08/22/06 - Road Trip to Colorado via Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas & Missouri with Dziamaarsky & Kayla (Part 1) (Part 2)
Kayla and I had planned a trip out west for quite some time. Initially Dziamaarsky and Kayla's friend Amanda were supposed to tag along; but Amanda cancelled and Kayla cancelled on our relationship.
Well, Kayla and I reconciled for the trip because we both really wanted to go somewhere; but the problem was that now we only had 1 week instead of two. We weighed our options and decided on Colorado. We told Dziamaarsky, and while he wasn't pleased, he did in fact quit his job to come...so he was in.
The vehicle of choice for road trips. If this was the 70's; then it would be my van...but since gas prices are quite high; we opted for the Volkswagon that gets 700km/tank instead of my van that gets 70km/tank.
Here we see the Jetta in Nebraska; but that's getting ahead of ourselves...
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Dziamaarsky and I had to constantly pick up the slack for Kayla's inability to drive long distances.
Here Kayla's seen doing what she did a lot of...sleep.
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Most of us have been to Michigan, Indiana & Illinois...so I'll start narrating the trip in Iowa.
That being said, it rained most of the time we were in Iowa and also; Iowa had very little to offer for us to see. We stopped at the visitor center and I tried to look on the internet; but to no avail.
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Iowa did have a lot of "Kum & Go's." Which we all agreed was a bad name for a gas station.
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We did make one stop in Iowa; at Ankeny skatepark in Ankeny, Iowa.
Prior to the trip I took a look on the internet and found a park that looked half-decent. While this park looked half-decent; it was actually pretty bad. I think Dziamaarsky gave it a 2 and I gave it a 3. I tried like hell to think of something to film for the new video (so I'd have a clip from Iowa), but I couldn't come up with anything.
Pros: A nice bowl, a nice table top setup and a decent amount of space.
Cons: Hoodrat kids playing techno music and asking you to buy them smokes, stainless steel everything, way too steep and low rails/ledges, poorly designed objects, minimal flow.
While it was nice to find a park that supported biking...it definitely wasn't worth the stop...we should've just continued on and used the extra 3 hours somewhere good.
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Just over the Iowa-Nebraska border is the town of Omaha. We all needed to get out of the car; so I tried to swing a "lets walk around and bike as well"; but Kayla quickly shut that down. Instead, Dziamaarsky rode around by himself and Kayla & I went for a walk around the city.
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As Kayla and I went along for our walk; we encountered this large building; quite impressed...we swung around to the front to determine what it was...
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...oh...it's a high school. Damn.
Omaha Central High School...alma mater of Ahman Green.
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Walking around certain parts of Omaha, you got the impression of your standard Rust Belt cities; but in other parts, the city seemed very alive and beautiful. I would definitely recommend the city if you are in the area; it was decently impressive.
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As we left Omaha, Dziamaarsky & I each grabbed a king can to relax for a bit and go along with the drive. The tiredness caught up to us and we both passed out; leaving Kayla to drive. Well, Kayla didn't make it very far and I while recounting the trip...I might as well, mention my faults as well.
So we woke up in Kearney, Nebraska and got some much need McDonald's. Once I was ordering, I noticed that they had a McGriddle Sausage Burrito Wrap; I decided to give it a try.
It was horrible...was that any surprise? I definitely don't need any sausage in my burrito.
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We stopped at the Nebraska welcome center and I picked this up. I was trying really bad to convince Kayla & Dziamaarsky to visit Nebraska's "sausage capital"...but to no avail.
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Nebraska was quite endless. We would drive & drive and drive some more...only to get to the middle. So when we saw that the National Cemetery was only 2 miles off the road; we opted to stop to stretch and see some graves from the Civil War.
It should be stated though, that I'm not really a gothic / weirdo person; I just thought it would be weird to see...
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This was the one point I wish I had my van on this trip...because this curb would be at Forest Glade really quick.
United States Government Property curb...
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This place made me question war even more than I already do anyway.
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Throughout the cemetery there were plenty of unknown soldier graves; all standing in the shadow of the American flag.
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Unknown child graves as well...
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Indian Wars...1874...It's a crazy thought to be so important that you're remembered 135 years later...
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Also of interest were some of the reasons of death.
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Enough cemeteries for one update.
On a lighter note, this corvette(?) that was modified to look like a batmobile, pulled up next to us at the Sinclair gas.
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Next to the gas station was a field of llamas. We stopped and got some close pictures...and headed on...
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Still in Nebraska, we stopped at Buffalo Bill's Trading Post to pick up some touristy items and generally check out the museum.
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Just as we walked in, we were greeted with this giant wall of knives and other various weapons...
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...my favorite was this cobra cane. This is the first thing I've mentioned to quite a few people about this trip because I was so excited about it.
If only there was no border crossing...
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Ninja Stars.
