Sunday - Day 4

Some photos from past days. 

Friday morning when I opened the little door to the area where the electrical umbilical is stored I found a greeter perched just inside the door. It must have crawled up the electrical cable during the night.

I read online that one of things people have to try while in Wyoming is a Runza. (Runza is a chain here). While we were getting fuel Saturday morning Kathy spotted a Runza restaurant. She walked over and bought one while I was fueling the truck. It is seasoned loose hamburger with peppers and onions cooked in it. The bread was better than the meat. She ate a couple of bites and I finished it. I wouldn't go out of my way to find another one.

The campground where we stayed last night had a small BBQ restaurant. We tried it out. Kathy ordered the slab of ribs, I talked her into ordering a half slab rather than a third of a slab because I wanted to try them. I ordered the beef brisket. Mine was good, hers not so much.

In yesterdays post I mentioned that we passed cattle feed lots and acres of sunflowers. The photos below are of one of the feedlots. Kathy took all these photos while we were doing 60-65 mph.

We were surprised at how many of the corn and alfalfa fields are still being irrigated.

Today we drove to Laramie. We crossed the highest point along the 2,900 mile length of I80, elevation 8,640 feet. In the 22 miles from Cheyenne to where this point is located, we climbed 2,600 ft. In the next 5 miles we dropped almost 1,500 ft. I think we will pretty much stay at 7,000-7,500 ft the rest of the way across Wyoming.

Our plan was to tour the Ivinson Mansion in the afternoon and the Wyoming Territorial Prison tomorrow morning. We found that the only parking around the mansion was on street parking. Fortunately is was Sunday afternoon and we were able to park our truck and travel trailer on the street in front of a county building only 1 block away. I thought I had read that the mansion was open from 1-4 on Sunday. It was about 11:30 when we parked. We walked 15 blocks around Laramie looking for a place to have lunch. Not much was open. We finally found a place and had a decent lunch. By the time we walked back to the museum it was just after 1PM. We went through the wrought iron fence, walked over to the gift shop to buy tickets and found it closed. Apparently I misread the open times on their web site. A young man was setting up chairs and tables for some type of event that was going to occur in the yard. He graciously offered to give us a personal tour if we wanted to come back by late in the afternoon. We declined and went to the prison.

The Wyoming Territorial Prison was opened around 1872, it was funded by the federal government (taxpayers), only 1 of 3 in the nation. It closed around 1902 and was given to the University of Wyoming to be used as an agricultural research center. Restoration was started in 1990 and now the facility is controlled by Wyoming Dept of State Parks & Cultural Resources. It was an interesting tour.

It was a beautiful day.

 The prison was surrounded by a wooden stockade.

Each of the two “wings” held 42 cells for men, 14 per level, 3 levels. The wing on the left also had 2 cells for women. The 6’x8’x8’ cells were supposed to “designed” to hold 1 prisoner. Soon they put 2 prisoners in each cell. They actually had 204 prisoners incarcerated at one time. Even with 2 per cell in all 86 cells they could only put 172 prisoners in cells. I don’t know what they did with the other 32 prisoners.

The prison was run as a private enterprise. The Territory gave the Lease Holder 40 cents a week for prisoner support. It cost the Lease Holder about a dollar a week for food, clothing, guards, etc., but he had the labor of the prisoners available to him. The largest money maker was a broom factory. When it was running two 12 hours shifts it could produce over 700 brooms a day.  Each broom made a profit of 5 cents. There were a lot of other crafts that produced salable products. Only today’s government could come up with a system so stupid that taxpayers have to pay to incarcerate criminals. Government has the free labor of tens of thousands available to them and yet we taxpayers are forced to support them.

There was a free RV dump station in the parking lot. We were amazed at the number of people using it. When we arrived there were 14 RV’s lined up waiting to dump their wastewater tanks. That had to be close to a 2 hour wait. When we left a couple of hours later there were 5 in line. I don’t know if any of them were in the line when we arrived.

The Albany County Fairgrounds, in Laramie, has 26 places for RV’s to park. We drove into the fairgrounds, wandered around a little until Kathy spotted the RV parking area, and we backed into a spot with electricity, water & sewer hookups. We haven’t seen another person while we have been here. The cost is $30/night. You pay on the “honor system” there is supposed to be a secure box at the end of the “red building” where you put your payment when you leave.

Parked at the fairgrounds.

 We did have neighbor down the way, but we didn't see them Sunday evening.

 Tomorrow it is on westward.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Saturday - Day 3

Today's travels - North Platte, NE to Cheyenne, WY

Nebraska’s topography is changes across the state, probably the same as many states. At the east end it was very similar to what we have in central Missouri and in Crossville. Toward the center the terrain leveled off and you could see tree lines 5-10 miles away, because the fields being farmed were flat and treeless. The entire state, at least the southern part where we are traveling, gains elevation as you travel west. As I mentioned yesterday, the elevation of Nebraska City, at the far eastern end of the state, is about 1,000’ while the elevation of North Platte, located maybe 65% of the way to the western edge of the state, is about 2,500’. The elevation of Kimball, Nebraska, near the western border is about 4,700’. We are spending the night in Cheyenne, WY. Cheyenne is about 40 miles from the Nebraska border. The elevation of Cheyenne is a little over 6,000’.

