Part Fourteen

“You’ve reached the end of the string”

That’s a phrase we use in Ham Radio, particularly when you use a repeater. A repeater is a receiver and a transmitter mounted back-to-back on a high hill. The receiver hears you and the transmitter sends out your voice over a large area. When you reach the edge of the receiver’s ears, someone will tell you you’ve reach the end of the coverage area; the end of the string.

Well, that was a long and informative way of saying that my good string of weather, no pun intended, has come to an end…for now. Overcast skies greet me when I get up in Centennial, Colorado, a southern suburb of Denver. And about 30 miles north of Denver as I enter Greeley:

The raindrops start to fall.

There are 2 stops to make in Greeley this Friday morning. The first is at KUNC-FM 91.5:

Located on 7^th Street in the Chase Bank building. Their studios and offices are scattered about the 5^th floor.

Some background on them from their website:

“KUNC is a community-licensed public radio station, operated by Community Radio for Northern Colorado, Inc., a 501 (c) 3, Colorado non-profit organization. CRNC came into existence in the winter of 2001 when a group of community volunteers raised $2 million in 20 days to purchase KUNC's license from the University of Northern Colorado and preserve the station's independent voice.

“Instrumental in the fundraising campaign were many members of the KUNC listening community, including the KUNC Advisory Board. The Board had existed for many years providing community reaction and guidance to the station staff.

“Following the sale of the station to the community group, a Board of Directors was elected which oversees the operation of the station. The KUNC Community Advisory Board continues to provide community insights to the staff in matters of programming, community service and fundraising.”

The morning I showed up, they were in the middle of their second day of a fall pledge drive as many NPR stations do to raise funds for their non-commercial operations. The person I was suppose to meet today for my tour, Dave Dennis who use to live in Old Lyme, was busy with a morning commitment so I met up with Robert Leja, who takes care of corporate support and marketing for KUNC-FM. And as he was giving me the station tour, I met Ryan Thompson who is their Operations Administrator. Ryan was the one who processed my pledge when he heard that I was from Niantic, Connecticut. He too is a former resident of Niantic and has family in Waterford. As Mr. Disney coined so long ago, “It’s a small, small world”.

As you can see from the picture, their on-air studio is no bigger than an 8-by-10-foot room. 

And there was just enough room in there for morning Diverse Music hostess Wendy Wham and 2 other associates of KUNC-FM as the pledge drive rolled on. Robert Leja mentioned that the walls of the studio were stripped of their racks of CDs, which provide the on-air music content. KUNC-FM is in the process of moving to a new location in Greeley. Robert also said that they are one of a few stations that still uses CDs since many have converted over to audio servers. Still, KUNC-FM is quite the station and is a very different slice-of-the-pie. Please give them a listen at http://www.kunc.com/ and enjoy.

Soon after that, we wind up at Martin Produce, Inc. on 6^th Street in Greeley:

And meet up with Dorothy Martin Zebka, former mayor of Greeley and a fellow railran from way back. 

I found out about Dorothy through an article published in TRAINS Magazine last spring. I had flagged it in Outlook and made sure I would visit her while in Greeley.

Some background on Dorothy, courtesy of the Greeley Tribune:

*********

“I hear 'em coming from the north or from the south,” Zabka says. “My office is back there, so I have to run around here (into the hallway) and grab my lantern, flick the switch on and go outside and wave it like this.”

It helps that her office is on the southwest side of the Martin Produce building, close to the railroad tracks.

She's plenty busy enough, working from 7 a.m.-5 p.m., and often longer, each day at the 70-year-old family business at 617 6th St. in Greeley. Zabka, besides being a lover of trains, just likes to give a friendly wave to the train engineers as they pass. No matter how busy she is, she'll sprint out to the front porch with a Union Pacific lantern, given to her by grateful UP crew members, in hand.

