Nebraska, North Platte - Friday, June 29, 2018 - Holiday RV Park

We were up early today, we had lots we wanted to see.  Never thought I would be making that statement about anywhere in Nebraska until we started looking into what was available around here and in North Platte.

We needed nourishment to start the day so we decided to look up the Farmer’s Daughter Café (we liked the name).  We arrived at about 7:45 and several booths and tables were available.  By 8:00 they were full, seems to be a local favorite.  It goes on our favorites list also.  My pancake was great, nice and fluffy and Greg’s half order of biscuits and gravy looked loaded with sausage.

We didn’t have to be out of our site at the campground until 1:00 so we headed to our next stop, the Heartland Public Shooting Park just outside of Grand Island.  We were interested in this because of the time we have spent with daughter Desira and son-in-law Dan who are very involved with trap shooting.  This 400 acre facility has a rifle and handgun range, an action shooting range, trap range, skeet fields, sporting clays range, archery range and most recently an Olympic bunker trap range.

This week they have been hosting the 4-H National Shooting Championships.  The championships were over by the time we visited which was kind of nice because with nothing going on we could investigate a little more than we would normally.

We had a bit of trouble finding the place and once we did we had to follow a long road back to the ranges.

The skeet fields looked nice.

The trap range has four trap houses.

The Olympic bunker trap has 15 machines preset at angles up to 45 degrees left or right and heights ranging from 1 to 3.5 meters.  American targets go approximately 50 yards at a speed of 40 mph.  Bunker targets go 76 meters and with the varying heights are different speeds.  There are about 50 bunker ranges in the U.S., the next closest one is Wichita, KS where athletes can practice for the Olympic trials.

Since no one was there we got to walk out on the range and look at the back of the bunker.

The rifle and pistol ranges are off in the distance where you can see the large bunker.  Greg says this facility used to be a military establishment, the bunkers would have been for storing ammunition then.

The office/concession area is a little unimpressive from the outside.  We didn’t venture in, but I assume it serves the purpose.

On our way back to the campground we were discussing the nice looking corn in this area.  Although the rivers are up indicating more than adequate rainfall, most of the corn is irrigated.  A lot of the fields are “flood” irrigated.  Notice the white pipe laying along the side of this field.  The field is surrounded by a dirt dam to hold in the water.

Although the weather is very nice now, this is a grim reminder that the winter snows can be overwhelming.  I’ve decided that I never want to spend a winter in a state that has to have arms to close off the interstate in the winter.

On I-80 headed to North Platte we ran into a lot of very narrow lanes because of road construction.  Greg made it through all of them without touching a single cone.  I’m sure it helped that I was practically hanging off my seat to the left to help bring the right side in (in my mind it was working).

Scenic route to our site at the Holiday RV Park.  We hooked up to utilities and immediately took off to explore the sights we had picked out in North Platte.

We headed first to Grain Bin Antique Town.  This amazing place is not somewhere you just happen by, you have to make a special effort to go looking for it.  Since it is on a gravel/sand road you don’t want to go looking for it in rainy weather without a four-wheel drive.  The scenery on the way is beautiful.

In 2012 Pat and Lori Clinch began relocating and restoring historic wooden octagon granaries.  There are 20 of these granaries on site connected by a wooden boardwalk.

I know this is a long post, but I did refrain from posting all 200+ pictures I took while we were here.  We were just in awe of the amount of items on display.  Most of the remarkable display cases came from an old hardware store which was owned by a guy who had 15 of the granaries they bought.

This lamp made from pipe caught our eye.

Windows and doors were in abundance.

There are more displays outside between the bins.

There were linens on display here and throughout the other buildings.  One of the things that impressed us was how clean and neat everything was.

There was furniture to recondition.

And furniture that was already beautifully redone.

See that mushroom themed salt and pepper shaker in the middle?  A long time ago I made a whole kitchen set of things with that same design – there were four canisters, salt and pepper shakers that I remember.  I also remember I spent hours in ceramics class getting those things done.

Pyrex and dishes for most any collector were available.

Someone I know has at least one lamp like this.  I may have been my Grandma Ford.

Beautiful cash register and without the sign I would have pushed the buttons.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could buy the view along with the tub?

