U.S.A. Road Trip: Chasing the pony express across the heart of America

After the exhilaration of Niagara Falls, a brief sojourn into Canada and the joy of seeing the Browns in Connecticut, we set off west in earnest to see what we could find in the heart of America. In general we eschewed the big cities such as Buffalo and Chicago preferring to camp as much as we could do in nature (and cheapness), shop local and take in the sights. Looking back now, the changes in climate, terrain and culture across this stretch were enormous – which shouldn’t be a surprise as this stretch was some 3,000km long.

The wooded and lush greens of New York State gradually turned flatter, more brown and dry as we headed west. The flatlands of Nebraska seemed to stretch on forever (they really did) before giving way to increasingly hilly Cheyenne, Wyoming and then the northern rockies of Colorado. Quite the series of contrasts over these eight to ten days on the road.

The breakthrough Pony Express service

The Pony Express ran for a remarkably short period of eighteen months from April 1860, killed off as quickly as it began by the completion of the east to west coast telegraph. But what a staggering achievement it was while it lasted. It’s 3100km from the final endpoint of the eastern telegraph at St. Joseph Missouri through to Sacremento California and was covered in ten days by a relay of 80 riders and 400 horses who were rested, fed and watered at ~180 stations every twenty kilometres or so along the route.

Ten days might sound a long time today, but for the time this premium mail service was revolutionary when compared to the existing stagecoach service that took many weeks to deliver. The seminal achievement of the Pony Express came when the news of Abraham Lincoln’s election win was delivered in 7.5 days all the way to California. Although short-lived, the swift stamina of the Pony Express riders came to encapsulate the pioneering American dream, and the Pony Express remains culturally symbolic today, appearing on stamps, quarter dollar coins and so on.

Our own path first coincided with the route of the Pony Express around Fort Kearney, Nebraska. From here the Pony Express route followed the meander of the Great Platte River traversing a good portion of Nebraska as did we, all the way to Laramie, Wyoming (close to where we camped at Cody State Park). It then forged across the mountains through Utah and into Nevada to arrive in Sacramento.

Although we had seen occasional hints of the Pony Express, it wasn’t until we turned off the highway to check out the small historic town of Gothenburg, Nebraska that we had the chance to learn about it. For it was here that we met Larry. Larry is one of the volunteers manning a vintage pony express station. Apparently there are quite a few original stations remaining along the old pony express route which is now a national trail managed by the National Parks Service, though a good number of them are now within private grounds. Today this log cabin sits in a small urban park in central Gothenburg. (It was moved a short distance here from the path of the true trail by the river). We took our time here learning from Larry about the formation, riders, route, demise and impact of the Pony Express. The exhibits were great but it was the effervescent and generous Larry that really elevated our experience here.

Outside, both Rafe and Odessa enjoyed mounting a recently installed bronze saddle complete with its custom Pony Express mochila saddle mounted, lockable mail bag.

Loveberry’s Funny Farm and a brief visit to Michigan

When presented with the option to stop at Loveberry’s Funny Farm there really is no choice – we simply had to camp there. The setting itself was fantastic around a swimming lake, and the family owning it were were great. Rafe and Odessa played pool, darts and dodgeball with the resident kids for hours, and when not doing that they were bouncing on the massive pillow. Aside from the great name, setting and welcome the other enormous attraction for us in staying here is that half of the site is in Michigan. We checked in at the front desk in Ohio, but we slept in Michigan! Later we also popped back into Michigan for old school and great breakfast at Rachael’s Diner in the wonderfully named small town of White Pigeon.

Utica (Illinois) and Starved Rock State Park

The quaint historic village of Utica is something of a destination with its fancy rock shop, art galleries and plenty of cafes and restaurants, as well as the vital play park. All of that would already be sufficient to warrant a visit, but Utica also serves as the base to explore the nearby Starved Rock State Park.

Starved Rock State Park runs along the southern bank of the Illinois river and offers a wide range of outdoor pursuits including trails, waterfalls and fishing. As we walked the trails we were struck by the number of birds here with everything from raptors to cardinals all out looking for dinner. The park’s centrepiece is a rocky sandstone outcrop upon which the story goes that the local Illinois native Americans, the Illiwek held out against invading forces so resolutely that they all starved. This legend of Illinois’ stout defiance is naturally well known across the state and the park is Illinois’ most visited attraction annually. For Rafe, the highlight of our time there was the chance to fish with his new fishing rod (picked up cheap at the ubiquitous and very handy Dick’s Sporting Goods), thus completing his ideal camping experience (alongside cooking over the open fire).

By this time along the road trip we were well into rural farming and ranching country. Back home in the UK some of Odessa’s happiest times have been riding the local ponies and attending the petting farm. Imagine her excitement when we found an opportunity a couple of miles south west of Starved Rock to do both!

