Corn and Trails in Nebraska

Today began the great trek across Nebraska. We were sad to leave Wyoming, a state we really enjoyed.

We're covering the entire state, west to east, on Route 80. The highway follows the early path of settlers headed west, and has lots of landmarks along the way from the Mormon, California and Oregon Trails.

Crossing the state all the way to Omaha was about 500 miles, something we weren't willing to do in a day. So we set our sights on Kearny and set off, after I did an airport visit in Cheyenne to say hi to my TSA colleagues there.

Just to mark another state on our roadtrip, at the 95 mile marker in Nebraska, we cut down an exit and entered Colorado. We got some gas, drinks and snacks, went a few miles down interstate 76, and got back into Nebraska again. The kids were excited to color another state in on their roadtrip map.

Our next stop was Gothenberg, site of an original Pony Express station. We dropped in for a quick visit and took some pictures. Then it was back in the car to our next stop, Kearny.

After looking in the campground directory, there were no campgrounds in Kearny with wifi, so after a planned museum stop there, we would forge ahead to Grand Island.

Many cornfields later, we got to Kearny. It's main tourist attraction is the Platte River Archway, a museum that spans over Route 80 and celebrates the pioneers who set off from Missouri to head West. Because we entered the Central time zone, we lost an hour and got the museum 20 minutes before closing. At the entrance was a real life mountain man, who guided us to the ticket counter. Ruth was a bit frightened at this point. After you buy your tickets, you pick up headphones for the audio tour and then go onto an escalator up through a screen of a wagon ride. Along the way, there are statues of pioneers - men and women, and they talk about their voyage.


The escalator ride further frightened Ruth, who thought she was entering a haunted house. As the audio announcer talked, we passed by a wagon train heading west, a group of Mormons trapped in a snowstorm, and a Pony Express station, where we heard the rider tell the folks in the station that the Civil War had begun. After the exhibits on the West being settled, there were exhibits about trains and then cars going west. There were exhibits on the "See America First" initiative around WWII, a mock drive-in movie theatre and a roadside diner. At the end of the exhibit, you can look out the window and see the cars going under the museum on I-80.


The Trails museum in Casper was better, I thought, because it had more hands on exhibits and better storytelling, but this one was good too. Plus, we got to stretch our legs after a long drive. After a quick trip to the gift shop, we headed back on the road to our final destination of Grand Island.

So here we are, at the KOA campground in Grand Island. We're surrounded on three sides by corn fields, leading us to believe that the owners are really corn farmers and run this campground on the side for additional money. I watched a beautiful sunset tonight, over a cornfield of course.