About Me

My photo
Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

From Nebraska's Prairies into South Dakota

Our Journey to the West continues...
At the bottom you can see where I captured the cute Prairy Dogs amidst the Buffalos!
When leaving from our Hyatt Place Lincoln/Downtown–Haymarket, we turned onto Interstate 80 and were IMPRESSED by the HUGE TRAIN YARD!!!
~
What a great start of the day such a view!
Lincoln, Nebraska Train Yard ←click for 30 seconds video 
From Haymarket Lincoln, we went west onto Interstate 80.
AND the maximum speed on Interstate 80 was 80 miles or 129 km!
The HUGE difference is that out West there is hardly any traffic, compared to the East...
Here you see a more enlarged view of that HUGE RAIL YARD!
BNSF Ravenna Subdivision 
Nebraska: A Crossroads and a Gateway – Inbound Logistics
Positioned at the heart of the NAFTA trade corridor, Nebraska's Interstate 80 and connecting interstate roadways offer easy, direct transportation to major east–west markets. And two Class I railways—Union Pacific (UP) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)—operate on more than 4,000 miles or 6,437 km of track in the state.
Passing on Interstate 80 Kirkpatrick Basin North State Wildlife Management Area
From Interstate 80 we turn right towards the north after crossing South Channel Platte River and Morman Island State Recreation Area ont US 35 and US 281, where we cross North Channel Platte River
Around 10:00 I'd spotted a Walmart Super Center and Pieter got us some fresh mandarins; easy to peel and have as a healthy snack in the car.
This was at Grand Island, Nebraska
Grand Island...
From US 281 we now turn onto Nebraska 2
Here our 272 miles or 438 km scenic highway through paradise starts: Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway ←click for short 40 seconds video.
Sandhills Journey National Lincoln, Nebraska Train Yard ←click for 30 seconds video, Nebraska Train Yard ←click 30 seconds video Byway
The Nebraska 2 follows mainly along the Rail Track and South Loup River
Nature was quite interesting as we passed e.g. Ravenna Lake State Recreation Area
Broken Bow an interesting little town.
Near Dunning, we turn and are now following alongside the Middle Loup River and railroad track
Just had to get out of the car to capture this beautiful nature and as you see, our weather couldn't have been any lovelier!
To get a real good view of where I was driving; this short video by drone lets you see → The Nebraska Sandhills, The Middle Loup River, by Sheriff Mike
We passed the small town of Hyannis and several Lakes
The Nebraska 2 is pretty much a two–lane road and we got to admire all our truck divers that transport and deliver the goods for the industry and for households!
This was near Ashby, Nebraska—BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) Sandhills Subdivision
