Moving on to South Dakota

June 20 – So sad to be leaving Fort Robinson.  Great place for any age group and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We left about 9 after hitching the car up.  This was to be another short driving day, which I’m really liking!

Skeletal Rancher

It was short drive to South Dakota.  In the town of Oelrichs we stopped on the side of the road for a photo or 2 of the Skeletal Rancher.  Since I was actually on some of the highway I put on the flasher and sent Bill across the road for the photos.  The things a woman asks of her man!

We then headed on to Hot Springs, SD to the Mammoth Site.  This was another very interesting and informative stop.  A man bought this vacant land with a hill on it to turn into a housing sub-division.  As his worker was bulldozing on the hill to level it out a big bone was discovered.  The owner

Most of a Mammoth

contacted several experts from several colleges and museums to come take a look.  Boy, what a find!  We first viewed the movie which provided an excellent overview of how the mammoths ended up in the area and then in the pit.  Then a host took us on a walk through with headsets and explained what we were seeing at the site.  The entire hill is inside a building and is continually being excavated.  They have gone down about 20 feet already and due to a core drilling they have another 45 feet to be excavated.  These bones are not petrified due to the type of soil and conditions; therefore they are much more delicate than what you see in museums.  They currently account for 62 mammoths, only 1 is a Wooly Mammoth, the rest are Colombian Mammoths.  There are also a number of other animal species found, some that are still in existence and several that are not.  Once the tour ended we could take photos and go into another exhibit room and of course, we were exited into the gift shop.  You can volunteer there and they teach you to excavate the bones, wouldn’t that be fun?

We finished up about noon and decided to go on to Hermosa, SD and settle into our campground and have lunch there.  We are staying 3 nights at Heartland RV Park which is just outside of Custer National Park and close to Mt. Rushmore and Rapid City.

Once we were set up and had lunch, we headed out to Custer State Park.  We’ve been here before and in 10-11 years, things change.  We thought the fee for the park was high but once we spent 4 hours there, we decided it was well worth it, plus the pass is good for a week. 

We opted to start with the “Wildlife Loop Road” and we certainly got to see the wildlife!  On the mild end was we saw a number of antelope.  On the wild side, well, we got more than we bargained for.  The herd of burros was great to see but not so great once you were ready to move on.  They crossed the road and walked along the side and really were in no hurry to get wherever they were headed.  They have no fear of traffic.  We felt fortunate that we encountered 3 large herds of buffalo. They also have no fear of traffic, even motorcycles.  I guess since it’s a daily thing they are accustomed.  At least the cars had the good sense not to nudge them along but they also have certain areas they cross over from one field to another and dead stop in the center of the road.  With one herd we had one stop in front of

our car and face us.  Bill was not liking it at all as you never know when someone else will spoof the critters.  Because I made a slight directional error, we came back thru the last herd again and this time it took forever.  Most of it was due to idiot drivers who would not go around a buffalo when the other lane was free. 

We really had no interest in the rest of the park, although they

have numerous campgrounds that can accommodate pretty much any size RV.  The lakes are pristine and everything was lush and green so it was a very pleasant drive.  With horse trails and rentals, there is plenty to do there for vacation.

We drove into Hermosa to “see” the town but it didn’t seem to really be a town.  We did find a drive-movie with 2 screens and discussed the possibility of going one night.  We also found the Big Heads roadside attraction that was on my list.  It’s former Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Bush (the son).  They were right along the road, way too big to miss.

It was dinner time when we got home and I raced in to get started while Bill washed the front of the RV AGAIN!  It’s been so buggy (not muggy)!  I made a wild rice mix, broiled steelhead trout and a small salad.  Either it was really good or we were really hungry!

We both spent time on our laptops working with photos and I managed to get 2 blogs posted and start writing today’s post before I worn down.  It’s nice to have 3 nights in one spot.  Bill met the neighbors on one side and they just went full time in May.  I had mentioned to him they sure have a lot of “stuff” along and under their RV, so that’s why.  I think they’re still adjusting to full time and haven’t paired down enough yet.  They will winter in Homestead, FL.

Trading and Toadstools --- odd combination

June 19 – It was nice to sleep til we were ready to get up!  I made our Sunday breakfast today without the eggs.  I hadn’t made pancakes in a while so we had macadamia nut ones, ham and fresh fruits.  Now we have pancakes for tomorrow with bacon.  We managed to get things together and head out on today’s adventure about 9:30.

We trekked up the road about 25 miles to Chadron, NE where there is a Wal-mart, although that’s not why we went.  We did stop there first though so Bill could drop off a script to be filled and he wanted to see if they had RV drinking water hoses.  Luckily they did and we also got a jug of DEF and an extra expanding nozzle to be able to refill the jug and pour it in the DEF tank.  We then stopped at “ACE is the place of the helpful hardware man” in hopes of finding a bottle of Dissolve-it.  I use it for grease spots on cloths before washing among a lot of others uses and was down to drops.  Now I’m re-stocked!

The original post

Museum of the Fur Trade is the reason we went to Chadron.  It’s just the other side of town and was established there because that was the location of the American Fur Company Trading Post and warehouse from 1837.  It was in business until 1876 when the soldiers closed it down for sell ammunitions to the Indians.  It is one of the best collections of Native American crafts, costumes, knives, etc. we have been to.  They also boast the largest collection of Northwest Guns made for Indian trade.  There were a LOT of guns.  The short movie was a good briefing on the history of trade in North America.  There were canoes, numerous animal pelts and skins, flea combs, tanning equipment, really a super display.

We drove around Chadron as Bill wanted to see the campus of Chadron College.  It dates back to 1911 and is a very nice facility.  The football field is named Beebe Field so we checked and pro player Don Beebe went to college there and played 9 years in the NFL. He holds an annual golf fundraiser for the football program.  It’s nice little town but didn’t have many street signs.  Odd!  We had lunch at Helen’s Pancake and Steakhouse since there were a decent number of cars out front.  Lunch was yummy!  I had the Philly cheese steak special and Bill went with a 7 Sisters.  I think was related to it having 7 items on it. Both were delicious!  And my fries were hot and crispy!

Our first toadstool

After a quick stop for Bill to get his script and a lime for me, we drove back from whence we came and turned off to visit Toadstool Geologic Park.  All was well until we realized it was not paved all the 15 miles out.  Bill was not in the best of moods on the slow paced drive to the site.  There is no visitor center, but rather a circle of covered picnic sites, vault toilets and a covered display about the site.  A group of tents was set up in the middle that we gathered were hikers staying for the night.  Bill was not excited to learn

Baby toadstools

we’d need to walk a mile loop to see the bulk of the Toadstools.  Uh oh!  A Toadstool is a sandstone slab resting on a clay pedestal, resembling a mushroom.  Bill picked up a brochure about the trail and the first stop was OK but not overly impressive.  I offered to leave at that point and head back but he said no, we didn’t drive this far on that road to not see what we came to see, so we did the entire mile.  We should have carried a bottle of water-----.  The trail was marked at intervals by 4 foot posts with painted tops.  That was helpful as you could see numerous trails that people had taken and some were not the best ways in my opinion.  I love to climb and that would have

What a sky!

been a great place to do it but I wasn’t wearing my grippiest (no that’s not a word) pair of sneakers today so I refrained from being too daring and falling on my tush.  It was a lot of up and done on very narrow paths.  Had it been wet out we would have slipped and slid all over the place.  It turned out to be a really great trail and the scenery was awesome.  The skies were so blue with fluffy cotton candy clouds for the perfect backdrop of the unusual geologic formations.   We made it back without incident and agreed it was a great hike, as well as a much needed workout!

As we were headed back to Crawford we spotted the train going right through town and on it were 4 or 5 bluish green airplanes, with no wings of course.  We were so taken back that I couldn’t get my camera on quick enough to take a photo.  What a failed photo op that was!

Once we checked out the town we stopped at the post office for stamps and then at a car wash as Bill had just washed the car yesterday and was not happy that is was a dirty dusty mess.

I had received a phone message that we had a package from UPS at the park office so we stopped there and were so happy to see our new SD car for the GPS.  Now we can give it a try on the way to Idaho and if it still doesn’t work, well, we’ll see how we need to proceed.

Just on the other side of the hub of Fort Robinson is a pasture with buffalo.  There is no

Mom and calf through the window

guarantee of seeing them but we wanted to give it a try.  We did get to see a mother and her calf approach the road and then cross over.  They were headed down near the rest of the herd. Better to see one than none!

Back to the RV for iced coffee!    

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!

Rocks and more Rocks

June 17 – It was a beautiful day today!  We had a restful evening and managed to get up and on the road before 9.  As we pulled out of the campground we got photos of a roadside attraction, a giant soft serve ice cream cone.  Made me crave ice cream all day!

Jailhouse on left, Courthouse on right

We didn’t drive too many miles today which was nice.  Our first stop was only 64 miles to Jailhouse and Courthouse Rocks.  No interstate today, which was even better.  There was no traffic on our two lane roads.  As we followed the directions the roads got smaller and once we got to the last turn off it was gravel which we were not going on in the RV.  Luckily there was a nice wide pullout for the Rocks with a sign telling about them.  So, we didn’t make the trip for nothing.  The rocks were famous landmarks for travelers on the Oregon-California Trail through Nebraska.

Old Chimney Rock

21 miles further we stopped at Chimney Rock.  Chimney Rock was another famous

landmark along the trails west.  Many travelers carved their names and dates of passing on the rock but since it was sand stone most of the names crumpled and disappeared from weather conditions.  There were also a number of

Current Chimney Rock

graves along the route, most of which are only discovered by accident.  They say there is a grave for every mile of the trail. There is a nice visitor center at Chimney Rock with a great movie about the Oregon Trail.  We learned that the Mormon wagon trains would not follow the exact trail of the heathens (us regular folks), so at times they went further out of the way.  There was a telescope set up so you could see the “stack” of the chimney up close.  A display of drawings and photos of the rock from first time trappers and all those that followed is compared to the current photo and you can see the deterioration of the rock.  Who knows how many years it has left after wind, weather and lightning strikes?  Visitors are not allowed near Chimney Rock so the telescope was a good idea.

It was lunch time and rather than make something in the RV we ate at a little café that is part of a campground literally right in front of Chimney Rock.  We saw it on our way in and being a campground we knew they had ample parking for us.  Bill chose a table in front of a window where he would see Chimney Rock while he ate his chicken, bacon, ranch sandwich.  I had pulled pork and both came with potato salad and we shared a drink.  It was a bigger lunch than I am used to so Bill finished my potato salad.

Fueled up after a good lunch we headed another 25 miles to Scotts Bluff National Monument.  We approached from Gering, NE and as we did we were driving on the Oregon Trail.  There were houses on both sides and Bill said he’d like to live there and tell people he lives on the Oregon Trail.

View from Scotts Bluff

The visitor center, housing and office compound sits at the base of one section of the bluff.  To me it looks more like a very long plateau, but what do I know?  The opening at the ranger station going in was VERY narrow and I needed to make an immediate right.  Yikes!  Just the RV would be one thing but towing the car, that kinda concerned me.  We could see as we drove up where the RV’s were parked so I creep mousied in and around and we pulled in behind a fifth wheel.  Before we could get out of the seats a shuttle van pulled up beside us and asked if we wanted a ride to the top of the bluff.  Of course!  Sure beats unhooking the car and re-hooking it up later.  The instant I opened the door I told Bill I was going to need a jacket!  It was cold out.  We had noticed it was much cooler when we had stopped earlier but not as cool as it was now.  Bill grabbed my hoodie but with the slide in he couldn’t reach his jacket.  Worked out OK as most of the time we were in the van.

What a nice ride up through 3 short tunnels.  The CCC sure did a good job of road building

Larger section of Scotts Bluff

back in the 1930’s.  The view from the top was awesome!  We could walk from side to side, well just from one end.  The driver pointed out Chimney Rock and I was able to zoom in on my camera and get a photo, although not the greatest.  We learned how no one wanted to settle in the area because it was too dry and now it’s prime farmland due to canals dug by the CCC that bring in plenty of water for irrigation.  We spent some time in the Visitor Center but the view was the real attraction.  The ranger there is a local high school teacher and rangering is his summer job.

The city of Scotts Bluff is only 5 miles and sits on the other side of the bluff from Gering.  Our stop for the night was a county park called Riverside Campground in Scotts Bluff.  I had called several times trying to confirm a spot for the night and they never would commit.  There is a Little League tournament in town this weekend and they had booked a lot of the spaces for that but she promised if we didn’t get a space we could dry camp.  So we didn’t know what to expect and the “host”, who is the summer employee there, didn’t even write it down as she didn’t seem to recall speaking to me several times.  She had us wait while she drove the riding mower around to check what spots were now open since some of the teams staying there had lost and left.  Didn’t seem like a very efficient system to me but then, I’m not in charge.  Lucky us, she had a spot for us!  All of the parents were out to watch me drive in to the space.  I guess they’d never seen a woman drive something that big.  It was a full hookup but not a very well groomed place.  We can manage anywhere for 1 night.