Cedar Creek Ranch has the most idyllic setting with plains to the front hosting the corral, and a lush valley and creek to the rear. No sooner had we rocked up than Dessa was astride her mount and being walked around their pony trails, loving every moment. And no, we still won’t be getting a pony ourselves Dessa! After that it was into the petting area to feed / be attacked by the goats and sheep.

Adventureland, Iowa

By this point we had been through the last of New York State, a little of Pennsylvania, breakfasted in Michigan, and across all of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. After this long stretch of camping and driving through plains and pastureland we needed a refresher. What better than a day on the rides and splashing in the water park of Adventureland?

Adventureland is in the middle of Iowa, just east of Des Moines. Our only consciousness of Des Moines comes from the opening chapter of the wonderful The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson. However, we were excited to spot Adventureland on the map as it looked like just our kind of place. We were concerned the park would be very busy, as we visited on a warm Memorial Day, however it seems most people chose other plans for the holiday, and the theme park was not jam packed with visitors and huge queues. It quickly became apparent that the park had recently been significantly upgraded with many new rides to try out. These upgrades have mainly added to the number of more exhilarating rides so the ride buddy duo of Jim and Rafe was quickly reconstituted (from Busch Gardens last month) and we set about riding everything at least once including the Monster with a vertical drop, and a bone shaking wooden coaster, The Pioneer. Equally there were plenty of rides for Dessa too and she particularly enjoying the lighthouse and aeroplane rides. In short we all had a great time, but we all started to flag by mid afternoon. So it was time to retire the other half of Adventureland, the water park, for some lazing in the lazy river and sliding all the many slides there too – especially the racing waterslide which we all competed on several times in the race to the bottom. Adventureland was great and the perfect palate cleanser for us around halfway across the ‘flat states’.

Strategic Air Command Museum (Nebraska)

It is fair to say that prior to this trip our knowledge of Nebraska was somewhat limited – we are not proud of ourselves. But Jim being Jim, one thing he did know was that Nebraska is home to Offutt Air Force Base, the headquarters of the US Strategic Air Command which commands the US strategic missile and long range strike arsenal. To quote Helen – what luck that the SAC Museum should be right on our route west on Interstate 80!

It turns out that the same great curation and immersive experience that we have experienced elsewhere in the US has also been applied here. Rafe and Odessa had a great time designing their own aircraft and then flying them in the simulator and building and flying their own rockets too. The theming even extended into the bathrooms / restrooms – our first great experience in a toilet!

Of course the static displays of aircraft, intercontinental and cruise missiles was well stocked, including with some unusual exhibits. Jim’s first up close sighting of a F117A Nighthawk, the famously angular stealth fighter, was a particular highlight. This specific airframe was especially interesting as it was one of the few of these aircraft that were retained by the air force after the retirement of the main fleet of Nighthawks. It was used on the test ranges as a target for new missiles and radar that need to be effective against stealth aircraft, and it was also used as a stand-in enemy aircraft to train US pilots against stealth adversaries. Several of the missiles were of a vintage that meant we could link this visit back to our time at NASA Kennedy Space Center, as the early NASA rockets were actually modified ICBMs.

Here we also had the chance to see a SR71 Blackbird. This was the second of this type of aircraft we have seen on this trip as we saw its closely related predecessor the CIA-operated A12 in New York on the USS Intrepid. A bigger surprise was for us to see that they also had an ex-RAF Vulcan bomber here, highlighting the close operating relationship between US Strategic Command and the RAF nuclear bomber force during the cold war.

Glorious Curt Gowdy State Park

If ever evidence were needed of how important it is to visit the State Parks as well as the National Parks, Curt Gowdy State Park is it.

After a couple of days through the flat lands of Nebraska broadly following the Great Platte river, small undulations gradually gave way to rolling hills.

Before we knew it we were in Wyoming; only the south eastern corner but Wyoming nonetheless. Equally quickly after turning off the interstate those hills had grown somewhat and we entered through the log gate of Curt Gowdy State Park. As we crested the rise and looked out was the most dramatic view, the park occupying the shores around a large lake surrounded all around by granite strewn hills and valleys. Little gophers flitted here and there while Odessa explored the rocky outcrop opposite our site to find a good sitting rock.

We took to the trails in the hills overlooking the park which also meant we could see down the other side into the spectacular gorges below. Rafe discovered the rusted shell of a vintage car that somehow had found its way up here and then down into one of the valleys. Clouds started to gather and the wind got up heralding a potential storm so we made for our site.

On the way back, down by the shore of the lake, Rafe spotted a deer grazing and did well to stalk up very close to it without spooking it.

Spooked we were though as the first real storm of the trip blew through. The wind attacked the flimsy-looking tent while lightening hit the hills around us. But we and the tent survived the night unscathed and with spirits still intact. So much so that a good hour or more was then taken in the morning playing in the excellent playpark before heading onto the road again.

Obviously we stayed at a wide array of other great places too aside from Curt Gowdy and Loveberry’s. There will be a separate detailed post about all of the places we camped. For now though, a couple of shots from the shore of Lake Erie.