9-29-19 - (Day 67 - North Platte, Nebraska)

Yesterday, we ran the heater and went to bed with an extra blanket to keep us warm.  Today it was 90 degrees with a howling wind.  What a difference a day makes.

We lazed around all morning, then got out and about at noon.  We went to QDOBA Mexican Eats for lunch. We sat at the bar so we could be waited on instead of standing in the long, self order line.  We laughed when we had to show our ID to get a beer.  The food and service was good.

We stopped by the North Platte visitor's center then went to the Golden Spike Tower.  The young man at the tower gave us the over 62 rate.  One minute we are being carded and the next we are getting the senior citizen rate.  How ironic!

The Golden Spike Tower overlooks the Bailey Train Yard.  The yard is 8 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide.  It is very impressive to watch them organize the trains.  Lauren and the retired railroad volunteer had a thorough discussion about the workings of the yard. 

We took a ride on the wildlife loop.  This is the place that everyone comes in the spring to see the massive numbers of sandhill cranes.  There was not much wildlife today, and definitely no sandhill cranes.  

We rode around Lake Maloney then made it back to camp.  We sat outside in the howling, hot, wind most of the afternoon, then went in to watch TV.  Tomorrow is moving day.

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9-28-19 - (Day 66 - Cody Park)

We relocated 167 miles in a southerly direction to Cody Park in North Platte, Nebraska.  We are staying in a city park, along the North Platte River with no hookups for $5 a night.  We have pretty green grass, a great view, restrooms and water spigots if needed.

Ferny Kat gave her approval right off the bat.  She had to come outside and walk around as soon as we would let her.

It has been quite a dreary day with clouds, a little bit of rain, and temps in the 50's.  We bundled up and took about a 4 mile walk around the park.

This park has a campground, animals in a fenced area, ponds, horseshoe fields, tennis courts, disc golf, ball fields, a train museum, a wild west memorial, carnival rides, and a concession stand.  The grounds of this place are meticulously kept.

We saw plenty of birds, waterfowl, squirrels, insects, peacocks, and pretty flowers along our walk.  We saw the buffalo, an elk, deer, llamas, and donkeys in the fenced wildlife area.  The elk was continuously bugling.

We were able to go inside the trains at the train museum.  Lauren has always loved trains being his daddy was a switchman for the GM&O railroad in Bogalusa. He was gleaming when he sat in the engineer's seat of the train, reminiscing about his childhood days of sitting in the engineer's lap, driving the train, and blowing the horn.

They have a really pretty carousel at the amusement park.

The concession stand is known for it's good ice cream.  We made a stop for ice cream and a milk shake.  The ice cream lived up to it's reputation.

We came back to camp and turned on the heater.  We are in for the night.

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9-27-19 - (Day 65 - Scotts Bluff National Monument/North Platte NWR)

We decided to leave Amber in the camper garage and take a ride in the truck to Scotts Bluff National Monument and North Platte Wildlife Refuge.

We rode by Chimney Rock and took some pictures.  We can see Chimney Rock from our campsite.

We checked out the temporary visitor's center at Scotts Bluff National Park then took a hike on the Oregon Trail.  It was a short, easy hike for us.  It was nothing like those pioneers that traveled on this trail for miles in rough terrain and harsh weather conditions.

We drove up Summit Road from the visitor center.  The only three tunnels in Nebraska are on this road.  We had some more beautiful views on this ride.

We made it to the top and hiked the South and North Overlook Trail.  When we hiked the South Overlook Trail we saw a  tunnel across the way that got our attention.

While we were hiking the North Overlook Trail, we came to the Saddle Rock Trailhead.  This trail goes to the tunnel that we saw on the South Overlook Trail.  We decided to walk it for a little ways.

We kept going downhill on the trail, then realized it was not much further to the tunnel.  We debated if we should continue on, or turn around.  Lauren was sure if we went further that I would whine about coming back up the steep incline.  He was also sure if we didn't go, I would whine that we were that close and didn't walk through the tunnel.  A no brainer. we walked through the tunnel.

The walk back up was not that bad.  I only stopped a couple of times to catch my breath.  And no, there was no whining!!

We continued on the North Overlook Trail.  Again taking in the gorgeous views.

After hiking about 5 miles and 39 flights of stairs, we were ready for lunch.  We drove to Riverside Park on the North Platte River and ate lunch sitting on a bench watching the water rush by.  Another great picnic spot.

We drove on the dusty, dirt, roads in the North Platte NWR.  Our decision to leave the asphalt queen in the garage was a good one.

We saw a bunch of Doves, Sparrows, Finches,  a couple of American Kestrels, a Great Blue Heron, a few Ducks,  lots of Geese, a couple of Belted Kingfishers, Robins,  and a couple of Swainson's Hawks.

We got back to camp before the rain started.  Tomorrow we relocate.


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9-26-19 - (Day 64 - Bayard City Park, Nebraska)

Our camper, our clothes, and us, left Southern RV Park a lot cleaner than when we arrived a few days ago.  We relocated 185 miles south today.  We are camped for a couple of nights at Bayard City RV Park in Nebraska.  There are 3 campsites here with water and electricity.  We got the last site when we got here around 3 pm.

Ferny Kat was not a happy cat today.  She fussed for quite a while.  Lauren mocked her meows making her much more vocal.  She deserted her co-captain post for the box in the back seat.  We finally figured out she didn't want us talking or the country music playing.  She is definitely a rock and roll kind of cat and there were no rock and roll radio stations to be found.   We turned off the radio and talked in low voices to quieten the wrath of the Ferny Kat!  It worked.  She curled up on the box and went to sleep.

We made a stop along the way at Carhenge to check out the car art.  It is a pretty unique place.  A good place to stretch your legs and kill a half hour.

We made it to the Bayard City RV Park, took a walk around looking for birds and such, then bird watched from the comforts of our lawn chairs.  We saw plenty of buzzards, sparrows, doves, and flickers.

We saw what we thought were big turnips in the pasture next to the park.  We later found out it is sugar beets.

It has been quite noisy here.  The campground is in the middle of neighborhoods, there is a well traveled road right in front of it, and the trains are nearby.  By the time we went to bed, all was quiet.  Free with electricity is awesome!

BTW, we have another Ferny Kat approved campground.

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