Sojourn-Mindel Ne.-North Platte Ne.-Albuquerque NM.-Turquoise Trail/Santa Fe/Bandelier National Monument

Thur.  After our country fried steak, biscuits and gravy, potatoes, and eggs we had our devo.  Linda went to the library to help the girls and I went to help finish the painting at the dorm.  For lunch we had t-bone steak(see picture below), baked potato, and asparagus.  Linda and her group had a little more to do at the library so they went and finished.  While there one of the guys was turning 75 so we had ice-cream, banana bread and cake.  We got the rig ready to leave so after dinner we emptied the tanks then hooked up the car.  We played cards for the last time.

 Fri. We woke up and had our coffee watching the Today show.  We came back to realty and    had oatmeal for breakfast. We then got on the road and drove to Minden Ne.  After we got set up we walked to the Pioneer Village.  We both thought it was going to be village of the past showing the Ne. history and how it was in the old days.  Boy were we wrong.  They covered the history 1820 to 1980 not only Ne. history but all the things going on at that time period.  Below are some of the wagons and buggies.  The first two covered wagons, then an ice carriage, a water wagon(use to keep the dust down in the streets), postal wagon, a hearst, chuck wagon, upper class buggies, and buggy pulling a Hearst.

Scattered around in different building they have 350 antique autos. Notice the VW and middle right a corvair that brought back memories when we first started dating. The bottom row a trailer and motorhome.

They did have some building that you would expect like the old store, top middle is a sod house(there were not many trees here so they made 3 to 4 feet thick sod homes),a church, middle right a 1879 steam powered carousel and some flowers Linda captured.

They had many trains engines.  In one building they captured a room setting middle row left 1930, middle picture 1950 and  middle right baby carriages and above that a baby doll swing.  The bottom row is 3 of the 100 antique tractors.

They had snowmobiles, motor bikes, bicycles, ice boxes, stoves, sewing machines, and wash machines.

They had a large collection of John Rogers Sculptures. His first in 1859 "The Checker Players" brought him fame.  He made a total of 80 in 34 years.

Yea this is the last picture.  Top left two are ways they took large trees out of the woods.  There was no rivers or streams.  Third picture some tools. Top right gas pumps, bottom 2nd picture is a bath tub which tips up to make a table.(becuz you take a bath only once a week)  Third picture is me playing a game and bottom right and left some boats and motors.

After dinner we took a walk downtown. Top two left pictures the court house.  The three right pictures more flowers Linda found on our walk.  Bottom left is the Opera House built in 1891. 

Sat.  We drove to North Platte and settled in at Lakeside Campground.  Thinking we had lots of time we cleaned the bugs off the front of the rig.  We drove to Starbucks then the welcome center.  We got a pass to four places.  Below is Buffalo Bills State Historical Park. Top left there home for 27 years on 4000 acres. The 2nd picture Louis’a bedroom which she had her personal maid stay with her. Top right picture is Buffalo Bills bedroom and next to it was the guest bedroom with joining doors. Middle picture is a buffalo jacket.  Outside they had a spring house, ice house and the right picture is the cellar.  Bottom left 2 pictures are two of the posters he used when he got to a town.  And of course they had two buffalo there.

Bill had a huge barn.  He could have several horses there(middle picture) and this is where he kept his wagon’s when he was not on the road. Middle left picture is some of the tools he used. The picture next to that  a buffalo head and hide.  Middle right and bottom left some of the buggies they road in. Bottom middle and right three indians “Hawk, San Surrounded, and Sitting Bull.

Just around the corner from there was Lincoln county Historical Museum. Top left a petrified turtle. Middle top a collection so arrow heads. On the right the back of a chuck wagon. Middle left post office, middle Iron lung, and right glasses and opth. office.  Bottom left a MD office with a child getting a Z-ray. Middle the movie projector used at the town movie theatre.  Right picture a living room back in the early 1900’s.

