Back to the USA

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

We awoke in a provincial park between Kelowna and Penticton. Shortly after 7 am Fred was on the phone to Bigfoot. Seems Fred and Wilma’s awning crank somehow got left in the plant when it was removed from the basement. Arrangements were made to get it home and we were off to the border crossing at Osoyoos. The crossing was uneventful and we continued on down Route 97 until we pulled off for breakfast near Janis, WA. Back in the US we can easily tell how far it is to something, and the speed limit signs make sense. We also don’t have to fight the money system. At one of the provincial parks they charged us a little extra to use US dollars, and other times it was not a problem.  It’s the little things that make a difference!

At Omak we turned on Route 155 to Coulee Dam, WA.

We took in the Grand Coulee Dam VC where passport books were properly stamped. Fred, Wilma and Barney took the tour of the dam. The pre 9-11 tour was probably very interesting. We did get to go down to the level of the bay where you can see the top cover of the generators, and they took us down so we could view the shafts connecting the generators and turbines.  The tour buses also took us across the top of the dam where we could look down at the water flowing out.

Barney asking tough questions of our tour guide

Over there?

No, over here.

After the tour we headed south again on 155 looking for a place to put the caves for the night. We ended up in the city park at Coulee City, WA. It is not bad for a city park. We spent a pleasant evening sitting outside enjoying the sun and warm breeze.

Bigfeet at Bigfoot

Monday, June 27, 2011

We left the campground and drove back north on Route 97A through Vernon, and arrived at Bigfoot RV in Armstrong at 7:30 am, all according to plan.

The people at Bigfoot were ready for us and we had our caves in the shop in just a few minutes. We offloaded Barney and Betty’s cave from the Rubble-mobile so we could do some running around while Bigfoot worked on both Bigfeet.

Both rolling caves inside the Bigfoot facility

Working on Fred and Wilma's cave.

Working on Barney and Betty's cave.

We went to Walmart and the Canadian Tire store in Vernon with a breakfast stop thrown in for good measure.

We got back to Bigfoot about 1:00 and found they were not finished. Fred had prearranged a tour of the plant for us. We were taken through their production facility by a 25 year veteran named Rob. He was very knowledgable and gave us a good tour of the molding facility. We were able to see a headliner being installed in the upper section of a camper, and saw the various stages of four units being assembled.

Barney and Fred looking into a new
Bigfoot camper during the tour.

The headliner is going in.

Adding cabinets

This hole is for the back door.

Bigfoot, like all RV manufacturers, was hit hard by the recession. They were building 10 units a week before it hit. For a little while they had to close the doors. Now they are back up to three units a week with 10 employees.

They got the caves finished and set to go just after 4pm.  We headed south again on Route 97A and spent the night in Okanagan Lake Provencial Park between Kelowna and Penticton.

More later.

Kicking Horse to Kalanalka

Sunday, June 26, 2011

We spent last night in Monarch campground, near the spiral tunnel overlook on the west side of Kicking Horse pass, in the Yoho National Park.

We continued west on Route 1 through Golden and Revelstoke. We were a little sad to leave the beauty of the mountains behind.

Today was planned as a travel day so we could be at Bigfoot in Armstrong bright and early on Monday morning.

We drove down Route 97A looking for a place to park the caves for the night.  Ah, the joys of finding yet another place for the night.  After looking at a couple of RV parks (one too snazzy, one just toooo creepy), we found our way to Kalanalka Lake Provincial Park a few klicks south of Vernon. The park wasn’t too bad. There were no hookups, but the shower wasn’t too bad. You could push the button and get a few seconds of water before it turned off again. It’s a little hard to try to rinse your hair with one hand and find the elusive button with the other. If you pushed the button several times to try and get a longer spray, it got scalding hot. But hey, the showers were free, eh.

Into Kootenay and Banff

June 25, 2011    

We awoke this morning in Dry Gulch Provincial Park Campground, near Radium Hot Springs, B.C. Canada.We had a leisurely breakfast of eggs, hash brown potatoes and pancakes.  It wasn’t a bronto-steak but we made the best of it.

