September 16, Back Home Again....

Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candelelight, still shining bright,
Through the sycamores for me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash,
Then I long for my Indiana home.

7,473 miles. The last 600 the longest! And under budget.

We had a great time and learned much, much, much!

We're ready to stay home for a while, catch up on all the work around the house, yard and garden; see all our friends; start sewing again; and all the rest of the activities. But, most of all...to see the grandkids. Not until tomorrow.

September 15, Jacksonville, IL

As we were driving across Iowa this morning a pheasant flew in front of us and into a field. I haven't seen that for decades. Wonderful sight!

Another wonderful sight this morning was green grass in the ditches, fields and yards. We haven't seen it this green since the first of May. Also, real trees. Tall oak, maple, cottonwood, black walnut. Yea!

We drove to the childhood home of Phil and Don Everly in Shenandoah, IA this morning and it and the museum are closed on Saturday and Sunday. We did at least sing some of their songs to each other. Perhaps, not so good.

 We were driving into Clarinda, IA and there was a sign that said it was the birthplace of Glenn Miller. We wound all through town and finally found it but it and the museum didn't open until 1 PM and it was only 11.

Glenn Miller's birthplace.

 The Glenn Miller Birthplace Museum.













Golly, the Mississippi is mighty!!!! It is always a thrill to see it.

September 14, Shenandoah, IA

I forgot to mention yesterday that when we were stopped at a rest stop, a truck driver started talking French to Ed. After Ed's blank face, the guy said he just saw Ed's Montreal Canadien's hockey tee-shirt and assumed that he was from there and spoke French.  :)

Tonight we ate a D' Mama's barbeque restaurant and had sauce that just won 1st place at the Iowa State Fair's barbeque cook-off. It certainly ranks right up there with Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, AL.

We drove on the interstate almost all day so there was nothing to see. Just heading on home.

We stopped at Walmart to get ice and were walking through it and I saw they still have fabric. I found flannel football fabric that will make a great pair of pajamas for Aaron for $1.50 a yard!!!! Couldn't pass that by.

Just discovered that The Everly Brothers, Don and Phil, lived in Shenandoah, IL from ages 5 & 7 to early high school then moved to Knoxville, TN where they graduated from West Knox High School.

September 13, Ogallala, NE

Unbelievable, I did not take one picture today. We started out at a used book store where Ed got 9 books he has been looking for. I sat in the car while he went into 3 used bookstores so I could finish the book I was reading.

We tried to go into two different small museums but they closed on Labor Day. We followed the Lodgepole Creek today and went through Lodgepole, NE. It got its name from Indians who found trees they could use for the poles for their lodges along the river.

We also went through 2 antique malls. We saw a 10 gallon crock with handles similar to one I have for $250. Much over priced! Mine is a family crock and there is no way I would try to sell it.

The book I finished was one in series by Rudolfo Anaya, "Shaman Winter". It incorporates Spanish, Indian and Mexican cultures with Sonny Bacca as a PI. The book I am starting tonight is "The Mystery of Swordfish Reef" by Arthur W. Upfield who was born in England but moved to Australia just out of high school. He has written many books about Napoleon Bonaparte, Bony, a Detective-Inspector for Queensland Criminal Investigative Branch. Bony had a white father and an aborigine mother. These books are extremely hard to find and I find them extremely fascinating. Not everyone does! Ed found this book in one of today's used bookstores for only $3.99. I .have paid much more for them before. I'm missing only 1 or 2 of his books.

Aaron, 12 years old talks to me on the phone nearly every night and texts in between when he has time. He is playing 7th grade football so is very busy with practice and games. You will see me in a new Northside Titan football tee-shirt when I get back. Sarah and Katie are 7 and 6 and love to get the postcards I have been sending. Talking on the phone is OK but bring on those postcards. :)

September 12, Cheyenne, WY

At 1:30 pm local time it was 49 degrees, windy and misting. At first I thought it was cold and nasty, then I thought of all the times this summer when it was so hot and dry and I didn't like it, I decided this was really a welcome relief. Just put on a sweatshirt and a light windbreaker when we walked around and it wasn't half bad!

We started our day at Tie Siding, WY. It is now an unincorporated town and consists of this building which is a combination antique store and post office, and a stand-alone antique store.  The elevation there is 7,694' and it was booming from the 1860s to the early 1900s. Tie Siding was as large as 2,000 population and 22 saloons when the transcontinental railroad was being built and soon after. Trees were cut in the mountains then floated downriver to Tie Siding where they were cut into ties for the railroad. Afterward it remained because trains had to stop every few hours for more lumber and water.

