As we were making our way from Bailey Yard to Lexington along US-30, we were closely paralleling I-80. Then as we passed through the little town of Cozad, Nebraska we experienced one of the joys of off-interstate driving. We saw an interesting roadside historic area and just pulled off the road to investigate. We’d arrived at the 100th Meridian. The stop was definitely in keeping with our current fascination with Union Pacific Railroad history. Completion of the transcontinental railroad to this point in 1866 was cause for a major celebration. On October 26, 1866 the first passenger train to travel this far west arrived from Wall Street carrying 250 dignitaries. About six years later John J. Cozad arrived aboard a Union Pacific passenger train at the 100th Meridian and decided to found a town there. In 1878 John Wesley Powell proposed that this longitudinal line is more or less where the arid west meets the humid east. It’s possible to farm without irrigation east of here. Today it’s an intriguing little park centered around the historic markers commemorating the history of this location.
Queen Mary 2’s arrival in the Port of Dakar, Senegal was heralded in the local press and greeted with ceremony. Our own excursion took us on a coach journey through the streets of the capital city to visit a Wolof village and the shore of Lake Retba, the salty lake famed for an intense pink color.
Today’s safari adventure transported us out into the Dorob National Park to have up close encounters with little creatures that are well adapted to the extreme heat and lack of water in the Namib Desert.
With a UNESCO World Heritage Site, two national parks, dozens of museums, and hundreds of tours offered in the Cape Town area there is more than plenty to do. For our two day visit we opted to concentrate on African wildlife visiting the Aquila Private Game Reserve and the Boulders Beach Penguin Colony for a wonderful chance to these fabulous animals in their own habitat.
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