After a long day's drive from western Wyoming, Harvest Hosts helped us out with another super-interesting pit stop location. It's called the Golden Spike, not to be confused with the one in Utah, but still related to trains. North Platte is the site of the world's largest rail yard - complete with an excellent visitor center and viewing tower:
And a large parking lot where we parked our truck/trailer and spent a quiet night next to a corn field:
The view from the top of the tower was fascinating. We learned how the train cars are brought in, sorted, and reconnected to head off in different directions. They push each car to the top of a small rise and release it so it rolls downhill. Then the switches get the car in the right lane, and the amount of the "push" is calibrated so the car goes just fast enough to reach its connecting railcar. In the meantime, another car is released and the process continues.
Quite impossible to get a good photo of this; here's one attempt:
And another part of the yard:
Hello Tug and Howie!
A train on its way through the yard to a western destination:
Fun location!
Next we settled in Lincoln for a few days. We initially picked Lincoln in order to run a race in Nebraska. I found a fun little 5K around a lake, and it turned out to be part of the Cornhusker State Games. This is a neat idea! They brought together a bunch of sports of all types and compiled 2 weeks of amateur competitions - wish we could have seen more of them, including Ninja Warrior, pickleball, fencing, chess, bowling, arm wrestling, gymnastics, skydiving... I think more places should do this.
So anyway, the 5K went well, John ran a consistent 3 miles with no hip issues, and I enjoyed the additional oxygen after getting acclimated to recent higher elevations.
They even had a podium, which was entertaining when we got age group awards:
I guess turning 50 years old has some advantages:
John's turn:
While in Lincoln we did a bit of exploring. Hey, it's a state capitol! Maybe a tour of the building will help me remember this fact in the future.
"Arise with the dawn; Bathe in the morning sun; Sleep when the birds no longer fly; Awake when the first faint dawn appears"
Historical paintings in the main hall:
A bust of Willa Cather, an author in the Nebraska Hall of Fame:
View toward the university campus:
Pretty courtyard:
We wandered over toward the Railyard area of town, where we found this! Too bad it wasn't open yet:
There was a sustainability expo going on, which means there must be a Tesla around here somewhere:
The power company put on an entertaining safety demonstration, which involved high voltages, sparks, and a few flames (plus we learned some things):
We found another event in the Cornhusker State Games - figure skating:
Not something we get to watch every day, that was neat:
One of the skating podiums:
Exploring the paths over the railroad - the "LINCOLN" letters are visible overhead too, I believe:
One of many artistic sets of hands around town:
Sculptures on the University of Nebraska - Lincoln (UNL) campus:
We had fun walking around campus checking out the art:
di Suvero steel and the stadium in the background:
Our friend Sheila (who went to school here) directed us to the natural history museum:
What a great place! Neat displays, interesting write-ups and curation, and a very large mammoth skeleton:
An ancient bison with gigantic horns:
Parasites... these are quite fascinating except I try not to think too hard about them...
Extensive displays of insects:
Now we need to seek out the real prairie chickens - sounds like it's worth tracking them down:
One of my favorite displays - "Volcanic Bombs: Blobs From Hell. Volcanic bombs are blobs of molten rock that cool and solidify as they fall back to the surface, assuming a variety of shapes. Bombs may be as large as several meters in diameter. The rich description terminology for the shapes of volcanic bombs reveals that even geologists have a sense of humor, and it needs no explanation: breadcrust bombs, ribbon bombs, cow pie bombs, spindle bombs, teardrop bombs are recognized, as well as other types."
We eventually ran out of time to see everything, which is probably good because I'm not sure my brain could have absorbed much more all at once.
Hammocks! What a great idea for a college campus.
Fun notebook sculpture:
We also saw some of the State Games foosball competition in a local bar, very cool. I didn't know foosball was that competitive!
A huge sporting goods store called Scheels has this huge stuffed bear:
Nice bear!
We stayed at the RV park in the Lancaster Event Center, which was setting up for a weekend of fair activities. John took a walk through the pavilion to check it out:
Wizard of Oz themed stall:
Ponies getting some exercise:
Another fun stall decoration:
Alpacas! I'm loving my alpaca socks, by the way.
That was fun, thank you Nebraska!
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