Chadron State Park -- Nebraska

Roger here...  What is that crawling on my leg?  OMG what are those black things on Chaplin's legs?  Ticks!!!!!!  I still feel like things are crawling on me, even though they are not there.  Ticks, I don't like ticks!  How it happened....

We left the Scotts Bluff area for a short, scenic drive to Nebraska's oldest state park -  Chadron State Park.  We pulled into the park, paid the separate entrance fee (in addition to the campsite fee), and rolled into a beautiful (mostly deserted) campground.  After changing sites to accommodate the satellite dish (pesky trees), I hopped in the car to buy wood for a campfire.  A campfire.  Yes, a campfire.  We were finally in an area where there is NOT a burn ban.  There was actually a trace of humidity in the air!  

After a great night of sleep, we decided to tackle one of the many trails.  Our goal was pretty lofty, 5.2 miles, but there were several options for shortcuts back to the campground, if it became an ordeal.  

Off we went.  The first part of the trail was mowed grass.  About ten minutes later, we dropped into a narrow, wet, muddy gulch.  Five minutes later...  "What is that crawling on my leg?"


This time I was the one demanding to end the hike.  Dianne readily agreed.  After a hasty retreat back to the motor home, we spent 45 minutes tweezing ticks off Chaplin and Bandido.  They were easy to see on Chaplin, but difficult to find on the furrier Bandido.  Nonetheless, we found several and think we got them all.  Creepy, crawly, bloodsuckers, yuck!!!!


Here's a nifty tool we keep on hand for just such an occasion.  It works as advertised and was really useful this day!  As always, I include these links just as an FYI; I don't have enough readers to get anything from the links. -- D.

After the trauma, we decided to walk the scenic drive (pretty much the hike we abandoned) -- on the paved road.  It was immediately evident that the walk would involve quite a bit of the uphill/downhill thing.  Chaplin was lagging behind and definitely not happy.  So, Dianne jubilantly took him back to the motor home (where she continued to flick ticks off her feet and legs) while Bandido and I forged on. 


 Dianne here -- I thought I had squished the ticks that we took off the dogs (even grinding them into the ground with the point of a stick).  Turns out, they all must have come back to life, because as I sat trying to concentrate on a Sudoku, at least three of them crawled through the side holes of my Crocs and I felt them crawling on my feet, trying to find a "meatier" spot to bite me.  A mom and kids walked past, and I overheard them talking about ticks.  I spoke to them for a minute.  The mom said they were from this area and come to Chadron a lot.  After one hike, her little boy found 27 ticks on him!!!  She said they had a contest to see who had the most ticks.  She said you can't squish them to death; the only way she has found to kill them is to drown them in beer.  After the third tick crawling into my shoe, I needed a beer or two or three....  Back to Roger's hike:


The five mile walk, though exhausting, was scenic.  

After about four miles, Bandido was ready to be home.  He pulled me over to a picnic area and laid down.  Glad we brought plenty of water for the two of us.  Glad Dianne decided to go back :-)  (My legs were still sore from the hike up Scott's Bluff -- D.)

Oh c'mon Bandido!  Take time to smell the pretty flowers!

When we reached the campground and turned a corner, as soon as Bandido caught sight of Dianne relaxing in a lawn chair, he pulled us both into a full run.  So happy to be with his mommy.  Doggie exercise for the day -- done.


The pet picture(s) of the day were taken back at the campground near Scotts Bluff.  I was sitting outside when Dianne came running out of the motor home, proclaiming that the dog visible from the front windshield had to be a Blue Heeler (Bandido is mostly Blue Heeler).  She ran down the street and quickly arranged for the two dogs to have a play date.  As it turns out, Dakota was indeed a full-blooded Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler).  Watching her, it was obvious that she was a great dog.

It was fun watching them meet and then chase each other.  Good ending to the day.

(It was so much fun to watch the two of them play.  Their mannerisms were very much the same, and there was lots of rough-and-tumble and boxing with their front legs.  Bandido finally met his match! -- D.)

