Back Roads Drive To North Platte, Nebraska - Through 10 Rural Towns
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2024
- We traveled back roads to North Platte, Nebraska from Dodge City, Kansas. We drove through the Kansas towns of Jetmore, Ness City, Ransom, Wakeeney, and Norton. Across the Nebraska border, we drove through Arapahoe, Elwood, Eustis, Gothenburg & Maxwell.
Travel Vlog 114
While your there you should visit the North Platte WWll Canteen Museum. From December 17, 1941 to April 1, 1946 the people of North Platte and the surrounding communities served over 6 million soldiers. The people of Nebraska did this without any government help or money. They never charged the soldiers for any of the foods, drinks, magazines or other things offered. It's an amazing story of love for our soldiers during wartime. ❤
That's very cool. I grew up in small town Nebraska and never heard that story. Next time we are back, we may nave to check out that museum.
Is it still at the Lincoln County museum, or did they open one just for the canteen?
@@heatherhillman1 how common are tornados I live in Massachusetts ans have never experienced one scary for sure I'd imagine
@@sirhc07 Actually, tornadoes are relatively rare as they require very specific weather conditions. That said, I've seen one and they are scary cool.
@@heatherhillman1 wow that is so intriguing I always thought that they're so common that's why Nebraska isn't too populated it amazes me that how small the population is compared to my state that has over 6 million and not even half the size I've always wanted to visit Nebraska it looks so beautiful and different compared to here.
Tornados here in the northeast are very very rare and aren't big by any means although if you look up the Worcester ma tornado of 1953 that was an unusual one for us that was a f4
My hometown! We call it flatrock. Nebraska is the Native Otoe word for "Flat Water" Cheif Red Cloud was born here on the North Platte River but nobody ever seems to mention that as part of our history. I painted Buffalo Bill's house a couple years ago!
Black Elk Neihart. Park is in Blair NE dedicated to Black Elks vision
I live in North Platte, the Pawnee Hotel is currently under renovation. Eventually it will have apartments and the Grand Ballroom, which is on the main floor will be available again for activities and conventions.
That's good news. It's a beautiful building.
I grew up in North Platte in the 70s and I would get my hair cut and the barber shop there is there at the Pawnee hotel , you can still see the barber poll there in the window. I also use to go to the Fox movie theater and saw Jaws. The last time I was back there was in 2008 for Nebraska land days.
Also where Johnny Carson was married 😉
As I diehard lover of trains must be awesome living in North Platte. I have heard of the town all my life and even though I have been to Nebraska did not have the chance to detour over to NP.😢 But awesome.
Hugs and greetings from Durham, NC
Pains me to see these once bustling small towns dying out. When I was young, many of them were still full of people, business, and life. The big city people will never understand how that life could be anything but boring. But it was a wonderful life. Leave one town and head for the next town, and you could tell how far off you were upon catching sight of the grain elevators. And all the busy farmsteads that use to dot the landscape. Yeah, my seventy years has seen quite a change. Thanks for the wonderful ride along. Have traveled that route by truck and motorcycle, but still fun to see once again.
Great comment!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Thank you!
I lived North Platte in 92 , I remember the pop. to be around 15k or so . Recently I have seen 24k. So it seems maybe a resurgence, it really was a good place to live.
@@fabianurweider805 I was in and out of North Platte during the 1990's and early 2000's because my sons were participating in highschool sports, and also for business. Last ten to fifteen years haven't been in town much, but the town continues to expand along the interstate. The two miles from the Love's truck stop to the main interchange is really filling in. I always enjoyed getting out in that area just to roam aimlessly around.
Hi this video brougt back memories for me when i was in US in the late 80:s. I live in Sweden just outside "our" Gothenburg and visited Gothenburg Nebraska and North Platte. This lonley straight higways is amazing. People here think most of US looks like NY and LA 😄🙃. I have also been in Rapid City and then drowe on to Siux Fall.
Did you happen to go to Lindsborg in Kansas? AKA, "Little Sweden" I spent some time there in my college years.
