Misty's American Adventure: Over The Horizon

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

Oddly, I got to my motel tonight feeling tired, but wondering why as I thought I hadn't done much today. Well, having just spent a couple of hours on my blog, I realise it has been a packed day with plenty to talk about and so much to remember. My entries are not usually this long...

Road Trip Day 34

I had another day of widespread stops planned today and managed to get going at a reasonable hour, thanks in part to the hotel complimentary breakfast stopping at 9:00am rather than the usual 9:30 or 10:00am.

Main Street America

In England we talk about the "High Street" to mean the main shopping street and commercial district. In America the equivalent phrase is "Main Street". Here are a couple of shots from "Main Street" in the small town of Gering, adjacent to Scottsbluff. It's just one of the beautiful western towns I have passed through recently.

Unfinished Business

My last stop yesterday was at Scott's Bluff, but I arrived shortly before they would close the road up to the summit, so I drove straight up. By the time I got down, the museum and visitor centre had closed. As I am trying to pick up some American History as I go along, I wanted to visit the museum so returned this morning.

The story of how The West was discovered, mapped and settled is very interesting and I have spent much of the last couple of days on or around the Oregon Trail. The museum was very interesting featuring stories of the various groups of settlers, and then prospectors passed through these lands as well as the natural history of the region.

A second room of the museum featured the story and works of William Henry Jackson, a photographer and painter who was part of expeditions which explored The West. I've seen him mentioned in several places over the last couple of weeks, most notably in Yellowstone where I learned it was his photographic evidence which swung the decision to make Yellowstone a National Park.

His paintings are very attractive too, with an unfussy, but not plain or simplistic, style. I took my time browsing the museum and gallery before heading away from Scottsbluff to my first new sight of the day.

My Own Roadside Contribution

After yesterday's semi-success with the Roadside Attractions, I was really pleased to find something today which might qualify. I was in the tiny town of Minatare in Nebraska on my way to the Post Office when I came upon it. The town is dominated by the Minatare Feedlot Inc. factory and at the front of their lot is this huge bull, emblazoned with the banner "Beef. King of Meats".

I think he's really cute, but he looks a bit miseable which is probably because he's being used to promote eating beef.

State Symbol

Like Scott's Bluff, the formation of Chimney Rock is due to the erosion of the plain around this rock which is a remnant, protected by a stronger cap rock.

So iconic is Chimney Rock to Nebraska, that it is used to represent the state on their Quarter (25 cent coin). To explain a bit more, in the late 1990's the first of a series of 50 special Quarters was issued. 5 or 6 were issued each year with a different design for each state. The coins were issued in order of the date the states joined the Union. They are in general circulation and I am collecting them, trying to get one for each state now that the whole series has been issued. Here is Nebraska's quarter, followed by my photo of Chimney Rock taken on this rather overcast morning.

Another Attraction?

I'm not going to submit this one to the website, but on the outskirts of Bridgeport, NE is the place where farm equipment goes to die. Laid out in fields outside 3 or 4 different vendors are the parts and carcases of tractors, farm implements and assorted trucks and a few school buses. The parts are very colourful and laid out by category. The row of rear axels was particularly pretty.

Only In America

Sometimes you see something which makes you say "Only in America". Carhenge is such a thing.

It is exactly what you think it is. A recreation of England's Stonehenge made from cars. It is a great creation, and clearly from the minds of some highly imaginative minds who may, or may not, have been influenced by exotic cigarettes.

This photo of me between two of the "stones" was taken by Kurt, a very kind and welcoming native Nebraskan who, like me, was visiting Carhenge for the first time. We talked for ages, exchanging stories of me travels in the USA and his in the UK. My enthusiasm for America is matched by his for the UK.

Cheers Kurt!

Over-reaching

I was hoping to squeeze in a final visit of the day to the Agate Fossil Beds, where a significant number of pristine early mammal skeletons have been found. I made it there, partly by following a 6 mile dust road that my Sat-Nav refused to believe I could travel on, but I arrived just as the visitor centre was closing.

The friendly Ranger there did let me watch the 12 minute movie and take a quick look round, but I didn't get the full picture. Also, by now, I was feeling a bit tired and with the wind blowing strong and cold I decided not to follow the two mile trail but to drive on to my motel in Hot Springs instead.

As I travelled north from Agate, I crossed into the 24th state of my visit. Doing my best impression of Kate, my tour guide for the three weeks of TrekAmerica, I yelled out "Welcome to South Dakota you guys!" as I crossed the border after first stopping for the obligatory state sign.

Fire in the Sky

The Great Plains give the biggest, flattest horizons you can imagine. You can genuinely notice the curvature of the earth. The overcast cloud cover of earlier had begun to break up and the way the cloud base curves away over the horizon was very apparent.

An amazing upshot of this was that there was a phenomenal sunset tonight. A huge sky, patches of rainfall and broken cloud were the perfect ingredients. I hope these photos go some way to show what I saw. (I have only seen them on my tiny NetBook screen so you are seeing them properly before me. I have uploaded them in large size to PhotoBucket and added links so you can see them properly).