So there we were, living in the trailer in the parking lot of the GMC dealer in Laramie, Wyoming waiting to see if our cat, May-chan, was going to get better and waiting to see if the new fuel pump was going to bring the van back to life. Not so bad as you might imagine: a grocery store was within walking distance, a fitness center with $3 showers was across the street, and we had a free 24/7 internet connection.

The new fuel pump arrived on schedule and Adam was assigned to drop the gas tank, replace the fuel pump, and put everything back into place.

Adam installs new fuel pump at GMC dealer, Laramie, Wyo.

The van started and ran OK and I got into a long conversation with Adam about how a pump could go bad so quickly as a new one had been installed last fall. He said he had no idea, he only tested and replaced them.

I mentioned that when we were looking for a cell that would work at the Wagonhound Rest Area where the pump had quit, some guy said he'd had three fuel pumps go bad on him due to "bad gas." What did Adam think of that? He said there's a rumor that some places selling cheap gas do so by increasing the amount of ethanol over the recommended 10%. Newer model cars are FlexFuel compliant and can handle high amounts of ethanol but older models like ours -- 1999 -- can't and the ethanol eats away at the plastic pump and lines. The newer models use stainless steel.

I asked if there was any way an ordinary person like myself could tell if there was too much ethanol in the gas I was buying. At first Adam said there wasn't, but then he said that if you put a sample in a clear jar -- not much, only a pint or so -- and let it stand for 10 minutes, if there's too much ethanol it will separate and you can see the line separating the two liquids. I said I would give it a try.

We went over and paid the bill and I went to thank the service manager, Brad Morehouse, for helping us get back on the road. We talked about how GMC was doing in Laramie: he said the sale of new cars was down by a third -- or maybe it was down to a third, I don't remember which -- but the repair business was doing well. I said I could understand why since they gave good service, were open weekdays until 10:00 p.m. and even on Saturdays until 6:00 p.m. Best of all they'd let us stay in our trailer while we waited for our van to be repaired and that saved us a lot of money.

ON THE THIRD DAY OF HER HOSPITALIZATION, May-chan was declared better. Not fully recovered, as she had lost a lot of weight and would be taking antibiotics and small amounts of food for some time, but better.

After five days in the parking lot, we got going early the next morning as I wanted to shoot an early-morning photo of the bronze bust of Lincoln at the Summit Rest Area, the highest point on the Lincoln Highway, 8,640 feet (2,633 meters), that so many people had told us about.

Bust of Lincoln at Summit Rest Area, highest point on Lincoln Highway

On the left side there's a plaque which quotes Lincoln as saying "We must think anew and act anew" which seems as relevant to these hard times as well as when Lincoln used it in the concluding paragraphs of his annual message to Congress, one month before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

There's an information center next to the monument, not open at the early hour I was there, with a list of various forms of transportation:

READING UP ON THE LINCOLN MONUMENT I learned there used to be state line markers on major highways and while there wasn't one for the Lincoln Highway, there was one to mark the South Dakota - Wyoming line at the Wyoming Department of Transportation just up the road in Cheyenne.

It was still early morning when I got to WDOT, not yet 7:30, and after I'd found a double-length space to park the van and trailer I didn't see anything that looked like a main entrance, but people were going in and out of a smallish door off to the side. Next to the door was a woman smoking a cigarette and I told her what I was looking for; she put out the cigarette and took me inside to an office where somebody said to go down the hall and turn left and I'd get to the information counter. As I walked along people were saying good morning to me and I guessed that they thought I was somebody who worked there. Kind of interesting as most government offices I've been have been quite authoritative-official, not so friendly.

But then one woman, Kimm Brookshire, stopped and asked what I was looking for. I told her, and she led me here and there looking for the line marker. Just when she was about to give up we ran into Ken Lambert who said he thought the marker was out in the sign shop and we went to his office where he called around and found that, yes, there was a state line marker in the sign shop. Kimm took me out of the building and over to the sign shop where we met Mike Calaway, the sign shop supervisor.

In the main sign-making room there was a helter skelter sample of old road signs including ones where the text was spelled out with "cat's eyes" -- small round reflectors that caught the light. For example, the "25" in the "Begin 25 Mile Speed Sign".

Sign shop, Wyoming Department of Transportation, Chyenne, Wyo.

Mike explained that new signs, such as the one leaning against the wall, have many reflectors built into the plastic which do the same thing. He also pointed out the small, vertical Red-White-Blue-L Lincoln Highway sign in the far corner of the shop. On the other side of the room, leaning against the wall, was the state line marker we'd been searching for. It was leaning to one side on a pole sunk in the cement which had been in the ground so I photoshopped out just the sign and made it level.

South Dakota - Wyoming state line marker

I thought the last phrase was particularly charming, ". . . whose people are high, wide and handsome." Indeed.

On the way back to the main building, I asked Kimm how the highway department was faring during the recession. She said they were managing, but weren't hiring and weren't replacing those who retire. When I mentioned the relaxed atmosphere with people saying hello to me, she said that while the official public office hours at 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m there's flex time where people can come and go at different hour and added, "I've lived in places where you're either 4th generation or a newbie, but Wyoming is a welcoming place and they talk to you no matter what."

YOU BEGIN TO FEEL THE LONG SLOW DROP IN ALTITUDE as you leave first the summit and then Cheyenne and descend across Nebraska to the Missouri River which marks the border with Iowa.