@@mattks1001 Yes i have been in Lindsborg 3 times 1988, 2006 and 2015. I have friends there so some time in the future i will visit Lindsborg again. it´s a wonderful place and see the sunset at Coronado hights.
@@hakanhellgren Ah cool! During college I lived in McPherson and my girlfriend at the time went to school in Lindsborg. So I went up there many times. Coronado Heights is a neat place I have been many times as well. I haven't been back since almost 2006. In fact, 2005-2007 is when I spent a lot of time there. Perhaps we could have crossed paths. I would have been 19 in 2006 and my girlfriend was an international student.
I lived in North Platte from 1957 to 1962 before the family moved to Kearney.
We went back to North Platte numerous times to visit friends.
One friend worked as an electrician for Union Pacific and he took me and my younger brother to the yard one time for a tour.
We got to see the roundhouse and go up into a locomotive.
I live in California now and last visited North Platte in 1975.
Great memories!
What strikes me is how clean the streets are in many of the dying towns across the country.
My wife and myself were just back there. First time in 50 years for me. I found my birth home in Columbus and was very surprised how nice it looked. You drove by a house where you commented how nice it was with a big tree in North Platte. I think that was my mothers cousins home. I was last at that house in 1968 but it looks very familiar. They raised a large family in that home.
There is a cafe in Gothenburg that has on hand 14 different types of homemade pie...EVERY...DAY!
Love the architecture in these small towns. Really takes me back.
Great tour of my beautiful state of Nebraska. Thank you!
I agree, when I travel through small towns I marvel at the architecture of many of the old buildings and imagine what life was like back in the day. Thx!
North Platte had a HUGE financial boom with the railroad after World War II. There are a streets and streets of AMAZING mid century homes which look like a perfect 1950s film set.
Though North Platte has its share of "McMansions" it's the mid century homes which are just amazing!
You sure are saving me a lot of money. I just sit back and cross places off my bucket list.
LOL, thank you for that, Randy. That's exactly what I'm trying to do! :)
I really like how humble you are, and sharing a little bit of your childhood with your followers/fans....because many can relate who've also lived in trailer homes/poverty...and you overcame that and look at you now...blessed by God!!
Wow, thank you for the kind words, KJ. :)
I grew up in North Platte and have been in California and Nevada for the last 20 years. I watched these videos when I started thinking about coming back. I made the journey in January and have LOVED being back! I love living here and I’m glad you enjoyed your trip. Everyone is asking why it looks so desolate as far as people go, well…we are hot! Lol it’s way too hot to be outside unless we’re in the water, summer is pretty miserable but Fall is unbelievable! A lot of the houses out here go all out decorating for Fall and holidays 🥰
That is awesome. I didn't think the place was desolate at all.Look at my Texarkana video - now that's desolate. :)
This was fun. I toured western Nebraska on Highway 83. It's a beautiful end of the state. And I specifically remember North Platte. I lived in a town on Highway 83 in North Dakota back then, so I drove it from Texas to North Dakota.
I never explored North Platte. And it was almost 20 years ago, so who knows that it looked like then. Thank you for the tour! At the time, North Platte was a welcome gas station and coffee warm-up. On the trip, I remember the gorgeous town of Valentine, NE. I'm eager to see what you share here...
I'm excited to see your Rapid City video: it's one of two cities that are within a 3 hour drive of the small town where I live...
Kinda cool to see a youtube video about somewhere Ive been even though there's not much to mention. Just took highway 30 from Cozad to North Platte a couple weeks ago. Hope you got a chance to go further North to the sandhills, Valentine or Burwell. Very pretty country.
Bailey Yard is the world's largest reclassification rail yard. Rail Days is Aug 5th -7th and you can tour the yards as well as model train show. There are also two of the only remaining manual humps that they use to change cars to different trains.
That place was great.
I love North Platte if my hometown and I will always love it it's a beautiful beautiful town God bless
I liked it there. :)
Neat you seen my home town. Next time you head this way I can tell you many stories as well as some friends of mine that have a lot of knowledge and history of the town.
