More pictures

It was a cool, cloudy morning in Atchison, KS

At Amelia Earhart's Birthplace

Statue of Amelia - a tiny lady!

25 Room Evah Cray House

Golden Spike Tower - North Platte, NE

Jack on the 7th floor observation deck

Diesel Repair facility

The Golden Spike Tower - North Platte, NE

Our primary reason for being in North Platte was to revisit the Golden Spike Tower at the Bailey Yard of Union Pacific Railroad.   This is one of the biggest rail yards for Union Pacific and sports an 8 floor tower - an open observation deck on #7, and an enclosed observation deck with air conditioning and retired railroaders available to answer questions.  

The total length of the yard is 8 miles and has 985 switches.   The eastbound hump is 34 ft. tall; the west bound hump is 20 feet tall.   Three thousand cars are humped every day.    Cars advance to the hump and a computer directs the car to the correct track to it's train.   The Diesel Shop repairs over 750 locomotives every month.   Every 24 hours the Bailey Yard handles 10,000 railroad cars. 

We watched from the 7th level and then moved up to the 8th floor and enjoyed talking to the trainmen who were available for questions.    We enjoyed it so much that we went home for lunch and returned after lunch for another hour or so.   Jack was in his glory!

On to Cheyenne tomorrow.

North Platte, NE

It was a relatively short drive to North Platte and we were fortunate enough to get a campsite with shade.   Of course we also got the birds and their white splotches.    We were glad for the grass and shade.   Across the way was an Airstream Bambi and we met the couple who are calling it  home as they travel to International Falls, MN for the summer.   They have an apartment there and a boat.   We visited back and forth and toured each others Airstreams.   We were sorry to see them leave the next day.

On Monday we spent 3 hours at the Lincoln County Historical Museum.   They also have a Western Heritage Village which was part of the museum.    The most enjoyable portion of the museum was the PBS movie on the North Platte WWII canteen.    It showed pictures of the canteen and troop trains and also a reunion that took place 60 years later.  

"Welcome to North Platte, Nebraska!"  Many a soldier hear those words during WWII.   Women in the 125 communities worked hard to mae the soldiers feel welcome.   Offering home baked goodies and hot coffee, it was the goal of the women to take the soldiers minds off the war - if only just for a little while.

Little did the town know that their hospitality would be talked about for years.   The North Platte Canteen story has been written about in magazines, books, movies and plays.   One particular story by New York TImes author Bob Greene tells the story at its best:   Once Upon a Town - the Miracle of the North Platte Canteen 

Kearney, NE

It was a 5 hour drive to Kearney, so I was very glad to see the campground!   Our neighbors in the next site were heading to MN to see relatives in Wadena (we also have relatives there!).   Met a nice couple from Denver who have a new Airstream and visited with them after supper.   They had a lot of questions and wanted to see our trailer, so gave them the tour.  

The next morning we had breakfast and then headed to to the Rails and Trails museum in town.   WE had a nice tour of the historic village and an informative tour of the engine and caboose on site.   Our guide had just graduated from college and has been working at this museum for 3 years.   After lunch we went to the Archway a 1500-ton structure that spans I-80 at Kearney.   It is the only structure to span an interstate highway.   It is an interactive museum paying tribute to the pioneers and entrepeneurs who trekked across this land.   It starts with the wagon trains and the trails, talks about the Indians, and the coming of the railroad.   From there it talked about the automobile and the camps that arose along the highways.     We entered the 50's and drive-in movies, big finned cars, and shiny diners along the highways.  

Saturday was chore day:   washing clothes, cleaned floors, etc.   Found a church in Kearney called Prince of Peace - very modern.

Atchison, KS

From Kansas City we drove to Atchison, KS to see the only remaining  Santa Fe Depot, a part of the famous Achison, Topeka, and SantaFe  railroad.   The town made good use of the depot!   It houses the Chamber of Commerce, Visitor's Center and Museum.   It was a treasure trove of information.  For instance:   Senator Atchison was president of the USA for 24 hours, because Zachary Taylor would not be sworn in on a Sunday!   The composer of over 400 songs (i.e. Shake Rattle and Roll) was a hometown boy, and the famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart was born here!    Of course there were 22 various examples of rolling stock (train engine/cars) to look at.

We had lunch and then visited the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum.  Amelia was born in her grandparents house on July 24, 1897.   The house has been refurbished by The 100, a group of female fliers.   When we finished visiting her birthplace, we were told about a 25-room mansion, the Cray House.  