When we left North Platte we decided we had enough of Interstates for a while. We drove US30 from North Platte to the WY border. It is one of the best roads I’ve driven on it a long time. With only a few exceptions it is very smooth. There is no traffic. I drove 65 mph, the speed limit. I was passed by only 4 vehicles in 180 miles. We met an eastbound vehicle maybe an average of every 1 or 2 miles.

We saw lots of corn, beans, sunflower fields & alfalfa(it was hay, we think it was alfalfa). We saw several cattle feed lots with over 1,000 cattle in each, plus several smaller feed lot operations. We also saw cattle in pastures. A wild guess would be that the density of cattle is pasture areas was no more than 1 cow per 2 acres. At one farm, probably a place set up to provide hay or silage to one of the cattle feeding operations, it appeared that a pile of big round bales was on fire. It looked like someone had tried to spread the stack of hay out. A fire truck was there working on the fire. We have seen a few of the large power generating windmills, but only a few.

We have travelled about 750 miles since leaving Centertown Thursday morning. We averaged over 10 mpg today even with the 3,500’ elevation change. Overall fuel economy so far is 10.6 mpg. We paid $2.44/gal for fuel in North Platte & $2.75/gal in Pine Bluff, WY. At the major truck stops fuel seems to be averaging $2.95 if purchased with a debit or credit card. We haven’t seen any priced at $3/gal….yet.

We had a couple of nice rain showers this morning before we left the campground in North Platte. We drove through one very brief shower near the Nebraska/Wyoming line. Mid afternoon the thermometer on my truck said the temperature was 91. On the other side of the rain shower it registered 69, but climbed back up into the 80’s later. The low here is supposed to be 60 tonight. It would be good sleeping weather but we had to close the windows and turn on the AC because there are so many barking dogs with RV’ers. Seems to me that if you want to take your dog with you that is fine, as long as you keep the thing quiet. (I may be prejudiced. Most of you know I am not a fan of dogs, especially yappy barking dogs.)

Kathy tried to take a couple of photos of one of the cattle feedlot operations. It’s to late to try and get the photos off her iphone. I’ll try to remember to get them and if they are any good will post them later.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Friday - Day 2

The Lewis & Clark museum, in Nebraska City, opened at 9AM. Kathy & I walked in the door at 9:05. We would recommend it to anyone, especially to families. We spent a busy 1.5 hours there. With kids you would need to schedule at least 4 hours.

The drive to the Stuhr get from Nebraska City to I80, at Lincoln. It appears to be a relatively new concrete 4 lane divided highway. With the guys who specified the acceptance criteria, or the inspectors who signed off on the Contractor’s work should be horse whipped. Driving on it must be similar to what it was like to drive on old washboard roads. The roadbed consisted of trees laying perpendicular to the road. I think it the “roughness” was caused because of concrete curling. Almost the entire stretch needs to be treated with micro grinding to smooth it out. I80 was OK except for an occasional rough patch.

The Stuhr Museum was also good. We were there about 2 hours and left. We toured 2 of the air conditioned buildings and walked around just a small portion of the exterior grounds. Temperature was 88 when we left and stayed at 88  until after 5PM. This would be a great place to go before Labor Day. The exterior exhibits close down after Labor Day.

We then drove on to North Platte, Nebraska where we are spending the night at the Holiday RV Park. It isn’t as nice as Victorian Acres but it does have a pool that Kathy took advantage of.

We have driven 559 miles since we left Thursday morning. In yesterday’s post I mentioned that I  thought my fuel mile figures were inaccurate because I didn’t think I had the tank completely full during yesterday’s last fill-up. I was correct. When I filled up today the overall average dropped from 12.4 mpg to 11.2 mpg. The speed limit on I80 in Nebraska is 75 mph. I kept my speeds at about 66 mph on all the interstates we have travelled since leaving.  I think todays hot temps may have knocked at least a tenth off our fuel economy, maybe more. The other thing is that we are climbing. I think Centertown is around elevation 660. Nebraska City is about elevation 1,000. North Platte is around elevation 2,800.

Lewis and Clark Museum

 A keel boat, just like the ones we used to see while watching Davy Crockett & Daniel Boone on TV.

 These oars would require a real man to pull on them for very long.

 The building is beautiful.

I

Above the entry.

 I had never heard that Lewis & Clark had an air gun. They hooked an external pump up to the stock and pumped air into the stock. The volume was large enough that they could shoot it several times before pumping in more air. No information on what they used it for.

 This was in the lower level. I bet Lydia & Nolan could play in the prairie dog burrow for quite a long time.

Taking a hike on the path down to the river overlook.

Checking out the Missouri River.

Several Indian tribes in the area built these earth sheltered "lodges".

It was much larger on the inside than I expected.

The Stuhr Museum main building. It has a moat around it.

Stairways to upper level exhibits.

 Kathy said my Mom has something very similar to the one below. (Whatever it is?)

