Day 8 Sightseeing from Lincoln to North Platte, NE

Day 8 Lincoln, NE to North Platte, NE

 

Day 8 started with us back tracking.  It was a light day for traveling…only three hours to our next overnight stop so we decided to make it a day of sight seeing.  Bob’s recommendations included the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, NE, which we passed the day before after Omaha.  It looked too good to pass up, so we traveled 25 miles east to take a look.

The entrance alone was stunning!  Glass paned and an awe-inspiring display of the SR-71 Blackbird greeted us!  Let’s just say that Batman envy’s this bird! I’ve only seen it once before at Edwards AFB in California.  And no, we don’t have one at the Air and Space Museum in DC.  The SR-71 was an advanced strategic reconnaissance aircraft that could fly from London to Los Angeles in 3 hours and 47 minutes!  From 80,000 feet, it was able to survey 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface per hour… Unfortunately, the fleet of 32 aircraft was retired in the 1990s (for the second time) due to the high cost of operation and a decreased defense budget. 

  

In the museum, there was a large array of aircraft, old and vintage, with a few fascinating exhibits including one highlighting Doolittle’s Raid of Tokyo in 1942 as Lt Richard Joyce, one of the 16 B-25 pilots who flow in the raid, was a Lincoln, Nebraska native.

 

Tae experienced flashbacks to his days as an Armor Officer in the US Army which prompted this pic!

Reaching Hanger B, we were given a tour of the restoration area by Mark ‘Hambone’ Hamilton.  They were in the midst of restoring a C-54 cargo plane, which they acquired in October 2012.  The plane was dismantled and brought in from a neighboring city taking 7 rolling road closures.  It generally takes 2-3 years and 10,000 man hours to restore an aircraft with much of the work done by 30 regular museum volunteers.

Our next sightseeing stop was in Hastings, Nebraska at the Hastings Museum.  What could be the draw for this particular spot? The Kool-Aid exhibit of course!  It was more a local Natural Museum of History with lots of animal displays, local art and pottery and antique automobiles and carriages.  The Kool Aid exhibit was the draw but by and large a decent museum considering we were in the middle of flat lands.

 

So why Hastings, NE? It was the birthplace of Kool-Aid back in 1927.  Hard to believe that it dates back to then.  Edwin Perkins developed the concept in his mother’s kitchen and based it on the six flavors of Jell-O.  Originally called Kool-Ade, the name was changed in the 1930s because of a government requirement that stated if a product did not provide some type of ade (such as lemonade which has been shown to reduce the rate of stone formation in those susceptible to kidney stones! (WHO KNEW???)), it was to be spelled aid.  The Kool-Aid Man did not come into play until the 1960s when the product was sold to General Foods, but he is an indelible brand associated with the product. Oh Yeah!

The museum even had a planetarium in which we were treated to a live presentation of the night's sky...No tape recordings here, we had our very own tour guide for the duration…Dad thought I had scheduled this as well (we were the only ones in the theater).  It’s easy enough to find the big dipper in the sky, but what about the bear with his bear claws or the hunter?  Quite an educational presentation…we’ll be looking for all these in the clear sky’s over the Grand Canyon later this week.

One last non-stop before we hit camp was the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument.  A non-stop as the monument closed at 4pm, but we were able to take a few photos as we passed underneath it.  It’s a tribute to Nebraska and the Platte River Valley’s role in westward expansion. 

A few facts:

~ We learned that Jack Nicholson filmed a scene from ‘About Schmitt’ here

~ It was built alongside the highway and then lifted and locked into place (resulting in an 8 hours highway closure in 1999)

~ It ways 1,500 tons with the exterior designed to resemble a Nebraska sunset.

The scene across Nebraska included Llamas, lots of cattle and tumbleweed.  Tumbleweed really exists…it’s not just for old western movies!

Bailey's Perspective

Again, I slept close to 70 hours. Rather than stay awake for camping, I prefer to sleep instead….hoping that this was just a dream.  But when I woke up, we were still at a RV camp site.  So, it no dream at all.  But today, we did not drive for long….. instead, it was several short trips.  Whenever we stopped, mommy, daddy and grandpa got out for a few hours (at most 14 dog hours) and came back rather quickly.  And, with each stop, I had a potty break.  This was very good.  I got a chance to stretch my legs and take a short break as well.  Then, Grandpa provided a small snack for “Bai-ry” and we were on the road again.  We pulled into another RV park and had a wonderful dinner…… BBQ Pork Ribs, BBQ Chicken, Brisket and a little bit of corn bread.  I was simply in food heaven….and eventually fell into a food coma……looking forward to leftovers the next morning. Nite nite……