Page 18b . .

Mason City to Sidney, NE

Day 1 Travel Route

Our first day was a long day of travel across Iowa and most of Nebraska. We left the house at about 7:15 AM with the temperature at a chilly 28 degrees and clear skies. It was a beautiful day for travel and we did little but drive west on I80. Late in the day we decided to leave the Interstate and finish the 30-miles to Sidney on old US Highway 30, also known as the Lincoln Highway.

After driving about half the distance to Sidney I became desperate for a picture for this update so stopped on the two-lane highway and took a picture of what we had been looking at all day, NOTHING! Now I know, not every state can be as beautiful as Iowa (grin).

Just as we thought there was nothing to display on this page we drove through the small town of Lodgepole and found this 1887 Union Pacific Railroad depot about a block off the highway. The name of the town comes from the Lodgepole Creek where it is said that the local Native Americans would secure timber for their tipi poles. This depot was moved to this location after its use ended in 1968.

We continued west and found a nice scene with a working windmill, water supply, and horses. Driving on the highway with very little traffic made picture taking much easier than it would have been from the interstate, especially when on the interstate we were travelling at 75 MPH.

Also mentioned on the sign at the depot in Lodgepole was a pony express station located near Lodgepole. We found it located a few miles west and stopped to take a picture of the marker and the windmill located to the north of the site.

If you check back on our trip to Sunset, Utah in 2007 you will note that Sidney was our stopping point as well. We did look around town and found the original powder house for Fort Sidney. Below is the commanders house for the fort. Both of these structures are located off the Lincoln Highway in neighborhoods.

Follow the links below to view the remainder of our trip.

If you do not see a menu on the left click here to go to our home page.