The Last Part

“So Long and a New Beginning”

Friday ended a very large amount of driving on this trip. Since departing Elizabeth, Colorado on Monday and with the trips to Durango, Four Corners, Utah, Glenwood Springs and arriving in Kearney last night, that part of the trip was 1740 miles, nearly half of what I have done so far. And boy did I see some beautiful parts of our country.

This Saturday morning, I am at my office at the municipal parking lot in Kearney, Nebraska seeing how many trains will roll by in a 6 hour period. 

Last time I was here in October 2014, I started taking notes of when a train rolled by and its direction. Back then, it was 31 trains (19 westbound, 12 eastbound) from 1030am to 430pm, which meant that the Union Pacific's statement was true, that a train came by, on average, every 12 minutes which meant 120 trains per day went thru Kearney. But now, it seems the train count is down somewhat. From 10:40am to 4:40pm, we had 22 trains (12 westbound, 10 eastbound) averaging one every 16.5 minutes or about 90 trains a day. Now mind you that the railroads run more trains overnight. Some have been quite long with helper locomotives cut in midway. And they do wake me up on occasion, but who knows what could be involved.

And we had a little suspense with one of those trains; an empty westbound coal train that stopped right in front of me. 

Seems the crew outlawed on its federally mandated 12 hours of service and a new engineer and conductor were ferried into town. And once the new crew tried to leave, they could not. Seems an issue occurred when trying to get the brakes to release or something else. Took them 45 minutes to get going. The town’s people got around the blocked Central Avenue crossing. Hate when that happens. But hey, I'm just happy to see them roll by. They still keep this railfan as young as he was when he first saw those boxcars in Rhode Island all those years ago.

Sunday morning was spent attending the 10:30am Mass at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Kearney. And what a place of worship: the church is only 6 years old and is of a very modern design from the trimmings on the walls and the ceiling. But it has a little old fashion look to it. 

Like some very old churches of the 19^th century, this one is shaped like a cross with the sacristy at the top, side pews in the arms and pews heading straight back to the main entrance with a large baptismal font. The pastor is Father Paul Colling who is celebrating 30 years in the priesthood this year. Backing him up is Deacon Thomas Martin who gave the homily this morning and could bear a resemblance to Moses and I told him so after Mass as well as commending him on his homily. Coming out of the church, I felt very refreshed. As I have mentioned before, no preaching from this writer. But it never hurts to ask for divine intervention. Say Alleluia. Say Amen. And so it goes.

After church, it was time for lunch and one last visit to my office at the Kearney municipal parking lot, feeling nostalgic and thinking back. Some of my former News 8 colleagues think I am crazy to do all this traveling. And what is it with trains, anyway? Don't know, really.  But I am truly fascinated by the locomotives that pull these trains and how much tonnage you can pull with ball bearing axles holding steel wheels on steel rails. Unlike a car tire which has an average 6 by 8 inch footprint on a road, the footprint of a steel wheel on a steel rail is the size of a dime. A railroad can move one ton of weight 425 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel. Very efficient and very economical.

Oh, and the other thing they ask about me: why Nebraska? It still gets cold out there. I guess it's the New Englander in me. I love all four seasons. As long as you dress properly and as long as your house is properly insulated, you're good. Plus now, I get to stay home and watch the storms.

Anyway, I departed my office at 1:30pm to start heading east to Columbus. After picking up supplies at Casey’s General Store, it was East on US 30. And it seems history repeated itself. Back in October 2014, I was pacing the 3 Amigos, namely a 3-unit set of locomotives running light, meaning having no cars to pull. This time it was a loaded coal train.  One locomotive on the head end. One on the rear.

He did a steady 50MPH. When I had to slow down for a town, he got ahead of me. Upon leaving each town and getting back up to speed, I got back up to him. We played tag from the town of Gibbon, 10 miles east of Kearney to a few miles short of Duncan, the town 10 miles west of Columbus. Clear green signals all the way. And we had a couple of westbounds to add in.

Sure was nice to have some company and a great way to end this journey.

I rolled into Columbus just after 4pm. Time to collect and pack all of my stuff for the flights back home to Connecticut. And as I said at the top, a new beginning. Retirement. Should be good. And fro the record, the Vovo S60 T5 will end its journey at about 3875 miles. 