I was two times in America from Italy. The first was in 1992 after a military service ,and I make a trip in Dixieland with Greyhound ,thats America I choice. Rural America is the true America ,you can meet a good people ,make a good relation with everyone. The second time was 9 years ago with my wife and we stay two mounths in Tennesse. Tanks for you videos because I must see other town to visit. I hope in one ,two years we can come back .
Awesome!! 😀
Thought I would do the same if I traveled overseas. I would visit the small towns. Not the big cities.
@@mundanemidwest1945 In Europe it is different, I dont like so much all this stuff in Europe; something like monuments, antiques, statues and the space stood. I love American open space,but not only this about the south in particular. I love a Dixie spirit ,I love Johnny Cash , hank Williams father and son ,all culture about Dixieland. This is begin when I was 8,9 years old , and I see and study a civil war story ,and after a story of Americans bandits like a Jessy James, also a movies and music too ;they made me a real passion for the south. I realy thing to march to live in Tennessee when I'm finish the work here in Italy.
I love how you captured the EAS test on the video. Nice small town, you'd never expect a place like this to be sitting in the plains of Western Nebraska.
Some of these Towns look very Livable , thank You for the Drive . I have been to North Platte a couple times .
I always thought if I found a channel that went thru the backroads and toured the old neighborhoods and went off the interstate then that was for me! And I found it. I also love looking at the sm. towns and districts and wonder what it would be like to live there. And see what real America is still like, as least for this exact moment.
Thank you for the kind words, Walter! Yes, that's exactly what we're doing - visiting the back roads and towns! :)
I live in north platte, it the prefect size to I love to live in
I agree with you regarding the older architecture of homes. I'm not a fan of the cookie cutter homes that don't have porches.
Love all the little old towns!
Fremont Nebraska also has a huge train yard. Its now bigger than North Platte's. Though North Platte's train yard use to be the biggest.
sandhills area in Nebraska (you go stop there on the way to Rapid City) is awesome
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip nice! Try tanking the calamus if you have time, my family is doing that this weekend.
Oh, my gosh! I loved the Buffalo Bill museum!! Nice work!!
The original ranch is even more amazing. Lots of his wagons in that big barn! And extension memorabilia in the house museum.
Northe Platte looks very charming! Love seeing all the small towns!
They call it little Chicago for a reason, and not a good reason.
@@strangedayz24 I live in New Orleans so that place is way safer than what I’m used to lol there’s up to 15 shootings a day here kids getting killed daily. Count your blessings, this place is a slice of heaven compared to what else is out there.
They called it “Little Chicago” as in past tense. That was a long time ago, pre 1940’s.
Wow. You shot a lot of Northwest Kansas too. I operated a few of those elevators you drove by.
Thanks for that. It's frontier.....one of the last places in America quite like it.
Mark from Dallas. I absolutely LOVE the music you chose for this video. It's perfect peppy traveling music. I have several videos on You Tube for my Christmas Eve charity and I too know how to choose just the right music to make the video really good. My videos are on You Tube under Angelic C'hristmas Crusade. You might like to hear the music I have chosen over the years. Keep on Truckin. I grew up in Eastern Nebraska. You need to go to Norfolk to see the big billboard welcoming you to Johnny Carson's hometown and to see the home he grew up in. It's pretty cool.
Once you get to Norfolk go Monowi × the smallest population town in AMERICA. About 20 miles from Norfolk. Very famous
we spent the evening 4th of July last year in north Platte, next morning we went to Cody park & saw the Buffalo 🦬 & fed the peacock.
Thanks for sharing , you showed some interesting sites in the nice town with good people wasn’t aware of.
God bless you! Glad your going to South Dakota we also went there, beautiful state also.
North Platte is a really nice city, and there are things to do and see there.
fabulous thank you Spoda
The reason the canteen district looks so well maintained is that it just was recently completed. Also you can tour Buffalo Bill's house.
Nebraska...... THE GOOD LIFE!!
I was born and raised in Nebraska. It's my home but love to travel.
People visiting always ask what do you for fun?