This one wall is the post office which has 60 PO boxes. They hand cancel all mail leaving the post office. I asked the post mistress if the postal service had said her post office would be closed. She said that they said they might cut back the hours to 2 a day and they offered her $20,000 to retire but she said that isn't enough to pay her yearly mortgage payment on her ranch so she decided to stay. The woman in Centennial, who is 73 and worked there for 33 years, decided to take the buy out and quit.

This is all that remains of the original town of Tie Siding. In 1901 the train tracks were moved. In 1931 the post office was moved to its current location about 2 miles west on US 287.

This is the Ames Monument off I-80 not far from Tie Siding. It was built by the Union Pacific in 1882 on the highest elevation (8,247') of the original transcontinental railroad route. It memorializes Oakes and Oliver Ames who were the driving force and key factors in the building of the railroad. It stands 60' feet tall.

This tree growing in the rock was here when they laid the original tracks near Sherman Summit from 1867-1869. It is said that they moved the tracks slightly so the tree and rock would not have to be moved. There are no other rocks as large as this anywhere near and there are no other trees growing near.

It is also said that when the trains stopped for water and wood, the engineers would "give the tree a drink" of water from their water bucket. The train route was moved in 1901 but in 1913 the Lincoln Highway was built near it and in the 1920s Highway 30 was built and finally in the 1960s I-80 was built. It currently stands between the east and west bound roads. The age of it is unknown but they can live for up to 2,000 years.

Girls, today we were in "boot town" which had many very tall boots all around town. This one is covered with old car license plates on the toe and painted ones on the rest of the boot.

 

This boot is downtown on the corner of a little park. The boots were made a few years ago for people to put money in so the town could build a new museum.

This boot is in front of the old train depot. The name of this town is really Cheyenne, Wyoming.

We spent about 3 hours in the Wyoming State Museum which is free. It is really very good and covers the history - ranching, mining, politics, life style, dinosaurs, and has some inaugural gowns of the first ladies, the dress of the Miss Wyomings and Miss Cowgirl, etc.

This is the saddle that President Theodore Roosevelt used in a rodeo parade in 1900 at the Daley Ranch, WY.

This 2-hour parking sign was on the street in front of the state capitol building and along the state supreme court building and the state museum. There are no parking meters and there are actually parking spots available throughout downtown.

This is a new 3-story parking garage which covers an entire block. It has some reserved spots but most are open and free for 2 hours. They made it to look like some of the downtown buildings so it doesn't just stick out like a sore thumb. With a place to park, there were a lot of stores and people downtown. There was even a quilt store!

This store is downtown and has been in this spot since 1943. We thought it was a part of the Wrangler jeans company but it isn't. The store managed to work out an agreement with the Wrangler company so they aren't infringing on their copyright. The store sells men's, women's and children's western clothing including hats and boots.

September 11, Laramie, WY

Today we passed 6,000 miles on our trip. Wow! I (we) could stay gone but I am really missing the grandkids. That's you, Aaron, Sarah and Katie!

We drove into Rock Springs, WY and they had a huge sign that stated it is the home to 56 nationalities. Remarkable.

We drove on I-80 most of the time between Green River and Laramie. At one point it appeared that we were in the middle of an area 100 miles in width and 100 miles in length with not one town having more than a few hundred in population - and very few of those.

We are pretty sure that we saw a dead porcupine on the side of the road. There are not many animals killed on the roads. We have tried to decide if it is because not many animals live there or if there just aren't many people driving. We surmised that it is a combination of both.

 I forgot to include this information for yesterday. We drove passed a "town" called Little America about 20 miles west of Green River, WY. There had been signs for miles advertising it so we decided to stop. It has a very large truck stop with rooms, showers, etc. There are 140 motel rooms, a restaurant and bar, a gift store, cafe, and meeting space. We saw some houses in the back but it said private, no entrance. I looked it up just now and it is truly a company town. It has a post office and a population of 68 in the 2010 census. All the residents work for Little America, have a high school education but no college, a median household income of $26,115, mean age of 25.7, no unemployment, all rental houses with the average rent being $234. The mean travel time to work is 3.4 minutes, there are no registered sex offenders, and 100% are employed in the service industry. It sounds rather like a company town to me.


