We stayed the night in Grand Island, Nebraska.  Before leaving yesterday, we decided to check out an antique mall in town.

Railroad Towne Antique Mall
321 W 3rd St, Grand Island, NE 68801

It was packed with stuff – more than 50 vendors and some with multiple booths on three levels:

However, there was only one typewriter in the whole mall: an S-C Sterling with the margins pushed together so it wouldn’t type.  I fixed the margins and pondered the scarcity of typewriters.

I worried that we might be approaching bare spots in terms of typewriter populations.

We hopped back in the car and set off down I-80 through beautiful rural Nebraska.

I had mapped out another antique mall to hit in North Platte, NE. After my experience in Grand Island, I kept my expectations reasonable.

North Platte has a beautiful historic downtown area. It was bit empty when we visited, but I feel like it’s on the edge of a renaissance.

Red Roof Antiques
304 E 5th St, North Platte, NE 69101

This was a huge antique mall, full of stuff.

Bingo!  Typewriters ahead!

I love the pretty red and cream accents on the Royal Quiet De Luxe below:

I walked into a room in the back and saw a familiar case:

It was a Lettera 22 upside down in its case. It had one of those Krazy Karriages that don’t stop and go wheeee!  I thought to myself, “I need to take custody of this poor broken thing.”

It wasn’t until I was paying for it that I noticed that it had a cursive typeface:

I was very happy after that.  I now have a project to play with in San Mateo.  It has a case, so it will be easy to bring on the plane as a carry-on when I return to Virginia.

Thank you, North Platte. That great grain elevator is formidable.

I found out after we left that North Platte is home to Union Pacific’s Bailey Yards, the largest railroad  yard in the world. Whatta town.

We got back in the car continued west on I-80.  Traveling through Nebraska, we hit a thunderstorm.  I eyed the skies nervously for funnel clouds.

Fortunately it was brief and we skirted the edge of a major storm.

As we approached the Nebraska/Wyoming border, the terrain changed and scrubby pine trees began to appear.

Once in Wyoming, we headed for Cheyenne where I had mapped out an antique mall.

Eclectic Elephant
112 W 18th St, Cheyenne, WY 82001

We were definitely headed west.

There were lots of vendors (40+) but unfortunately just one typewriter to be found:

However, there was just a whole lot of everything else to be taken in:

This Indian maiden with raccoons occupies a special place in my heart:

We checked out of Cheyenne as another storm was threatening to break out. There were tons of people in town and lots of pedestrians on the street. Cheyenne is a happening place.

Back on the road, the foothills of the Rockies began to make their presence known.

We beat the storm and made it to Laramie, WY where we stayed the night. Next up: Salt Lake City, UT.