Traffic on I-25 north is moving along at track speed. No slow downs. I started to think that the rebuilding of the Interstate seemed to have passed mustard but a few miles up just past the junction with I-70, the southbound traffic into Denver was near a crawl’s pace. And once again, one gets to see the well-known icon of the Mile High City and that is, of course, Invesco Field At Mile High Stadium, home to the Denver Broncos.
Once I am north of Denver, it’s northeast on I-76 for a short bit and then north onto U.S. Route 85 which eventually ends up in Cheyenne. Traveling on Route 85 is a little less rushed than traveling on its I-25 counterpart just west of here. As you travel north, you quickly leave the suburbs of Denver and are back in the prairies. What makes it even more interesting is that you have the Rocky Mountains further to the west.
And it’s very deceiving. Because of the curvature of the Earth, it looks like the Rockies are slowing rising to the northeast when in fact you are just traveling further north. And some of those higher mountain peaks are covered in snow. Very pretty and majestic.
Near the town of Fort Lupton, I meet up with a southbound Union Pacific manifest freight train.
Not many trains on this single track mainline from Cheyenne to Denver but this one sure brightens up this writer’s day. And again, the mountains behind me to the west look just grand.
As I approach Greeley, I remember a particular radio station called KUNC-FM 91.5, which has a unique history. From the www.kunc.org website:
“KUNC is a community-licensed public radio station, operated by Community Radio for Northern Colorado, Inc., a 501 (c) 3, Colorado non-profit organization. CRNC came into existence in the winter of 2001 when a group of community volunteers raised $2 million in 20 days to purchase KUNC's license from the University of Northern Colorado and preserve the station's independent voice.
“Instrumental in the fundraising campaign were many members of the KUNC listening community, including the KUNC Advisory Board. The Board had existed for many years providing community reaction and guidance to the station staff.
“Following the sale of the station to the community group, a Board of Directors was elected which oversees the operation of the station. The KUNC Community Advisory Board continues to provide community insights to the staff in matters of programming, community service and fundraising.”
Speaking of fundraising, KUNC will run a one-day fall fundraising drive from 5:30am MDT to 7:00pm MDT during Thursday’s broadcast day.
And their play list of music is very diversified. Anything from strings to folk to blues to jazz and then some. And I can attest to that as I drove from Denver to Cheyenne. And of course add to that the usual great programs and the One Minute Past The Hour newscasts from NPR, National Public Radio.
About 5 miles outside of Cheyenne, the shaking of my car is a constant reminder of just how windy it is outside. And for the last few miles, I have seen these windmills in the distance. And I get closer, I have come across a big wind farm on Simpson Mesa near Carr, Wyoming.
There appear to be some 30 to 40 towers with the majority of them spinning at full speed in the very strong winds today. Sure wouldn’t mind one of those guys nearby at home. I remember an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition where they helped his Navajo family. In keeping with the traditions of sun and wind to help them, EMHE added a windmill to their new house. And get this: any extra electricity the family did not use went to the local electric company who in turn paid the family for the electricity. Not a bad deal.
After lunch at the Exxon Truck Stop in Cheyenne, I start the last leg of my trip back east with Omaha in site this Sunday morning. And it seems Mother Nature has a telltale sign of things to come. Remember the snow I mentioned last night?? Well, it appears there was snow in western Wyoming on I-80 and a number of tractor-trailer trucks show the signs of dried road salt spray and many little icicles hanging from the trailers’ undercarriages. Considering we are one month into Autumn, seems Old Man Winter is around the corner.
And there is one neat spot here on the Lincoln Highway. At the border between Cheyenne County and Kimball County, which separates Dix, NE from Potter, NE, is the spot where the Union Pacific mainline, U.S. Route 30 and Interstate 80 are within a stone’s throw from each other.
Nowhere else are all three entities this close.
Just east of the crossovers at Potter, NE is another one of those special unit trains, known as the Double Stack, heading westbound.
Shipping containers used to move goods via merchant marine cargo ships ride the rails to reach their U.S. destinations or travel from one coast to another in the global world of shipping. The train name comes from the fact that containers are stacked one on top of another, hence the term “double stack”.
Although this train came in at under 30 cars, the usual ones are long; very long. At almost 8000 feet when fully loaded out, a typical double stack train will carry up to 280 containers, taking 280 tractor-trailer trucks off the road. As before, this is a very efficient way of moving goods across our country.
And as I am in Brownson writing part of this report, here comes an eastbound unit grain train full of corn kernels for processing into maybe fructose corn syrup (found in every can and bottle of regular soda) or maybe into ethanol or cattle feed.
And that is 97 cars in length.
And before I reach Sidney, my next stop, I pass Point Of Rocks:
It is about 2 miles east of Potter. The point juts out to the south and puts about the only set of curves into what is normally very straight tracks and highway.
The strong winds with their added wind chill factor have taken a toll on me and I end the day at about 5pm MDT. A fresh ham and cheese sub from Safeway and it’s time for dinner.
Tomorrow we continue east on the last leg of our journey. And as I watch KUSA-TV 9 from Denver, their 6pm MDT news has pictures of snow in the I-70 corridor west of Denver. And 2 ski areas have already opened for business. Again, one month into Autumn and Winter is a knockin’.
I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Sidney, Nebraska.
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