We left the campground and drove along route 95 overlooking the Columbia River valley to our right.  We then turned on route 93 through Radium Hot Springs to the entrance plaza of the National Parks.  There are actually several parks accessed at the same location.  We entered Kootenay National Park.  The first mile (read that kilometer) you pass through a slit in 2 vertical rock walls not more than 30 to 40 feet (10 to 13 meters) apart where the road is built over a creek.   It’s like you kind of pour the rolling cave through this slot in the mountain.   It is really quite impressive.

Wow! That's narrow.

  We crossed Sinclair pass at 1486 meters (we need a calculator to convert that to feet).  Then we drove along the Kootenay (Kootenai) River Valley With towering mountains on the east and west sides of the valley.  The slopes are covered with fir trees up to the tree-line then bare craggy rocks and on top of that, snow.  It has been an exceptionally wet year and there is lots of water in the low-lying areas along the rivers.  The streams and rivers are flowing high and swift.  The glacial water is a beautiful color. We made good use of the turnouts, stopping various times.

One of the stops was to watch a lot of mountain goats alongside the road. They were moving fairly quickly, but only as fast as the babies could keep up. The babies were really cute.

We went on into Banff National Park, but did not go into the town of Banff.  We saw the sign saying we were entering Alberta Province; but didn’t see it until it was too late to get a photo of it.  We drove north from Castle Junction to Lake Louise.  At Lake Louise we orbited the hotel parking lot several times looking for a spot to park, but to no avail.  We left without seeing the lake(we’ll save it for another time), and stopped at a nearby picnic area for a little lunch.  After lunch we headed west on Trans Canada Highway 1 to Yoho National Park.  We stopped at Spiral Tunnels Viewpoint and watched a train run into and back out of the mountain. It went under the highway, and headed out to another spiral tunnel before completing the spirals and heading back up the hill. It was a very interesting stop. 

 Just down the road a couple of kilometers we found a campground where we are now stationary for the night in our caves.  Once again we are glad we are not in cloth caves as it is wet and cool outside

Heyburn State Park

Friday, June 24, 2011

Heyburn State Park, Idaho

We awoke early this morning.  We are in the Pacific Time zone but our bodies are still working in the Mountain time zone.   It is Barney and Betty’s Number 3 daughter’s birthday today.   HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFULL DAY.

We will be continuing up route 95 today and should be in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in the next hour or so.

We’ll see what the day brings. 

We plan to cross the border into Canada today, so unless we find some free wifi, we will not be posting again until back in the US.

More of the chisel and rock thing later.

Bigfeet to Bigfoot

June 23, 2011

We are on a quick hop to have new steps installed on our caves.  Taking US95 north, our first stop was at My Father’s Place for a vegi-burger. The price should cure all future cravings for this treat!  But since the craving had taken us 20 miles out of the way, we went ahead and indulged.

Back on the road, we continued north on 95 to the VC for the Nez Perce National Historical Park. After stamping our parks passport book, we looked through the exhibits and then sat in on a ranger talk demonstrating what we could learn about the Nez Perce from the photos mounted in the auditorium.  He also showed us a variety of flutes mostly made from various wood, but had one made from pvc pipe to show us they can use a variety of products to produce their tunes.  He played just a few notes to demonstrate. His program was very interesting. We finished up our visit there by watching the informative video.

Betty and Wilma "stamping" in the VC

The Nez Perce VC - Just kidding!

Barney in full head dress

Back on the road, we fueled up in Lewiston and then headed up the hill toward Moscow. Wow, that is one long, steep, hill.

We turned off 95 to check out a possible camping spot in a state park, but after climbing and climbing on a muddy one lane road we eventually came to an “oversized vehicle turnaround” so high tailed it out of there. The next rest stop marked on our map did not exist, so we proceeded on and again turned off the highway to another state park. This one panned out and we are camped in Heyburn State Park for the night.