Dianne will be writing the next post from Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota -- a jaw-dropping place.  We will be there for six full days -- lots of fun ahead!

Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska, plus a "Trudge Report"

Hi all, Dianne here.  Our second day in Gering, Nebraska was spent at nearby Scotts Bluff National Monument.  Scotts Bluff was a famous landmark for the wagon trains moving west on the Oregon Trail.  I'll save the history lesson for later, but first a "trudge report":

 See the wind-ey trail going up, up, UP to the top of Scott's Bluff?  If only this photo had audio with it, you would hear comments like this:


"We're going all the way to the top??"
"Huff, Puff -- What part of this do you think is fun?
"YOU NEED A YOUNGER WIFE!!!"

I admit to whining a good part of the way, between gasping for breath. 

In his defense, Roger did offer to turn back and drive to the top (see photo below showing the paved road -- even the road needed a tunnel!)

Realizing that we hadn't had much exercise lately, and that the dogs (especially Bandido) needed some strenuous exercise, I decided to "suck it up" and trudge on.  (Another factor was the cute shorts I'd just bought at Cabela's -- didn't want to get too fat to wear them before even cutting off the tags).

Anyway, as usual, Roger was right and I'm glad we hiked it.  We would have missed some beautiful scenery, had we just taken the drive.  I'll just say that I enjoyed the hike back down a lot more than going up!

What a beautiful day!  Low 70s, sunshine and beautiful spring flowers everywhere.  


 Bandido got to wear his backpack, and he and Chaplin both sported new bandanas.  Roger got to sport his new Cabela's hat.


To see a photo slideshow of the entire hike, you can click on the following link to my photobucket web album:


http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DianneN/May%202011%20Scotts%20Bluff%20Hike/?albumview=slideshow

After the hike we were all starving, so we had a picnic lunch outside the visitor's center.  Roger and I took turns inside, and we both enjoyed the 12-minute movie recounting the history of this site.  

While Roger was inside taking his turn, I took the dogs on another short interpretive hike.  I saw representations of the three types of covered wagons most people used to go west.  


When we got to the Platte River area, I dug out and re-read a very interesting book I'd bought last year at one of the national parks.  It recounts diaries of women who made the trip on wagon trains during the 1840s - 1860s.  After reading about the hardships they endured (including cooking outside over an open fire in the rain, deaths from cholera and childbirth, Indian attacks, walking 15 miles a day over mostly monotonous prairies) it meant a lot to me to walk just a bit of the actual ground they passed over.  


The short hike past the covered wagons led to a section of the original trail where wagon ruts are still visible after 150 years.  

The wagons had to pass single file through a bottleneck here at Scott's Bluff, and the wagon wheels wore ruts into the sandstone.  

Since we were nearby, we drove 16 miles to get a quick look at Chimney Rock, another milestone on the Oregon Trail.  It is listed as a national historic site, but it is maintained by the Nebraska Historical Society, so our national park passes only allowed a discount here, not free admission.  

Another short movie in the visitor's center, and a view of Chimney Rock.  This is as close as you are allowed to get to it.

Here's a link to the book I read on Amazon, if you want more info.  I know there are other pioneer diary books available, as well. 

Roger took about 800 photos of a very pretty sunset from our camp site.  I'll let him pick through and decide which one to post!

The pet photo of the day shows my handsome boys after our picnic, modeling their bandanas:

Driving North

Hi all, Dianne here.  The pretty photo above was taken in far western Nebraska.  Who knew Nebraska could be so pretty?    There are advantages to getting off the beaten track and discovering new places.  More on Nebraska later....


Since we'd been evacuated from Palo Duro State Park in Texas, we ended up in Amarillo for a few days and took care of some mundane chores there.  Once that was accomplished, we found ourselves with three extra days before our next reservation.  With the forecast for Amarillo being in the 100s and high winds, we decided to pack it in and head on north.


