Aug 5, 6 South Dakota, Nebraska

Wednesday, August 5 and Thursday, August 6

South Dakota

6:45,  60 degrees and beautiful sunrise.

Coyotes last night, cows’ lowing this morning.  Lovely yellow and black bird – meadowlark? –  visiting the wildflowers, but too fast to get a picture.  

We head back to 79S which is rolling hills and prairie.  Hay, cattle, sheep, corn, a few pronghorns, and many hawks!  Must have seen a couple dozen within a few miles, on posts and bales of hay,  looking for breakfast.

 

We cut over to 85S at Castle Rock (the town and the rock). 

This has to be “home on the range” where the deer and antelope play.  Didn’t hear a discouraging word, either!

We stop at the town of Belle Forche (beautiful fork) which is the geographical center of the US. 

They have a nice museum tracing the history of this place which was important to fur traders and later to cattle drives.  Cattle is still BIG business.

We continue south, past the exit for Sturgis.  Motorcycles everywhere! 

We wave at the crowded rv parks, gas stations, etc. and can only imagine the crowds at Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills area.  We decide to bypass all that and head south along the western edge of the Badlands.  Indian Reservation land with the usual cattle, hay, farms and ranches, though sparsely settled.

Called and sang Happy Birthday to Tom as we entered the northwest corner of Nebraska. You know the scenery is getting pretty boring as our entertainment is now seeing how long a bug can hold on to the windshield before being swept away. (They seem to give out around 60 mph).

Throughout the states we have seen various markers to indicate where people died in accidents. In Montana they were plain small crosses.  Here is South Dakota they have these posts that say THINK

on one side and  DON'T DIE on the other.

The folks at the Chadron Chamber of Commerce give us some maps and other information.  We decide to visit the Museum of the Fur Trade, where we watch a short video and tour the extensive museum. Went back to the fur trade in Europe and China up to today’s fur farms which produce 80% of the billion furs still traded annually.  Interesting point: in 1800 the standard price for a large buck deer hide was $1 – thus the term “buck” for dollar.  

This is an old trading post -

I thought these “canoe cups” were interesting as they were individualized with carvings reflecting the owners who used them to grab a quick drink while on the water.

We couldn’t find “Spotted Tail” forest service campground, so ended up boondocking next to the Chadron City Reservoir in a nice park-like area. Greg talked with a local fisherman who parked near us for a while and said it was city property and we would have no problem staying there.

Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  Pleasant evening to sit outside by the lake until the clouds rolled in.  Last night we watched the lightning show from afar; tonight we were in the midst of it!!  Wild wind, some rain, thunder and intense lightning!!  Felt like we were in a light box at times with flashes of dark!  The storm gradually passed, leaving a pleasant cool evening for sleeping.

The winds have done in one of the hinges on the cover on our “fantastic fan” in the ceiling of the Trek.  Hoping the other holds!

Thursday, August 6

Nebraska

64 degrees at 6:30 this morning. 

We continue down 385 – the Nebraska Gold Rush Byway.  We pause at the town of Alliance, whose main street is brick, and stop just outside at Carhenge.  Another “art” masterpiece, this one built by Jim Reinders who was inspired by Stonehenge. 

38 cars which match the dimensions of the stones at Stonehenge have been placed in a similar configuration.  There are a few other pieces of art in the surrounding area.  This rabbit made a cozy home under one piece and probably enjoyed the shade, which is in short supply around here.

We take Hwy 71 to go to Scottsbluff because someone told us it was scenic – especially the Watson Ranch.  “Scenic” is a much overused and highly subjective word.  Corn, hay, wheat….cattle, horses..repeat.  Must be a windy area as there are rows of trees planted around homes and between some fields as wind/snow breaks. We find the Watson Ranch whose claim to fame seems to be a group of windmills on the hill behind the house. Eh.

Greg gets out and walks around and a lady comes out of the house and says the best view is from her neighbor’s driveway, which is ok to use.  May be better at sunset?

We continue into the town of Scottsbluff where Greg gets the oil changed while I do some grocery shopping.  Then we drive to Scott’s Bluff National Monument.  We drive to the top of the bluff, passing through three tunnels (the only ones in Nebraska a local tells us) and walk some trails. 

This was a huge landmark for those traveling west.  After two months of walking the semi-arid plains, this was a bittersweet sign that “Yeah the hot, monotonous plains are behind us”  and “Oh boy, this is where it starts to get hilly, mountainous and cold.”  The Oregon trail passed here, as did the short-lived pony express (19 months) which ended when the first transcontinental telegraph was introduced in 1865.

We stopped at the Visitor’s Center, did some reading and moved eastward to another landmark, Chimney Rock.  Interesting that a 25 million year old saber-tooth tiger was uncovered near this site.

We stopped by the Petrified Wood Gallery in Ogallala next, but it closed earlier than the website advertised, so we drove out by McConaughy Lake and The Little Church. 

It is a church built in 1908 in a tiny town called Keystone.  The town couldn’t afford multiple churches, so they got permission from the Pope to build this church for both Catholics and Protestants.  One end had a Catholic altar, the other end a protestant one.  The pews were hinged so that they could face either direction.

A few campgrounds around popular Lake McConaughy but they were very crowded so we headed into town  of Ogallala and their  Walmart. We are the first RV there but in the morning we wake to a dozen more.