I have driven along I-80 through Nebraska (coming and going to points east & west) somewhere between "a lot" and "maybe a little more than that" over the past 15 years or so, and each and every time I have driven under the huge archway that spans the interstate a few miles east of Kearney I have said to myself, "I really should take the exit for this thing and see what it's all about."
And, until this past week, that's all I ever did - told myself the aforementioned, then kept on driving.
Finally I took the opportunity to investigate the huge archway (and by huge, I mean a 300 foot span that weighs in the neighborhood of three million pounds).
And whattaya know, it was worth every minute of the visit.
First off, the Archway Monument houses a museum inside it, and outside it, too - the area around the Archway has a fair amount of interesting historical artifacts that dot a short pedistrian/bicycling path - such as the reproduction of a early Prairie settler's one room sod house shown below.
Second, the displays inside (and outside) the museum are very well put together, and extremely educational.
In a nutshell, the Archway is a monument to the hardy pioneers who blazed the trails that crossed the great plains and the Rocky Mountains and on into the western states.
The museum houses life-size displays featuring travelers on the California and Oregon trails, the Mormon trail (they used handcarts to carry their belongings!), Pony Express routes, the birth and growth of the railroads, and the eventual construction of the transcontinental highways.
It's a tribute to some very tough people, one I highly recommend visiting should you ever be driving along I-80 in the heart of the United States.
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