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| Sunrise in Beatrice, NE |
Turn about is fair play (I guess). The Cager left me hanging in the stink hole to win all the Wiebes in Beatrice. The morning was soft, whistling birds filled the air, a raft of puffy clouds filtered the sunrise, and a curious squirrel peeked at us just outside the door. We ate our normal thin gruel (Oatmeal) and were on our way by eight thirty. Two hundred and sixty some miles later we were safely tucked into the Holiday RV Park in North Platte. We did detour into Gothenburg, NE to see a restored Pony Express station, and of course to look at the 1880's houses in town. Gothenburg also claimed to have a Sod House Museum, but it looked uninspiring as well as difficult to navigate as it was tucked in a tight space behind a Quick Stop gas station. We stopped at a Nebraska rest stop somewhere to enjoy lunch at Judy's Silver Bullet Cafe. She served reheated Runza's and fruit. It was scrumptious. Runza, a Nebraska chain, serves several types of what we call "Kraut Runza's. Those Judy makes are less ground than the Runza chain version. I used to take them for lunch quite often when I was teaching. They're great! The Nebraska chain's version is pretty good as well. They do a nice job with the bread dough, making sure it's thin but sufficient to protect the filling. They run their meat through the grinder until it's quite smooth. Judy's, as I said, are a bit more coarse. Naturally, Judy's are better. Our drive followed I-80, so we wrestled with the Big Dogs all day. I can't believe how many Semi-Trucks there are on our main highways. It makes me think the economy is doing just fine. Upon arrival in North Platte, we cruised the main drag through town out to Wild Bill Cody's ranch. Close to the ranch is a replica of a pioneer plains town and museum. It doesn't open its season until May, but the caretaker said we could walk the grounds anyway. Since we're mostly interested in the architecture, we were pleased he gave us permission. The only negative to the day was the wind out of the South at about twenty-five. This meant it came directly across our beam, which meant we stopped for gas a little more often. But we were again blessed with traveling mercies and arrived without incident. We went to Wild Bill's Ranch mainly because e.e. cummings wrote one of my favorite poems about him:
Buffalo Bill's
defunct
who used to ride a water smooth
silver stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeons
just like that
Jesus he was a handsome man
what i want to know is
how do you like your blue-eyed boy
Mr. Death
Wandering through some of this history, it's somewhat sad to think that the era of men like Wild Bill Cody is defunct, but so it goes. I can imagine, though, that when Bill was alive he thought that life was good, especially today.
Art shot of the day.
Judy's Silver Bullet Cafe.
Judy at the stove heating Runzas.
The view from our booth in the cafe window.
One of the stately mansions in Gothenburg, a railroad town on the Union Pacific line.
The Pony Express Station, which originally sat about ten miles north of town
If it's not railroad, it's Pony Express in Gothenburg.
Wild Bill Cody's ranch house.
Nebraska farmers work on Saturdays.
All aboard! (Now this is a real caboose, a far cry from the little red light on trains today.
Evangelical Lutheran Church (Gothenburg was settled by Swedes).
This brick 'n brack is just so cool.
I could have been teaching here (More likely Judy) if I'd been born in an earlier time.
This ditch plow was pulled by forty-six head of oxen, and was used to dig irrigation ditches on the plains.
Pioneer mansion.
Fric and Frac nestled in site #50.
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