Taking Route 287 through the Texas Panhandle and through eastern Colorado, we made a leisurely trip by stopping twice.  Our second night we stopped in Brush, Colorado at a city-run RV park.  What a bargain!  Roger discovered it by checking out rvparkreviews.com.  If you've never taken advantage of that web site, I urge you to check it out.  There's a link on the left-hand side of our blog.  

We were a little nervous, with it being Memorial Day Weekend and all, but we arrived early enough to snag one of the last spots.  Free overnight parking with 30-amp electricity, no less!  The parking area is adjacent to a pretty city park, with a huge swimming pool, playground, fishing pond, and picnic shelters.

There is also a small museum in the park, and the lush-est green grass we've ever seen.  (Chaplin especially enjoyed his walks there).

 Roger held the dogs as I ducked into the museum and checked out the interesting local displays.

One display especially caught my eye.  I photographed these vintage Red Cross uniforms in honor of my grandmother, Clara Robison, who served as a nurse to soldiers from World War I who had returned home stricken with the pandemic flu virus.  She, herself, caught the flu and almost died from it from working in the hospital with the returning soldiers. (Lucky for me she made it!)  But the main reason I photographed these uniforms is that she received a pin for volunteering with the Red Cross for 50 years.  She died in 2002 at 105 years old, but lived long enough to hold my grandaughter, Kaia.  Five generations....

Our next stop was in Sidney, Nebraska at the Cabela's campground.  Cabela's outfitters' world headquarters is in Sidney, Nebraska, and they have a very nice RV park adjacent to their retail store there (no, it's not free).

We got parked and set up, then walked over to the store.  Roger was really in his element!  We spent some quality time shopping.  We both purchased some new wicking-type duds to wear hiking in the heat.  We've discovered that we really enjoy traveling this way, driving a couple of hours and stopping.  What a change from traveling in vacation mode, hour after hour and arriving exhausted.

We lounged around a few hours the next morning, then headed north into Nebraska.  After crossing the Nebraska plains on I-80 in the past, we were not expecting the beautiful hills and buttes that we saw when driving north on Nebraska Route 71.


Here's just a sample:

We are now in Gering, Nebraska for two nights.


We found a gem of a campground, Gering's Robidoux RV Park, named after an historic trading post that was located nearby.  The campground is run by the city of Gering, and for $23 a night is a real bargain!  Here's the view from our front windshield:

Here's another view of the RV park:

  As soon as we got set up, I asked Roger to drop me off at the nearby North Platte Valley Museum in Gering, which I'd learned about from Nick Russell's book, Meandering Down the Highway.  

My husband and children will tell you that I'm no fun to accompany to museums, especially those that involve the western emigration and pioneer history.  Roger readily agreed to drop me off at the nearby museum, then head home to be with the dogs to ride out the rain and storms that were predicted.  (Our luck held out, and once again we were west of the tornado activity.)


I knew I was in a good place when I spotted the sod house display outside:

What a great little museum!  Lots of old photographs and displays of the area history.  One display I found unique and very interesting was a wall of photos of local residents of the early years of the area. 

Each photo gave a brief synopsis of the person's life; whether they emigrated to the area (if so, when and where from), their occupation and interests.  
  

Now that's what I call an arrowhead collection!

Here's an old stage coach:


Turns out, the Pony Express also traveled through this area.  There were displays about it, as well as my favorite, a painstakingly reconstructed chuck wagon:

This particularly interested me, because I'm currently reading the "Log of a Cowboy" book that I mentioned back in my Fort Davis blog.  The book is excellent, by the way, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  The authentic detail in the book is fascinating (to me, at least).

 This chuckwagon display really brought the book I'm reading to life.  Here's a close-up of one of the placards at the chuckwagon display:






The pet photo of the day shows a tender moment with Chaplin.  Check back soon as we plan some good hiking here and a visit to Chimney Rock National Historic Site before we move on north.