Anyway, this has been a great trip. The best, bar none. Next year this time, I think I am going to explore Burlington Northern Santa Fe's Southern Transcon mainline thru New Mexico and Arizona. Be back here in Nebraska the year after.....twice!! In May 2019 for the 150th anniversary of the Union Pacific's completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and then the usual stuff in October.

Thanks for riding along. I hoped you enjoyed both blogs. Whenever you see a train, think of me. If the train looks that good, please send me a picture. And whenever you take the train, have a safe ride.

I am Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Columbus, Nebraska.

Part Twenty

"Vacation Oddities"

It has been 20 years since I first came out to the Midwest. That day, October 12, 1997, was like something out of Oz. Other than going to see my kids before Christmas every year, that first trip came with a lot of firsts. Flying out of T.F. Green in Providence to Baltimore Washington International in Baltimore to Midway in Chicago. Getting my bags and then onto a shuttle to get my car, a 1997 Mercury Mystique which put my Plymouth K-Car to shame. Across Illinois, Iowa and into Nebraska and as far west as North Platte. That trip laid the groundwork for future trips.

One thing I have learned in putting these trips together is to get a list of hotels to come back to for future trips. Now some of these are the small operations compared to your larger hotel chains. Choice Hotels wins out as my favorite chain. Clean rooms. Great Wi-Fi. Very comfortable beds. HDTV.

Then there is the Western Midtown Inn when I stay in Kearney. HDTV is OK. Clean rooms. Good beds and WI-Fi. Great staff.

And then you come to the hotel I stayed at in Durango. The very shitty Wi-Fi.  Noisy upstairs clients playing the most obnoxious type of rap on a mini boom box outside their open room door, and no telephones in the rooms. And did I tell you about the full size bath towel that went Moses/Red Sea across my back after a shower?!

And another thing. Not to be prudish or anything or dirty bathroom talk, but what is it with the placement of toilet paper roll??!! Seriously, I'm not kidding!! In your home, you know where the roll is: to your left or right at knee level and just right there. Period. End of story. Not in some of these hotels. Some of them are way behind you to the point that you just might pull or pop a muscle. What is with  these room designers, anyway??!! End of putty rant.

Anyway, I saw a few interesting items on my way from Sidney to Kearney. UP kept the entertainment going as seen along US 30 just east of Sidney:

And a long double stack along US 385 in Julesburg:

And it appears that the grain elevators in some towns are full and the only place to dump the corn kernels is on the ground and in huge piles:

Once the UP can get more empties back here then the corn will be loaded up and be brought to market.

And one more item:

What you are looking at is the back end of a flatbed tractor trailer carrying hay bales. And these things are big!! If you look at this one photo:

The bails look like dropped chads from a bad election. A farmer runs a tractor across his fields and the baler binds together the hay with bail wire and spits them out the back. After all of the potty talk earlier, I will leave you to Google for the image.

Saturday it is back to my municipal parking lot office in Kearney to write, sit back and watch the trains roll by. Hate to leave but Monday is departure day back to Connecticut. We have one more part in this great journey. Please, stay tuned.

I am Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Kearney, Nebraska. 

Part Nineteen

“Explore. Dream. Discover.”

The above quote is from an American icon who resided in Hartford, Connecticut for part of his lifetime. That icon was Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. And his quote pretty much describes my journey out here in the Midwest for almost 3 weeks.

Exploring new parts of this country with the addition of 3 visits to states new to me has been awe inspiring. The beauty of this country and meeting up with the Navajo Indians at the Four Corners Monument was quite the learning experience. Thanks to my new friend Wayne who ran one of the concessions sites at the monument.

Dreaming about where to go can literally make my head spin. Many have told me to go overseas and see new countries. All in due time as my retirement budget shakes out. This trip was paid with owed vacation money and I am extremely grateful for that. Even though I am retried from News 8, I never took my job for granted nor did I take for granted my pay and all of the vacation time I earned which gave me the opportunity to travel and see my kids. The dreaming of where to go next will be determined down the line. Right now, this part of the dream has been superb.

