The Southwest up to Omaha

After our trolley tour we took our truck and drove out to see Laramie. On the way we took a couple detours.

We love watching this show called Aerial America, which shows different states and regions and their local attractions and natural wonder from an aerial view. We watched several episodes before this trip to get ideas of what would be fun to see! One of the sights was the Ames monument, a fantastically expensive monument that was build by the Union Pacific railroad to memorialize the contribution that the Ames brothers made to planning and funding the transcontinental railroad. No mention was made that on many accounts they are considered to have swindled the American people out of tons of money. The monument once sat alongside the railroad, but the tracks were moved and now it’s on a dirt road.

Next we drove through Buford, smallest town in the country (population 1). It is also the highest town situated on I-80 (8,000 feet).

Next up was the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument, situated at the highest point that I80 traverses across the country (8,640 feet). The location also holds a tribute to Henry Joy, President of the Packard Motor Company. Together these two men created the first road that united our country, the Lincoln Highway (opened 1913).Read more