The first leg of our trip took us from New Hampshire down to Lancaster, connecting with the Lincoln Highway, and following a combination of I-80 and Route 30 (Lincoln Highway) to get to Rockford, IL, to meet up with family. After a pleasant visit it was back to the Lincoln to make tracks for Norton, Kansas, to visit more family., PA
Lucy’s interjection: The ride through Iowa and Nebraska into Kansas was marked by several towns with murals on the sides of buildings, depicting area themes. Each variety warrants a closer look than a quick drive by allows as there is much history and regional pride on display. For ourselves, we also look for manufacturing and other industry, antique shops (where fleas are marketed), engineering feats, railroads, barns, cattle, horses, wildlife, waterways, and good food.
We’d read about Maid Rite in Nebraska, boasting a history as the first fast food franchise chain, beginning in 1926, and offering a “loose meat” sandwich served with a spoon on the side. We had to find one and try it. Sure enough, the steamed ground beef was well-cooked and loose in the hamburger bun inside the paper wrapper. It’s an experience and it helps to be real hungry but not needing to eat a lot. I was glad to have ordered cheese with mine as it was less loose. In retrospect, this meal was a popular culture experience more than a culinary one. Sodium is my least favorite spice.
Brad again: We dropped down into Norton from Route I-80 in Nebraska to Kansas Route 36 West. Norton is in the northwestern part of the state and was stop Number 15 on the old Pony Express route. Like most of the towns out in the middle of the country, Norton starts as a dot on the horizon and continues to grow until it takes a good portion of your windshield and you are there. The town boasts a mid-town park that is complete with a dump station, fresh water, and overnight parking. (Lucy adds: An intriguing historic replica building with papier-maché figures in natural poses, viewed through windows, is a centerpiece of the park.)
In case you have never seen one before, there is also a busy Prairie Dog village protected (or protecting) a state park west of town complete with a welcoming statue of a prairie dog. On a man-made lake, the park offers camping, a beach, a boat launch, wildlife info at the Ranger station, and another educational historic building (Lucy’s “comin’ home smarter” notations).
Leaving Norton, we took more than we brought. Our token was a modest jug of New Hampshire Maple Syrup from Newport’s Beaver Pond Farm. Cousin Jane and husband Jack made sure there was some Kansas beef in our freezer.
We ran north to Nebraska to get back onto I-80. That highway now traces the old Lincoln Highway, the second longest highway in the United States running coast to coast from New York City to Sacramento, CA.
Along I-80, it seems the wind farms generating electricity could be a new crop for the plains. These giant windmills with blades reaching close to 150 feet end-to-end, sitting on top of 300-foot towers, can be seen for miles. Some of the “wind farms” as they are called then stretch for miles. (Lucy: I call them a quiet ballet; they are graceful, clean, and provide interest to a landscape that is often barren to a hungry eye accustomed to variety in landscape.)
Westward into southern Wyoming we headed into the mountains (Lucy-speak again) wondering where all the people lived and remarking on the patience and perseverance of the pioneer families, cattle and sheep ranchers, and early entrepreneurs who made this trek, and of the Native Nations whose lives were messed with en route. We crossed the Continental Divide comparably in better shape than those who came before there were signposts and clearly marked watering holes (most now with flush options).
Brad here: I-80 is a long ride through these flat desolate states. As we sit here, rolling along at a mile a minute, one can’t help wonder what went through the minds of first the folks in the wagon trains making twenty miles a day on a good day and then the early Lincoln Highway motor car travelers, who it is said took as long as 13 days to get across Idaho.
Nearer Salt Lake City we began to see small ponds by the highway that looked to be ringed with salt and the mountains began as a purple jagged line on the horizon in the windshield. I have often said that the windshield of the motor home is my own private I-Max theater.
There are miles and miles of grass, crops, and railroad tracks. Freight hauling rail operations are a big thing in this part of the country. Last year when we drove the northern route in Montana and Wyoming, coal was the big cargo. Miles of trains consisting of coal hopper cars from the strip mines by the road to the power plants that dot the countryside. Here the rail cars were a mix of box cars, oil tankers, and grain hopper cars. As we got closer to the mountains the long trains that were hauled by three power units (locomotives) in the flat country were now adding two more power units to the middle and sometimes one more power unit on the back end.
Just east of Salt Lake City we swung north on I-84, and the grades began. Lucy, after checking a map exclaimed that we were going to miss seeing the Great Salt Lake. This time the map lied as a few miles up the road Salt Lake is visible on the left side of the road for several miles.
From there, we headed up I-84 through southwestern Idaho and on into Oregon.Then, we began to encounter signs that warned that trucks over 10,000 pounds must carry tire chains from November 1 through April 1. In this instance, the highway patrol considers RVs as trucks. The signs also said that trailers must be equipped with drag chains. This meant that if the trailer is equipped with brakes, those wheels must have chains installed on them when road conditions were bad. And guess what. It was November 1st, and we did not have chains on board. The highway patrol was pulling trucks over in several places doing spot checks. So be advised: there are laws requiring that you carry chains to get through the mountain passes in both Oregon and Washington states.
I-84 carries one northwest to intersect with I-82 and then to I-94 just on the east slope of the Cascades. The drive from Salt Lake City to the west slope of the Cascades was all mountain driving as I-84 runs the spine of the mountain range. But on the plus side, the scenery is out of this world.
From the west slope of the Cascades the ride is a piece of cake, and we made it before any ice and snow. But then, you are bound to suddenly be in the heavily populated Greater Seattle network, and the traffic on I-405 or I-5.
Well, we made it to Seattle, Washington, on November 1st. More on that fabulous city next time. Till then see ya around the bend.
Brad & Lucy