 God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Day 1

First day on the road, 294 miles today, we were in no hurry. We arrived at Victorian Acres campground in Nebraska City, Nebraska about 5PM. Scenery consisted if smallish hills, corn & soy beans.

Average fuel economy today was 12.4 mpg, although I’m not sure the tank got completely full the last fill-up. Fuel prices ranged from $2.72/gal in Missouri to $2.85/gal in Nebraska.

The campground is nice.

Most of the sites are pull-throughs. They all have picnic tables and a flower bed. You can just see our flower bed under the back corner of our trailer.

 Our picnic table and the neighbors flower bed. I might be wrong, this might be our flower bed.

 I think the campground has around 100 sites. There are several of these playground setups spread around the park.

 Tomorrow morning we go to the Lewis & Clark museum before hitting the road.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Ready to Go West

We are packed and ready!

In the morning we will have a few odds and ends to put in the truck and trailer and then after unhooking the electrical we will be ready for the road, Lord willing.

The plan is to spend tomorrow night at Victorian Acres Campground in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Friday morning we will check out the Lewis & Clark museum on our way out of town. Then on to Grand Island, Nebraska where we will spend Friday night at a KOA campground.
Saturday morning we will visit the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island and then travel to Sidney, Nebraska. We plan on spending Saturday night at the Cabela's campground in Sidney.

Sunday it will be on to Laramie, Wyoming. The plan is to spend visit the Ivenson Mansion Sunday PM, spend the night at the Albany County Fairgrounds. Monday AM we will visit the old Territorial Prison before heading on to Green River, Wyoming.

I think we will spend a couple of nights at the Travel Camp in Green River before heading to Salt Lake City. That would put us in Salt Lake City late afternoon on Wed, Sept 13, where we will spend several nights.

No sense in typing in any more of the trip because I'm pretty sure by Monday evening some things will change.

All is well with folks here in Missouri.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Keeping Busy

Lots of things to do before heading out west.

Sunday afternoon my notable work was cutting up the trunk of the fallen tree and burning the remaining trash branches. Storm damage cleanup work in lawn is done.
Yesterday my notable items were changing the oil in my truck and delivering a bed that Kelsey gave a lady who is a friend of Kathys. We waited at the top of our driveway for Lydia to get off the bus and then did the bed pickup/delivery before returning home. Kelsey went with us and helped carry the mattress, box springs, etc. into the lady's house.
Todays I changed the fuel filter in my truck, cleaned out the storage compartment under the bed in the travel trailer, completed the hookup of the wiring for the tongue jack, fixed one of the struts for the bed cover on my truck, took off a loose register grill, for the TT furnace, put epoxy in the oversize screw hole and reset the grill after the epoxy cured. Did other odds and ends also. Kathy went up and waited for Lydia to get off the bus at 3:45. Lydia & Hadley, the neighbor girl, same age as Lydia, who lives in one of the houses at the top of our driveway, came down to play. Andy and Nolan came to pickup Lydia a little after 5. They stayed for a short time.
I started the morning with a list of 20 ToDo items that I wanted to complete prior to leaving next Tuesday. The good news is that I completed 8 of them. The bad news is I added 3 new items to the list.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Nice Weather in Central MO

Wednesday I continued cleaning up the uprooted tree in our yard. Ran 1.5 tanks full of gas through my chain saw and by that time I was out of gas.

Thursday I almost finished the tree clean up but dulled my chain in the afternoon and didn't have enough energy to sharpen it and make the last few cuts on the trunk of the tree.

Before

After

We burned some of the limbs earlier in the week. This is what is left. I still need to cut up the trunk for firewood before setting burning this trash.

This is a trashy tree. I don't think the wood will provide a lot of heat, but it burns. The previous owner planted 7(?) of them around the property. I had previously cut one of the down. The leaves on a "double" version (2 - 12" diameter trunks from the same root system) of one that was close to the one that fell over, appear to be dying. I think it almost blew over. I won't feel bad if it dies and I end up cutting it down.


Friday I spent the day at Larry & Sharon Farley's helping frame his 30x56 building. This is a 56' long, 16' tall wall, with 8' returns at the ends. Not bad for 2 old guys (I'm 70, Larry is 60) & Billy (Larry's son-in-law). Actually there were 4 of use for a couple of hours. Dennis, another old guy who is a friend of Larry's was there for about 2 hours in the morning, but Billy was not able to get there until around 10:30. I started at 8:15 and quit at 5:45, half hour lunch break. Larry was out working when I got there and still out there cleaning up when Billy & I left. We were all dragging by the end of the day. (Notice the NICE Kubota tractor over in the corner. It's mine. It was a big help raising the 16' long sections of 15' tall, 2x6 walls.

Kelsey, Andy & the kids were over for supper last night.

Kathy is up at Centertown Baptist this morning. They are having a "work day" this morning.

When she gets home we are going to Columbia and pick up a new "house battery" for the travel trailer. The existing 6 year old battery seems to have lost most of its capacity to hold a charge overnight, even with only a minimal draw on it.

Good is good, may He bless you and yours.