Flintstone Rubble May/June Odyssey Summary

June 20, 2011

Our long slow journey was very enjoyable. It was so good to be out seeing some of the things that had previously been only word descriptions of adventures others had. No matter how much planning goes into it, it isn’t enough. Some of that couldn’t be helped because we didn’t really know how long we would spend at the different locations. There are so many things we wanted to see that we couldn’t on this trip, so we will have to plan another.

We made stops at 32 National Parks, Monuments, Battlefields, Scenic Riverways and Historical Sites, where we collected 104 cancellation stamps in our Passport Books. In addition to those we stopped at numerous state sites where we collected 7 cancellation stamps.

We saw springs bursting from the hillside above the Snake River at Thousand Springs near Hagerman, Idaho. We also saw springs gushing out of the ground at the bases of limestone bluffs in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri. Those springs smelled much better than the water and mud erupting from the ground in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, though they were not quite as spectacular.

Our visit to Promentory Point, Utah and the Golden Spike National Historical Site was one that was very enjoyable and included at least a little blind luck. The joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific occurred on May 10, 1869. We were there on May 6, just as they were practicing for the re-enactment to be performed on May 10 and were able to see both steam locomotives rehearse the program. Is that lucky or what?

Canyonlands and Arches National Parks were a series of vistas that are truly awe inspiring. You can’t help but wonder at the power of creation in this land of rivers, rocks, and wind.

We wandered through the dwellings of the Anasazi (Ancient Pueblo People) in Hovenweep, Mesa Verde, Aztec, Chaco Canyon, Bandelier, and Pecos and went through the Anasazi Center and Alibates Flint Quarries, and wondered at the ability, ingenuity and tenacity of this ancient people. We also visited the Washita National Battlefield, Fort Smith National Historic Site, Homestead National Monument and Devils Tower. Through all this you wonder at our forefathers’ treatment of the Native Americans. You wonder if they had a written language with documented history, would the Indians have been treated differently.

Stops at the Loretto Chapel, the Oklahoma City Monument, Gateway Arch, Jewel Cave, Rushmore, the Badlands, Wall Drug, Cody, Wyoming, Yellowstone and Craters of the Moon are inspiring in one way or another. You do get the feeling there have been lots of people who were interested enough in posterity they were willing to take bold steps to insure our access to unique things and places. Also, lots of foresighted people were salesmen, hawking their country to their fellow countrymen and the world, and that we in the United States are fortunate to be where we are.

Many of the National Monuments we visited are fairly small units of the National Park system. They were not crowded, although I think Alibates was the only one we visited that we were the only ones there. Even there, we had to wait a few minutes for the Ranger to return from giving a tour, and someone else that was waiting left before he got back. The larger National Parks were much more crowded.

We didn’t make reservations anywhere except at one campsite. We called ahead to Canyon campground in Yellowstone. Having no reservations worked out okay in most cases. We had three days of travels that lasted into darkness. We don’t like that.

During the 41 days we were gone, we were on the road for 20 days, and traveled about 5,500 miles. In the middle of that, we were stationed in south central Missouri at Rubble’s #3 daughter’s place. We had just about every kind of weather you can come up with, and lots and lots of wind. About half of the time spent in Missouri was rainy, so not all planned projects were accomplished.

The tornado in Joplin was approximately 100 miles west of us. We had several afternoons and evenings of loud and powerful thunderstorms, but curled up in the cave undisturbed.

The cicadas were loud, and that’s putting it mildly. This was the 13 year hatch (or 17 year, depending on who you talk to) and they were everywhere. They buzzed 24 hours a day. Annoying, but not harmful to humans, unless they landed on Wilma or Betty. One night one got into the roof fan that was going in the cave, and it was annoying to hear it being splattered round and round! Reversing the fan to blow out helped a little, but pieces remained to still go clackity clack.

Mifi could normally pick up a signal in the cave because it was sitting higher than the house. Most of the time the signal made for a slow connection, but it was sure better than having no connection. Usually a computer accompanied us to town where we could get hotspots. Mifi was very nice to have if we wanted to look something up or post a blog while trucking on down the road.

The Flintstones and Rubbles know there will be many more adventures that we can enjoy and share with friends and family. We’ll catch you on the next trip.

