Advertisement
Published: September 1st 2009
Edit Blog Post
Our hotel last night was a Super 8 in York. We left at 9:40am this morning, took I 80 to Route 14 and made a stop at the Plainsman Museum in Aurora. It was interesting to see the old school house, pioneer home and blacksmith shop from a bygone era. Aurora is also the home of Dr Harold Edgerton, inventor of flash photography and the strobe light.
At the beginning of the day we passed miles of corn fields. Our starting temp was 60 degrees and rose to a high of 74, with fabulous blue skies. The air was fresh and clean until later in the day when a haze developed from the fires in California. En route, we crossed the Platte River. The Platte drains one of the most arid areas of the Great Plains and thus its flow is considerably lower than rivers of comparable length in North America. For much of its length, it is a classic wide and shallow braided stream. The central Platte River valley is an important stopover for migratory water birds, such as the Whooping Crane and Sandhill Crane, in their yearly traversal of the Central Flyway. About 500,000 Sandhill Cranes, which is 80%
of the world population arrive on the Platte River near Grand Island every spring.
We were traveling on Route 2 which is listed as one of Nebraskas 9 scenic routes. It is called the Sandhills Journey. Charles Kuralt called it one of the ten most scenic highways in America. He said "this road will take you to one of the last unexplored frontiers where vast treasures can be discovered."
We were not disappointed. It was everything it was said to be. Dramatic sandhills, remote countryside, expansive farmland, marsh and wetlands,winding rivers and a hand planted forest. At 22,000 acres the Nebraska National forest is the largest hand planted forest in the US.
There are many small towns along the route most with a population of under 200. We stopped in the small town of Broken Bow and had lunch at a little family owned Mexican restaurant. I had fajitas for the first time and we laughed about having fajitas at a truly Mexican restaurant in the middle of Nebraska. It seemed an unlikely place to find Mexican food.
We had learned that the town of Grand Island which we had passed through earlier in the day, averages 165 trains daily...more
than any other town in the nation. By the end of our journey we could see how this would be a true count. The passage of trains was just endless. Most east bound trains were loaded with coal and most west bound train appeared to be empty.
At 4:00pm we passed from central time to mountain time so gained an hour.
Towards the end of our Sandhills Journey near the city of Alliance, the terrain became suddenly very flat. We were on a butte named Box Butte. It was such a dramatic change. In the city of Alliance we visited Carhenge. Carhenge, which replicates Stonehenge, consists of the circle of cars. Thirty-eight automobiles were placed to assume the same proportions as Stonehenge with the circle measuring approximately 96 feet in diameter. Some autos are held upright in pits five feet deep, trunk end down, while those cars which are placed to form the arches have been welded in place. All are covered with gray spray paint. The artist of this unique car sculpture is Jim Reinders. Carhenge was built as a memorial to Reinders' father who once lived on the farm where Carhenge now stands. While relatives were gathered following
the death of Reinders' father in 1982, the discussion turned to a memorial and the idea of a Stonehenge replica was developed. The family agreed to gather in five years and build it. The clan, about 35 strong, gathered in June 1987 and went to work. They held the dedication on the Summer Solstice in 1987, with champagne, poetry, songs and a play written by the family.
Our day ended with dinner at a local restaurant and a stay at the Days Inn in Alliance.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.18s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 18; qc: 98; dbt: 0.0791s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb