Leland Kizer

He doesn't have a website, and you won't see him advertising his Old Ford Museum on a billboard. If you stick to the interstates, you won't find him either. But if you take the local road into Julesburg, Colorado, you might be lucky enough to meet Leland Kizer. A former big band musician, barber and collector extraordinaire, Leland is a treasure of a man with a treasure trove of history that he shares with locals and a few lucky tourists who happen by: stacks of LIFE Magazines and newspapers that date back to the teens, old gasoline station signs and gas pumps in pristine condition, military uniforms from WWI and WWII, old band uniforms and instruments and a handful of perfectly preserved Fords. Plus a barber shop that takes you back in time, especially on Mondays when Leland will still cut your hair for an old-fashioned reasonable price.

John talks with a couple of locals in front of Leland's barber shop.

As if Leland weren't enough of a rare discovery on our journey through Colorado, it turns out that the tiny (pop. 1,225) town of Julesburg sports three museums, which display an array of artifacts from local history. I loved these telegraph line insulators from the 1860s.

 Bottles of ink for manual typewriters.

Leland Kizer restored and donated this buggy to the Julesburg Depot Museum.

From eastern Colorado, we crossed into Nebraska, where we spent the night in Grand Island and treated ourselves to BBQ ribs and baked potato dinner. The plan was to head up towards Yankton on the James River on Monday, but our plans were thwarted by a storm cell and tornados. It was all we could do to battle the strong winds for an hour or two, and our gas mileage was cut in half because of the winds. So we're hunkered down in a hotel tonight watching Monday Night Baseball. Adventure, it seems, will have to wait until tomorrow.