Back to Bedrock

Tuesday June 14, 2011

We awoke in the Madison Campground in Yellowstone and ate breakfast in our own caves.  We met at 7:30 for the trek to Old Faithful and headed in that direction stopping at a few of the geyser basins along the way.  At one stop we watched an osprey doing some fly-fishing.  The one dive we watched it take did not bear fruit, or fish.   

Once at Old Faithful we went to the viewing platform where we only waited a few minutes before the geyser erupted for us.  The event didn’t seem as spectacular as it did the last time we were here.  Something shifted in the heat source several years ago and changed the eruption timing, but it is still something to behold. 

Old Faithful Geyser

After the eruption we went into the VC and got the passport book stamping taken care of.  We then made a dash across the parking lot to the General Store to the fabled penny smasher.  We smashed several and helped another couple figure out how to use the machine so they could smash a penny.

In route back to the Madison VC, we stopped at a long line of traffic, knowing there must be something going on.  There was a coyote standing not far from the side of the road intently watching a hole in the ground.The coyote was obviously waiting for breakfast to stick its head out of the hole. 

"I know you're in there"

  We, along with 40 or 50 others, took a number of photos.  The coyote was standing so still it looked like an advertisement for a taxidermist.  We left, not knowing whether or not it got breakfast.

At the Madison VC we completed the passport stamping for Yellowstone and headed out of the park. We left West Yellowstone on route 20 to Rexburg and took a right on route 33 headed for Craters of the Moon National Monument between Arco and Carey, Idaho.   After a pause at the VC to stamp passport books we ate lunch in the picnic area and took a drive through the main park loop.  There is quite a bit of work being done on the road system in the park. This was the last stop on this trip for the Flintstones and Rubbles.

The rolling caves will be parked in their more-or-less-permanent places for a while, but that is only a temporary condition.

Baby Elk and Bear

Monday, June 13, 2001

We awoke in the Canyon Campground, in Yellowstone. The 2 to 3 feet of snow on the ground had not disappeared overnight. Oh well.

Our picnic table is in there. Can you see it?

We drove down to the showers and once finished there we headed out. The first stop was at the lower falls brink parking lot, then on up the road a little to look at the fall itself. We headed for Mammoth, stopping on the way at a small overlook for breakfast. There was a herd of over twenty elk and numerous buffalo within binocular range.

We continued on to Mammoth and enroute saw two black bears. Once at Mammoth we got the passport book stamping completed and heard one of the rangers ask another ranger to take her camera to take a photo of a newborn elk.  We went out and took a bunch of photos while the mama elk was trying to coax the calf to stand.

The proud Mom and her new baby

From Mammoth we went south toward Madison Junction. We stopped at a historical ranger station for another passport book stamp, and then another stop at Norris Basin for yet another stamp. Then on to Madison Campground where we registered for two of the last four sites available. No snow on the ground at Madison. YEAH!!!!

We took a side trip into West Yellowstone, Montana, got our passport book stamp at the tourist information center, then went to the IMAX to see Yellowstone. We stopped at DQ for a bronto burger and some pterodactyl strips. We headed back to the park and Madison campground. On the way we stopped as a bunch of buffalo, maybe 20 or 25, crossed the road. The herd had 4 or5 young calves with them. There were two ranger vehicles acting as crossing guards. We got some photos of the calves. When they cleared the road and we started again, there had been traffic backed up in the other direction for a mile and a half to two miles. We stopped at the Madison VC which had closed about five minutes before we got there—go figure.

We are now huddled by the fire in our caves while the rain falls outside. Certainly glad we are not in cloth caves.

Lost Cabin and Lost Campsite

Sunday, June 12, 2011

We awoke in the Lost Cabin Campground in the Big Horn National Forest in the Big Horn Mountains, between Buffalo and Ten Sleep, Wyoming.   It’s a good thing we stayed on the East slope of the mountains, because everything on the west slope was snowed in. We stopped for fuel in Greybull and headed on toward Cody, Wyoming. We made a stop in Cody for groceries and another to take photos of the Buffalo Bill museum.  Fred and Wilma call ahead and made reservations at the Canyon Campground in Yellowstone National Park.

