Back to Nebraska

Although I rejoined Ron in Denver area after my flight to Jacksonville, I have to backtrack verbally and finish our adventures in Nebraska.  So here goes.

U.S. 20 across northwest Nebraska is called the Bridges to Buttes highway.  We must have missed the bridges, but once we hit the western part of the state, we sure saw the buttes.

We stayed a couple nights at another nice city park in Crawford.  One day we took a driving tour, following suggested routes from the visitors center.  It was very scenic, although the road was interesting in some places . . .

And just plain scary in others.  Along one stretch, I was sure we were going to get stuck in the mud.  Front wheel drive is not always enough.  But Ron didn't panic and after a bit of spinning, the wheels did grab.  All his years of driving in Colorado snow paid off.

We stopped to see the Belmont Tunnel, Nebraska's only railroad tunnel.  Built in 1888, it was bypassed by an open cut in 1982.  Here's the current route.

And after a short walk, we found the old tunnel.

Here's what we wondered.  As you can see, the tunnel is pretty short.  After cutting through the hill for approximately 1/4 mile, why did they make a tunnel instead of continuing to cut?  Seems like it would be a lot easier.