Fossils and Forts

July 18 – The plan this morning was to visit a roadside attraction, Carhenge, but Bill reminded me of how far it was out of the way, so I agreed to pass on it.  Oh well!  We left at 8:45 but had a bit a trouble getting the level legs to stop flashing an error code on the panel.  I finally retracted enough times to make it go away.

From Scotts Bluff it was only 15 miles to Mitchell, where we turned and headed north.  Well, for 35 miles we had 1 truck pass us and nothing but miles of pastures and treeless fields.  It was one super straight road with some ups and downs to keep you on your toes.  Just before our turn into Agate Fossil Beds National Historic Monument, there was a large copse of full trees and a house and out buildings and

we learned that was the home of the man to first discover the fossils on his property.  What a great man he was!  James H. Cook settled on the Niagara River in 1887 and he discovered some fossils and brought in various scientists and paleontologists from universities and museums and it has been determined these fossils date back 19 – million years.  Cook and his family gave 1,000 acres of land to the National Park Service to preserve the area for future and continued excavations.

Kam called as we were walking to the VC and wished Bill a Happy Father’s Day.  She gave me a card for him before we left and I had it on the table for him this morning.  He was very pleased that she thought of him.  She and I talked a bit then she had to go and we did also.

Two "mountains" where the
fossil beds are

Cook was also a close friend of Chief Red Cloud and other Oglala tribes people and they often came to his ranch and set up a tipi village and had meals and activities with Cook and his family.  They always brought gifts, some they had made and others that had been handed down generations through their tribe.  The bulk of those gifts are also on display at the visitor center in an air and light controlled room.  It was just about as impressive as all of the fossil skeletons and displays.  He never lied to or treated the Oglala as anything but his friends.  It’s quite a touching story.

Memorial commemorating
where Crazy Horse was
killed

Now we were only 50 miles to Fort Robinson State Park in Crawford, NE.  Along the way I spotted 3 antelope.  We should start seeing them on a regular basis now.  We arrived in time to get parked and have lunch.  What an impressive facility.  We had no idea what to expect but they have turned all of the barracks and officer housing into hotel rooms.  The campground is beautiful and they offer plenty of activities to keep you busy.  There are horse trail rides, wagon train rides, stagecoach rides, bike rentals, pool, crafting for kids, 2 museums, exhibits, and I forget the rest.  Some of the rides are actually tours.  They have a chuck wagon dinner and stage shows.

Bill and his new friend

Once we had lunch we toured the building replicas of the original fort and drove the property.  We went to one museum and drove out to the sites where the German WWII POW camp was and near it was a monument to the Red Cloud Indian Agency location. On the way we passed a herd of 100% Texas Longhorn cattle, they have not been bred with any other breeds of cattle..  We checked out the horses and had an ice cream.  What a nice afternoon!

Bill had to wash the front of the RV again.  The windshield looked fine when we arrived but when we got out of the RV the front below that had huge yellow bug splatters all over it.  Nasty!  So Bill washed it and the car and I made a peach crisp for dinner.  Tried out the new toaster oven and it works!  For dinner I made Italian sausage meatballs with sauce and rotini and small lettuce wedges with blue cheese and bacon.  I had to admit, it was a rather good dinner.  I was disappointed in the crisp (not the oven’s fault) as the peaches were not ripe enough.  Bill didn’t mind a bit!

I have caught up writing the journal tonight while we watched “Good Witch” and now it’s time to read a while before hitting the hay!