The Evah C.Cray Historical Home Museum and carriage house was built by W.W> Hetherington for his family in 1882.   He was the son of the founder of the Exchange National Bank of Atchison.   The home has two three-story towers that were inspird by Mrs. Hetherington's love of Scottish Castles.
The Hetheringtons and their descendants lived in the home for 80 years.

In 1978 Cloud Cray, Sr. bought the house for his wife Evah Cray, a preservationist and history enthusiast.   From 1978 until her death in 1992, Mrs Cray spent most of her love, passion and time finding and decorating the home with Victorian period furnishings and accessories.   Beautiful!

Pictures - Carthage, MO; Kansas City, MO

At Precious Moments Chapel

Make a Joyful Noise

The final mural in the Chapel

At Shoal Creek Living History Center

Shoal Creek Village

Hallmark Christmas Trees

I held an Emmy!

WWI Memorial

Assyrian Sphinx

A portion of the 9000 poppies each representing 1000 deaths

Kansas City - Part 2

From the Shoal village we went into downtown Kansas City and visited the Hallmark Corporate offices where they have a Welcome Center.  We didn't think it would be much, but we were pleasantly surprised.   We had a 17 minute video on the founders of Hallmark, followed by displays of the various products, the awards, snipits of Hallmark movies, interview videos with the designers, and of course Maxine!   We used a 1935 ribbon machine to make a ribbon in 15 seconds.  

The day we were to leave, we extended our stay for 3 hours and went back into Kansas City to see the National WWI Museum at the Liberty Memorial.The memorial has  a tower with observation area with outstanding views of Kansas City.   There are two Assyrian Sphinxes also on the Memorial.  Memory faces east toward the battlefields of France, shielding its eyes from the horrors of war; Future faces west, shielding its eyes from an unknown future. 

Inside the Museum there are endless displays of equipment, uniforms, examples of trenches, various videos of the war; of the US as it lead up to joining the war, etc.   One really should spend two days going through the museum!   I found the most moving exhibit was the glass floor with 9000 poppies, each one representing 1000 combatant deaths, or a total of nine million dead!

On to Kansas City, MO!

From Springfield we traveled the Kansas City Expressway into Kansas City and then to our campground in Merriam, KS.   Merriam is adjacent to Shawnee, KS where we did our grocery shopping, had breakfast etc.   (They had a Hy-Vee store!).  

Our first trip was to Independence, MO to see the Chicago & Alton Depot which was saved from the wrecking ball by HOURS!   The equipment was in place and running when the citizens of Independence rallied and saved the historic depot.   It was moved to another site, renovated over several years, and is now open for tours.   It is unusual in that it is a 2-story depot, with living space above for the station master and his family.   He was on call 24/7; his wife was frequently called upon to provide food for the travelers on the train.   The last train through the depot was in April 1960.  What Jack said would be a "20-30 minute visit" turned into a 1 1/2 hour tour!

From there we went across the parking lot and visited the National Frontier Trails Museum that follows the Oregon, Santa Fe, California and Mormon trails that originated in Independence.   One story that really amazed me, was that of a gentleman who traveled to the gold fields, lost everything, and WALKED over 2500 miles on foot back home.   About 1000 miles from home he happened upon a rocking chair discarded by a wagon heading west and carried it home to his family.

On Monday we drove to the Shoal Creek Living History Museum.   It was established in 1975 with a group of 19th century historic buildings.  Unfortunately all were closed, but it was a great place to walk!   We met three volunteer gardeners sitting in the shade and had a nice visit.    Next stop, Hallmark International Corporate building and their Visitor's Center.

Springfield, MO June 7-9, 2017

After Jackson, TN we drove to Springfield, MO.   I must say that Missouri is very lacking in rest stops along the way!    I guess they put their money into the roads, as they tended to be very good.   We ended up stopping and eating lunch in the parking lot of a small settlement in the Ozarks.  

We really liked the KOA campground in Springfield.   It was our return trip.   We came to see a rail museum, but wouldn't  you know it was only open on Saturdays from 2-4 and we were leaving that day.   We drove to the site and looked at the engine through the chain link fence.  It appears that the Frisco engine was in really remarkable shape.   The display contained the engine, tender, baggage car and a coach.  

Another site we visited was the Pythian Castle.   In the mid 1800's the Pythians were started to tend to the widows and orphans resulting from the Civil War.   It was a fraternal organization which remained active until the 1950's.   The building at one point housed retired people in one wing and the orphans in the opposite wing.   During the war the building was used by the US Army.   After the war the building was in disrepair and finally a lady who renovates historic buildings bought the castle and now offers tours and has Halloween haunted house activities in October, events during the  holidays and is open for tours. 

