at the picture,
what color is Rob's hat?

Beach picnic!

Life is good!

 

Today’s trip to Richfield was exciting.  Very windy and very windy, through the mountains and up over a pass at 9,100 feet.  At one point, a wind gust blew Noobee across the centerline toward the oncoming traffic.  Sometimes, driving Noobee is a good cardiac workout for me and good leg exercises when I try to walk later with wobbly knees.    

YIKES!  What does this
sign mean?  "MORE?"  
"DES?"  From one who drove
it, I'm pretty sure it means,
"Shit storm ahead for the
next 100 miles."

 

Our homing beacons are blaring.  One more 3-day camp in Richfield not far from Palisade Reservoir (more paddleboarding!), an overnight with Pal and Fritz in St. George and finally, we’ll turn into the driveway at 1640 on Sunday, July 16^th.  Home sweet home where the weatherman forecasts 115F.  Beats a snow shovel!  That’s all the stories I have in my fingers for now, t-loggers!  Thank you for traveling with us!  Love to all from Roberto and Lindy!

7-6 & 7-7-2023 Lingle and Guernsey, WY

Lightning, thunder, rain and hail last night brought out the big guns for the first time on this trip.  Time to pack up “go bags;”  water, wallets, phones, money, keys, password machines, computers, charge cords, meds, toothbrush and paste, Cubby and Sunnie and, in this case, warm clothes.  Oh, and a hat to protect from hail balls while running to the shelter.  We withdrew the slides and assumed the tight-pack sardine position.  This morning in the sunny blue sky, upon assessing our condition, we sustained no obvious damage.  Now, where were we?

 

The bar at Fort Laramie, second oldest
building in Wyoming

Overview of Fort Laramie

This was called, "Old Bedlam,"
the single officers' quarters

Inside the barracks

The surgeon's quarters and
emergency room

Fort Laramie is a stone’s throw north of Lingle.  It’s a tiny little town that is a remnant of the original fort community.  Fort Laramie was originally a privately owned fur trading facility strategically located at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers.  In 1849, the Army purchased the fort for $4,000 and staffed it with soldiers to protect wagon trains of travelers on the Trails.  Things were relatively peaceful for a decade or 2 and the US assigned the Black Hills area to the Sioux and Cheyenne nations with the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868.  But then, gold was discovered in the Black Hills.  The gold seekers from the east violated the treaty, trespassed and confiscated the Indians’ private sacred lands (with the blessing of the US government) and the deadly, bloody Indian Wars were launched. By 1890, with the establishment of the railroads, fewer emigrants heading west and the Native Americans largely subdued, the necessity of the fort dwindled and it was decommissioned. 

 

The North Platte River in those days was impossible to cross with the wagons of supplies, goods and ore.  Enter the Army.  In 1875, iron beams and channels (dated 1867 on the plaque) were obtained from the King Iron Bridge and Mfg. Co., Cleveland, Ohio.  The King Iron Bowstring Bridge was a vital link between Fort Laramie and Cheyenne, the Indian agencies and the gold fields.  Prior to this bridge, settlers had to go as much as 150 miles out of the way to get across the wide, ferocious Platte to continue their travels.  The bridge is considered to be the oldest existing wrought-iron military bridge in the West and was used until 1958.   

The Old Army Bridge

Pretty sturdy bridge!

Rob draws me a cross-sectional
view of the bridge beams

 

7-7-2023 GUERNSEY, WY

 A little further north of Fort Laramie is the town of Guernsey (pop. 1,138).  The emigrants passed through here on their journeys to religious freedom (Mormon), elbow room on fertile farm land (Oregon) and gold (California).  It is said that this was one of the largest migrations of people in the history of the world, although Moses might take issue with this statement.  All 3 of the trails followed particular paths that had been established by fur trappers and Indian tribes many decades earlier.  The Mormon Trail probably deviated a bit here and there because they were pulling handcarts as opposed to driving horses and oxen pulling wagons.  A small portion of the trail is still intact near Guernsey because it was carved by decades of wagon wheels grinding over rock and sandstone.  This site is designated the “Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site.” 

The ruts are to the left
and right, almost as narrow
as some of the roads on which
we've been driving 

Original Oregon Trail ruts

 

A mile or so farther, the emigrants carved their names and dates on “Register Cliff,” to leave their mark or legacy.  They are quite worn from 150 years of wind and weather but about 700 determined authentic can still be seen, one dated 1829 and another dated 1797, maybe early fur traders.