It was 13:02 and getting hot! 102°F or 39°C near Ashby!
Passing Alliance with its extensive rail yard.
Spring Rails in the Sandhills, Fly with Mike ←3:56 min video by drone for getting an idea where I was driving in Nebraska.
BNSF ←click for link
Rail is the most environmentally efficient mode of surface transportation. On average, BNSF trains can move one ton of freight more than 480 miles on only one gallon of diesel fuel. Our customers reduce their own total carbon emission by shipping with BNSF instead of putting trucks on the highway.
Both of us were stunned for seeing one BNSF train standing still as I passed it and measured on my Relive at full 2 ​​km length or 1.2 mi.
There is so much to see along this scenic byway!!! And to LEARN...
We saw signs along the road with a COW on, not a deer.
Those Ranchers are the real cowboys!
We mainly saw the black cows and they graze on enormous prairies...
And yes, we both learned about SUMMER HEAT! View this drone video → Summer Heat in the Sandhills, Featuring the Hubsan ACE SE drone, Fly with Mike
Photo taken through my open window at traffic light in Alliance, Nebraska on 124 W Third Street.
blue sky...
Now we're on US 385 near Chadron Creek Ranch State Wildlife Management Area
We both admired the famous Ponderosa Pines!
And yes, it was HOT—111°F or 43.8°C
This is where the above photo was taken, on US 385 going north.
It was in this north–western part of Nebraska that I almost got blown off the road by AN EXTREME STRONG WIND GUST! WOW, that was a scare and luckily I held the steering wheel with both hands and with stretched arms, as we were taught in The Netherlands. Hah, that would also explain that we did not see ONE motor bike, they would get blown off the road by such a strong prairie wind!
Even felt it in my upper–arm muscles, from holding the steering wheel...
How will their harsh winters be like here? One thing we learned about the Midwest and West is the STRONG WINDS...
You also better take EVERY opportunity to gas up when you see a gas station— it is so stretched out!
Yay, now we're entering South Dakota into Buffalo Gap National Grassland...!
We would pass through Hot Springs, South Dakota and then into the most amazing nature...
Around 15:50 we spotted our first Buffalos —what a sight!
Buffalos everywhere, as far as you could see!
They have the right of way when crossing the road...
For this photo I'd walked across the road, after parking our car.
Do you see the Prairie dog, lower right, next to that mound?
I immediately picked up their shrill, high voices as they call for danger (not me!)...
Here you again see a Prairie dog, to the left of that mound.
Entering Wind Cave National Park—so much to see and visit here!
What a wonderful area, Wind Cave National Park is right below Custer State Park and we drove up via Hot Springs to our final destination for the day: Custer, South Dakota.
 
