The Center of the U. S. of A.

Location: Lake Ogalalla State Park, NE

We woke this morning to a beautiful red sunrise. Seems like the old saying is right, "Red sky in the morning, Sailors take warning..." because by the time we rolled out of the campground at about 7:30, the wind was gusting like crazy and there were all kinds of beautiful, ominous cloud effects happening in the sky. Since it was Father's Day, Debi insisted that we go out to breakfast, which we did. Here's me with my Father's Day french toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon, at a breakfast place in Kearney (pronounced "Carnie"). We then continued west along the old Lincoln Highway, which parallels Interstate 80 but at a much calmer pace through most of Nebraska.

Laurie's journal reported "A little before noon we reached the exact center of the United States, geographically speaking. It is 1730 miles from either coast at this point. Here was a little resort by a little lake with pavilions, picnic grounds and some amusements." On my trip with Nancy in 1999, we had been delighted to find that this spot still existed. There was no pavillion or lake anymore, but lots of signs boasting about it being the center of the U.S. I think the little tourist store was closed, but Nancy and I took photos of everything, including the ferro-cement depiction of a covered wagon pulled by a pair of oxen. As we neared this spot today, I saw how updated all the houses looked and wondered if the tourist spot would still be there. Moments later we came upon the spot, now with only one sign, but Nick and Rosa are still pulling the wagon, 86 years since my father's family passed this same place.

A little further down the road we drove through downtown Lexington, which still has brick lined streets, and a surprisingly vibrant bunch of businesses, especially compared to many of the little ghost-like towns we see throughout the midwest. You can see in this photo some of the ominous skies we were under at this time. Not much later, we drove out of all the weather and were blessed with blue skies.

 

Another place which Laurie mentioned was their lunch spot in Cozad. We stopped there to admire the beautifully restored train station which commemorates the spot where the construction of the Trancontinental Railroad was completed to this point on the 100th logitudinal line west of Greenwich on October 5, 1866. This big event was celebrated by a trainload of 250 dignitaries who arrived at this place three weeks later on the first passenger train to travel west of the Missouri River.

A nice Union Pacific Logo above the station doorway.

 

 

Here's me practicing my Harry Truman "whistle stop" skills.

A little further west we checked out the Pony Express Station in Gothenburg. It operated here only from 1860-1862, since when the Overland Telegraph was completed they were put out of business.

 

 

 

 

Across from the Pony Express Station, Debi practiced her skills as a fireman.

In North Platte, we stopped at the Buffalo Bill State Historic Park where Buffalo Bill Cody built his home in 1886 at the cost of $3900, during the heyday of his famous Wild West Show.

 

 

 

 

 

We also liked the mural on the way out of town paying tribute to the Lincoln Highway and a sweet little former gas station, which might have been operating in 1929. Parts of the Lincoln Highway remind us of Route 66 with iconic symbols of America's love of road trips.

Our final destination for the day was Lake Ogalalla. While crossing the dam, Debi took this awesome photo of the water gushing through the dam.

 

 

 

 

 

After touring a bunch of potential camp sites, we settled on this nice shady one right next to the lake.

 

Of course Debi is enjoying her usual spot, floating in the lake.

 

 

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We're in Nebraska Now

Location: Fort Kearney State Park, Nebraska

We rolled out of Springbrook State Park at about 8:30 a.m. This was considerably better than the 1929 crew who left Bagley at 4:15 p.m.! They drove 62 miles to Harlan where they camped for the night. We passed through Harlan at about 10:30. On the way we passed some beautiful rolling Iowa hilly farmland which reminded me of the Grant Wood painting that I studied for hours on the wall of our house as a kid.

 

We stopped at the town of Elkhorn, which is famous for the Danish Windmill which was reconstructed after it was disassembled and shipped over from Denmark in 1976. We were most impressed that the reconstruction was completed by a group of 300 local volunteers in one year.

 

 

Here's Debi on the catwalk outside the windmill, which impresses me since she used to be extremely afraid of heights.

 

 

 

 

 

The wooden gears inside the mill kind of amazed me. Apparently the building makes insane creaking sounds when they are actually grinding wheat into flour!

 

 

 

Usually Debi runs me through the mill, but as you can see from this photo, today I switched things up on her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another stop was at the Harrison County Historical Museum where we watched an excellent film about the history of the Lincoln Highway on which we had just started driving. The highway was established in 1913, as the first coast-to-coast improved highway, funded in part by Goodyear Tires and the Packard Car Company pretty much as a marketing scheme to get Americans to drive their cars longer distances. The film showed a very young Dwight D. Eisenhower making a coast-to-coast promotional trip on the highway with a group of other WWI veterans. In the 1950's, as president, he would lobby heavily for the Interstate Highway System.