Register Cliff

Signatures on Register Cliff (sorta)

 

Two hundred and six hardy souls still populate the town of Fort Laramie and most of them were in the Fort Laramie Bar and Grill where it was “steak night.”  We joined the cowboys and tractor jockeys, first with fried pickles and then a big fat Wyoming ribeye.  Life is good.

Fort Laramie Bar and Grill

7-4 North Platte, NE II & 7-5-2023 Lingle, WY

First, a little more about Buffalo Bill.  His horses were being transported by train and collided with an oncoming train.  Nearly 100 show horses were killed in the crash.  Bill sat down and wept over some of the horses that were his faves.  The show was never the same again and it faded away.

 

Let's go to the parade!
God bless America!

Noobee celebrates 1776!

Now then, about the 4^th of July:  Sutherland, NE is about 20 miles west of North Platte and they have a parade.  Obviously, we had to attend.  We were there early and got a front row seat to watch the horses, tractors, cheerleaders and floats.  There was a big GOP float, too, but no Democrat float.  They may have been afraid of getting booed.  There aren’t many Democrats in Nebraska.  Ah, we sorta felt a welcome mat roll out for us!  “Home sweet home-away-from-home, where we know what’s in the drinks!”  (The bigger problem is the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  Go Bucky!)

 

Don't know what year this Farmall is.

GOP float

What a cute little rascal!  The
tiny pony, too!

Just enjoying the day.

Not many places are open on the 4^th of July in these little bergs (except for the bars), so we headed for the homestead and a big fat walleye dinner while we watched more rain clouds roll into Dodge….. er, North Platte.

 

7-5-2023 LINGLE, WY

Suzy Q, the chick who lives in our GPS, insists on using the freeways.  She just doesn’t get it!  But after a bit of prodding, we got her to agree to the back roads.  It turns out that Highway 26 is considered the “scenic route” on our AAA map and it led us through tiny towns such as Oshkosh, Broadwater, Bridgeport and McGrew.  The population of these might have been 100, in some cases, counting the mailman, and it seems they consist of tractor repair shops, snowmobile dealerships, antique stores and saloons.  The map was right, though;  the route was beautiful.  Green rolling hills dotted with horses and cattle and hundreds of miles of fields of tall, green, money-on-the-hoof:  corn, wheat and soybeans.  I’m no expert but it looks like a good year for the Nebraskans (and we beneficiaries).

Yup, we're 
in Nebraska!

 

Of course, it rained on us almost the entire five hours we traveled to Lingle.  The Jeepster and Noobee are filthy, but that’s a problem for another time.  At Pony Soldier RV Park, we hooked up and settled in by the fire with a cocktail while waiting for more rain.  Tomorrow’s forecast:  rain.

7-3-2023 North Platte, NE

Fort Cody is located right near the entrance to our camp but it’s just an amusement attraction, not the genuine article.  We decided to poke our heads in anyway.  There are displays, covered wagons, fort buildings and cute stuff to buy.  Then we learned that it was here that Buffalo Bill’s first Wild West Show was staged.  Bill was a colorful character.  He was born in 1846 in Iowa but decided to head west where the action was:  wagon trains, gold rushes and even an opportunity to ride for the Pony Express.  He became an Army scout and later a civilian scout for the Kansas Pacific Railroad, which was making its way west.  Known for his marksmanship, he proudly claimed to have killed 4,000+ buffalo to help feed the railroad workers, earning him the nickname, “Buffalo Bill.” 

 

He was employed by the Army as a civilian scout in 1868 and earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his acts of valor in the Indian Wars.  Then, they took it away because they said he didn’t qualify for the medal.  It took until 1989 for the Army Record Corrections board to reinstate his medal.

 

Buffalo Bill was an expert frontiersman but he also had charisma and acting ability so the Army used him as a recruiting tool.  That’s where his Wild West Show comes in.  He recreated hunting expeditions and dramas for the average person, dignitaries, kings and queens.  Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley and Mark Twain were some of his buddies.  Buffalo Bill became wildly successful and wealthy, investing in mines, hotels, coal, oil and establishing a newspaper, The Cody Enterprise, in Cody, WY.  He lived for a time in a mansion that he built in North Platte but of course, we couldn’t tour it because it was closed today.  He died in 1917 and is buried on Lookout Mountain in Colorado.

Buffalo Bill Cody

 

North Platte, Nebraska is more or less centrally located in the country and a logical place for train routes to intersect to organize loaded train cars delivering products to the nation.  It was the brain-child of Edd Bailey to create a railcar classification yard here in North Platte.  Edd started out at age 17 in the repair shop for Union Pacific and rose to blacksmith, brakeman, conductor and trainmaster.  Ultimately, his dedication and hard work put him in the position of President of Union Pacific.  The Bailey Yard here in North Platte is the largest railcar yard in the world, Edd’s dream realized.  He released the first rail car at the dedication in 1968.