When we entered the park our first stop was the Fishing Bridge VC to get passport books stamped. We also found a penny smasher at the Fishing Bridge General Store which we put to use.

The next stop was the Canyon VC where additional passport stamping was accomplished. Between Fishing Bridge and Canyon we stopped at the Mud Volcano viewing area. The odor of the pool of mud was something near dirty socks and rotten eggs. We didn’t stay long.

After the Canyon VC we went to the campground office to check in.  Fred had made reservations for 2 camp sites. Fred gave them his confirmation number which they brought up on their computer, but with only one site reserved. The clerk added the reservation for Barney and Betty and assigned them site K232.  The clerk then tried to assign Fred site K233, the adjacent site, but it would not work. The clerk then tried to assign Fred to site K231, but that didn’t work because he was partially in K233. Another clerk came and they eventually got Fred and Wilma in site K233. We went to the K loop to set up the rolling caves. Fred and Wilma popped into K233 without any problems. The camp sites were laid out with K231, K232 and K233 in sequence on the same side of the loop road. We found K231 and K233, but K232 was missing. Turns out that it had not been plowed and was still under two or three feet of snow.

The campsite that wasn't there

Betty and Barney's new campsite

We all went back to the registration office and in just a few minutes Barney and Betty were reassigned to K231. We are all finally in and buttoned up for the night.

Around 4 am Fred and Wilma heard noises of something around their rolling cave. Fred got up and checked, but didn’t see anything. A little later they heard what was probably a raccoon scoot across the top of the cave. Wilma lit a torch and aimed the light toward the vent over the bed, and whatever it was got real excited, scurrying around on top, until Fred and Wilma heard a scratching sound as whatever it was got too close to the edge, and slid off the front corner. Little paw prints on the windshield and hood give evidence that Fred and Wilma didn’t just imagine the nighttime disturbance.

More from the Bedrock Bunch later.

Buffalo Bill

Sunday, June 12, 2011   

Oh what a beautiful day!  It wasn’t as cold as expected overnight, and is bright and clear this morning. We had a snack breakfast and proceeded down the mountain, and I do mean down!  It was a fairly fast and steep descent.  Climbing the other side had been a lot more gradual.

Stopped in Greybull for fuel, then proceeded on to Cody. From Cody we called ahead to see if we could get camping spots in Yellowstone. We can, so will look around Cody just a bit and then head out. We did find a dime smasher, but their penny smasher was out of order. Got the dimes smashed, picked up a few groceries, will take a few pictures and then be on our way.

There will be no signal in the park, and we will probably be there a couple of days, so don’t look for updates for a few days. We will also get pictures posted for some previous entries later, so check back for those.

Horse Thieves and Devils

Saturday, June 11, 2011

We departed from Horsethief Lake National Forest Campground at about 8 am enroute to Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming. We traveled on Route 385 through Hill City and stopped at Pactola Reservoir looking for a place to eat breakfast. The water in the reservoir was so high that most of the picnic tables were in a foot or so of water, so we went on up the road to Roubaix Lake National Forest Campground. Eggs and pancakes were excellent as usual.

We continued on 385 to Deadwood, then 85 to I-90 and into Wyoming.

We arrived at Devil’s Tower National Monument at about 12:30 pm. After a stop inside the monument to photograph prairie dogs, we went to the VC for a passport book stamping session.

Cute little varmits

Devil's Tower upclose

Devil's Tower from the trading post 

Wilma had to ask for the 25th anniversary stamp which was not located with the rest of the stamps.

Once the stamping session was completed, we made a stop at the Devil’s Tower Trading Post just outside the monument to get an ice cream cone, and found their penny smasher. After smashing half a dozen pennies, we once again got on the interstate headed west. We exited I-90 at Buffalo and took route 16 toward Worland and Cody.

We are currently off grid again and settled in at the Lost Cabin Forest Service Campground at about 8200 feet and are expecting a cold night.

