A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 12 Sunday
9/20/2020
This morning I headed 30 miles south on US-83 to Vivian, SD where I took 1-90 west 25 miles to visit the Pioneer Auto Museum located in Murdo, SD. This museum consists of some 185 beautifully restored antique and classic cars dating from 1902 to 2005. Wow! What a great collection! There are also around 15 cars and trucks of all types and conditions for sale.
Now I headed south 25 miles on US-83, thru White River and 55 miles east on SD-44 to visit the Tripp County Historical Museum located in Winner, SD. You might think you had entered a diner when you first walk into this small museum, but it goes along with the Main Street displays and other exbitits showing the life of 1900s southeastern SD pioneers to the present. The museum also has a steam engine tractor collection in another building.
I continued south 20 miles on US-18 to Colome, SD where I picked up US-183, south, another 60 miles to visit the Sellers Barton Museum located in Ainsworth, NE. This museum resides in an historic log building and consists mainly of artifacts and memorabilia related to life in the north central Nebraska area during the 1800s & 1900s.
I wanted to visit the Boneyard Creation Museum located in Broken Bow, NE but they were closed today, and besides that it would have taken me around 50 miles (roudtrip) out of my way. So I just headed south on US-183, thru Basset and Westerville, a long and boring 160 miles to Kearney, NE where I visited the Classic Car Collection located at the intersection of US-30 & NE-10. The long drive was worth it! This is a fabulas collection of some 200+ beautifully restored 1930s to 1970s classic cars. The collection includes rare and historic family cars, touring cars, sports cars, and mussle cars. There is also a recreated 1950s service station and an origineal drive-in movie ticket booth. I loved the videos projected on car hoods.
A few miles south I visited the Nebraska Firefighters Museum located adjacent to I-80 there in Kearney. This museum is deticated to honoring the history and heritage of firefighters from all parts of the state of Nebraska, and has a large collection of firefighting equipment dating from the early 1800s.
From the Firefighters Museum I could look east and see the Archway spanning I-80. This Historical Monument was built in 2000 and has a museum that chronicles the development of the Great Platte River Road, a throughfare thru this area dating from the mid-1800s (Fort Kearney). Generational displays help visitors grasp the great western movement of american pioneer travelers to the west.
Now I heeaded into town to visited the Rails & Trails Museum located just off of NE-44. This museum tells the story of the western migration thru southern Nebraska over the centuries with local artifacts and memorabilia. The museum also has several pieces of restored rolling stock representing how the railroad helped expand Platte River Valley area over the years.
I couldn’t believe how tired I was. After only 360 miles. Come on Bill. What are you, some kind of a whimp? I headed for the motel there in Kearney. After I got checked in, I broke out one of my Heat-&-Serve dinners and heated it up in the micrrwave. Then I enjoyed a great Chicken Marsala meal while I relaxed with some TV.
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 63 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 
Good job.
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