Day 6 - Doniphan, NE to Sterling, CO - This train fan gets an ideal day!

 Today was largely scheduled to be another transitional day, but it ended up having a lot more entertaining moments than expected!

The day started with doing some rearranging before packing up and getting on the road.  I realized that morning that I had not yet passed North Platte, NE and since I needed to stop anyway for Sebastian's graduation, I figured why not watch the graduation from the massive switching yard of the Union Pacific.  So I packed up and headed that direction.

I arrived just in time to dial in and start watching the graduation.  It was a very nice ceremony and I wished I could have been there.  But, thanks to modern technology, I actually got a pretty good seat to the event from more than 1,000 miles away!  At one point there was a song and Sebastian was right up near the camera so I got a great view.  Congratulations to all the grade school graduates.

After the ceremony was over, I walked into the Golden Spike tower.  For those of you that don't know what this is, this is the site of the largest switching yard in the world.  Trains from different locations arrive in North Platte and are re-sorted based on the final destination for each car on the train.  This process is nearly automated and involves releasing rail cars with nothing controlling their speed but gravity as they pass over "The Hump".  For a train nut like myself, this is GREAT to observe.  It was made especially educational as there was a volunteer by the name of Greg that was a former engineer for the Union Pacific.  It was fascinating to pick his brain an learn about life as an engineer.




While I could have stayed there for a long time, I had another long drive ahead of me so I headed west.  Fields of corn and soybeans turned into open spaces and eventually into the confined cattle yards of western Nebraska/eastern Colorado.  Still not much for scenery, but very easy driving!

Eventually I departed I-80 and headed down to Sterling, CO home of the lake at North Sterling.  I had just recently reserved a spot here and didn't know what to expect, but the site I was given was amazing.  It had an unobstructed view of the lake and after some failed back in attempts (still new at this), i got the trailer where I wanted it.  Unfortunately, my extra time allowed the rains that were coming to get on top of me so I had another set up in the rain.  Sigh.



Since I had arrived fairly early, there was time to explore the park a bit.  I went for a walk, but it became abbreviated due to the rains returning.  I saw some white pelicans on the lake though so that was fun.

The evening cooled off, leaving a wonderful sunset and left for a wonderful night of sleeping.  



Total miles travelled - 1,842 

# States (Provinces) - 9






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