Nebraska (06-29-19)

Mike and Julie were in the small town of Bayard, Nebraska,  exploring the Chimney Rock Pioneer Crossing area. I had no idea what that was, so I googled it, and its part of the trail the Mormons used to cross the country back in the 1800s.

It turns out, Paul's third great grandfather and his family were Mormon Pioneers who passed by this very place in 1856, on their way to Salt Lake City.

Travelers were always excited to see Chimney Rock, as it marked the psychological halfway point between the beginning of their journey, and their destination. Most had never seen anything like this "chimney" and were fascinated by it.

With most groups of Mormons using the same trail to head west, it was soon a more established route, and was used by the Pony Express, Forty Niner gold miners, and many emigrants who were headed west to Oregon and California. It was designated "the Mormon Trail".







At the small campground we stayed in, there was one traveler who was in the process of hiking the Mormon Trail, and another who was following the Pony Express Route- by horse. Apparently that's not uncommon.

Nearby Scotts Bluff was also recognizable and visible from a long distance. 

 It is now a national monument, with a visitor center ( which was closed for renovations ) and a few hiking trails. 

The four of us took the opportunity to stretch our legs with a 3 mile walk that included a tunnel,  a big hill, and great views of the surrounding area.

This small town amazingly boasts several museums- we checked one out, but the highlight of the visit was trying to rescue Mike from a very talkative clerk/volunteer.












Before moving on to our next destination, we took a scenic drive around the area. We came upon a replica of an 1820s trading post .....

And lots of cows in the road....  They weren't very happy with us, either.















Having come upon Mike and Julie, we weren't ready to leave them yet, so we followed them to their next destination, which was  Fort Robinson State Park, less than 2 hours north.

Fort Robinson started its life as an army camp, in the 1870s, when it was used during the Indian Wars.  Since that time, it has been used for many things- in the 1930s the U.S. Olympic Equestrian team trained here, and during World War II it was a German Prisoner of War camp.




Julie and I liked that it has an Olympic size swimming pool, although we only used it once.

Several of the buildings, which do exist even though I didn't get a single picture of them (borrowed one from the web) have been made into museums, some are used as lodging, and some have been restored.

The four of us took off exploring in the Jeep, not having any idea what we would find. Well, we found a road/trail with very confusing signage. One sign said "Do Not Enter- authorized vehicles Only" or something to that effect.

The other sign said "Jeep Trail" and since we were in a Jeep, Paul decided it meant that we were authorized to use the trail. Off we went, down a one way trail. Did we get caught? Yep. We almost made it, but the "official Jeep Tour" was coming from the other direction. We had to back up and find room to pull off so they could get by.  The ranger guy wasn't too happy with us, but we had fun.




Our other Jeep outing was a little more fun and didn't involve almost getting arrested...We went to Toadstool Geologic Park, where it was hot enough that we elected to hike the shortest trail-  the interpretive Trail.

Julie was in charge of interpreting what we were seeing.

One of the items was what used to be a riverbed. Parts of it are tipped over, making it easier to see the footprints of ancient animals.

We thought it was supposed to be less than a half mile, but we are pretty sure it felt like almost 2 miles. It was really hot out though, so maybe that affected our thinking.

Also at the park was a reconstructed Sod House. You can actually go inside, and the temperature difference was substantial.

Facebook is awesome! That's how we found out that our friends Deloris and Charley were not that far away.  Fore once, things worked out, and the 4 of us jumped in the Jeep to meet them for dinner.

  Of course I didn't take any pictures, except on the way home, when the setting sun lit up the wildflowers and grass to an amazing degree.