Now Pieter was studying the Prairie dogs and buffalos with the use of our binoculars.
Meanwhile I walked towards some mounds with Prairie dogs.
Enjoy this 13 seconds video:
What a huge surprise for being surrounded by such beautiful nature!!!
One could stay there easily for one week and never get bored.
Gassing up for next day, as I always did for a good start.
We're now at our destination in Custer, South Dakota
We arrived at our hotel for 2 consecutive nights...
I had not that much choice, when making my booking!
Best Western Buffalo Ridge Inn is okay but not very good.
Do you see those stairs to the right? Just left of that car...
I had not looked well enough at this image on their home page, for realizing that there were NO elevators!
And yes, Murphy's Law had us stay at room 220 and I had to haul our things UP those stairs and it is at an elevation of 1,620 m or 5249 feet in the Black Hills of South Dakota...
The result was a very upset mid–back for several days!
Thanks for traveling with us and hoping this did bring some information about these vast states.
Stay tuned for our next day's adventure...
Our day's journey from Lincoln, Nebraska into South Dakota and staying in Custer.
Our progress for the day 809.1 km or 502 mi and a lot of climbing got done as well...
Enjoy our 2 min. short Relive video:

Monday, August 1, 2022

From Illinois Through Missouri & Iowa to Nebraska

 Please join us as we continue our West-bound journey...
This time we travel from Illinois, through Missouri & Iowa into Nebraska.
The Eastern Bluebird and Red Hawthorn are the state bird/flower for Missouri
Around 9:54 I start crossing the Mississippi River on the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge. 
Yes, I had some light rain... The ONLY day with some rain!
At Metro–East St. Louis, Illinois.
At 10:13 crossing the Missouri River on the 10–lane Blanchette Memorial Bridge at Saint Charles, Missouri.
The rain had stopped...
Blanchette Bridge I–70 West Bound ←click for short video
After passing Lake Saint Louis, we went more north on US–61, near Wentzville, MO
Very interesting drive with lots of Nature like Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln Hills Natural Area and Cuivre River State Park: Northwoods Wild Area.
When coming closer to Hannibal on the Mississippi River, we took the US–36/MO–110 West.
Hannibal was the boyhood town of Mark Twain and is famously known as the setting of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn!
Approaching Macon, Missouri (one–hour driving from our hometown is a Macon, Georgia!) and more nature with Macon County Park and Long Branch State Park with a huge lake.
Missouri kept surprising us, also with extensive agriculture and very lush and green fields!
Pieter gassing up after 524.2 km or 325 miles...
This was in Brookfield, Missouri
BUT it was actually our 4th try at a CASEY'S General Store for finding high octane fuel!
Otherwise we would lose our car's warranty...
Feels good for having enough for arriving at our destination and also for using the restroom and eating our lunch around 13:00.
Did drive 4 hours and 44 minutes since morning...
The maximum speed in the midwest is higher than in the east, so you can make good progress in general.
Vast agricultural areas we passed, very rural, not many towns!
Pieter and I, with our horticultural background HAD to stop and check out the crops we were passing...
This was around 1:40 pm and they turned out to be very healthy Soybeans, at blooming stage.
Near Saint Joseph Missouri, on the Missouri River, I turned onto Interstate 29 North.
More interesting nature, when passing through Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge.
Around 14:18 at Intersection near Cameron, Missouri on US–36 W and 110 W for diverting to Kansas City south on Interstate 35 or Bethany to the north on Interstate 35.
We kept going on combined US–36 W and 110 W(est).
It was a cloudy day but very pleasant for driving!
A bit of a traffic jam at this junction... so at 14:20, I managed to take this sign.
After passing a huge Power Plant on the Missouri River, we now turn left around 15:58 onto NE–2 W = Nebraska highway 2 West and stay on it for about 75 km or 46.6 mi.
Visible on this map, where we turned off I–29 onto NE–2 West.
We also did pass through a corner of the State Iowa, IA–2 = Iowa 2 which changes into NE–2 for Nebraska.
Around 5:32 PM I pulled up at the Hyatt Place on 600 Q Street in Lincoln, Nebraska
We relax in room 208 of Hyatt Place Lincoln/Downtown–Haymarket ←click link
After checking in and then parking the car in the adjacent public garage, I walked across the street to capture this train at Lincoln Station, Haymarket.
We were so very lucky all those days with perfect weather!
The Hyatt Place Lincoln/Downtown–Haymarket on Q Street. 
Yes, they use the alphabet for street names!
Lincoln is the Capital of Nebraska.
An overview of our travel for that day; we really did go WEST!
The achievement for the day, lots of climbing again.
A total of 892 km or 554 miles.
Enjoy this short 2 minute Relive video below.
Stay tuned for day 3...

Copyright:

MARIETTE'S BACK TO BASICS © 2009. All rights reserved - Text and images may not be copied for distribution or sale.

