Lincoln --> Denver (via Nebraska)

Road Trip Day 9 (June 21): Lincoln, NE --> Denver, CO (stopping at Fort Kearny, North Platte, and an Eastern Colorado Hail Storm along the way)
Flickr Pictures: Flickr pictures
Songs of the Day: The Neighborhood -- Sweater Weather, Band of Horses -- Our Swords       
Major Highways: I-80, I-76 

When people talk about Nebraska being nothing but cornfields, they really aren't exaggerating very much. But I don't mean this as a bad thing. It's pretty amazing to look out and see nothing but green, so vast that it looks like an ocean. A couple hours after leaving Lincoln, the home of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, I decided to stop at Fort Kearny State Historical Park and for $7, was able to explore this 1848 Oregon Trail stop. Fort Kearny served as way station, sentinel post, supply depot, and message center for 49'ers bound for California and homeseekers traveling to California, Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest. It's pretty unbelievable to me that people actually traveled across this enormous country in wagons and I can imagine these weary travelers must have been ecstatic upon arriving at Fort Kearny, for a much needed respite.

After leaving Fort Kearny, I hit the road again, before stopping again in North Platte, the town where showman Buffalo Bill Cody founded "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," which included crowd-pleasing attractions such as sharp shooting, reenactments of the Pony Express, and even stagecoach robberies. I picked up a few gifts at the Fort Cody Trading Post and stopped for lunch at The Pink Poodle, an old-fashioned, family-owned, 50s' diner, with a heck of a chili-cheese burger. The people in western Nebraska were some of the nicest I've met in the country and I was glad to have stopped here.

As soon as I left Nebraska for Colorado's I-76 however, the picnic was over. The green cornfields were replaced with miles of Eastern Colorado flat plains. Soon, there were no more exits, very few cars traveling, and really very little signs of any life, whatsoever. Plus, I had no cell phone service. Believe it or not, this is pretty much how it is from the Colorado border until about 15 miles from Denver. The skies darkened, looking ominous, and lightning lit the sky every few seconds, but there was no thunder. (check out this video, the biggest bolt of lightning is at the very end). And here is a picture -->

 Then, it started to rain heavily, to the point that I could barely see. After a few minutes of this, the sky began to violently hurl hailstones at my car and I was forced to pull over. The hail was coming so quickly and forcefully that I actually went in the backseat and put my suitcase over my head, in case the hail broke through the car windows (here's another video, this was worse than the hail storm I was a part of, but you can get an idea of how bad it can be -- and this was just days before I drove through this area). Thankfully, after about 20 minutes, the storm quieted down and I was able to continue on to Denver. It really does amaze me though, how remote this area just east of Denver is (-->)

 -- definitely the most isolated area (and most terrifying weather) I have encountered so far!


Nebraska on Dwellable