Discovering goes hand in hand with exploring. I am always courteous about discovering new things. My old buddy Albert Einstein once said that "knowledge is power". Discovering lends itself to learning. Never be afraid to learn.

With all of the above stated, today was a day of traveling on a new stretch of Interstate 70 in Colorado. First, from our friends at Wikipedia.Org:

“Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah to I-695 near Baltimore, Maryland. I-70 approximately traces the path of U.S. Route 40 (US 40, the old National Road) east of the Rocky Mountains. West of the Rockies, the route of I-70 was derived from multiple sources. The Interstate runs through or near many major cities, including Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

“The construction of I-70 in Colorado and Utah is considered an engineering marvel as the route passes through the Eisenhower Tunnel, Glenwood Canyon, and the San Rafael Swell. The Eisenhower Tunnel is the highest point along the Interstate Highway system with an elevation of 11,158 feet.

“The last section of I-70 to be completed was the 15-mile Glenwood Canyon. This stretch was completed in 1992 and was an engineering marvel due to the extremely difficult terrain and narrow space in the canyon, which requires corners that are sharper than normal Interstate standards. 

"Construction was delayed for many years due to environmental concerns. The difficulties in building the road in the canyon were compounded by the fact the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad occupied the south bank of the Colorado River and many temporary construction projects took place to keep US 6 open, at the time the only east–west road in the area. Much of the highway is elevated above the Colorado River. The speed limit in this section is 50 mph due to the limited sight distance and sharp corners.”

I have always marveled at the things are engineered and then built. Going on I-70 thru Glenwood Canyon, east of Glenwood Spring, Colorado, was one awesome ride. The way the bridges were built. Some of them practically on top of each other.  And the tunnels.

I always wonder what it was like when the engineers started putting out bids for materials. And just like any tunnel I have been thru on the East Coast, the tunnel walls are lined with what looks like tile for the average bathroom. And the vendor yells over the phone, "You want how many tiles??!!"

Across the Colorado River was a single track main line of the Union Pacific Railroad which was formally the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. 

I look at some of the curves as I traveling east and it is a wonder how the long trains of today stay on those tracks due to the sometimes over-90 degrees curves. Adding one or two helper locomotive on the rear end makes a great difference as was seen on the freight trains that passed my hotel in Glenwood Springs.

As Wik.O states above, the top speed is 50 MPH. The curves get pretty tight up there. If you have to pass a tractor trailer, please wait for a straightaway. Those guys need that extra room. Still, what a ride and lots of fun. To my old family friend Cheryl Ierna, you were not kidding. This stretch of I-70 was very cool!!

As I approach the western suburbs of Denver on I-70, my jaw dropped as I saw my first snow of the season in the distance. 

May I say that the day began spectacularly beautiful, but as the forecasters at KUSA-9 in Denver said, the snow would be coming just after mid-day. I tried to arrange lunch with one of my ham radio buddies but overshot the exit by 8 miles, When I told him what I was seeing to the west and he having snow at his office 8 miles from me, I cancelled plans and found my way north via US 85 which runs parallel along I-25 but moves further east as you go north. I kept looking back and seeing this snow front just plow in, no pun intended. 

I can say that I am a good driver in snow…but in my own territories back home. I’d rather let the Coloradoans have fun and just stay out of their way. Even approaching Cheyenne about 50 miles to the south, there were wisps of snow collecting on US 85. Still, it was fun to see my first snow. I do look forward to winter as I get to stay home and play with my new snow thrower.

Other than that, the drive east from Cheyenne on I-80 and US 30 was uneventful. Saw a good number trains and lots of tumbleweeds being blown around. WYDOT posted sustain wind gusts of 50+ MPH. At times, I drove at 10 and 2 with my right knee at 4 to keep steady during the gusts. And the clouds 

looked frightening and intense at the same time.

Friday we continue heading east thru North Platte with arrival in Kearney for the weekend. I thought from time to time about having to go back home on Monday which I do miss. But this time, I stay home. I have running thru my mind all of the things that I want to get done. Very much looking forward to that. But trust me; there will be a lot of withdrawal from this trip. As my late father would say, make the Sign of the Cross and be thankful for what you’ve got. And I am every single day. 

Thanks, Dad.

I am Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Sidney, Nebraska.