We passed a town called Sinclair, WY today about halfway between Green River and Laramie. It is in the middle of the Sinclair oil fields and by a huge oil refinery. Unlike Little America, most of the houses are privately owned, the median household income is $74,163, 13.5% have a bachelor's degree and 2.5% have a master's degree, there is 4.9% unemployment, the median age is 39.5. The population is 433, the median house is $104,162, median rent is $710, and the mean travel time to work is 13.2 minutes. Twenty-seven% work in transportation/warehouse, 22% in manufacturing, 14% in oil extraction, 8% in public administration, 6% in professional, scientific or technical, 5% in information, and 5% in other services. This is probably not a company town because the people living there own their own houses.

This shows a Union Pacific train going on a bridge over the North Platte River near Sinclair, WY. It is about half way between Green River and Laramie, WY.









We decided to leave I-80 east of Sinclair and take Wyoming 130 south then east through Medicine Bow National Forest ending in Laramie. It is designated as a Scenic Byway - and it is. We had a light rain through all of it but I was still able to take decent pictures. On both the west and east sides of the mountain range it is treeless, mostly rolling, no trees except along a river, some sage brush, some dry grass-like stuff and desert.

There was some lumbering in the Medicine Bow National Forest near Snowy Range Pass (elevation 10, 847). There were about 6 places where they had the lumber stacked up and the cut branches stacked beside them.

This shows a walk bridge on a trail near Medicine Bow Peak, elevation 12,013'. I would LOVE to come back and to some hiking here.Wonderful! You can see in the distance that the sky is clear. The picture isn't bright and clear because it was taken in the rain. Anyone ready to come hike with me? Sarah, Katie, Aaron?

There were 2 places where we saw these signs. There were also "open range" signs all along the drive.

The aspen trees in the lower elevations were turning yellow. A few were almost an orange color. They are so spectacular mixed in with the deep green of the fir and pine trees.

September 10, Green River, WY

We stayed here August 22 on our way west. Tonight when we were checking in we talked with 7 people from Germany who are riding motorcycles to several of the National Parks in this part of the country. Most of them speak fluent English and two of them had a great sense of humor.

We came in from the east the last time and completely missed the beautiful rocks just west of town. We tried to eat in the same really good Mexican restaurant but they are closed on Mondays. That was fine because I had a very delicious fresh trout dinner.

While looking for a used book store in Ogden, UT, we drove past a train museum where we stopped. We drove through some wonderful mountains and followed the Transcontinental Railroad almost all the time today.

This is the front of the Union Station Museum in Ogden, UT. Note the quilt blocks all along the front. It was strange to see them because there was nothing in the museum to do with quilts or quilting. It had a Browning gun museum, an antique car museum, and a Transcontinental Railroad museum in the building and outside had several different engines and train cars.

Ed liked the 1929 Pierce Arrow. All the cars were in mint condition and several are driven in parades throughout the summer.

This is the hood ornament for the Pierce Arrow.

I had never seen a US Army Medic Car. I guess I never took time to think about it either. Now the wounded service personnel are flown home but in WW II they used trains a lot. This had everything inside this car that a small hospital would have and they used the steam from the locomotive to sterilize the bedpans and other equipment. It had a galley that could serve 200 people.

Girls, this town is really called Ogden, UT but I think I will call it "horse town". Remember the "chicken town" we drove through on the way to Uncle Jeff's house and all the chickens? Well, this town has painted horsed all around town. I think I liked this one best because it had ice cream cones on it.

Here is another of my favorite horses. They put them all around town for their 75th Pioneer Days Anniversary.

This is the big rock behind our motel. There are many more, mostly larger, west of town. There are also hills that have a green colored stone on them. We haven't been able to discover what that is.

This shows a train on the Union Pacific track which is on the same bed as the TC RR. In the foreground is the Green River. Most of the mountains around here are like these, without large rocks or boulders. I-80 is just behind my back.

September 9, 2012, Promontory Summit

I forgot to mention yesterday that when I was at the quilt store they had a sale on fat quarters - buy one, get one free. Too good to pass up.

We are beginning to see magpies again. They are such a very pretty bird.

We have seen several signs along the road that say a wildfire ember can travel more than 1 mile.

Here we are at Promontory Summit. These trains are exact replicas of the original ones. There were only 3 minor changes to meet current standards as they move these trains every hour so people can see them.The trains are in the exact position of the day they pounded the Golden Spike to complete the Transcontinental Railroad.