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Double Action Pump Rifle - great fun for children of all ages!
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The museum / shop has some marvels of taxidermy.
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It also had some mean leather jackets.
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Letters for branding.
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There was also a pile of old Time magazines.
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There were old advertisements as well. Ah, the good old days where you could actually relate to human activities in advertisements and not just people having bonfires on the beach and playing the acoustic guitar.
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Enticing Eyebrows, Sleek Sideburns, Manly Mustache and Swingin' Soul Patch...
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Cobra head money clips.
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Information from the adjacent plaque: "This two-headed calf was born on a ranch north of Stapleton, Nebraska in the late 1940's. He lived only about 48 hours."
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Various animal pelts. You'd be surprised how soft skunk is...
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Out behind the museum there were some carriages, bison and the largest, whitest Indian I've ever seen.
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After the Buffalo Bill museum, we took a drive around North Platte, Nebraska to try to find Buffalo Bill's homestead. We couldn't find his homestead, but we found this amazing van instead.
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We also saw the amazing graffiti that North Platte had to offer...Nebraska County Choppers.
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We finally got out of North Platte and back on the road. After driving for a while we needed gas and I found this gem inside the gas station. Nebraska money clip.
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We stopped at a Sonic Restaurant for something to eat and realized that we didn't need to stop for ice...we could just get it with our meal...
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I ordered a jalapeno breakfast wrap and it came with tater totters instead of fries and mints for when Dziamaarsky and I were done our meal.
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Kayla's laptop aided in passing the time when the scenery became monotonous. Karl Poynter in the new Shook video.
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Our last stop in Ogallala, Nebraska to see the 2nd largest hydraulic dam in the United States. To get to where we were in this picture you had to drive on a 2 mile stretch of highway across the top of the dam.
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An informative sign about the Kingsley dam.
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A look from the opposite side of the dam. You can see the ridge that guided the road I spoke of before.
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An informative sign about the Kingsley dam.
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After close to a day of driving, we finally stopped at a grocery store. I lost a little weight and I can't handle fast food as good anymore; which I find really strange. Anyway, this place had all we needed and we enjoyed some actually fresh food. Big ups to Sunmart.
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Nebraska was a long and enjoyable haul; but we finally reached our destination: Colorado.
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In every state we reached...we would go to the first welcome center. The Colorado welcome center featured a large map of Colorado which showed some ghost towns on it. I studied the map and concluded that we could detour on our way to Denver and go through the town of Keota, Colorado.
This is Keota, where the town water tower still stands.
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[Keota's] "Elevation is 4961' above sea level. 'Keota' is an Indian word meaning "Gone to visit" or "The fire goes out". It was a station stop on the 'Old Prairie Dog Express" on the Colorado-Wyoming Division of the Burlington-Missouri Railroad. Keota was established as a homestead in 1880 by two sisters, Mary and Eva Beardsley and sold to the Lincoln Land and Cattle Co. in 1888. The railroad (used mainly for cattle shipping) was abandoned and the trackage removed in 1975. The Dean Bivens family, who maintained the roads, are the last two residents and will be moving in September, 1999. Keota lost its incorporated status in 1990. There were four different newspapers at four different times from 1908-1975. The last operating post office closed in 1890. The school foundation is still there and was established in 1888 and closed in sometime in the 1930's..
Source: Jay Warburton as submitted to: http://www.ghosttowns.com
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Dziamaarsky quickly found the ground cacti while wearing his sandals.
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The Keota schoolhouse aforementioned to have been built in 1888 and closed in 1930.
I don't have a date on the picture from the left, but it's courtesy of http://www.ghosttowns.com.
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Standing on the steps of the old schoolhouse we discovered its ultimate fate - a home for old appliances and garbage...
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...and tumbleweed.
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Keota, Colorado was indeed a ghost town; but it wasn't all that exciting. It was a schoolhouse and a water tower. There was more to the town, but we thought it was occupied so we didn't visit that part.
Overall, Keota didn't fulfill our ghost town hunger and we left somewhat disappointed.
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That night we only spent a few hours in Colorado. The state had laws against selling alcohol, so we decided to cross the state line into Wyoming and support them instead.
The spot I stopped for liquor was quite funny though; it looked like a bar, but said liquor store. So I walked into this seedy bar (picture King George), where 1 patron and a bartender are conversing. I look around confused and the barkeep asked if I needed anything. I told him I was looking for the liquor store. The barkeep replied, "I am the liquor store. What do you need?" At this point I looked to my left and found a pricing chart; I replied that I needed a case of Miller High Life.
The bartender then proceeded to collect 24 High Life from his cooler and send me on my way at an affordable price.
How crazy would that be? Being able to just buy liquor from a bar whenever you pleased...
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Anyway, I figure this is a good time for a break.
Proceed to Part 2 of our Colorado Trip.
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