This daily ritual has been going on for decades. Zabka, who holds the distinction of being Greeley's only female mayor (1967-71), took over Martin Produce as a high school student after the death of her father, H.G. Martin. All of Martin Produce's potatoes and onions now go out by truck, but back in the day the produce got shipped hither and yon by rail. Besides produce and trains, Zabka's passions include collecting pens, teddy bears and antique cars. The 4,000 pens on display inside Martin Produce are just a fraction of the 36,000 pens she's collected over the years.

Joining Zabka on her impromptu train dashes is the fleet-footed Sparky, her pet poodle, and he spends his days roaming around Martin Produce.

********

It was an honor to meet Dorothy and Sparky and I wish them both well and to keep being railfans.

Heading north out of Greeley and the rain continues to fall. The skies are quite overcast and you cannot see the Rockies towards the west. Just over the Wyoming border, I head west on Wyoming State Route 223 to get to I-25 and I come across the transmitter site for local Cheyenne radio station KGAB, 650 on your AM dial. And as you can tell, it was one ugly gray day.

KGAB is a class 1B station, meaning it has to protect the class 1A in Nashville, Tenneesee, which is legendary Opryland station WSM. So at local sunset time in Cheyenne, KGAB does a pattern change and swings its signal to the northwest.

To see what it looks like, take a look at these graphics, courtesy of Radio-Locator.Com/. First the daytime pattern:

And the nighttime pattern:

So, anyone who was in the southeast part of the daytime pattern will not hear KGAB until the daytime pattern change at sunrise.

Ans as I turn onto I-25 North, check this out:

My neighbor Mike Rogers would have a field day at this place. Remember the muppet from the old syndicated Muppet Show wandering around the stage saying, "Did somebody say BANG???!!!"

Must be quite the fun place on the Fourth.

And before I leave Cheyenne, it a quick stop at Holliday Park to see:

The world’s largest steam locomotive, known on the UP as “Big Boy”.

Some facts from the display sign next to the locomotive. Please click on the picture to read:

There was a rumor some years ago from Hollywood about reactivating the Big Boy on display in Dallas, Texas but the costs proved to be too expensive. Pentrex, the railroad video seller, had a couple of DVDs with some vintage films on the Big Boy as it ran on the UP between Cheyenne and Ogden, Utah. I have them and the footage is great.

A few more shots of the beast:

And before we leave Holliday park, the colors are still beautiful despite the rainy weather.

As I head over to pick up I-80, I am surprised to see this scene:

This was the Hitching Post Inn and restaurant lounge. It was owned by Best Western and then Ramada Inn and was one of the finest inns/hotels that I ever stayed at. It had a large check-in desk with the adjoining reception room just respendent in western décor. It is just a damn shame to see such a unique place in ruins. And from what I can tell, about 2/3 of the property is a total loss.

Soon I am out on I-80 east and the clouds are looking quite ominous.

Kansas and a dog named Toto keep coming to mind.

  

I head east on I-80 and soon turn onto U.S. Route 30 and begin my journey back to Omaha. 

And before we leave Pine Bluffs, Wyoming:

Seems junkyards are quite popular out here. And these are old gas pumps; some so old that they don't go above 99.9 cents a gallon. Ah, the good ol' days.

And along the way, the UP still provides some fine entertainment:

After about a half hour, I arrive at the spot on the map known as Brownson. It has a historic mark about Nebraska but also a fine drive-in, drive-out driveway and it affords a good angle of the Sidney Sub:

While I was on my cell phone to check some info about KUNC, I thought I saw a flash of light. I look to the south and what I thought may have been the flash of a tower light was a flash of lightning. And the cloud didn't look too happy to me:

So once I am done on the phone, and see one more bit of entertainment:

It is time to take cover as the streaks of rain head to Sidney. And I just make it into my hotel as the heavens open up. And the rains stay through the evening.

Dinner is a great cheeseburger at a place called It’s Our Place Resturant. Good food. Good service.

Saturday, we'll continue our journey towards Omaha with the next stop being North Platte. A few more installments and it will be a wrap. I hope you all have been enjoying the journey. Almost time to head home.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On the Road. In Sidney, Nebraska.

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.