This piece is a “teacher’s cabinet with a broom closet”.  I presume this was so you could sweep out your one room schoolhouse.  It’s still pretty cool today.

If you are a jar collector, this is your place.

In addition to the 20 granaries there is also a big barn filled with more goodies.

This is for the grandkids, do you know what the circle on the side of the desk is for?  The answer is not a cup holder.

Larger furniture is in the barn like this bed.

There is a balcony above this wall of cubbies filled with every kind of vintage hardware imaginable.

This early 1900’s custom made back bar can be yours for $28,000.  This might be just the thing for one of the micro-breweries that seem to be popping up everywhere.

Upstairs the tin ceiling are low, but the displays are still wonderful.

The view from the balcony.

I managed to resist everything but this small curio cabinet.

From Grain Bin Antique Town we headed to Feather River Winery.  This is Nebraska’s largest winery with 40 acres of vines.  In addition to using their grapes to produce their own wines, they also sell their grapes to other wineries.

From the road we must have driven another two miles to get back to the winery.

On the way we passed this remarkable house overlooking the winery and vineyard.  We assume it must belong to the owner.

The winery is a beautiful little place built in 2006 and opened in 2007.

They are set up for music this evening from 5:00 to 8:00.

This would be a great spot to sip some wine and admire the vineyard if it wasn’t so darn hot out today.

The sales room includes a tasting counter.  Their wines weren’t quite as sweet as we prefer but we did purchase a bottle of Redneck Rose and Trinity Blanc.  Their tasting samples were pretty generous and I felt the effects since we hadn’t had anything to eat since our breakfast back in Grand Island.

The Golden Spike Tower and the world’s largest railyard was our last destination of the day.  Most every family in North Platte has someone who is involved with the railroad.  The first train came into North Platte on December 3, 1866, the town was then known as “Hell on Wheels”.

The tower and visitor center are pretty impressive.  The tower is 100 feet high from base to top.

The train running around the top of the visitor’s center caught my eye.  We paid $6.00 each and started our tour.  This facility covers 2850 acres and employs 2600 men and women.  Special tours are available throughout the year that get you more up close to the action.

This is the view from the seventh floor balcony which is 83 feet in the air.  The rail car you can see below just outside the visitor’s center might be like the many passenger cars that carried over 6 million service men and women through North Platte during WWII.

The locomotive service facilities, as seen 95 feet in the air from the observation area, service 9000 locomotives a month and repair 1200.

Twelve thousand train cars are handled daily.  Eighteen million gallons of diesel fuel are used monthly.

Ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor the community of North Platte heard a rumor that Company “D” of the Nebraska National Guard would stop in North Platte on a Union Pacific train.  The townspeople decided to throw a party to honor their troops.  When the train arrived, it was Troop “D” from Kansas.  North Platte had the party anyway starting the tradition of greeting all troop trains.

The North Platte Canteen became the most famous in the United States during WWII.  On an average day they would provide free sandwiches, coffee, homemade cookies, cigarettes, newspapers and magazines to 3,000 to 5,000 service men and women.  As trains approached North Platte the train conductors alerted servicemen they could get free services at the next stop.  At the end of the war as many as 8,000 servicemen came through North Platte daily.

All of the homemade cookies, cakes and donuts were made by volunteers during a time of national food rationing.  The Canteen was staffed only by volunteers and operated every day for 51 continuous months.

Some of the goodies handed out at the Canteen were homemade popcorn balls.  Some of them contained a name and address of a single young woman who had agreed to be a soldier’s pen pal.  Some of these pen pal relationships evolved into romance and marriage – referred to as “Popcorn Ball Marriages”.

After that busy day making dinner wasn’t on my list of things to do so we stopped at the Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill which is just a short way down the road from the campground.

There were a lot of other things in the area we didn’t take advantage of.  Some really close were the Fort Cody Trading Post and a go cart track that boasts a multi-level figure eight track and a slippery track for those that are more adventurous.  In the same facility as the go cart track they have bumper boats and a water slide.

On the opposite side of town you and about seven of your friends can rent one of the large round livestock tanks offered at Dusty Trails Outdoor Specialists.  You can go “tanking” which is a lazy float down the North Platte River (they advise bringing beverages).