A Wonderful Weekend

Saturday
October 17, 2009

We got up at seven o’clock this morning so we could tell Will & Wilda goodbye. They were heading toward Russell, Kansas for the weekend so Will could watch football all weekend. Before he left he needed air in his trailer tires so I pulled out my power tank and filled up his tires for him. They got on the road and then we got cleaned up and dressed and headed toward Minden, Nebraska. As we arrived in Minden the road was closed for a band parade. We decided to park the truck and watch all of these high school bands. We found out later that it was all part of a band festival / competition. None of the bands were huge but they all seemed to play and march really well.

Never Seen a Band Marching in a Triangle


Another Nice Band

After about an hour we decided to find the Pioneer Village.

Unique Saying Above The Entrance

We paid our admission fee and started looking at all the stuff. I posted a few pictures here but all of them are on my online photo album. I was not prepared for everything they had there. What I mean is that I could have spent at least two days there looking at everything but instead I ran real fast since we only had three hours before they closed.

Gina Posing by a Covered Wagon


Hard to Imagine Traveling West Loaded Down with Your Family Possessions


A Gypsy Wagon (this must have been the first RV)

Even had a Wood Stove Inside


One of the First Horseless Carriages


One of the First Electric Cars


An Original Cable Car


Here I Am Playing Conductor


Gina Admiring a One Room School House


A Replica of an Old Country Doctor's Office

(I had to include this for our Daughter Ashley)


Getting Your Hair Done Has Sure Changed


An Old Steam Driven Tractor


An Old Gasoline Powered Tractor


Our Picture in Front of Some Stained Glass Windows

(Some things never change like stain glass)

The museum is just amazing in that depicts our transition from the 1800’s to our current technologies. It included all forms of transportation: horse and buggy, stage coach, trains, cable cars, trolleys, jets and cars. It also included the evolution of farming and road construction equipment. It showed how kitchens & living rooms changed from the 1830’s to the 1980’s. I highly recommend this place as a must see item if you might be interested in how our country has evolved over the years. If there is a larger collection of cars in the United States then I have never heard about it. I don’t know for sure how many cars they have but I would guess there were at least 300 to 400 cars from all manufacturers. The cars range from the first ones in the early 1900’s all the way to the 1980’s. Very impressive is all I can say.


We left there and headed toward Fort Kearney State Park. We drove through the park looking for a site and finally settled on a site that backed up to one of the ponds.

Our Truck and Campsite

We were both starving so the first priority was get the Coleman stove out so Gina could start cooking taco soup. She had already decided before we left Smith Center today that was what she was cooking. The weather was absolutely gorgeous today with a high of 67 degrees. The forecast low for tonight is 39 degrees but the high for tomorrow is 71 degrees with clear skies. We enjoyed a great dinner and then kicked backed in bed and watched the movie “The Proposal”. We had planned on having a campfire but the wind was blowing and it was getting a little too cold for us outside. This is an ok campground but would be tight for big rigs. There are a few sites that could accommodate up to about 36 feet but most are sized for about 30 foot RV’s. It looks like there would be some good fishing since they have a lot of ponds. Gina fell asleep before the movie was over. We had a very nice day.

Sunday
October 18, 2009

We woke up around eight o’clock this morning. I started the coffee and somehow we both fell back asleep. We woke back up a little after nine when Thomas called us. We both talked to him for a few minutes while we drank our coffee. We finally got up out of bed and dressed. I was going to take a shower but I didn’t have any quarters and it was 25 cents a minute. At least the sink was free so we could at least brush our teeth. Our only agenda today was to tour “The Great Platte River Road Monument”, most people just call it the Kearney Archway. We finally put everything away and left the park around eleven o’clock headed toward the Archway.

The Archway Looking East


The Archway Looking West


The Archway Entrance

We didn’t really know what to expect but here is a picture of Gina and the man that greeted us when we entered.

This Guy Was A Hoot!!

Gina and I first went through the gift shop and found two t-shirts. One was a must have as it has a picture of a Nebraska RV with each item describe on it.

Now Those Were RV'ing Days????

From there we bought our admission tickets and received our headsets for the self guided tour. The tour was very impressive and has to be one of the best self guided tours we have taken. The tour depicts how Americans left the east and headed west beginning around 1850 and continued through the transportation era of our interstate system. Here are a few pictures. If you want to see more just go to our online photo album.

Entrance to the Displays


Very Well Done Replica


The Trip West Was Hard Considering 3 out 10 Died Along The Way


Another nice Replica


The Beginning of Tourism


Family Camping

Look in the Background and there is a Log Cabin mounted on Wheels

I'm Not Sure I Would Want To Do This


A Very Nice Quilt Commemorating 9/11

From there we took Angel and Zoey for a walk where they had a giant stagecoach and covered wagon.

Now That's A Big Stagecoach


An Extremely Large Covered Wagon

After we left there we drove toward Cabela’s. We walked around looking at everything and finally purchased a few fishing flies. It was getting late and I didn’t want to drive down these country roads in the dark (way too many dead deer on the side of the road) so we headed toward our home in Smith Center. We made it back at 6:30 and decided to eat leftover taco soup for dinner. We then kicked back for the evening and watched a little TV until around ten o’clock when we went to bed. We had another wonderful day and altogether a great weekend. We enjoyed camping out in our truck and it was definitely different from our home. However, we still enjoyed it and look forward to doing it some more.


Monday
October 19, 2009

I woke up early this morning just in case they might be able to work on our home today. I ran into Curtis and he said he would try to get started on our home today. However, he didn’t really think they would get started today. I left Gina sleeping while I enjoyed a cup of coffee since there was no need to move faster now. She finally got out of bed and I fixed her a cup of coffee. We didn’t have any plans today so we just kind of hung out. Around four o’clock we decided to drive the 12 miles to Kensington to buy another berry medley pie. However, when we got there we decided to go ahead and buy two of them since the previous one we had tasted so good. While we were there we decided to go ahead and place an order for one cran apple walnut pie and one rhubarb pie. On our way back home we stopped by the only grocery store in town and picked up a quart of vanilla ice cream to go with our pie. The first thing we did when we got inside was get the pie in the oven since it takes about 90 minutes to bake. While the pie was baking I spoke to Curtis and he said they would get started on our slide at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. Our dinner consisted of hot pie top with ice cream. It might not have been a healthy meal but it sure tasted good. I just don’t understand why the best tasting food is never good for you. However, you have to splurge every once and awhile. After our delicious dinner we watched a little more TV and did more of nothing until we headed off to bed. We’re not sure what we’ll do tomorrow but hopefully they'll get started on our home.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.