Driving cross country through the great states of Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, we have now arrived at the Rockies! Don't say that the drive is boring or monotonous, as there are good things to see along the way. Note this trailer spotted in Iowa......
In Lincoln, Nebraska we stopped at the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. In the late 1800s, 100s of thousands of Germans who had originally been settled in Russia along the Volga river when Catherine the Great invited them with free land in the late 1700s, started emigrating to the the US and in particular to the Lincoln area. The AHSGR has become the clearing house for many of these families. Ruthie's parents were both born in Russia in these German settlements and emigrated to Lincoln for her dad, and Okeene OK for her mom. AHSGR has exhibits of these emigrants with there possessions brought from their Russian homes, their customs, and a large geneology area for research. We enjoyed the tour including finding out that John (Deutchdorfer) Denver was a member.
Following, we spent the night at Pawnee State Recreation Area. Another great sunset over the lake, and a nice campsite to relax after the drive.
The next morning we woke up to excitement, as we realized that today is our day to go to the Kool-Aid museum in Hastings, NE. Morey had been there 5 years ago while doing some nearby Home Depot work . We toured the museum which also included some great diaramas from the 30's.
But there was more....Drove to Ft. Kearney where the Oregon Trail started. During the peak, over 1,000 pioneers passed the Fort a day, on the way to the West. There is a recreated stockade and a number of buildings. Then we drove to Buffalo Bills Ranch where we were going to tour and camp for the night, but it was closed and we realized that if we didnt drive another 200 miles.........
But the flooding in Colorado was traveling down the South Platte River and was to arrive this night, which meant that we could be stuck at our campsite, unable to travel to Denver. We saw sandbags in all the stores as we drove through a town, and decided to keep moving. So we spent the night just northeast of Denver and saw the mountains for our first time.
Now we're in Leadville for the night. A "western" town that boomed in the late 1800s with silver mines, with a population of 30,000. We toured the Healy House and Dexter Cabin, and then stopped at the Pastime Saloon for some local Avalanche beer.
Driving cross country through the great states of Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, we have now arrived at the Rockies! Don't say that the drive is boring or monotonous, as there are good things to see along the way. Note this trailer spotted in Iowa......
In Lincoln, Nebraska we stopped at the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. In the late 1800s, 100s of thousands of Germans who had originally been settled in Russia along the Volga river when Catherine the Great invited them with free land in the late 1700s, started emigrating to the the US and in particular to the Lincoln area. The AHSGR has become the clearing house for many of these families. Ruthie's parents were both born in Russia in these German settlements and emigrated to Lincoln for her dad, and Okeene OK for her mom. AHSGR has exhibits of these emigrants with there possessions brought from their Russian homes, their customs, and a large geneology area for research. We enjoyed the tour including finding out that John (Deutchdorfer) Denver was a member.
The next morning we woke up to excitement, as we realized that today is our day to go to the Kool-Aid museum in Hastings, NE. Morey had been there 5 years ago while doing some nearby Home Depot work . We toured the museum which also included some great diaramas from the 30's.
But there was more....Drove to Ft. Kearney where the Oregon Trail started. During the peak, over 1,000 pioneers passed the Fort a day, on the way to the West. There is a recreated stockade and a number of buildings. Then we drove to Buffalo Bills Ranch where we were going to tour and camp for the night, but it was closed and we realized that if we didnt drive another 200 miles.........
But the flooding in Colorado was traveling down the South Platte River and was to arrive this night, which meant that we could be stuck at our campsite, unable to travel to Denver. We saw sandbags in all the stores as we drove through a town, and decided to keep moving. So we spent the night just northeast of Denver and saw the mountains for our first time.
Now we're in Leadville for the night. A "western" town that boomed in the late 1800s with silver mines, with a population of 30,000. We toured the Healy House and Dexter Cabin, and then stopped at the Pastime Saloon for some local Avalanche beer.
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