North Platte and Buffalo Bill State HIstorical Park

Arriving in North Platte, NE, we spent the night in the campground in Buffalo Bill State Historical Park along the Platte River.  We spotted several geese along the river banks.  Before leaving the park the next  day, I toured Buffalo Bill’s retirement home, a beautiful Queen Ann style with a large dining room because he liked to entertain his fellow range hands as well as heads of state.  His younger daughter was the last to live in it and had it upgraded(!) with water and electric.   Rodeos are still held across the street.

 We then went to the Golden Spike Tower to view the Bailey Rail Yard in operation.  We watched as the loaded cars were being pushed  onto a hump and down into a bowl where they are sorted and attached automatically to their next destination train.

We returned to the Interstate and left it for US 26 (the Oregon Trail) at Ogallala.

We took  short side trips to view the Court House and Jail Rocks and Chimney Rock just outside

Bayard.  The dirt roads to these sites are graveled and narrow without any level space to park. But we did see geese along the riverbank and could hear them frequently.