So I left the Sleepy Sunflower in Ogallala around 11am. Spent an extra half hour getting on the road because the tires on my trailer were about 5 pounds under pressure. The owners and employees at the SS are very friendly. As I was checking things someone came over and asked if everything was OK. The cost to stay 2 nights with my Passport America membership was a little over $35.

So I have 277 miles to travel to Lincoln. I seem to be stopping about once a hour to stretch my legs. But as I got to Kearney, NE there was this huge structure crossing the highway.

This is the Archway monument. They had plenty of RV parking so I stopped to take a look. Glad I did. You take an elevator up to the archway going over the highway. It’s a two story structure there detailing the history of travel along this section of Nebraska. Initially on the Oregon trail, the Great Platte River Road, the Pacific Railway, the Lincoln Highway US40, and eventually on I80.

For those of you that watch Hell On Wheels, Thomas Durant was an actual person.

This is a great presentation on the migration of people. Got back on the road and made it to Lincoln around 6pm. Would have made it by 5 if it weren’t for the fact that there was an accident on I80 and had to get off the highway temporarily and traffic was backed up.

Got up Monday morning and was able to find the Waste valve that I needed.

As I was driving to the RV place to pick this up I saw a road sign that said the Homestead National Monument was 4 miles away. Well misread the sign it was actually on Highway 4. But I went ahead and drove the 30 so miles to go see it.

The Homestead National Monument is built upon the sight recognized as the first registered Homestead in 1862. The Homestead act was created during the civil war to get people to colonize the American west. You lived on the land for 5 years and create a farm and you were given the 160 acres of land. They have a very good movie presentation explaining the act and all the ramifications. The primary one being that the homestead act ended up costing the American Indian tribes significant amounts of land.

The Homestead act along with the Dawes act ensured that the American Indians were placed onto reservations and lost significant parts of their natives land. The Dawes act basically allocated 160 acres per Indian. So even if the Indian tribe controlled more land than their population times 160 acres they were limited to that later calculation and lost a significant portion of land.

The interesting thing about the act was that you didn’t have to be a US citizen in order to qualify for the homestead act. If you lived in another country you could come to America and apply for a homestead and there you were.

The Homestead here reminds me a lot of the Little House on the Prairie near Havana, KS.

After this I went to downtown Lincoln and the tourist information center in the old Lincoln rail station.

This area reminds me a lot of LODO in Denver. Old warehouses that have been refurbished and turned into retail and restaurants.

I had lunch at Lead Belly and walked around a bit. Drove by the football stadium. Not sure where anybody parks to get to the game. Also drove by the state capital. Impressive building.

My final stop in Lincoln is I decided to go by the Speedway Museum. Now I got here an hour and a half before they closed. Little did I know how enormous this place is. This museum is three stories and the website says 135,000 square feet. The guild I think said 160,000 square feet. So the best I was able to do was run around the place take pictures and just stand in amazement. Didn’t get any time to read much of any of the descriptions or history.

The thing that amazed me the most was the collection of pedal cars. Just blew me away. Plus the vehicles that raced on the Bonneville salt flats. Oh and maybe the Helmet car. I hope you enjoy the pictures I took.

This is the first Tucker I think I’ve seen. Which is also a great movie if you get a chance to see it.

I really needed at least half a day to go through here. Plus there are some other things that I’d like to see in Lincoln, IE: Roller Skating Museum, so I’ll probably come back here at some point. The Camp Away park I stayed at is really nice. Although getting in and out might be an issue if someone is coming the other way. Fortunately, never had to deal with that.

Next Stop Amana, Iowa.