Laurie recounts that just before noon they crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska "on the New Blair Bridge, a massive and wonderful structure that only had been opened to traffic for one week." We crossed there also and took a photo of the very rusty looking old train trestle which crossed the river. Ironically, we had to wait for a while to cross the newer car traffic bridge, since it was being repaired and was restricted down to only one lane.

Nearing our destination for the night, we decided to detour from Lincoln Highway which the Russell Clan had driven, and check out the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument (the "Arch"), which crosses over Interstate 80 near Kearney. Polly and Eric had recommended it when they drove this way in 2010. We were impressed with the exhibits which chronicle how this spot has acted as a gateway to the many migrations of different groups heading west.

 

 

The display that we found most relevant for us showed the look of a typical tourist camp along the Lincoln Highway in the 1920's. Laurie's journal tells that they stayed at a tourist camp called "Duck Inn" at Grand Island, and many more tourist camps on the rest of their trip. This gave us a nice visual of how that experience might differ from ours as we stay in state park campgrounds.

 

 

After leaving the Arch, we did have some trouble finding a campground to stay at for tonight, since it is a Saturday and camping season is now in full swing. However, Debi was instrumental in exerting some influence in locating a place for us to stay.

We found one of the last spots at Fort Kearney State Park, and feel very fortunate. This place is hopping with activity of families all having fun camping together.

 

 

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"Highways are Happy Ways" (Day 1)

Location: Springbrook State Park, Iowa

This is Ned signing in. Debi has now turned the blog over to me for the duration of our retrace of my Dad's family's move from Missouri to Washington State in July, 1929. My dad, Oak was 11 years old at the time, while my Aunt Laurie was 20. She wrote the journal which we are now using as our reference for this trip, and titled it the same as today blog. The other siblings were Ellen (17), Robert (15), Clara (Kay) (13), and Danny (8). My Grandpa Dan and Grandma Lula were both 44. Laurie relates in her journal that the family had decided to leave Mound City, MO and move to Washington State. Therefore our first stop today was Mound City, population 1159.

Debi had located a Historical Society in Mound City, but we discovered that they are only open on Wednesdays. We inquired next door with the friendly Insurance Broker, Charlie Clodfelter, and he immediately made some calls to the right people, while we went and ate a second breakfast across the street! On returning from breakfast, he let us know that Liz Burnside, secretary of the Society, was on her way to open up the office for us. You gotta love small towns!

Liz was excited to take on the challenge of finding some information about my Dad's family, and we were soon pouring over books and binders galore.

 

 

Quite quickly we found newspaper clippings describing my Grandpa Dan accepting the job of manager at the Farmer's Exchange on March 15, 1928, and then resigning the position on April 5, 1929. We asked if that building still existed in town, and Liz informed us that it was only 2 blocks away. Here's a shot of Liz and me. Liz also writes an article for the local paper called "What Do You Remember?" She's going to do one featuring us and asking if anyone remembers any further details about the D.H. Russell Family in 1928.

In fact, we had almost parked directly in front of it when we first got to town. We went and visited the graphic design business that currently operates from there, and marvelled at what a well preserved brick building it still is. It still says "Farmers Exchange" on top of the building.

 

 

 

 

Laurie's journal describes the family having a sale of all their household goods at 4 p.m. on July 27, and then at 8 p.m. the same night they "left Mound City--forever" (!?) They camped in Clarinda, Iowa that first night, which is about 57 miles from Mound City. Therefore, our next stop was also Clarinda, famed for being the home town of Big Band Leader, Glenn Miller. We visited the Glenn Miller Museum and his original home, which were both really sweet. Here's Debi leading the band.

Here's the house where Glenn was born. It''s been painstakingly restored to the state it was when Glenn lived there.

Our last stop was Bagley, Iowa, which my Dad cosidered his home town. We had visited here before, so we weren't surprised to find the place looking extremely tired, but we were a little shocked to see that the roof of the old abandoned high school had caved in since the last time we were here. In 1929, the Russells had stayed in Bagley for several days getting their truck ready for the big trip.

Here's "Downtown" Bagley. There seemed to be only one operating business and that was the U.S. Post Office, and that is only opened from 9 to 12. My sister Nancy and I also retraced this trip in 1999. It will be interesting to see how many things have changed in those 16 years. (Nancy, can you believe it was that long ago?!)

We also visited the Russell Family plot at the Dodge Center Cemetery. This is where my great grandparents, Mahomet Henry and Sarah Russell are buried. We were very impressed to see how well this cemetery is maintained.

Our final destination for today is nearby Springbrook State Park. We have a delightful spot next to a babbling brook. I have fond memories of my family canoeing with my Uncle Bob in this park, probably 50 years ago.