213 Countries visited with 277 flags since:

free counters

Total Pageviews

Blog Archive

Google Analytics

Labels

4th of July (8) Accordion (7) Advent (24) ALL SAINTS DAY | ALL SOULS DAY (2) Aluminum Roofing (11) Amaretti cookies (15) American Airlines (4) American Mushroom Institute (2) Angels (123) Angels We Know By Name (12) Archiving (29) Arizona (19) Australia (25) Auto Immune Disease (12) Ava Grace's closet (10) Baccarat Crystal (65) Backyard Wildlife HABITAT Certificate (8) Barlow Tyrie Capri Lounger (2) Bathing Suits (10) BB and L (4) Belgium (2) Benjamin Moore (14) Biking (33) Birthdays (38) Blissful Relationship (113) Blog Award (20) Blog Pageviews (14) Blogger I Admire (33) Blogger Tips (27) Bobèches (6) Bok Tower (3) Bridal Gowns (6) Britex Fabrics (12) Britex Notions (10) Bulgaria (3) Burberry (31) Burberry Tuxedo (6) Bypass Surgery (8) Cable Car (5) Camille Tharaud (9) Campbell Soup (42) Canada (31) Canada Rail Vacations (4) Candles (40) Carbon Footprint (10) Carillon (2) Cat Nurse (1) Cathedral/Basilica/Church (89) Ceramic Chandelier (6) Certified Podologist (2) Chanel (20) Chaperon (5) Cherubs (20) Childhood (19) Chile (7) China (15) Chocolate (33) Christie's (28) Christmas (63) Christofle (28) Christofle (Memoire) David Rosenberg (11) Chronic Kidney Disease (15) Citizen Journalism (8) CitizenM (2) Coffee Cup (5) Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass (8) Communism (14) Conference (35) Congress (29) Consulting (152) Costco (2) Countries visited (38) Courtesy (1) Croatia (1) Curaçao (14) D.S. Mullis (Author) (1) Dad (116) Damixa (7) Danish (6) Daughter (69) De Gaerde (1) Declaration of Independence (5) Delft Polychrome (1) Delftware houses (10) Delta Airlines (11) Denmark (2) Dessert (10) Diabetes (13) Diabetes type 2 (22) Diabetes type 2 Recipe (10) Dialysis (13) Dieng Plateau (2) Dining with Royalty (1) DMC (28) DNA (6) Doensen Sfeerhaarden (2) Domain Name (1) Door Décor (1) Doris Plaster (1) Down Duvets (6) Dupuytren's Contracture (3) Dutch American Heritage Day (5) Dutch King's Day (5) Dutch Queen's Day (4) Dweilen (3) Easter (26) Eco Friendly (31) Eco Storage (4) Edible flowers (11) Education (79) Edward Bok (5) Energy Star (10) England (16) Escada (140) Etiquette Training (5) Fairmont Hotels (16) Family (166) Family Memories (118) Filet Lace (12) Filet Lace Embroidered (4) First Lady Melania Trump (2) Fleur de Lys (11) France (6) FREEDOM (11) French (72) French Country Style (55) French Lavender Sachets (5) Friendship (274) From Pilgrim to President (2) Genocide (2) Georgia (36) Georgia State Flag (4) Germany (12) Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet (17) Gevaphone (4) Gift from Blogger Friend (36) Gillis Video (7) Giovanni Raspini Charms and Co (42) Giovanni Raspini Silver Desk Items (11) Giovanni Raspini Silver Frames (11) Giovanni Raspini Silver Gifts (17) GIVEAWAY (23) Going Green (36) Graham H. Boonzaaier (5) Grand Canyon (4) Graze Picking (1) Hand Crocheted (105) Hand Embroidered (28) Hand Knitted (29) Hand made Lace (23) Happy New Year (10) Hawaii (5) Healthy Heart (20) Healthy heart recipe (27) Healthy Living (73) Heart Attack (19) Heeroom (13) Helicopter (2) Hermès (2) High Tea (8) Highlights of the Mississippi Cruise (8) Holocaust (1) Hong Kong (7) House Blessing (2) Hungary (16) Hurricane (4) Hyatt (119) I Will Follow Him (1) India (44) Indonesia (23) Interlock Metal Roofing (15) International Workshop & Seminar (2) Irok gallery (13) ISMS (34) Italy (58) Japan (7) Kashmir (9) Kichler Xenon Under Counter Lights (2) KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (57) Kruisherenhotel (1) Lace (6) Lacquered Brass Window Decorations (14) Lampe Berger (11) Lampes