Day 12 - WaKeeney, KS to Casper, WY

    

 

 

Thursday, March 15, 2007

 

I entered WaKeeney fairly late the evening prior and parked for the night in an interesting space near an F-14 Tomcat. In the morning I talked with the men who were working on the fighter jet and they explained that the craft was being restored and would go on display at a local veterans cemetery.

 

www.wakeeney.org/att_f14.html

 

   

 

 

 

After the above pleasant conversation and good coffee I proceeded out of WaKeeney northward through Kansas on Highway 283, toward Nebraska...

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Highway 36 between Norton and Oberlin...

 

     

 

 

 

Oberlin, Kansas...

www.gypsyjournal.net/last_indian_raid.htm

 

     

 

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/history/sappa.html

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

North from Oberlin on Highway 83, toward the Nebraska border...

 

       

 

 

 

Entering Nebraska...

 

Mr. Hawk and a rafter of turkeys welcomed me to Nebraska...

 

       

 

       

 

 

McCook, Nebraska...

 

 

Proceeding north on Highway 83, toward North Platte...

 

       

 

   

 

 

 

North Platte, Nebraska...

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo Bill Ranch...

        

 

   

 

 

 

Proceeding west, toward Ogallala...

 

       

 

       

 

   

 

As I approached Ogallala I was thinking of Lonesome Dove and the Hat Creek Cattle Co. Since leaving Laredo, Texas on the Rio Grande river and the Mexican border I had been following, roughly, the trail that the Hat Creek Cattle Co. would have been on as they made their way north from south Texas to Montana. In Lonesome Dove the Hat Creek boys were looking forward to a spree in Ogallala. About 20 miles out of Ogallala, Capt. Gus McCrae would have his much anticipated reunion with Clara, the love of his life. In my humble opinion, the scene from the Lonesome Dove movie where Gus (Robert Duvall) says goodbye to Clara and Lorie to return to the Hat Creek outfit is one of the finest moments in all of film history.

 

     

 

 

 

Ogallala, Nebraska...

 

       

 

       

 

     

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

 

 

At Ogallala I left the Lonesome Dove trail and proceeded northwest along the North Platte River, following the old Oregon Trail, California Trail, and the Mormon Trail...

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

 

Entering the great state of Wyoming...

 

 

       

 

       

 

 

 

At this point, where Highway 26 meets I-25, I could see the faint glow of Cheyenne 50 miles to the south against the dark horizon. I turned to the north on I-25 and rode on in to Casper, Wyoming.

 

I made camp on a high ground overlooking Casper and enjoyed a pleasant evening at that place...