While we were in Springfield we also drove to Carthage to see the Precious Moments Chapel built by Precious Moments Artist Sam Butcher.   He built this chapel in thanksgiving for all the blessings he received from God.   At one time the area was a bustling tourist stop, but since 2009 has had a downturn in visitors.   It's a beautiful site, and for anyone heading down I-45 it would really be a wonderful place to stop.   We really enjoyed our visit there.

Pictures

Bryson City Steam Engine

Jack in front of the Bryson Engine

At the Lynnville Train Museum

In case we forgot where we were

Main street - Soda Pop Junction - best burgers in TN!

Replica of Casey Jones #382 in Jackon, TN

Camping in Lexington, TN

At Shiloh National Military Battlefield

The National Cemetery at Shiloh

Casey Jones and Shiloh National Battlefield

Casey Jones is considered a hero in railroading circles as the engineer on Engin #382.   An engine similar to the original #382 is housed at the Casey Jones Home and Museum in Jackson, TN.   Casey is remembered in song and in movies as the engineer who always arrived on time.   On one fateful evening as he was on his way home he ran into a parked train on a siding which was not completely off his track.   He managed to save everyone aboard but in the process he was killed in the crash of his engine.  He left a widow with three small children in Jackson.    The house is also on the site, and it was built in the late 1800's.   We were able to walk through the house, but while it has period furniture, none of it is original to the family.  

After lunch we drove south about 45 miles to the Shiloh National Military Park and Cemetery.   After a 45 minute film on the battle of Shiloh, we drove through the park and visited the book store.   The fighting here resulted in over 24,000 soldiers being killed or injured in the battle.   After the battle, General P.G.T. Beauregard asked permission to remove the Confederate dead from the Shiloh battlefield.   General Grant politely replied that the dead from both armies had been buried immediately.   When Shiloh became a national park, battle veterans chose to preserve the burial sites of the Confederate dead in place, identifying and honoring 5 mass graves with memorials.    It was an honor to be there on June 6.

Cornersville/Lynnville, TN

From Bryson City we drove over to Cornersville, TN to the Texas T Campground.   It sits between the towns of Louisburg and Lynneville so was perfect for us.   The owners of the campground were super hosts.

We drove to the Lynneville Train Depot on Sunday afternoon.   The town built a new depot to use as a museum in hopes of attracting tourism to their little town.   The depot museum was self guided, and  contained railroad artifacts, a ticket counter, and a telegraph station.    Outside we could climb on the engine and go through the coach.   I believe the museum opened in 1997, and I'm afraid it hasn't done anything to increase tourism in Lynneville.    The only stores I saw were a sheriff's office, the Soda Pop Junction that serves "the best hamburgers in TN!" And great ice cream, and a leather shop.    According to the owners of the campground the store makes boots, belts, guitar straps etc. and has quite a clientele from Nashville, 60 miles to the north.   Later that afternoon we were treated to some heavy rain.

ON Monday we drove to Lexington, TN to the Beech Lake Family Campground.   We had an awesome camp site right on the lake shore.    The next morning we checked our GPS for a McD's for breakfast and the first site it took us to was a $400,000 home in a very exclusive housing area.  OOOPS, I don't think they serve breakfast!   We finally got to the McD's and then after breakfast headed to Jackson, TN to see Casey Jones.    More on that in my next post.

Sylva and Bryson City, NC

We arrived at the Fort Tatham RV Resort outside Sylva, NC about 2:00 p.m.    Our campsite backs up to the Tatham Creek.  The campground has great wifi, but no tv.   Guess how we're spending our time....reading, listening to the radio and we did go into Sylva last night for a DQ after supper.   Today (Friday) we drove to Bryson City to see the steam engine and the model railroad museum.   The train depot was quite busy with people picking up or buying tickets for the morning run.   We had decided NOT to ride this train, as we plan to ride when we get further west.   The model train museum is awesome.   It's quite a big building with the walls lined with cases containing all manner of model trains.   It was interesting that each piece had year made, who the operating company was, and when the actual rolling stock was retired.   It also listed current value of the model (but I'm not sure what year it was "current").  There was also a wonderful train layout in the center of the room.   Jack took pictures, so once he gets them off the camera, I'll post them. On my bucket list was getting my National Park Passport book stamped with the Great Smokey Mountain National Park stamp.   I've visited the NP from both the TN and the NC sides, and so stopped at the Visitor's Center to get the book stamped!   WOOHOO

Next stop, Tennessee!