10-20-08 On The Road, Part Ten

Four hundred and fifty miles is a lot of mileage in one day. And suffice it to say, it is good to be in Cheyenne after 10 hours of driving. But this was in the plans anyway.

Before I go into today, I need to mention something from yesterday. Somewhere just south of Kadoka, SD, I came across the most incredible rock and mountain formations I have ever seen. According to my friend Ray, I went thru the Badlands of South Dakota.



It was like going back thru time. These formations are buttes and mountains that have been sanded by the prairie winds over time and you see the layer upon layer of different colored rock. And in about 10 minutes, you climb up a hill and they are gone. Absolutely amazing!!

Back to today. The drive to Ellsworth took one hour and then I was on Nebraska State Route 2 heading east. And it seems the dispatchers of the BNSF in Fort Worth, TX have their hands full today: a number of empty coal trains waiting their turn to head west to the Power River Coal Basin. Seems the maintenance-of-way crews were working on one of the sidings west of Ellsworth and there was a bit of a back up as was this one train below:



But about 5 miles down the track, we have a race to Thedford:


The lead unit, 894, has the old Santa Fe silver and red “war bonnet” design and the color scheme that is slowly disappearing to the green and orange scheme of BNSF predecessor Great Northern. We pace each other for about 20 miles until the next set of trains waiting to head west slows down our eastbound.

After arriving at Thedford, it’s south on U.S. Route 83 into North Platte. Wendy’s sounds good today for lunch but upon walking into the restaurant, it’s like walking into a haze…literally. Seems something let go in the kitchen and it smelled like French fry grease. Trust me, after doing restaurant work in my illustrious working career, it ain’t good. I head out as quickly as I came to avoid what could only be described as “heavy air”.

The ride to Cheyenne on U.S Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, is pretty much uneventful. Not as many trains as I expected. But I did make one stop along the way in the town of Lodgepole, Nebraska. In the center of town and right by the tracks is a beautiful tree covered park.



And in the middle of this park is a beautiful gazebo:


Which gives you a full view of the tracks. But it wasn’t just the gazebo:


The colors of the leaves were in full autumn bloom:


A perfect autumn day.

After Lodgepole, it was 2 more hours to Cheyenne. Slow news day.

Tomorrow we head up into the mountains and the city of Laramie, WY then down to Denver, CO to visit my brother Jay’s old stomping grounds and meet up with one of my ham radio buddies.

Oh, and there may…may be some snow in the forecast…maybe.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Cheyenne, Wyoming.