Aug 21 - Salina UT

Gorgeous drive today.  When we started out the terrain was flat and desert.  Then we got into farmland.  As soon as we turned onto Highway 189 toward Provo we were greeted by REAL mountains.  This highway was spectacular!  We had the same phenomenon of the landscape looking like a painting rather than real.

You can really see the size of the mountains when you see our RV parked by the road

We took a little side road to see Bridal Veil Falls which was really something.  It must be incredible in the spring when there’s much more water coming down.  Norm ran across a bunch of kids jumping into the river and took some photos of them.  They will presumably email me to get copies of the photos.  There is so much activity going on this river – rafting, kayaking, white water rapid running, canoeing, etc. 

We went on I-15 south for a short stretch and then moved to a parallel scenic road which we’ll take down to Zion National Park.  Interesting campsite tonight (Butch Cassidy Campground) with an aviary and rabbits and chickens running around everywhere.

Aug 20 - Vernal UT

Today we took Hwy 191 south to the Flaming Gorge Recreation Area.  The scenery is spectacular; so much so that when you look at it, it doesn’t seem real but seems like it’s a painting.  We reached the dam and reservoir and checked out the marina and a couple of campgrounds there.  We were disappointed that none of the campgrounds were on the water – an item that seems to be increasingly important to us. 

As most scenic roads, however, it was a two lane road, windy and we climbed to 8400 feet, at times we had huge gorges on both sides of the road  - a very long way down to the bottom.  As anyone who knows me can attest, I am nervous unless I’m on the “safe” side of the road.  What really got me however, was an 8-10% downgrade for ten miles of switchbacks with our brakes overheating (the smell is the telltale sign).

I think in an effort to lighten the atmosphere, whenever we stopped along the road to cool off the brakes, or came to a switchback and had to brake to 20 mph from 40 mph, Norm would say “brace for impact” in his Scotty of Star Trek accent, which made me laugh.  Just the same, I was delighted when we reached Vernal and stopped.

This campground is unusual in that it is in the middle of town.  It’s off the main drag in a gully so you can’t even see it from the road but we can go walk around the town and come back to what feels and looks totally secluded.

Aug 19 - Green River WY

Visited the Lincoln Monument in Laramie WY – we were so impressed with the sculpture!  WOW!  The Lincoln Highway goes from Times Square to the Golden Gate Bridge (3,389 miles) and this monument is situated on the highest point of the highway at 8,640 feet.

We then had a tour around the Wyoming Territorial Prison Historic site (where Butch Cassidy was interred for 18 months).  Interesting place but as we were inside the prison I started to feel very funny and had to go outside.  It wasn’t particularly claustrophobic so I don’t know what that was all about.  At any rate, there were other exhibits outside the prison so it was all fun to explore.

I-80 through Wyoming has been quite unexpected.  Because we have previously been in northern Wyoming through Yellowstone, Grand Teton and the Devil’s Tower we were expecting the terrain to be similar – NOT!  The first hour after Laramie was flat farmland, then an area of hills which still have snow, and then after that it was flat desert.  After 3 hours we suddenly started seeing some amazing rock formations and we’ll take some photos of those tomorrow morning as we stopped at the first available place.

We’re in a hotel tonight because the campgrounds we saw, which were few and far in-between, left a lot to be desired.

Aug 18 - Cheyenne WY

Our first stop this morning was at Chimney Rock National Historic Site.  Chimney Rock is one of the most famous and recognizable landmarks for pioneer travelers on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, a symbol of the great western migration.  We were disappointed first, because it was foggy and second, because we were so far away from the Rock.  Still, we managed a few photos even though they’re not very good. 

Next we stopped at Scotts Bluff National Monument.  “Scotts Bluff is a topographic feature rising to 4,659 feet above sea level and 800 feet above the North Platte River. The geology of Scotts Bluff is significant from a natural resource standpoint because it affords a view of 740 feet of continuous geologic strata that spans a time period extending from 33 to 22 million years before present.” National Park Service

We took a shuttle up to almost the top of the monument and were able to look around for miles.  It was still hazy out but the sight was impressive just the same.

Before arriving in Cheyenne we had heard about the cowboy boot sculptures painted by local artists that are scattered all over town.  We were interested in trying to find as many as we could and started looking in the downtown area.  We had a museum we wanted to visit but forgot it was Sunday and everything is closed.  We did get to see the outside of the State Capitol which was quite impressive and managed to find 10 of the boots.  

Aug 17 - Alliance NE

We stopped in at the Fort Cody Trading Post which was an interesting store of many bizarre items.  “The Fort Cody Trading Post has remained true to its original vision -- a replica frontier redoubt of the 1860-to-1875 era that claims to be "Nebraska's Largest Souvenir and Western Gift Store." While many gift shops in the West attempt to look like frontier stockades, this is probably the largest, maybe even larger than life. Soldier dummies man the stockade battlements and towers; one has an arrow sticking out of his butt.” <RoadsideAmerica>

Then we went to see Buffalo Bill Cody’s home which is now a historic state park.  We saw his home and his barn as well as having a walk around the grounds.  Quite an interesting stop – beautiful grounds.  He was quite a character and visionary.

We took a detour from our projected route to visit Carhenge in Alliance.  This is the No. 2 Wackiest Attraction (No. 1 being the Toilet Seat Museum in Alamo Heights Texas according to RoadtripAmerica).  What a hoot!

Aug 16 - Gothenburg NE

Today was housekeeping day so we didn’t actually get on the road until noon.

We stopped at the Rowe Sanctuary which is a staging area for Sandhill Cranes.  Even though this is a very quiet time there it was interesting to talk to the docent.  We will be looking at the “crane cam” next March when they get anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 cranes on their way north.  They have web cams set up mornings and evenings in March that are actually manned so that you can get the best view of what’s happening each day.

A woman in the laundry room this morning mentioned that we should watch for and stop at the Archway which is a museum built over the I-90.  Sounded interesting and we certainly were keeping an eye out for it but couldn’t have missed it if we tried.  We did stop and walked around the grounds and a little into the museum but there were steep escalators and no elevators so we couldn’t really go through the museum.  There are photos in the album and this awful photo through the windshield at least shows the outline.

Aug 15 - Gretna NE

Our campsite last night was almost perfect.  We were right beside a river and could hear the water moving; we were able to have a campfire (only the 2^nd one this trip); and there were only about a dozen campers spread around so that it really felt like we were all alone.  It was glorious.

In Clear Lake we followed 315 Street to its end and saw the scene in the photo below.

This is the marker for the 10 minute walk to a plane crash site.  On Feb 2, 1959, rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Big Booper performed at Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Shortly after midnight, the three rock stars took off in a charted plane that promptly crashed on take-off, killing the pilot and the three rock stars.  There is a small memorial and people obviously still come by and leave various items. 

Passing through Britt we discovered that we missed the National Hobo Convention which had been held the previous weekend – rats!!

Our next stop was in West Bend at the Grotto of the Redemption.  This is considered to be the world's most complete man-made collection of minerals, fossils, shells, and petrifications in one place.  The history is that Father Paul Dobberstein was a German immigrant ordained in 1897 who became critically ill with pneumonia and promised to build a shrine to the Virgin Mary if she interceded for him.  After his recovery, he began stockpiling rocks and precious stones.   Construction of the Grotto began in 1912 and continued year round for 42 years.

Our last stop of the day was in Ida Grove to see the castles.  There was one man largely responsible for the castle structures, Byron Godbersen (1925-2003), founder and owner of Midwest Industries in Ida Grove.  He built his castles all over town and since they are privately owned you can only see them from the outside.