Wilma putting on the tablecloth

What a great breakfast!

We’ll do more hammering and chiseling tomorrow.

Good night.

Yabba Dabba Doooo

Thursday, June 10, 2011

We left the Custer/Mt. Rushmore KOA enroute to Jewel Cave National Monument near Custer. We arrived at the VC about 9:30. We decided to take the “Discovery Tour” of the cave which is the shortest and least strenuous tour. (The “Scenic” tour involved more than 700 steps!) The next available tour for us was at 11:35. We got the tickets and since there was plenty of time, we headed to the VC passport book stamping station to get that taken care of. We took in everything in the VC and sat in the sun on the patio. At least one of us (Barney) had time for a short nap.

The tour took us down in an elevator to about 250 feet below the surface, into a room that was roughly 50’ x 50’ with a 30’ ceiling.  The tour only lasted about 20 to 30 minutes, and the ranger told us stories about the cave system and its early explorers. The cave system is over 150 miles of explored passages and the exploration continues.

Athos, Barney, Betty and Wilma in the cave

Athos with Betty and Wilma

From there we went to Wind Cave National Park with a stop enroute at the Flintstone DriveIn in Bedrock. It was like old home week!

Here we are in front of our likenesses

The rolling caves by the sign

 We went to the VC at Wind Cave and did the appropriate passport book stamping. We did not take a cave tour there. After all, it’s just another hole in the ground that is about 130 miles long. This one has about a one square mile footprint to put all those miles in and the VC sits pretty much on top of it.

Heading off to Mt. Rushmore, we stopped along the road to photograph the Crazy Horse sculpture. In its current state only the head is done and a portion of his extended arm can be identified.

Crazy Horse - A work in process

Close up of the mountain

Barney and Betty, Wilma and Fred
in front of Mt. Rushmore

We also stopped at Horse Thief Lake Forest Service campground, selected a site, left the Flintstone-mobile, and took the Rubble-mobile to visit the faces on the mountain. Things at the complex had changed somewhat since our last visit. We took lots of photos and visited the museum. It was still very impressive.

We got the passport books stamped. Betty asked the ranger about the anniversary stamp and he said he wasn’t aware of a 25^th anniversary stamp. After a few veiled threats, he went into the office to ask about it. He returned shortly, sheepishly, with the stamp and told Betty he was unaware of its existence before she asked. If the anniversary stamp isn’t out, asking will usually produce one.

The rolling caves are parked at the Horse Thief Lake campground for the night, and all is right with the world.

Our first activity today was to go back out to the Minuteman Missile headquarters and get signed up for a tour. We had just about an hour wait, but Athos found a smashed penny machine and he and Fred had some fun with that.

The tour we took is in the not-to-be-missed category. It was absolutely great! We went out to Delta 01 that was a control center for 10 Minuteman Missile silos.  Our guide was a retired man who had served at one of the control centers when he was in the Air Force many years ago, so he was well acquainted with what went on there, and he was quite friendly and funny.   The equipment in the control capsule was state of the art when it was installed in the early 1960s but is indeed ancient looking by today’s standards.

We are all ears

Our tour guide in the "capsule"

The gazillion ton door

Enjoying the presentation

We then re-entered the Badlands NP and completed the drive through the park. Athos did some climbing around on the various hills, and we stopped at a lot of the view points.  We saw a few deer and in one area we got to see a number of Bighorn sheep.

Just a few miles from the park entrance/exit is the town of Wall, famous for Wall Drug. We did the obligatory tourist trap stop, but first stopped at the National Grasslands VC and got a stamp there.  Athos located another penny smasher in the store and we all got a Wall Drug penny.   We didn’t stay long at Wall Drug, and then headed down I90 to a rest area for lunch.  It was raining off and on by then, but the picnic tables are in covered shelters, so we ate outside. We really have a tough life!

Another 60 to 70 miles of roadmobiling took us through a fuel stop in Rapid City and down through the Black Hills to Custer, where we are holed up in our rolling cave houses listening to the rain on the roof. Before the rain started Athos had time to show off his skills at bouncing on a giant pillow.  The pillow is a contraption somewhat like a trampoline.  After the athletic show the rain started.  It will be a quiet night.

