Oct 17 - North Platte, Nebraska

We had planned to stay here one night and then go to Lincoln to see the capitol. When we checked in the hotel we learned that the University of Nebraska was playing a home game in Lincoln tomorrow. We decided we had better stay here another night (especially after checking hotel availability in Lincoln.) Not having any plans here we started asking about the area and found two very important things. First, this was the home of “Buffalo Bill” Cody when he designed his “wild west” show with Barnum of Barnum and Bailey. His show was taken world-wide. We saw the home he lived in while he was in North Platte and then we visited the “Cody Trading Post.” It was a large gift shop with a free museum that was really interesting. The items, including the covered wagons, were original. The second really interesting thing in this town is the Union and Pacific Railroad Yard. The yard provides employment for 70% of the people in this town. This is the largest yard in the world. They operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They see 15,000 railroad cars daily and have a repair facility that covers 3 football fields. The yard is over 8 miles long and covers 2,850 acres. They have a tower named the Golden Spike Tower and visitor center which has an observation deck on the 8th floor. From there we tried to make pictures but they just don’t do the yard justice. The one thing it does is reflect the other landscape in this area – CORN. We finished the day doing laundry and watching BAMA football. Pretty good day for no plans. We are planning to go to Lincoln tomorrow – hopefully the football fans have gone home.