 

 

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Give 'em Hell Harry!

Big Lake State Park, MO

Our big event of the day was to visit the Harry S. Truman library and museum. Being a Poly Sci major, political junkie and history buff visiting the Presidential Libraries are always on our list. Trivia question...no googling the answer - What does the S. in Harry S. Truman stand for? (Answer at end of today's blog). The Truman library aptly resides in Independence, MO, Harry's home town. From the outside it looked very mid-century and non-descript.

 

Once inside, we were blown away with the depth and engaging experience this museum provides. There were tons of inter-active displays and areas. On first entering one encounters a mural depicting the Missouri expansion. BTW - Harry did several brush strokes on the blue sky in the upper right corner.

After watching a movie about Truman's presidency you begin a walking timeline thru the museum. It does a great job setting the stage for what situations Truman inherited. What makes this museum so cool is that it's not just giving you propoganda or Truman's side of the facts, but asks for your input as well. After an exhibit on WWII and Truman's decision to drop the bomb, your input is solicited as to what you would do. I flipped through the book and saw hundreds of different responses. My fave was one written all in Japanese. Anyone care to translate?

 

The boom and growth period of post WWII was really well done. The posters and re-enactment of this period in America was awesome. Loved the TV shows, Life Magazines, typical American kitchen, etc. This part of the exhibit focused on Truman's domestic policies and the post war boom.

 

We also walked through a "cave" area, cold and very bleak looking, which set the stage for post WWII overseas. So interesting to see the struggles of Italy, Greece, France, and most of Europe after the war.

 

 

There was another section on Truman's foreign policy focusing on the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. Here's Ned watching a movie about the start of the Cold War.

My favorite part of the Truman Museum was an area called "The Decision Theatre". You sit in an area that feels like a court room jury box and there is a "yes" or "no" button for each person. At first you feel like you're in an interrogation room with the one sided glass. As the show begins different scenarios are discussed and everyone gives their opinion on how they would handle the situation, via the button. At one point interrogation spotlights come on overhead and you are being grilled by Sen. McCarthy. This was so creepy, yet really gave you a chance to ponder and think how you would handle some of the situations that Pres. Truman was confronted with. Here's a pic of Ned and I being interrogated. (Kinda funny that I'm shooting a picture of myself, and of couse, Ned who takes these things waaaay too seriously).

There is a beautiful outside courtyard that has an eternal flame and the graves of Pres. Truman, his wife Bess, and their daughter Margie.

Another level of the museum depicts Truman's personal life starting from his childhood. There is so much to share and so much trivia that my head is still swimming. Little nuggets: Truman wrote over 1300 letters to Bess beginning when he was 10 years old. He stated that this was his hardest and longest campaign; Truman was the first Civil Rights President signing an executive order to desegregate the Armed Forces; both his grandparents were slave owners; he graduated from high school which was a big deal in this part of Missouri - at that time most just went til 7th grade;

There was also an entire section on his re-election campaign. They showed a map of his "Whistle Stop Tour", all the places he traveled in the country by railway. Hey...we think Harry stole our Winnie map!! (compare that to the one on our adventureswithwinnie website).

Note that he didn't travel to the Southern States at all. That was Strom Thurmond country who was a Democrat, supporting segregation, who was running against him.

 

Here's the original Winniemobile.

If you're ever near Kansas City I definitely recommend a day for the Truman Presidential Library.

And the answer to the trivia question is:

S - stands for just S.

 

Well after spending the majority of the day at the library one can work up quite the appetite. Even tho we were technically in Missouri, we're just a stone's throw from Kansas City. You know what that means don't you? BBQ!!!! We drove into Kansas and found Smokey Joe's, rated as one of the best Kansas City BBQ's. It's in a Gas Station. We thought that by arriving in the late afternoon it would be pretty empty. Au contraire. The line was almost out the door!

 

Ribs, pulled pork, brisket, beans, coleslaw and Texas toast. Best damned BBQ of the trip. Kansas wins, with Martin's in Tennessee a very, very close second.

 

 

 

 

 

We're now camping at the very Northwestern corner of Missouri. Yes, it is definitely mid-western camping. The downside is we're pretty much in a mowed meadow. The upside is there is almost no humidity!! Well, 56% feels like nothing to us.

Tomorrow starts a pretty exciting part of our trip. In 1929 Ned's Dad's family piled in a modified Chevy Truck, traveling on the Lincoln Highway, headed for Puyallup, WA. Ned has the journal that his Aunt Laurie wrote and we are going to retrace the journey. I'm so looking forward to going on the Russell Roadtrip of 1929! So for now, I'm signing off and will turn our blog tomorrow over to my travel buddy. Ciao!

 

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