Wild Rivers and Bad Lands

June 8, 2011

We were up bright and early to take advantage of an empty shower house. Wilma improvised a shower curtain for a little privacy. This campsite was not one of our favorites! We went up the road about 30 miles to a Forest Service camp with picnic grounds.  Had breakfast there, but the wind had returned so we ate inside. Betty scouted out the local bathhouse, and said it was really nice.  The campground sites were big time nicer. Wish we had side by side pictures of where we stayed and where we should have stayed! Even Athos asked why we hadn’t stayed at the Forest Service camp instead, although he did get to paddle around the small lake at the Springs! Ask him about that one!

Driving through the sand hills and the marshes of Valentine National Wildlife Refuge was very pretty. We planned to stop in Valentine at the National Parks office to get a stamp for the Niobrara Scenic River.  It is an office, not a VC, but it was open and we did get a stamp.

Inside, talking with the Parks Service employees

Athos and Barney at the Very Small office

They sent us down the road about five miles to Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, and we got more stamps there.

At the "real" VC

From there we did some roadmobiling north.   We made a stop for fuel and propane.  The gent who filled our bottle asked where we were from, and during the course of the conversation we told him that this corner of Nebraska was very interesting.  He replied,”It is , but we don’t advertise.” From there we crossed into South Dakota, and continued on until we stopped at a rest area on I90 for some lunch. 

Rolling on down the road, we got to exit 131, and sure enough, behind the Conoco station was a Parks trailer serving as a VC for the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  It was just about to close for the day, but there were a number of visitors, so they graciously stayed and showed the video.

Athos, Barney, Fred and Wilma at the Minuteman trailer

We got our stamps and took off for the Badlands. 

The hills just inside the East entrance are spectacular. We watched the video and got our stamps at the VC, and are tucked into the campground for the night.  The wind is still blowing hard enough that a boy from a neighboring camper is flying a kite.  We will explore more of the Badlands tomorrow.

The Pioneers at Beatrice (Bee-at'-ris)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

After the Bedrock bunch ate breakfast in the campground at the Indian Cave State Park, we should have gone back down to Falls City because the Rubblemobile dealer there might have had the part needed. Instead, we went on to Beatrice and the Homestead National Monument of America. What a surprise! I don’t think any of us expected such a niceVC.

The sign at the road

The building on a VERY windy day

Wilma and Fred

Athos and Barney enjoying the exhibits

The movie and the displays were excellent.  This National Monument is dedicated to those pioneering spirits who homesteaded throughout the U.S.   The Homestead Act was passed in 1863 and repealed in 1976 with the exception of Alaska where it was extended until 1986.  The government offered 160 acres of land free if the homesteader lived on the land and made specified improvements in 5 years.   There were approximately 1.6 million homestead claims filed. 

The Monument is located on the homestead of Daniel Freeman, one of the earliest claimants.  The VC and museum give you an idea what life was like for a homesteader and some of the hardships they faced to realize the dream of ownership.  It also gives you some idea of how the Indians, native to the land, were treated/mistreated.

Old Pioneer House

Pioneer House and equipment

Got our five stamps, and headed out of town – but not until after lunch and stopping at the Rubblemobile dealer. They didn’t have the needed part, but checked and found out the dealer in Seward had it. Right on our route, so off we went in a futile search. Their inventory hadn’t been updated and they didn’t have what we needed, but wait!, they called ahead to York, and had them check and sure enough, an hour or so later we were stopped in a rest area applying the needed fixative. All is well.

We have bucked very strong winds most of the day. There was about a 40 mile stretch where we had a tail wind, but mostly it has been whacking against the side, making for some stressful driving.

Athos drooled over the golf course in Grand Island as we went zipping by, but we were off to put miles behind us and get tucked into a campsite earlier than last night.  Headed out Route 2, then north on Route 83 to Merna. We stayed the night at Victoria Springs State Recreation Area, but read more about that in the next installment.