A week ago, we were at home in Titusville. The first day was uneventful, then on Friday, heading northwest out of Tupelo, MS, on US 78 toward Memphis, we rant into really bad weather with a lot of rain and really hard, gusting crosswinds. Going down a hill, with abridge over a large creek, the wind started pushing us to the right toward the bridge railing – Frank is pulling the wheel to the left, we’re still going toward the bridge railing – like sliding on ice except you cannot steer into the slide – after some seconds (eternity), the wind let up enough for us to cross the bridge and go up the next hill.
SUNDAY:
When we arrived in St. Louis, MO, to see the Gateway Arch, AKA Jefferson Memorial National Park, we found that RV parking was along Leonor Street which is right on the Mississippi River which had flooded a couple weeks ago. Although the signs said reserved for RV/Bus parking, the spaces were filled by cars. We had to walk a little over ½ mile to the foot of the steps to the Arch. The entrances are at the ends of the legs of the Arch and everything is underground between the legs. We rode to the top in a five-person pod/tram car each of which had tractor-style seats and we sat knee-to-knee for the two minutes trip up and three minute ride back down. We stayed at the top for about ten minutes. The viewing windows were about four feet wide and twelve inches high with views to the east and west which were spectacular! When we got back down, Frank went outside to people watch and I went to see the movie about the construction of the Arch. Several times I thought I would have to leave because the movie was showing the workers outside the Arch with absolutely no safety equipment! The view from each stage of construction was sickeningly straight down. They didn’t even have on any safety gear while setting the keystone at 630 feet. Meanwhile outside, Frank was watching a driver who got ticked off because someone had blocked him in so he called the police who arrived, issued a ticket, then had the vehicle towed away. As we were walking back to our RV, we saw another officer writing tickets for every car parked on that part of the street where the NO PARKING signs were (about four blocks). To the north of the Arch is a parking garage for cars!
WEDNESDAY:
Now heading west through Nebraska on I-80. We were still experiencing very stiff crosswinds. Our cell phone locked up last night at 9:45: no LED light and none of the buttons worked. When I took it into a WalMart, the guy looked at it, turned it over, took the battery out, put it back in, and it worked!!! I thought it was toast and I would have to buy a pay-as-you-go phone for the duration of this trip! I didn’t think to ask him what “oo” meant on the display. After searching through the Nokia book, I found that this meant I have messages. DUH!!!! It was Hannah and Hope singing “Happy Birthday” to Grandpa.
THURDAY:
Today we got off I-80 to go about 20 miles south to the Harold Warp Pioneer Village in Minden, NE. This is over 20 acres of the most amazing collection of collections! Some exhibits were hands on so you could see how they functioned. The broom maker demonstrated his craft, the lace maker show how she made the lace items; another woman was stripping denim pieces for the rug weaver while another woman was spinning the yard used to hold it all together. All the items they made are sold in the gift shop to help fund this museum.
One building house appliances from the 1830s to the 1970s showing on two floors the evolution of labor-saving devices: ice chests to ice boxes to refrigerators. Another building was devoted to all types of collections from advertising pens and pencils to salt and pepper sets to stamps, coins, shells. Several buildings contained cars of every kind, buggies and wagons, even a 1937 Vagabond camper! Almost all the vehicles showed a copy of the original title and ad with price listed. Very few of these items on display were donated. Mr. Warp purchased all of them.
We continued west on US 30 to Holdrege to see the Nebraska Praire Museum, the highlight is a section devoted to Camp Atlanta and the other similar camps which housed German POWs from 1943 until the war was over. They were encouraged to take jobs in the area to help fill the void left by the local men in the service. They made many friends in the area during that time. We returned north to I-80 and continued west toward Cheyenne, WY.
