September 27, 2010Nebraska has been a welcome relief from the hot, dry, sagebrush of Wyoming. The highway is also in better shape, so the bouncing has greatly diminished. We spent a bit of time in North Platte....only realizing after we left that we had taken no photos of the Platte River!
Buffalo Bill Cody built a ranch (Scout's Rest) here on 4000 acres. Sixteen acres are owned by the city as a historical site and park. His home is open to visitors and the large barn also contains some memorabilia. He staged his first big Wild West show and rodeo in North Platte, so it is now home to the Buffalo Bill Rodeo. This photo is of a portion of the bleachers, but it is MUCH larger in real than in 2-D photos. The link is to the ranch and has some interesting facts. I didn't know that he was credited with inventing rodeos.
We also stopped in Gothenburg to see the replica sod house, which is falling into disrepair. This life-sized buffalo is at the same museum as the sod house and was made of 4.5 miles of barbed wire. The museum was locked up so we just wandered around the grounds. The link is to sites in Gothenburg, and you have to scroll down to find the bit about the sod house. There are also two Pony Express stations there, but we had stopped at those the last time we went through, so we didn't seek them out again. 
We were able to find a quick geocache in Gothenburg, too, and had a picnic lunch in a nice little park. Gothenburg is a charming little town (about 3500 people) with lots of nicely cared-for yards and homes, updated schools, and no grafitti or litter. Not planning to move there, but it was a fun town to visit.
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