This is the Jupiter, the train the Central Pacific used for the ceremony. The trains of the day were really this colorful but since we have only black and white photographs we don't see the colors.

This is No. 119 used by the Union Pacific for the ceremony. We were able to watch both engines move up and down the track, complete with the bellss ringing and the whistle blowing.

 We were on the side of a mountain when I took this. It is flat with mostly alkali and salt on the ground for as far as you could see to the south.

 This is called the Big Fill. The Spring Creek Ravine had to be crossed and the Central Pacific decided to fill it with rocks and dirt. It took 250 mule-drawn dump carts and 500 men working 2 months to fill the ravine. The National Park Service says that "this remains one of the more impressive construction efforts in the history of American railroading."

 This is a picture of the bridge that the Union Pacific built to span the ravine. It was85' high and 400' long and took only 36 days to complete. It was only used for 6-8 months then the trains used the Big Fill tracks. Both companies built tracks, side by side, for 250 miles because Congress couldn't decide where to have the rails join.

 On the left you can see part of the Big Fill and in the center bottom you can see where the grade ends, then the open space where the bridge was, then the continuation of the grade. This is how close the two companies were in their building. It was a very competitive process to be the first to complete their half of the railroad.

 This was taken from near the Big Fill looking east. It is just so wide open. The mountains in the background are the Wasatch Range.

September 8, Salt Lake City

We spent all day in Salt Lake City. First we went to used book stores and a quilt shop then we went touring.

This is the Utah state capitol building which is huge and beautiful.

This view is from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Temple Square. More desert mountains which are on 3 sides of Salt Lake City.

This is the Church of the Latter Day Saints - Salt Lake Temple. This was also taken from the 10th floor of the Smith Memorial Building. It was begun in 1853 and completed 40 years later in 1893.

The walls at ground level are 9' thick and at the top they are 6' thick. It is 210' tall and is made entirely of granite.

In the beginning the workers hauled the huge pieces of granite from the quarry 23 miles away in ox-drawn carts. Many Mormons worked in building the Transcontinental Railroad so after the completion of that they built a narrow gauge railroad to the quarry and granite was then hauled by train. The first year after the railroad was completed they hauled 78 million pounds to the temple site. This is some of the original tracks from that railroad.

This is the interior of the Mormon Tabernacle where the famous Mormon Tabernacle Singers perform. While we were there, the organist was practicing. The sound in there is phenomenal! Anyone is free to be there when the choir practices on Thursday. Bummer, we were there on Saturday. They say the acoustics in there are perfect.

This was the lobby of the largest and nicest hotel between Denver and San Francisco for many decades before it closed. The Mormon church now uses it for offices and there are many wedding receptions, balls and other events in it. It is now called the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

This is one of the dining rooms. The building is so beautiful that people are very quiet as they walk through it.

September 7, Winnemucca to Salt Lake City

We spent most of the day again in the car. This is not our favorite thing to do. We drove about 350 miles through desert mountains and flat desert. An interesting thing was meeting a couple from Quebec City. I saw their surname was Gagne, which is the last name of an NHL player. I asked the woman if it is a common name and she said no but that her husband was not a relative of Simon Gagne who plays for the LA Kings. About 3 hours later, at a rest stop, we saw them again. The woman said that they are on a 4 month trip. What are the odds of seeing them a second time. We stopped to eat and again at a used bookstore before seeing them again.

This is looking at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. We were in a valley but the elevation where we were was 4,218'. The "road" on the flats is 80' wide by 10 miles in length. The "measured mile" where they time cars is somewhere within that 10 miles. There is a black line down the center so the drivers can stay on the road. Going 600 mph it would be hard to stay on a white road surrounded by white salt. The first speed record was set there in 1935 at 301.13 mph. The latest was 622.407 mph in 1970.

For many miles you can look in all directions and all you see are the salt flats. How barren!

West of Salt Lake City for 47 miles, I-80 goes perfectly straight without a hill and only a very occasional overpass. There were many signs warning of drowsy drivers having accidents and to pull off. The speed limit from just east of Reno, NV to just west of Salt Lake City is 75 mph. There isn't much traffic and it is mostly straight.

This is just west of Salt Lake City. This dried lake has a dry top but is wet and soft underneath. Many wagons started out on the then sunk into it and had much difficulty getting their wagons and oxen out of the "mud."

This is a picture of a desert mountain taken from our motel parking lot in Winnemucca, NV. These are the type mountains that we saw most of the day.