Well let see... summer time there are fairs, tractor pulls, swimming, fishing, boating, camping, mudding (in truck), bonfires in a field, and so much more.
We MAKE our fun.😊
Love to travel but it's always good to be home.
Oh also we have the loas hills. Only 1 other country has these hills and that's in China.
Forgot to add ....
If you ever get a chance go to one of the native American pow wow.
A lot of history. Maybe you could get one of the elders to talk about their culture.
@@Blondi6731 Add: Pioneer Village in Minden.
@@Dutch_Uncle love visiting Pioneer village.
What are the loss hills and where are they?
@@sandrabates7649 sorry I misspelled. It's Loess Hills. Only other place that has these is China.
It is wind deposits of soil forming hills. Google Loess Hills and it will explain it more and detailed.
Great video, awesome place!
Love your video's thank you both . Wish porches were a thing here in England
My great grand uncle, J.J. Halligan of North Platte represented Louisa Cody when Buffalo Bill Cody lost his divorce case in about 1905. It was quite a sensation in its day!
Wow! 😀
@funtv So interesting! Thanks for sharing!
I love this video. I worked a summer at the Pawnee Hotel in 1973. It was a combination retirement hotel and the Greyhound station was close by, so the drivers also stayed there. The lobby is beautiful, very open and ornate. At the far end away from the entrance you were at is a very large ornate dining room. It's sad to see it closed now. I hope someone restores it someday!
I look forward to seing your videos, for sure!. My wife and I love to travel on the two-lane blacktops with our dogs in our motorhome. We find it amazing to drive into little towns and see the individual personality every town has to offer. Keep up the great journey!!!
Thank you, Kent. I totally agree with you about visiting the small towns. I love it. :)
Joe, you would have really liked the Buffalo Bill home museum, including the barn - full of wagons and his Wild West show posters. Check it out if you’re ever there again!
I will do that!
You got some beautiful old home over in the USA ..I just love old home ....enjoy your day ..thank you
I do too! :)
Very nice video. Absolutely loved the train stuff! Your videos allow us back east folks to really get a glimpse of what it looks like out west.
Thank you for the kind words, Kerrin!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Hey "LS," was longing at the Dodge City to North Platte video again. Got to thinking, would it be too much trouble to add "KS" or "NE" to the cities you traverse? I think its great that you recognize the little towns and cities you drive through. I think it might be nice to know what "State" a particular town you are going through is in - i.e., Ransom, KS, Hill City, KS, Eustis, NE, etc... I did pay attention and notice the "Entering Nebraska" sign by the way. Thanks!
@@kerrinbressant7642 I’ll look into it. 😀
I lived there for five years and moved to Omaha in 2021. North Platte was ok, but I got really tired of the limited restaurant and grocery options, and there's really no shopping except Walmart. There's a dead mall that had about 5 open stores when we left, and two of them were shoe stores. There was no food in the mall. We often went to Lincoln on weekends just for places to shop and eat out. North Platte is a pretty good town for antiques. Other than that, there's really no reason to visit there longer than a day. All the interesting things to see and do can be done in a day.
I was also always disappointed by how run down the place is. If you go into any businesses, the buildings and interiors seem old, dingy, and not well maintained. Even Cody Park wasn't really impressive. There are wildlife enclosures but you can't see the animals very well because there's double fencing that keeps them far away from the people.
Honestly, I think the place kind of reflects the main personality type of most of the people who live there. They're mostly bland and unenthusiastic about anything. I lived there five years and left without a single friend there. I've been in Omaha over three years and I have more friends here than I can keep up with. I think North Platte is a place to live if you don't really care about anything and just want to go home and watch TV after work every day because there really isn't anything else to do.
Recently I looked up a town in Georgia my daughter is going to travel to for work, and one of the articles called it "charmless." I immediately thought that's exactly how I would describe North Platte.
I used to stay in that old Pawnee hotel and eat in the restaurant in the early seventies when I 1st started trucking and had no sleeper brings back memories
Especially loved seeing the trains.
THAT WAS FUN!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT!!!!!! If I ever get to where I can physically travel again I'm putting that town on my bucket list... Be blessed my friend in Jesus name... BBE...
