Part Eleven

“It’s Fall, right??”

That is what I said as this day turned out to be just spectacular. Abundant sunshine. Some cirrus near us. Crystal blue skies. I gave HD, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman, a call. Got his voicemail: “Working on my tan, Man. Leave it please, Man. Thanks, Man. BEEP”. Gotta admit the dude has his priorities. Enjoy, HD.

Today I spent the day exploring Kearney. Visiting downtown. Train chasing. And for the first time on a trip out here, wearing shorts and a thin shirt. Any other time I have been out here, it has had the propensity to either be cold, quite cool or Indian Summer. And when I was looking at the forecast before I left, I packed the shorts but not my Amtrak hat and scarf nor my gloves. Wish I had last week. But today, it was Shorts Day. 86 degrees. I think I even added a bit to my tan. Not that I’m complaining.

Downtown Kearney is a very unique town. Reminds me of Manchester, Connecticut back home. Small stores. Pull-in, diagonal parking; and brick roads in the center of town (not in Manchester). You have the equivalents of Bob’s Discount Furniture:

Raymour & Flannigan’s:

Do have a dentist like this (they probably use the big screen to look at x-rays):

“Friends” dog grooming:

Um??:

Local radio:

Bending and suction (sorry, writer’s block):

And colors of Fall:

After lunch, I went up to see my nemesis. No, not News 8 photog Tim Clune (VERY long story), but, this bridge:

The 30^th Avenue Bridge to the west of  the city and to the east of the curves’ dip (see Part 3). Every time I came to this bridge in the past, I get up there, wait around and….no trains. Walk off the bridge, get to my car. Start the car. As soon as I leave….BOOM…. train going by. I did have good luck back in 2014. That was the only time. (Sigh) Philbert loves you, Nemy (now I’m talking about Tim).

And then I found something that I have never seen before. While I was watching a loaded coal train go by, up pops a biker pops up from underground and another biker goes underground right in front of me.

Cue the Mission: Impossible theme….but at a background level, please.

And here’s this tunnel. To the south of West North Railroad Avenue. And there was this street crossing sign for bikers:

Seems the trail runs underneath Union Pacific’s main line next to a culvert carrying a fast moving creek that comes down from the city's resivoir:

The trail's walls and path were dropped in place and the creek rolls right by. This trail is part of a system of bike trails throughout the city. All concrete. Locally funded.

Check it out at http://www.cityofkearney.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/2680

Anyway, the rest of the day was spent outside along Railroad Avenue, chasing trains, working on my tan.

Wednesday it’s back to North Platte as I work my way west to my arrival in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Thursday afternoon. May the nice weather continue…please?!

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