Westward Ho!

Greetings from Nebraska, land of corn fields and endless flatness......NOT!!! Northwestern Nebraska was surprising in how hilly it was. Instead of the cornfields, we had acres and acres of grassland. I think this area must be every steer's idea of heaven and there were a lot of them living the dream.

I did make once last foray back into Wyoming to see Fort Laramie. Fort Laramie started out life as a trading post, but in 1849, the Army bought the post and renamed it Fort Laramie. This was the time when hordes of people were heading west, through Indian country and the Fort was where all of the trails (California, Oregon and Mormon) converged. We had gold seekers, homesteaders and people fleeing from religious persecution all coming through the Fort. There were also many treaties between the Indians and the U.S. Government signed and subsequently broken. Interesting fact: Northern Plains Indians (Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho) rarely attacked wagon trains. All those westerns I watched as a kid were, dare I say, lies. 

Built as the Commanding Officer's quarters, this building became a duplex for company-grade officers.

Calvary barracks 1874

There was a room which had copies of many of the treaties signed between the U.S. government and the native peoples.  Several of them had a clause in the treaty called the 'Bad Men Clause'

If bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington city procced at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.

This was signed in 1868.  The first claim filed was in 1970.  

As all of these emigrants came across the endless prairie, one of the first landmarks they came across was Chimney Rock. It became a symbol that these travelers were now 1/3 of the way on their journey westward.

The next landmark, 25 miles west was Scott's Bluff, named after Hiram Scott. Hiram was with a bunch of his pals when he became sick. His buddies decided to go on without him and a year later, when his bones were found, Hiram got this large land mass named after him. There was a road built up to the top of the bluff and Miko and I found our way up there. After we got past all of the signs warning us to watch out for rattlesnakes, we followed a couple of small trails around the top of the bluff. Signs told us that as we looked west, we would be able to see the Rockies and if we looked east, we could see Chimney Rock. It was a little bit hazy, so we had to use our imaginations. 

Scotts Bluff was right out the front window of the RV

View from the top

This was a surveyor's post that was hammered into the rock in 1933.  

They say that the top of it was level with the rock and this is how much the rock has eroded in the last 90 some years

One of the stops I had to make was to the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. I wasn't too keen on the idea, I mean I had just been to the Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming. How many fossils can a poor girl see? Turns out that Agate Fossil Beds was quite a bit different. Fossil Butte was from an earlier time era, therefore most of the fossils were of fish or perhaps small mammals. Agate was from the Miocene era which was only about 19 million years ago. Much larger mammals roamed the earth during this time period. There were pony-sized rhinoceros creatures and a carnivore called a beardog, among others.

One of the interesting fossils were not of specific animal but of a burrow. There were Palaeocaster which was a dry land beaver. They built these corkscrew burrows which eventually filled with sand and were preserved. 

A rather amazing discovery was a bone bed. Hundreds of bones of different species were all in this bone bed. Scientists speculate that there was a small shallow watering hole. The animals would come to drink and then start eating the vegetation around the pond. As they ate more, they had to go farther and farther away from the pond until eventually they had grown too weak to make the trip to eat and get back to the water. Essentially, they think all these animals died of starvation.

While all this was interesting, the best part of the place was the James H. Cook exhibit. Cook was a rancher who in the 1870s thru the early 1900s befriended the Upper Plains Indians. They gave him many gifts over the years along with the stories about the gift. There was a war club that had been in a specific battle with Army soldiers and the story about how the club's owner had hand to hand combat with an officer and his saber. The war club won the battle. 

This is a hairbrush created from a porcupine's tail.

Whitewater

Whitewater State Park – southeastern Minnesota – No mosquitoes, no cell service and no wifi. But I have Tony so all is good. We came down here for a short little getaway.

Even though I am reluctant to make reservations, if you wish to stay in a Minnesota state park in the summer, you had better make one. I suppose it is because the summer camping season is so short and people are so anxious to get out and about. I lucked out in that I found probably one of the better sites available from Tuesday thru Thursday. Unaccustomed as I am to making reservations, I actually made the reservation thru Friday and then proceeded to set up a whole bunch of Friday appointments back home. Focus is perhaps a little weak at times. Luckily, the campground folk were understanding and refunded my money for Thursday night.

Tuesday, when we arrived was lovely. We set up our lawn chairs and just zoned out staring at all the mosquito free greenery. It is a real treat to be someplace in Minnesota in the summer without mosquitoes. They say it is because there is no standing water in the area, it is all moving streams and rivers.

Wednesday, it was supposed to rain but after a good soaking in the morning, it stopped raining. We decided that we would do the Chimney Rock hike. It was over 100 steps to reach the top of the bluffs. It was pretty steep but really lovely. When we get to the top of all of these steps, there is a map. I look at it and figure out which way I am supposed to go to get to Chimney Rock. Tony, knowing how map challenged I am chooses to sit on the conveniently placed bench and wait for my return. Clever man as I, of course, picked the wrong way. If I had gone left, Chimney Rock was maybe a five minute walk. I went right and walked for about a half hour before I decided that I was perhaps going the wrong way. It was really a pretty walk, there were several outstanding views over the river valley, but because of the rain, there was also a lot of slick mud. I'm really grateful that I had my walking stick. I never did get to see Chimney Rock, only the most popular sight to see at Whitewater. Oh well.

When we get back to the campsite, it starts to rain. My phone goes off with severe thunderstorm warnings. Ok, fine – but then the phone tells me we have a tornado warning also. It is pouring down rain. We decide we should maybe head for shelter in the campground shower house. As we are heading over there, a ranger drives up and tells us we need to evacuate. When we get to the shower house, I decide that we should go into the Women's side, the reasoning that it would probably be cleaner. I guess I was basing that on past experiences. Later on, we talked to some people who were in the Men's side of the shower house. His reasoning was that the southwest corner of a building is supposed to be the safest place to be in a tornado. Guess who had a more valid reason for which side to choose. Fun Fact: Southwest corner safety is a myth – no part of a building is safer than another during a tornado – staying away from windows is the key. We were in the shower house for about an hour and a half and eventually walked back to the campsite all safe and sound.

Miko, of course, chose the safest place to be

Later that night, we found that we were parked in the middle of a lake. Seriously, the water around the RV was above my ankles. My door mat was floating several feet away. By the next morning, most of the water had drained away but it was muddy. Since we were leaving that day, we decided to do a short hike around a meadow. Pleasant enough except for the parts where there was still standing water and we had to trail blaze around the little lakes on the trail.

Yes, the mat is floating

Since I had no cell service, when we left the park, I could not use my stand by travel assistant – Google Maps. We ended up going along some of the smaller highways, which I thoroughly enjoyed. These roads are always much more entertaining than the big interstates.

I would love to go back to Whitewater – maybe actually see Chimney Rock and do some more hiking. There were some new experiences and I got to share them with Tony. I'm not sure being evacuated to the shower house because of a tornado is something that will make him want to continue this camping adventure, but I guess it was a unique way to spend the night.