I hope you get there, Bobby! :)
I love these! I grew up in Nebraska, small town USA. I would love to see you do a video of Scottsbluff, located in the panhandle. You would love the historical features and rock formations in the area. It's sad to see the decay in so many of the rural towns. But I enjoy these, I have been binge watching these. Safe travels!
Not gonna lie. It's kinda surreal seeing a video on CZcams about my home town that wasn't posted by someone who lives here
I agree I felt the same.
My hometown! 4th and 5th street have a lot of homes that were built way back when the town was being established. Most of the ones still standing ie the big ones were built by the “big wigs” of the town in the early 1900’s-1930’s. Lots of history there for sure! I do hope you stopped in for some ice cream at Cody park! The carousel there was brought there in the 30’s and all of the horses are the orignial
That is muffler man at Fort Cody. The diorama also works.
3977 is the only challenger on display. 3985 is the only other one not scrapped, and was just delivered to the RRHMA in Silvis, Illinois, for restoration, along with another Centennial model.
Come back to Cheyenne Wyoming during Frontier days!!
Just visited North Platte for the first time. Traveled there from Madrid, NE where there is nothing but Grumpy’s diner. And yes, we were the only ones on the road also.
Good video. Thanks!
Hi Joe and Nicole; I looked into the Hotel Pawnee situation
and found out since 2020 Hotel Pawnee owners have been trying to
get redevelopers interested in backing a remodel and so forth on the building.
Obviously it has been a slow process. Fingers crossed. One thing, at least since
it is on the list of historical buildings we don't have to worry it is going to be demolished.
Just from reading the description I know you spent some time on 283 😂 I live in Austin but my entire family is from
Ness County. It was a shock to see Jetmore, Ness, Ransom, and WaKeeney in your list of towns visited! My grandparents lived in Ransom all my life. My grandma was the postmaster there for a long time. We used to spend the majority of our summer vacations in Ransom, which is like another planet compared to Austin lol!
I love all the videos. i have learned one thing for sure. Appreciate my living in Mcpherson Ks. I hope you do one on us soon. It will blow your mind after some of the things you have seen.
It’s in the list! 😀
I went to college at Central Christian and McPherson is a great town. Almost called it home after college. Still have many friends in the area.
Homes are better with personality, just like people are.
There is a motel in Northern California in the town area of Dunsmire on I 5 that has turned a group of caboose cars into motel rooms. Great stay.
way cool ........nice ride ...
I stayed in North Platte when I drove a Google Street View Car from Toronto to Palo Alto. Didn’t see much of the town but did a run through.
Enjoy your videos along with commentary. Buffalo Bill was born in IA. Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire Iowa is worth a look, just off I80 near Mississippi River. Also home of American Pickers.
very cool, thanks
Cool building in Ness City.
Love your vids bub.
Thank you for that, David. :)
The newer part of town is up on top of the hill south of town.
They rebuilt the streets on the south side of the tracks about 10 years ago.
Most of the new business is along 83 to the south and along the interstate.
Great Video Y'all !
Thank you!
Again you need to come back to Lincoln there is a lot more to see than what you did when you were here. Memorial stadium, the museums and sunken gardens to name a few
I don't blame you for wanting to look around the older areas of town. We have some awesome older areas in Fresno California. It's too bad some of them are so run down.
Thank you, Diane. For me, there's an interesting, stark beauty to places like that. They are far more interesting than generic suburbs.
A lot of Nebraskans in Los Angeles great people sorry to see that don't always keep hands in both places,.
I liked this video. Have a future trip for Vegas using I-70 one way then I-80 the other. Now I'm trying to figure a way to include Ness City in there (love the OK signs)
Cool! :)
I had extended family in nearby Salem, Nebraska pop 300. Got over a hundred mosquito bites fishing in North Platte. I don’t even like fish. But I did like my grandfather so I guess it was worth it.
25:00: This is the little brother of the UP Class 4000 engine (a.k.a. the "Big Boy"), also built by Alco, if I'm not mistaken.
