Scott's Bluff Stopover

One last lonely post from our trip out west!  On our way from Estes Park to South Dakota we stopped a night at Scott's Bluff, Nebraska.  We stayed at the Riverside Campground run by the city for a very reasonable $25 and had a site that was easily 5 times as big as our one in Estes Park for half the price!

It was a short walk from the campground down to the river with a view of Scott's Bluff on the other side.  Or you could walk to the zoo like Cory and I did in the morning before we packed up the RV.

It was quite something to hear the tiger roaring while hanging out at our campsite, but when we got to the zoo it was nowhere to be found.  Quite a few of the main attraction animals weren't "let out" yet by zoo staff for the day but it was still a pleasant stroll before hitting the road.

Just after dawn I snuck out of the campground and headed over to the National Monument for a peek by myself.

The history of the Oregon Trail is not as big a thrill for Canadian born Wayne and early in the day the road up to the top of the bluff is closed to vehicle traffic.  But I enjoyed walking around the grounds looking for good shots and getting my exercise before the heat of the plains really got going.

Scotts Bluff rises 800 feet above the North Platte River and has served as a landmark for peoples from Native Americans to emigrants on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails.

Over 250,000 people made their way through the area between 1843 and 1869, and many of them referred to the landmark in the journals.

taken with my iPhone!

From the National Oregon/California Trail website:
To survive the long jouney, a family of four would need 600 lbs. of flour, 120 lbs. of biscuits, 400 lbs. of bacon, 60 lbs. of coffee, 4 lbs. of tea, 100 lbs. of sugar, and 200 lbs. of lard. These would just be the basic staples. Other food stuffs could include sacks of rice and beans, plus dried peaches and apples. Bacon was often hauled in large barrels packed in bran so the hot sun would not melt the fat. Each man took a rifle or shotgun and some added a pistol. A good hunting knife was essential. 

In the early days of the trail when game was more abundant near the trail, pioneers could often kill buffalo and antelope.  However, a more dependable supply of fresh meat was to bring along a small herd of cattle and trail them behind the wagon.   Many also brought along a cow for milking purposes.  Milk could also be churned into butter by simply hanging it in pails beneath the bumpy wagon.  By the end of  the day fresh butter would be ready.

Want to know what a day on the trail was like?  Check out this link.  Think Indians were the biggest threat on the trail?  Think again, getting run over by wagon wheels was the leading cause of death!  I know that will me think of my car a little more fondly next time I load up supplies for a trip.

The New Deal and the History of Cattle Drives Meet in Nebraska

So now I'm not only behind on reading my emails and reading blogs, but I'm behind on editing my photos and writing my blog posts too!  I did find time to dart into the U.S. Post Office in Ogallala, Nebraska when we spent the night there.

I had to mail my mother her new pair of eyeglasses that I didn't have time to take to her before we left home (why are there only 24 hours in a day, at least in summer?) but I had an ulterior motive for stopping at that particular post office of course.

The oil-on-canvas mural entitled “Long Horns” was painted by Frank Mechau in 1938. From "Ogallaly, Queen of the Cow Towns" :
   
...once the railroads started across the Plains, they provided a means of carrying the cattle to the eastern buyers – provided the Texas cattlemen could get their rangy, irascible stock to the railhead. and so was born the classic “long trail” and the cattle drive of legend.

 Just as interesting was the two images in the bulletin cases below the main mural.

Even buying stamps could help the war effort during WWII, something I hadn't heard of before.  I really liked the WWI propaganda poster from 1916 featuring the call to women to help by joining the Navy League.

A quick glance around as I drove back to the camper was all I had time for, guess exploring Nebraska will have to wait for another day.

Back at the new toy hauler we had lots of work to do trying to find a place to put all our stuff.

There is definitely less space for clothes to be stored, but I'm starting to making some headway.

Miss Jewel thinks she's helping, or else she just thought the drawer looked like a great place to make a new bed for herself.  Look at that face!

We've been in Colorado for a whole day and have had so many adventures already I don't know how I'll be able to keep up sharing them on the blog, but I'll do my best!

Disappointment in Yankton

I chose Yankton as a destination because thanks to watching "Deadwood" on HBO I knew that it used to be the capital of the Dakota Territory and I thought there might be some interesting history to be had.  It also had an extensive array of campgrounds lining the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area on the Nebraska/South Dakota border, some South Dakota State Park owned and some owned by the Corps of Engineers.

Our campground nestled behind the trees on Lake Yankton as seen from the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center

The Corps of Engineers campground was nice, as usual.  But once we got to Yankton and drove around to scout things out it didn't take long to realize that the only thing to do was fish.  I don't fish, and Wayne didn't bring a pole along.  Hmm.

Cottonwood COE Campground is technically in Nebraska

There is a series of bike trails, but most of the trail system runs along a major highway.  We headed out of the campground and headed toward Gavins Point Dam where Wayne stopped to ask how the fishing was.  We also cycled through the Chief White Crane Rec Area for a bit.  Really nice campground over there too.  As for the dam...it's a dam.  It takes five minutes to look at, right?  The power plant gives tours on certain days, but we decided not to stick around an extra day just for that.

Gavins Point Dam

On another day we rode our bikes over to the Fish Hatchery.  They had a little aquarium where we got to see some lake fish and turtles.

From there we rode out to the hatchery's ponds, most of which were empty.  I got off my bike and tried to shoot some of the dragonflies zipping about but it seemed like they had all enjoyed some dragonfly version of morning espresso and I had to settle for just watching them while Wayne circled the ponds.

August in the Midwest is hot and full of ragweed (was not thinking about that when I planned this trip) and I was suffering every time we went outside so we left Yankton 2 days early. It was okay as a stopover place for a day or two, but if you're not a fisherman you'll quickly run out of things to do. Tomorrow I'll tell you about how we spent our day there in the rain.  Happy 93rd birthday to Wayne's mom Nellie today!