Chimney Rock & Carhenge

Back on the road but off the Interstate for a while as we are headed north up to South Dakota's Black Hills. On the way we stop at Chimney Rock, one of the most recognizable landmarks along the Oregon Trail. We missed the entrance road to the visitor center and learned something in the process. I had pulled off the road in a small gravel turnout and made a super tight u-turn, as we pulled back onto the paved road it was apparent that something was wrong. At first I thought it was our turn to have a flat tire as by this time in the trip we had seen a dozen trailers with flats on the side of the road. It turned out to be our emergency brake-away system, it that uses a small battery to fire off the electric trailer brakes if the trailer becomes detached from the tow vehicle. The trigger pin just got pulled out during the u-turn, something that had never happened to us before. We also learned that the Pacifica can drag the Shasta a bit when it's on loose gravel.

We also make a stop at Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska. As I planned out route I looked for some slightly oddball stuff to work in here and there and Carhenge was one that I was really excited about. What we found there was pretty cool and put smiles on our faces that finally wiped away any left-over tornado fears from the previous day. It was at Carhenge that we ran into one of the few other vintage trailers that we would see on the road during this trip. The trailer was a late 60's or early 70's Aristocrat owned by a family that had been to South Dakota and was on it's way back home to Colorado.

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

So, some days were tougher than others. After traveling all day we drop Shasta on a site at Riverside Campground next to the zoo in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska and then head out to catch the sunset at Scottsbluff National Monument. Once there we check in with the ranger and take the short drive up to the summit while the sky is getting noticeably darker. At the top, while we are getting out of the car our weather alert radio fires off a Tornado Warning! I look at the map and find that the tornado sighting is about 30 miles away and not heading directly towards us. We grab a couple of photos, then drive down to the visitor center while the radio is saying things like "if you are in a mobile home..." and " hail" and "..flood watch". What was the name of that campground? Riverside? Flood Watch, hmm..? Did you notice how close the trailer was to the river? What river, I didn't see a river? Must be one there? Oh yeah, forgot about the tornado... that's what we are really afraid of. (Remember we are from Buffalo, we know a lot about snow but nothing about stuff like this.) We stop at the visitor center, but we don't really see anything because we can faintly hear the rangers weather radio in the back office. We decide to head back to the campground, but then we think what will we do there other than worry too much. We sit in the car paralyzed for a while as for what to do. Then we notice that the sky looks to be getting lighter and the storm seems to be tracking away from us. Being pretty frazzled we decide to eat out and found a simple place with some good Mexican food. Once back at the trailer all is well, but soon some pretty severe thunderstorms roll through as we are going to bed just to use up any of our nerves that are left. When we get up the next morning it seems really quiet and we don't waste much time getting back on the road.

Wyoming - just passing through

Leaving Colorado we spent a quick couple of hours passing through the southeast corner of Wyoming, near Cheyenne. We were on our way back into Nebraska for one night, and then north to South Dakota. After stopping at a rest area for a quick lunch we noticed that there were some pretty interesting clouds. Out here in the plains there's a lot more sky than at home.

Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

While in Colorado the Shasta got a rest for most of a week while we spent some long-overdue time with family. We checked out a bunch of places in the Golden and Boulder area including Red Rocks, Celestial Seasonings, Pearl Street Mall, and the Coors factory. We also drove up the Peak to Peak highway to Este's Park and then spent much of the day on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. This park is simply amazing. We have been to a number a National Parks but to me how beautiful it was here really caught me by surprise. It's just a spectacular place and not to be missed.

Welcome to Colorful Colorado?

The sign said Welcome to Colorful Colorado. However, while the landscape had changed a bit what we saw didn't look look like the images that come to mind for Colorado. Turns out that an area called the Eastern Plains makes up close to half of the state. As with other recent state border crossings we noticed immediately that it looked different than Nebraska, yet it's hard to describe how. We found much of I-76 to be under construction and were really happy that I had recently installed a Friction Sway Control Bar based on strong recommendations from several folks at the Tin Can Tourists rally. The Friction Sway Control proved well worth the cost many times during the trip, especially in situations like this when big rigs were going the other direction at 75mph just across the yellow line. After a while we decided to stop for lunch and found the spot in the photo above close to a town called Crook. Desolate, but also very cool in it's own way, and definitely "someplace else" which was one of my goals for the trip.

North Platte, Nebraska

The next morning we took a break from driving and did some local sight-seeing around North Platte. Scouts Rest Ranch and one of Buffalo Bills homes was adjacent to our small campground. We toured the home and barn which contain lots of photos and memorabilia from Buffalo Bill Cody's life and Wild West Show. We then headed across town to the Golden Spike Tower to take a look at the huge Union Pacific rail yard. As we drove around this hard-working town I noticed that there was an amazing array of well used vintage trailers around town that looked to still be still in occasional use by there owners. If you are looking for something special as a restoration project North Platte might be a good place to visit!

Nebraska - following the Oregon Trail

Another day back on the highway. Crossed the Missouri River at Omaha in fairly heavy traffic and construction but took note of a cool Union Pacific Railroad display with pair of locomotives up high on our right as we drove through. Noticed pretty quickly that Nebraska is a lot flatter than Iowa but still few trees and lots of corn. This stretch of Interstate follows the Oregon Trail as well as the Mormon Trail, and '49 Gold Rush trail ands we decide to make a stop to learn more at the Great Platte River Archway Museum. This museum is built in a huge arch over the highway and features exhibits about the trails that passed through the area. Pretty interesting but a bit sobering as to how difficult traveling was in those times. At the end of the day we were in the town of North Platte and made camp at Buffalo Bill Ranch State Park.