Whyte notation is 4-8-8-4, so two more drive axles.
All the best!
The Big Boy is still in operation.
@@lagoat4 I know! I have watched Ed Dickens and his mechanics dismantle No. 4014 or 4018 (don't know the exact number) down to the last bolt and put it back together after remaking the boiler, overhauling the frame, wheels, suspension, etc. etc.
The result: the one and only UP Class 4000 engine running again - with only one alteration: the renovated Big Boy now runs on Oil.
If I can Make it to the US - what I'm still dreaming of - I want to see that giant in operation!
Cheers from Germany, and all the best!
Can help but clap or tap one's foot as the background track is cool to listen to. Cool video sharing all around!
Thank you for that, Douglas! :)
Wakeeney is poppin'. Let's stop off for a drink.
I miss something here: it's those nineteenth Century wooden grain elevators, somewhat iconic in the Midwest!
The Train you see pulling out is a yard switching job.
great video like being there thanks
Thank you, Edward.
When you were in Omaha, did you visit the UP Big Boy on display there?
Nice video. Kinda sad about that hotel, but we all know what happened there. Basically, the interstate bypassed them. People complain if the interstate cuts through their city saying it destroys neighbors. But if the interstate is built away from the city, then you don't get visitors and businesses die. Sure it was a popular hotel before I-80, but with the bypass, now people just stop at a Days Inn or Fairfield right off the exit and never see the Pawnee, or the center core of North Platte itself.
Hopefully something will be done with it eventually. It is a beautiful building.
A lot of these places have the potential to become condos with the right investors
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip there has been an effort to revive some of these old iconic buildings in recent years. Broken bow NE has a similar hotel that was renovated and the bottom of it was turned into a nice somewhat upscale restaraunt.
Housing is probably one of the cheaper things. Groceries and Gas are equal or more.
A very cool place, I bet it's a good town to bring up children in. Like you I love trains, anyone who doesn't is a Grinch in my mind.
You sounded like you were looking for a house to move into?
Arapahoe is one of several towns in SW Nebraska that will give you a lot to build a home on for free.
I believe the road at 4:00 is south of Arapahoe by the golf course.
North Platte has turned into the armpit of Nebraska.
This is a completely different route than what me and my family take to go see family in dodge (from north platte) cool to see a different route though
You get up into the panhandle of Nebraska you need to check out the mushroom national Forest I think you'll like it
You should have taken a small detour to see Harlan County Lake.
we always wants to visit the north platte museum but then when we get there we forgot to stop or by. lol
Very friendly people in NP except for the cops who love to ticket speeders on hwy83. I had a water pump go out on my vehicle. The service station I went to let me use their parts car to go into town and get my parts.
I agree. The people we talked to were very nice.
In 1990, my wife and I drove from Portland, Oregon to Toledo, Ohio. We noticed something wrong with the car as we were leaving Wyoming, and getting into western Nebraska. We thought it might be the fuel filter.
We ended up getting to North Platte, and called a service station. We described the problem. He concurred that it was probably the fuel filter. He planned to open at 7:30am, but said to show up at 6:45am, and he would help. Indeed, it was the fuel filter, and he got us on the road with no worries. We still chat about that experience to this day.
Great people!!
Largest "car classification" yard. Where they split the cars to send them to the same locations.
North Platte, AKA little Chicago.
Lord Spoda is getting out of Dodge!
That’s right!
Your thumbnails just down the street from my house
There was a car show downtown a few weeks ago
KS383 that you crossed with US36 in Norton is the original US83 route.
83 followed today's 383 to its end and turned north to follow today's 183. Old 183 turned off old 83 and went under the railroad beside today's 83/383 junction, to follow today's 83 to Maywood. There is still a clearance sign on the north side of the rail bridge.
From Maywood to North Platte, and from North Platte to Stapleton, the roadway only dates to the 1950s.
Why didn't you include the canyon on 47?
Watch “The West” documentary by Ken Burns. It’s a great synopsis of America’s experience in expansion.
My dad is from North Platte!