Buffalo, Trains, Humps, Cemeteries, & Semi’s

We left Santa Fe, New Mexico, and went to Limon, Colorado, for this Travel Day. We stayed at a Harvest Hosts; this one is a buffalo ranch! This place is great! We learned the words bison and buffalo are interchangeable. The ranch was started in 1999 as a hobby farm with 29 bison. Then their daughter and her husband joined the family operation along with their son and wife. Now they have over 1000 buffalo on 5 different ranches. The main focus is to raise them for the best quality meat. During the summer months, they have buffalo burger cookouts 3 times a week! We walked around and saw the darling baby buffalo.

Parked For The Night, Limon, CO 04/25

Inside the farm store we bought some buffalo jerky and then a buffalo frozen roast. I asked how he suggested I cook it and he said in the crockpot with some garlic salt, pepper, and carrots and potatoes. That sounds perfect! We did another walk around the pens; the guy got on a tractor and loaded up a large bale of hay and took to one of the pens. 

Since we didn’t unhook our truck from the 5th wheel, it was pretty fast getting ready to go the next day. Just had to put a few things away, close the slides, and we were on our way. The wind continued to be strong and as we headed straight east. This was a Travel Day to North Platte, Nebraska.  As we got to North Platte, I knew ahead of time that Garmin RV 1090 was off on the address and the campground was a bit farther. Good thing I had looked at Apple Maps the other day because Garmin was taking us to an old house. We went around the bend and set back was a campground. It is owned by an older couple who are very nice. Later we drove around the town. It has a lot of businesses here. Can’t wait to explore more.

Bailey Train Yard, Tower, North Platte, NE 04/25

The next morning, Kevin went out and got some Dunkin’ Donuts. Yum! After eating a donut we headed to Bailey Train Yard. We went to the tower and visitor center. This isn’t owned or part of the Union Pacific Railroad but they are on the board. We walked in and got our tickets. Now, this place has a funny name because it isn’t the golden spike of railroad – that is at Promontory Point, Utah. But for some reason, this is called Golden Spike Tower. We went into a small room that has 2 cases of displays and a film to watch. Thankfully it was captioned. I knew this, as I had emailed this place back in February to find out and got a great response back. Then we went up the tower. There are two stops: the 7th floor and 8th floor. We stopped at the 7th floor and it is the open observation deck. Outside the wind was blowing so hard that it literally lifted my purse away from my body. Even Kevin had a hard time walking in the wind. We glanced around and then headed back inside. Up to the 8th floor and this is enclosed. Whew! This is a very nice deck with windows 360° plus displays with great information.

Bailey Train Yard Hump, North Platte, NE 04/25

We quickly saw the two humps. The train cars are unhooked and then released to go on their own by gravity from the hump and tracks are switched so the car goes to the right line where it is then hooked up for where it needs to go. I have never given this process any thought in my brain! I think about it and of course, just like trucking freight, train cars are packed up and then need to be sorted. Funny the things we don’t even think about to know! 

Bailey Train Yard, Other Hump, North Platte, NE 04/25

There are track lines on each side and the each go to a different place. We just sat there, memorized, by watching the engines push the long train slowly up the hump, then the car, up to 3 at a time, release and “fall” down the track to where they need to go. So cool! Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard covers over 2850 acres. 324 miles of track. It is in the middle of the east-west and north-south corridors. It has 17 receiving and 16 departure tracks and handles 14,000 rail cars every 24 hours! Of those, around 3,000 rail cars are sorted in the hump yards.

The eastbound train hump is 34 feet at the crest and westbound is 20 feet at the crest. Don’t ask Kevin why one is higher….! (Hum, more dirt on one side?) Four cars a minute roll down the hump into any one of the 114 “bowl” tracks. Average of 139 trains per day and the mostly carry raw and finished goods such as automobiles, coal, grain, corn, sugar, chemicals, steel and consumer goods, including electronics, apparel and other retail products.

We found it interesting to learn about The North Platte Canteen and even read about it in Deming, NM. When WW2 broke some ladies decided to offer the troops milk and cookies. Then it grew and the they would serve 3000 – 5000 servicemen daily! Towards the end of the war there were 8000 daily. They were served free sandwiches, coffee, cookies, eggs, donuts, cakes, and more. This was all done free by the employees, spouses, and towns people – all volunteers. They did this every day for 51 continuous months and served about 6 million servicemen and women. There were over 125 communities that contributed to volunteers and food.

He’s A Pointer Dog! HAHA Fort McPherson National Cemetery, Maxwell, NE 04/25

Fort McPherson National Cemetery is in Maxwell. It is about 20 minutes away from the campground. It is a smaller one and we were able to walk all around. We are glad the sections are marked and each headstone has a number. For Find A Grave we used the document I made of the 250 photo requests. I put them in order by section and then numerical. I would bend down, take a picture, upload it and set the GPS, and then look around for Kevin. He would be at the next headstone on our list. He started pointing at it like a hunting dog and we laughed. I said he is my hearing dog (I am deaf) and hunting dog. LOL 

We were in a section and looked up to see sprinklers in the section over from us turn on. Kevin said we need to watch for them where we were. Soon, yes, the sprinklers came on in the section we were. I laughed and ran to the road; Kevin laughed and ran to the side. Soon the water was off. The manager walked over to us and apologized for the sprinklers. He said they were testing a new system. We told him it was just fine. Kevin had a great conversation with him. He said they do 5 cremations to every 1 burial. We had no idea! He was so appreciative of us taking pictures for Find A Grave. He said it is great work. I feel it is a way to honor those who have served our country. We were there about 2 hours and we did the 50-photos-a-day limit that Find A Grave has. What a pleasure and enjoyable time. 

After a week in North Platte, our next Travel Day was to Nebraska City, NE, to another Harvest Hosts for the night. It was super windy again today! We stopped at the Archway in Kearney. It goes over I-80 and is a beautifully done inside. I have been there before but Kevin hasn’t. We had plenty of time today (check in at the Harvest Hosts was between 4:00-6:00 p.m.) so this was a good stop. Kevin called yesterday to make sure they have room for RVs. This museum in the arch is done exceptionally well. They have listening devices and had a script for the deaf. This place gets an A! 

Kevin’s Picture: Our 5th Wheel, HOWE, Amongst Semi-Trucks! Aurora, NE 04/25

Down the road we stopped for fuel and lunch at Loves in Aurora, NE. It was a very busy truck stop and very little parking spots. We got fuel and then Kevin backed in to a spot. We went inside and ate Arby’s. When we came out, Kevin took a picture of all the semi trucks and HOWE (footnote 1). It is a great picture! From there we continued to Nebraska City. Around Lincoln the landscape started getting rolling hills with a lot of farms and tons of cattle. 

Another Travel Day, this time we headed over to Iowa and down to Missouri. We spend a wonderful week with some of Kevin’s side of the family. We always enjoy driving around looking at the old family farms and visiting the cemeteries where past generations are buried. Kevin and I often have a hard time finding the grave of his grandparents. This time I got out my iPhone, opened up Find A Grave, and added the GPS so that next time we can find it easily. One evening we watched our great nephew play high school baseball. Fun week!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.