Part Thirteen

“Go west, young man.”

That’s what News8 weatherman Sid Starks told me 2 years ago when we were discussing the possibility of me making a trip back out to the Midwest after putting my daughter Caty through college. And I was glad I did.

And we had that same conversation back in the early summer this year. And in August, this trip came to fruition.

I head west this morning to the city of Laramie, which is a UP city. On the way there, it is a bit of a journey. Cheyenne is 6060 feet above sea level. As you head west, you climb little by little. The UP tracks follow I-80 with a few places near the highway:

You go over the tracks a few times until you reach Milepost 334 just west of Buford, Wyoming on the Interstate and they disappear into the hills:

Only to come back once you are in Laramie.

And as only you can do out here in the wide open spaces, you run into the occasional wide load:

Though nothing like that house move near Ogallala yesterday.

At Point Crawford near milepost 323, you reach the highest elevation, at least for this part of Wyoming, of 8640 feet. Within 1 mile, you see the signs warning the truckers to slow from 75 to 65 and ahead of you are 8 miles of 5% grade.

Even in a car, it makes a difference to drop the speed. After weaving thru the downward grades, the Laramie Valley opens up in front of you and you have arrived in Laramie.

Once in Laramie,

I head to the corner of 1^st and Grand and find the pedestrian walkway bridge.

 This bridge was originally used by UP employees to access the south side of Laramie Yard and a locomotive roundhouse, which sadly met the wrecking ball. But on one side of the yard, you find these 1/4-mile long rail trains.

And in the yard is a rail welding shop and the place where the rail is fed in to be welded.

I had seen the empty rail cars before but on this day, they are full of newly welded rail.

Some history: rail comes in 39-foot lengths or longer and in the old days, these lengths of rail were bolted together with rail joints. Over time, the height of the ends of the rails became lower than the center of the rail. After a while, you ended up with a rock-and-roll effect since the rail joints were spaced out alternately from side to side.

Today, rail is now welded together to form 1/4-mile lengths of continuous rail. In the rail train on the right:

There are 40 sections of welded rail, which gives you 5 miles of rail once laid out on railroad ties. Welded rail offers less derailments and a much smoother ride.

Soon we are on our way back to Cheyenne. But I had to take a picture of this old UP caboose on the main drag.

Sure would make a nice place for my ham radio shack, yes??

Up onto I-80 East and soon after you leave Laramie, you start hitting those 5% grades.

The speed limit is 75. I watch my Dodge Caliber try to maintain 75 and the engine is soon revving up to almost 4500RPM. I dropped down to 60 and the engine is at a better advantage to keep me going. And quite frankly, there aren’t that many other drivers trying to do road speed. And the truckers are doing worse than me.

But hey, you’ll get over the divide in due time.

As I work my way back to Cheyenne, I listen to KUNC-FM, 91.5, out of Greeley, Colorado, about an hour south of Cheyenne. The morning host of Diverse Music is Wendy Wham (her given name) and she is playing some very fine, and diverse, tunes. And it is also time for their fall fund drive. I give them a call and drop a pledge and continue to listen to the great music. KUNC-FM is an affiliate of NPR. You can check them out at http://www.kunc.org/ and give them a listen.

Back in Cheyenne at noon and soon it is on to Denver. As you work your way south on I-25, you can’t help but notice the Rockies Mountains to your right.

Snow is up on some of the peaks and as is customary every fall, there is a race to see which ski area will be the first to boast that they are open for the season.

Soon we arrive in the Mile-High city of Denver:

And as I near the interchange of I-25 and I-70, I come across a place near and dear to my youngest brother Jay:

Invesco Field, home to his beloved NFL Denver Broncos.

Once in the Denver proper, I find what is THE place for model railroaders. All scales from Z to G. It is Caboose Hobbies:

On the corner of Virginia and South Broadway. Inside are aisles chocked full of all sorts of rolling stock (lots in brass):

Locomotives:

Books:

And a host of detailing parts.

And you can’t forget Thomas:

Soon I arrive at my hotel in the Denver suburb of Centennial. At 6pm MDT, about 50 fans and me met at the UA Greenwood Plaza 12 to watch tonight’s special cinecast presentation of NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion. The show was great and ran 2 hours and 15 minutes. And since it was Thursday, which has traditionally been spaghetti night in my family, it was off to  The Macaroni Grille for some great pasta. 

Friday, we head north to Cheyenne and along the way, we’ll stop off and visit the folks at KUNC-FM, a different kind of public radio station in Greeley, Colorado. Then it’s a right turn at Cheyenne to head east and begin the trip back to Omaha. And there may be some snow. We'll see.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Denver, Colorado.