Berger A Century of History by Gérald Vilcocq (10) Language (68) Last Call by Neiman Marcus (24) Lavender Sachet (4) Le Chameau (2) Le Jacquard Français (37) Leather Coat (3) Leather Garments Factory (12) Leather Shorts (2) Leather Skirt (3) Leather Vest (5) Leprosy Infection (5) Leprosy Project (10) Leprosy STIGMA (8) Limburg (49) Limoges (18) Limoges Table Lamp (7) Log Cabin (6) Logee's (12) Maharaja Amarinder Singh of Patiala (1) Mainstream Media (1) Margraten (6) Marl Caves (12) Mason's Patent Ironstone Mandalay (18) Maximum Baggage Weight (10) Meeting Blogger Friend (9) Mega Task (45) Memorial Day (8) Mexico (25) Miele (18) Millinery (13) Mom (132) Montblanc pens (1) Moral Compass (19) Mushroom Cultivation (73) Mushroom Editorial Review (24) Mushroom Quality Criteria (23) Mushroom Technology Transfer Seminar (10) Mushrooms Canada (4) Mushrooms in our Garden (19) My Boots (26) My French Connection (2) My Hats (18) My Publications (7) My Sewing Creation (54) Nativity Scene (6) New Netherland (2) New Orleans (11) New Orleans School of Cooking (2) New York City (28) Organ (15) Original Content (30) Ormolu (6) Our Balcony (17) Our Bathroom (8) Our Bird Feeders (10) Our Bird Houses (16) Our Bridges and Wood Trail (59) Our Canine (31) Our Dutch Clock (3) Our Felines (164) Our Fiberglass Window Boxes (34) Our Flower Bulbs (67) Our Flowering Shrubs (134) Our Flowering Trees (30) Our Flowering Vines (37) Our Flowers (63) Our Fragrant Flowers (172) Our Garden (59) Our Garden Critters (78) Our Gazebo (57) Our Greenhouse (22) Our Home (163) Our Life in Indonesia (76) Our Life in Italy (36) Our Magnolias (55) Our Palm Trees (20) Our Pet Squirrel (1) Our Pond (28) Our Pot Plants (52) Our Rose Arbor (5) Our Rose Suite (16) Our Roses (61) Our Shrubs (7) Our Trees (53) P.J.C. Vedder's Memoirs (184) P.J.C. Vedder's Publications (85) Patio (35) Pearls (28) People to People Citizen Ambassador Program (28) Plagiarism (6) Poem (1) Poinsettia (7) Poland (1) Pond's India (23) Pre-Diabetes (9) Prednisone (9) Princess Diana (10) Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold (32) Quotes (61) Religious Paper Lace (2) Relive (54) Replacements Ltd. (19) REPOUSSE Silver (10) Resilientista (31) Ristorante da Maria (35) Romania (5) Romantic Boxes with Pansies (2) Romantic Rose Boxes (7) Rose Jewelry (10) Rose silverware (65) Rose Stepping Stones (5) Roses (6) Rösle (7) Rotary International (5) Royal Mail (1) Saint Nicholas (13) Saint Valentine's Day (14) Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th (12) Santa Barbara Plantation (3) Santa Claus (12) Saving Energy (18) Scraped Content (9) Serbia (2) Servitude (1) Silver Knife Rests (19) Sinden Award (13) Singapore Airlines (1) Singing (36) Sinterklaas (10) Skiing (5) Socialism (7) South Africa (20) Spain (1) SPAWN MATE SYMPOSIUM (2) Spectrenoir (95) Storage and Organizing (6) Super Power Readers (4) Sweden (2) Switzerland (13) Table Setting (32) Taiwan (3) Tanner Krolle (4) Tavel (1) Tea (25) Tea Cup (15) Thailand (2) Thanksgiving (11) The Bridge (13) The Netherlands (22) Theodore Haviland France (2) Toile de Jouy (5) Tornado (3) Toyota RAV4 (14) Transparent Acrylic Bolts and Nuts (3) Travel (436) Travel by Rail (25) Tropical Thunderstorms (4) Uncle Bo Whaley (17) UNESCO World Heritage Site (22) United States Citizenship (10) United States Flag (12) Vases (100) Viking River Cruise (10) Vintage Lampe Berger (13) Vintage Woodworks (33) Vinyl Picket Fence (22) Water Control (20) Wedding (13) Wedding Anniversary (21) WeFie (14) WGXA.TV (3) Wolford (22) Wool Fedora Hat (8) World Bank (2) World Leprosy Day (4) World Polio Day (3) Writing (93) Yves Delorme (8) Yves Saint Laurent (3) Zegna (12)