View looking at the westbound bowl 
from Golden Spike observation tower

Edd Bailey, dreamer and
President of Union
Pacific Railroad

V

View looking at the eastbound bowl 
from Spike Tower
observation deck

Bailey Yard and the 
Golden Spike observation tower

Golden Spike Tower at the Bailey Yard was named simply to honor the ceremonial driving of the golden spike in Promontory, UT.  That spike joined the Central and Union Pacific railroads, creating the USA’s magnificent transcontinental railroad.  The observation deck on the spike-shaped tower provides a great view of the massive Bailey Yard which stretches east-west for 8 miles and north-south for 2 miles.  The arriving train cars are detached and sent down a “hump” into the “bowl” onto the correct track for their intended destination.  The westbound bowl is made up of 50 tracks.  The eastbound bowl is made up of 64 tracks.  We watched the engines move back and forth in the bowls creating the long trains from shorter sections.  One train can be pulled by two diesel electric engines, then 130 cars later (midway) 2-4 more engines, then 130 additional cars later, a final engine.  Weight-wise, one diesel engine weighs 220 tons.  One fully-loaded coal cars weighs 130 tons.  The “double train” that we watched in transit through the yard weighed a total of 70,680,000 pounds!  Each engine gets ½ mpg so that’s one monster fuel tank!  We spent hours talking to Dan, our guide on the observation deck and a retired Union Pacific engineer.  He explained and pointed out each function as we watched the machines moving slowly on the tracks below.

 

Pals Brewery was next on the agenda.  Five years ago when we found Pals, it was a fledgling enterprise established by my friends from Wisconsin.  Now, it is a big, busy affair and rated the #2 restaurant in North Platte!  Time for a designer beer and “the best pizza in town!”

7-1-2023 Lincoln, NE

Apparently, our assignment this Summer was to travel about the country to deliver rain.  And are we ever doing a good job!  We had big plans for Lincoln, NE.  Had, past tense. 

 

Two hand-stitched ~30 ft. long quilts. 
The top of my head came to
 about the first square up.

Yesterday, Rob spent a few hours at the Museum of American Speed.  Since I spent last week end viewing 12,000 cars, I thought that might be enough for now so Rob dropped me off at the International Quilt Museum.  We traded notes at the end of the day, each of us with about a 30% interest in the other subject.  Rob viewed cars, car engines, car toys, pedal cars and memorabilia dating back more than 100 years.  I saw 30-foot long quilts that were installed on walls equally as high, hand-stitched in the mid-1800s.  Each of us had a more interesting day individually than we would have had at the other guy’s venue.

 

1953 Corvette, fuselage #160 out of 300 built.

Engine room.

Vintage pedal cars - did not come
with a GPS or surround sound.

Today, there were 3 points of interest on the menu:  the farmers’ market, space museum and veterans’ memorial park.  We made it to one:  the farmers’ market where we found a wagyu ribeye and sausages from Nebraska cattle.  The friendly rancher drives 300 miles each way every week end to bring his beef to market, lucky for us.  Next, Buzzard Billy’s, a restaurant where southern and Cajun food is served.  Rob’s lunch included catfish, gumbo and jambalaya.  For Lindy, a tsunami (vodka, amaretto, curacao and “a hint of peach”) and fried alligator tail pieces.  This is simple logic.  The more alligators we eat, the fewer of them are out there in the lake trying to do the opposite.  I’m telling you, People!  Eat alligators!  They taste just like chicken!

 

And then it happened.  A red cell thundered overhead and dumped a Niagara Falls-size storm on Lincoln.  We made it back to Noobee just in time to batten down the hatches.  It’s possible that when I ordered up a tsunami for lunch, God thought, “Well, OK, you asked for it!”  So we sit inside, wait and watch, hoping a tornado can’t sweep up a 26,000 pound rv.  But if it can, the question becomes, “How do you make it on foot to the storm shelter (which is usually the bathrooms)?”  Seems like the Midwest rv parks always designate the bathrooms as the storm shelters and it’s usually BYOB.  Also, it is really convenient as odds are you’ll be scared shitless and, by golly, there ya are!

 

The other 2 goals for today will have to wait till we pass this way again.  Tomorrow we are off to North Platte where, hopefully, our annual plans to attend a 4^th of July celebration will also be attended by Mr. Sun!