WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE OUT WEST!

      This past week-end while traveling to Estes Park, Colorado, and the Sand Hills area of western Nebraska, I knew when I had arrived "Out West." The point was Kearney, Nebraska. 

       It's been that way for many years and many trips through Nebraska and usually heading to Colorado. Kearney, Nebraska was the location of Fort Kearny and now you are greeted over I-80 the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument. Plus, it is about where you are really aware of the Sand Hills, lots of cattle all around, and those scenic windmills. 

        This trip,5/20/2017, I had stopped at Kearney for a pit stop and a bite to eat. While getting back in my car from eating, I witnessed a young guy get out of his pick-up and attached horse trailer and walk into the same restaurant. He was decked out with a big black Stetson, pearl button shirt, cowboy boots complete with spurs. You could tell he was the real McCoy. Right then I knew for sure that I had arrived in the "Old West!"