Part Three

"Picture Perfect"

The skies are full of scattered cirrus clouds with lots of filtered sunshine on Day 3. And the temp might just reach 80 degrees. What was quite the blustery day on Sunday has now become a gentle 5-10 MPH breeze. Very nice indeed.

While putting yesterday's issue to print last night, I happened to notice how fast my Internet upload speed was at the inn that I am staying at. So I said to myself, “Self??”, and I said, “Yes??”, and I said, “Let’s have fun and just go nuts with the pictures tomorrow”. Hence today’s title.

If there was ever a place to have a high floor office here in Kearney, this would be my view as seen from the 2nd Avenue bridge:

The sweeping curves of the transcontinental mainline looking east; made of 136-pound rail, concrete ties and deep ballast. And that is the municipal parking lot in the upper left corner where this writer is writing.

Our host city Kearney is quite the place. In downtown, there is plenty of parking: Diagonal Street parking, that is.

Kinda like the layouts of the cities of Manchester and Middletown back home in Connecticut.  None of that parallel stuff that tests your old high school driving school skills. And the central downtown area streets are paved with bricks, slightly larger than your house building variety.

And there are various kinds of storefronts:

Including the Knights of Columbus hall of Council 1728 of St. James Church:

Complete with this beautiful mural on the south side of the building:

And there's also the Salvation Army:

And you have Bruce Furniture on the west side of Central Avenue:

And Nelson's Furniture & Flooring right across the avenue:

And if ever have the need to get drilled…your teeth, that is, then there is this converted movie theatre:

Complete with the flashing ceiling lights!! And for audiophiles like my friend Dave at News8, there is this:

And being the broadcaster that I am, here is one of the 2 radio clusters in Kearney:

KGFW AM 1340, KQKY FM 105.9 (Hits 106) Top-40 and KRNY FM 102.3 (Y102) Country.

KRNY is automated but KGFW and KQKY have actual live air personalities!! Imagine that.

That "ghostly" figure above works the AM side:

And the young lady above works the FM side of Hits 106. Thanks to receptionist Monica for her time while I was visiting.

And across the avenue from the radio stations is the World Theatre:

Where it is Halloween theme weekends with recent viewings of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” and Stephen Spielberg’s “E.T.” and the upcoming original “Ghostbusters” and ending with a double feature of “Army of Darkness” and “Night of the Living Dead”. And for those of you who like a little bit of the taboo:

There’s Sweet Sensations adult novelties and Olde Towne Tattoo that happen to be right next door to each other. And along the other store fronts, you'll find Hawthorne’s Jewelers and Hoover’s Jewelers within one door of each other and at least 4 hair salons in the same block: Salon James, Evo Salon, Hair Tech and Shear Images. And there is one place that would be near and dear to my daughter Caty’s heart:

MONA – the Museum Of Nebraska Art. And now a word from our sponsor:

Your Central Nebraska Coca-Cola & Dr. Pepper Bottlers:

Coke!! The Pause That Refreshes!!

And we must mention Good Samaritan Hospital:

The regional trauma center; complete with its own helipad and medical transport helicopter.  

And for your higher education: there’s the University of Nebraska – Kearney:

And finally today is the 30^th Avenue bridge:

An imposing structure on the west side of town at the end of the paved section of North Railroad Street. I have been trying, since 2000 when I first visited this bridge, to get pictures of trains from up there. Every time in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2010, I have waited a half hour on what I thought was a busy part of the day for the Union Pacific. But of course, as luck would have it, I get off the bridge:

And, oh, there’s the horn of an approaching train. DARN IT!! But….that all changed today:

An empty unit coal train heading west to the coal fields of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. And before I can say anything, I look west and here comes an eastbound manifest freight:

And there he goes!!

Not too shabby. And we celebrate with Cousin Larry and Cousin Balke and do the Dance of Joy!!

Anyway, the day has been quite comfortable. 82 degrees under what could be described as a picture perfect Fall day. Thank you God!! But as mentioned before, the weather on The Plains can change very quickly. Hopefully for the next couple of weeks, things will be calm….fingers crossed.

To finish up the afternoon, we celebrate at a newly found establishment:

Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors. And Dad, the Very Berry Strawberry might just rival that of New England's own Hood Ice Cream. But Hood is still in first place.

Yeah, me!!

On Tuesday, we depart Kearney and head west to our next host, the town of Cozad, right there on the 100^th meridian. See you then.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Kearney, Nebraska.