Highway 6 And Beyond

Nearing Hastings Nebraska the corn started to thin out and I noticed obvious human made mounds of earth that look similar to the weapons bunkers at Anchorages Kincaid  Park, former Nike Site Point.

As it turned out the mounds that replaced the corn were ammunition bunkers as Hastings because its location to rail roads, was one of the largest producers of weapons for the military in ww2.  The Cornhusker Ordnance plant employed 15,000, people during the peak of the war. The plant was also used to manufacture rockets, and to manufacture more bombs to vaporize innocent people in Korea, and Vietnam.

Remains Of The Cornhuskers Ordnance Plant

The plant is currently a superfund clean up site because of groundwater contamination, by explosives and heavy metals. The only thing I could see that the place lacks is a giant sign saying

“Amerika War Is Our Business” Oh and maybe a coal fired power plant, but wait it has one of those too.

The Landmark Town Fountain & Coal Power Plant

Maybe it’s the corn. Maybe it’s the soybeans. Maybe because it didn’t rain.  I don’t know just why, but Nebraska has become my favorite state on this trip. Go Big Red!

Nebraska was great but we couldn’t stay there forever…

Rolling peacefully out of Holyoke Colorado one morning I noticed that the Black Vultures were no longer hanging out in the shade afforded by the water tower, like they were last evening when we walked by, tripping on the uneven sidewalk and almost becoming prey for them.

Don't Sit Under The Water Tower

 Alas The morning temperature was much cooler than yesterdays, and the vultures must have went to work out on the plains.

Out of town a by several miles with just us and the morning, and coming in the opposite direction was a little lady pulling a suitcase. I thought I wonder what her story is, and then I thought I should probably turn around and give her one of my water bottles, and find out her story, but then I thought naa I will just stop at the next little lady pulling a suitcase out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe the next one will be in a better place to turn around.

No high mountain passes for us on this west bound run through Colorado, instead highway 14 that only climbs to a measly elevation of 8099ft. At Walden.

Through Fort Collins 14 is a major highway, and we discovered that just because there was no road construction going on, the people that do road construction must have decided to store millions of cones along the highway closing off one lane, for miles and causing traffic to slowly climb up hills behind slow moving trucks you could have passed eons ago if the other lane had been open.

After Walden the highway starts to climb through a narrow canyon with the Cache la Poudre River on one side. There was no traffic just us and then the motor home, and tow truck that we became stuck behind for an eternity. The motor home and tow truck must have been driven by Alaskans as they refused to yield at any of the pull offs for slow moving vehicles. Finally at a straight stretch I was able to get around both vehicles, but my traveling compadre was not, and the road went back to sharp curves around the river.

Finally at another short passing spot my pal was able to get around both vehicles too.

As we climbed up the canyon we became aware of the aftermath of the Cameron peak fire, that wasn’t completely extinguished until December of 2020. Further up the road there were sites where homes had been burned totally down. At some sites people had brought in travel trailers to stay in why they salvaged what was left and began to rebuild.

Further up the canyon the sides of the road looked like it had seen flowing water recently, and still further up the road we spotted first responders doing what looked like probing the ground for victims. A little ways further a flagman was directing traffic through what I first thought was some construction but was actually the wake of a flash flood from two days ago. The flood happened because the forest had been burned away, and there was nothing to trap the water. The flash flood was just as devastating as the fire, and we soon saw roofs,  propane tanks and other debris,  in the river. We later learned that three people had lost their lives in the flood. 

Other crews were  along the road. They were monitoring the clouds building up in case another thunderstorm occurred. One did but we were out of the steep canyon, and once again found ourselves riding in what has become our favorite condition for this trip. RAIN. The shower was brief, but the intensity of these storms is increasing, fire is changing the face of the forests, and climate change isn't  pretty.