Looking ahead on the map you can see that for most of the way there's an intertwining of the Platte River, the Union Pacific Railroad, the Lincoln Highway and Interstate 80. (And, if you've done your homework, you know the railways followed the pioneer trails, which followed the trapper's trails, which followed the indian trails, which followed the river.)

While you don't often see the river, for three quarters of the way across Nebraska the Lincoln Highway is on the north side of the Union Pacific with Interstate 80 on the south. We couldn't find any place to camp along the Highway so we crossed over to rest areas on 80 which were doubly noisy what with heavy all-night truck and train traffic.

THE FIRST TOWN THAT LOOKED INTERESTING WAS KIMBALL which had a Union Pacific caboose in a small park behind the museum.

Union Pacific caboose, Kimball, Neb.

The museum was closed but the Chamber of Commerce was open and we talked with the Executive Director, Rod Horton. Rob said he'd moved from Colorado to Kimball to work at Cabela's, an outfitter of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, in Sidney, about 40 miles (66 kilometers) to the east. But the company was downsizing and he was let go so he dropped in at the Chamber to volunteer and one thing led to another and he became director.

Rod Horton, Chamber of Commerce, Kimball, Neb.

Rod said the economic base for Kimball was agriculture, wheat and cattle, although they are trying to do something with wind power. There'd been an oil boom in the '50s and then there had been a time when Titan missiles were stored in silos throughout the area but the silos are empty these days. While the statistics look OK these days they don’t really represent what is happening as five business have closed and hard times are at hand.

As for the political situation, Rod said Colorado was blue and Nebraska red and, in his opinion, nothing was going to happen as Republicans are basically against anything Obama does. It's not a question of whose plan is better, it's a question of who's in power. He said he realizes Obama is a smart man, but would think he would give up on trying to get along with those who don't want to get along as they are playing a power game.

And this kind of politics goes down to the local level. In particular, Rod said, "People don't realize that the way they talk is offensive to others" as they present their opinions, especially negative opinions, as fact: "It's just a pile of crap!" Yet he has hopes that slowly slowly he and few others can help people come together so Kimball will manage to stay alive.

MEANDERING ALONG, WE CAME ON A SMALL TOWN that seemed to represent the general situation: a sign with the town's name and population (Chappell, 983), the highway, the grain and corn elevators, and train hooting their way past grade crossings.

Entering Chappell, Neb. from west

I'd stopped to take the above photo because I could get the highway, the elevators and the sign in one composition. After I'd gotten what I wanted, I heard the hoots and ran back to reshoot for the train. (If you wonder how I got it in that position, I didn't. My Nikon D300 can shoot 6 frames/second so I just let it fire way and choose the frame that looks the best.)

Across the street was a small bill board explaining why the name of the town had double letters.

Why Chappell has extra letters

And I began to suspect that perhaps whoever had put the sign showing the name of the town had chosen the spot where the sign, the billboard, the highway and the elevators were all of one piece. Maybe not, but I'd like to think so.

AS I SAID ABOVE, WE CROSSED OVER TO I-80 to find a place to stay for the night. The rest areas were close to the highway and thus quite noisy plus there were trains hooting as they came through grade crossings.

We were just about ready to eat dinner and had gone to get some water when we came upon Tony Tharp, his wife Shelley and their child, a small girl. He looked in bad shape.

Tony Tharp, I-80 Rest Area near Ogallala, Neb.

I'm still not exactly sure what had happened but as far as I could make out, he was driving a Ford pickup pulling a travel trailer and Shelly was driving the car. They were on their way to some place in Iowa to visit a family member who was in trouble and the car had blown a tire. Somehow -- I never could never figure this out -- Tony was on one side of the divided highway and the car was on the other and when he went to run across, he was hit by a semi which fishtailed into the median and broke his arm.

Tony was able to drive the pickup with one hand and had gotten to a hospital and back to the rest area where he saw the trucker who had hit him. When he approached him to complain, the guy said, "Get the hell out of the road." Somehow he'd also tried to report the incident to a state trooper who didn't want to get involved as it would "hurt the economy."

Shelly couldn't change the tire on her car and neither could Tony what with his broken arm so they had waited all night at the rest area for somebody who could help them.

So far so bad.

When we talked with him that afternoon, a Good Samaritan had just finished putting the spare on the car. They finished telling us their story, jumped in their vehicles, and took off.

I hope they made it.

This series of reports by David McLane documents life in small towns along four major highways in the United States during these hard times. It is NOT a survey but an attempt to come a fuller understanding of the land and the people which comprise significant parts of America but are typically un-represented by main-stream media. This is the third section and reports on traveling from San Francisco to New York City on the Lincoln Highway. The list of reports for the first section (US 95) can be found here. The list of reports for the second section (US 395) can be found here.

Related Articles

• Lincoln Highway:Part-1:Rolling Clouds and Fog at Start of Lincoln Highway
• Lincoln Highway:Part-2: Clickety-click, WHAM, BAM, BAM, BAM
• Lincoln Highway:Part-3: Each of the Summits has a Lincoln Highway Marker
• Lincoln Highway:Part-4: I Began to Lose Interest in Getting Back to Reality
• Lincoln Highway:Part-5: Evanston, Wyoming Still has the Small-town Feel
• Lincoln Highway:Part-6: Disaster Strikes: The Van Won't Start