They had on display the orphans that were shipped from NYC out west.  They had a number and put on the Adoption train.  The top left is one of them after she grew older.  Top middle some band equipment and uniforms.  Right a dining room setting. Middle left a ladies salon and next to it a Beauty bar.  Middle right a wedding dress. Bottom left since the town was a stopping point for the service men on the train.  The ladies made sandwiches and drinks for the service men half hour stopover.  They made twenty birthday cakes a day for those having there birthday.  Middle many newspaper weightings and the German flag. On the bottom right some of the uniforms used by the service men and women that came through the town.

The Golden Spike Tower is the reason for stopping in town.  We went up into the tower(top right), middle is some of the train cars getting ready to leave.Top right is the place where the engines get worked on. Middle left look at the three cars in the top middle of the picture.  They are on what they call the hump, they are released and a computer puts them in the right train line. Middle picture look on the right that is where the engines get fuel. Middle right is a setting out of the  dinning car.  Bottom left some things left out the track is 8 miles long and two miles long and is on  2,850 acres. Middle picture one of the operators for the train yard. Bottom right with layout of the train yard.

As it was getting late we got to Cody Park Train Display before it closed.  Top left a peacock we saw on the way. Top right the station and bottom the train engines.  

We went back to Lincoln county Historical Museum for a stage performance of Woodrow Wilson  bottom left and W.E.B. De Bois(Bottom middle).  They told what was going on at the time with the negro’s and how the time were changing. Top pictures a church and inside, middle pictures a school house and inside it.  Left is a Sears and Roebuck house With two of the rooms Bottom right.

As we were leaving we went to a barn which had these fire trucks, farm equipment, and cars.  Just outside we saw the old gas pumps. Bottom left a home of one of the town prominent leaders.  The middle picture is inside his house. Bottom right train station and caboose.

Linda went and took pictures of the flowers below.

 Sunday we went to church and one of the Sojourners lives in town. We had a little visit with him. We ate at a restaurants that the first owner of the restaurant sold it to one of the employees, then they sold it to one of the employees, which sold it to one of the employees.  The food was great and teens which were probably family served  us.  When we got back to the rig we left and drove to Garden City, Kansas. It is very hot (97) and the sun is very intense coming in the front window which makes it very hot inside. 

Mon.  We got up and went to Great Clips for our haircuts.  Then on the road to Logan New Mexico.  We traveled through the panhandle of Ok. and Tx. to get here.  For the third time when we stop I washed the front of the rig to get all the bugs off.  I got caught up on the blog and we went to bed early because we our now in Mountain time zone.

Tues.  With the time change we were on the road early.  The picture below is some of the things we saw, top left a building in the dirt, top middle a different looking silo, the fan blades of the windmill  turbines, 2nd row left a water tower, middle crops which there were a lot of fields full of them, Canadian River coming into Albuquerque. 3rd row different mountains.

After we got set up on west side of Albuquerque we drove into Old Town.top left I am standing next to a sign telling how the town started. Top 2nd picture in the town square were some musician's (they sounded very good with music you would expect in Mexico). Big middle picture is San Felipe de Neri Church and 2nd picture bottom inside the church and bottom left an angel carved out of a dead tree. Top 3rd picture and bottom 3rd and 4th picture the market place.  Top right a young lady getting here pictures taken.

We then drove to the Albuquerque International Ballon Museum(middle picture).Top left first-ever"world Hot Air Balloon Championship" held in Albuquerque 1973 138 balloons. 2nd picture 950 pound cow balloon used each year, 3rd and 4th picture top and bottom 1st and 2nd pictures some of the air balloons. 3rd bottom picture is a replica balloon flight that dates in the early 1700's.

Some flower picture Linda took.

Wed.  We left this morning for the Turquoise trail.  As you can see in the pictures below there was a lot of mountains and each is a little different with the rocks, trees and scrubs.  We went to a ghost town "Madrid" which now people are starting to move back into.

  

We went to Santa Fe and went to the state courthouse.  The guide was wonderful and told us a lot about her state.  Three of the bottom pictures are of artist in the state.

We went to Cathedral Basilica. Of St. Francis Of Assisi the next two pictures below show them

 
We went to the oldest home in Santa Fe  first five pictures. Then bottom row of pictures is the oldest active church in the nation "San Miguel Mission Church.

Then to Bandelier National Monument.  We started out with a guided tour but when time got limited we went on our own. There are still over a thousand areas that have to be studied.