After setting up and having our afternoon iced coffee, we decided to have an early dinner and go to the new Wal-mart in town and then to see “Pirates of the Caribbean” at 7.  Bill showered while I prepped dinner, then I showered and we ate and left just after 5:30.  At Wal-mart I was speed shopping!  One reason I wanted to go was I wanted to get a new toaster oven.  My original RV toaster oven turned 8 this year and would not heat higher than 350 and took “forever” to do that.  I use it a lot for small dishes for just the 2 of us.  In 8 years things have changed!  There were only a few toaster ovens to choose from, now they were all toaster/convection ovens.  I already have a convection oven I don’t like so why would I buy another one?  I also didn’t want anything over 18” wide due to my counter space.  The new one is smaller and a beautiful red so I’ll give it a try.  It was very sad to say goodbye after 8 years of crisps, cobblers and pies.

I knocked out the rest of my list, mostly produce, and we got checked out and to the movie by 6:30.  We enjoyed this Pirates movie as much as all of the predecessors.  The ending pretty much guarantees this was the last one.  (No Jack Sparrow did not die).  It was still pretty brisk out and we didn’t need the AC at all tonight.

Since we ate an early dinner and didn’t get anything at the movie I made popcorn in my microwave popper (no salt, no butter) and we read and snacked.

We're not in Kansas anymore!!!!!

June 16 -   We left at 9 this morning.  Our first roadside attraction today was in Goodland, KS.  We got to see the World’s Largest Easel.  Bill was disappointed that I saw it first.  It’s in the Rotary Park.  Luckily, next door was a shopping center that we could easily get into and out of.  The stop didn’t take long then on to Burlington, CO.  WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE!  Once we arrived we were another hour earlier, in the Mountain Zone, but where the heck are the mountains? 

I wanted to stop here and see and ride on the Kit Carson County Carousel at the fairgrounds.  The fact that we gained an hour meant we had 90 minutes to wait once we got there until they opened up.  Rides are on the half hour.  So we had an EARLY lunch and wrote postcards we’d gotten the last couple of days.  Of course we were riders on the first ride of the day.  There were only 5 of us I think.

This is a PTC #6.  Made by Philadelphia Toboggan Company, the 6^th

one, in 1905, it is a National Historic Landmark.  One you can actually ride.  It’s the original paint on all of the original animals and seats with only touch up in the restoration process.  The same goes for all the panels around the inside center.  There are 46 hand-carved animals including zebras, horses of course, camels, dogs, reindeer, lions, goats, giraffes

and other strange animals.  At tops speed it goes 12 miles per hour and they give you a long ride for $.25.  Music is played by the original Wurlitzer Monster Military band organ.  They have 12 different music scrolls and rotate them.  An interesting note, the city council voted to by the “used” carousel in 1928 for $1,200 and the citizens did not re-elect them.  Only 74 of these were made and this is the only one that does not go up and down.  Only 14-15 of the 74 are still in existence.

They have a small museum that we visited also for $1 each.  I did buy a couple of things in the gift shop, small, unobtrusive items that I can fit in someplace!

Time to head north and the further we drove the windier it got.  We had detour in one town and for the most part the road was flat and straight.  We arrived in Chappell, NE, yes, we were not in CO very long, around 2:45.  It was nice to have the rest of the afternoon to relax.  Bill had to wash the windshield AGAIN.  There are sure a lot of bugs out here.  While he was outside I made meatloaf and roasted rutabaga for dinner and brownies for dessert.  Tomorrow night we might be dry camping so at least we have leftover meatloaf!

We watched one of our favorite movies, “Chicago”, after dinner.  

Spacious skies and amber waves of grain.....

June 15 – No rush at all this morning, so nice!  Once Bill was stirring I made scones, ham and eggs and fruit for breakfast.  It seemed like a Sunday! Everywhere you look are beautiful skies and fields of wheat.  I asked Bill to stop and take my picture in the wheat field but he said he didn't want me to cross the weed fill ditch and get bit by a snake.  I think he just didn't want to do it.

Eye of the needle

Once we got in full motion we headed out got Monument Rocks.  It’s about 20 miles south of the campground and then gravel roads 8 miles across farm and oil land.  They are located on private property and the owner is kind enough to allow tourists and locals come and go.  They are on both sides of the road and when we arrived there was no one there but us.  We were lucky to have some time to

On one side of the road

ourselves for photos and fossil hunting.  The monuments were once under water and though upheavals the Jurassic fossils are above ground.  You can literally pick them up off the ground or fleck them off the sides of the monuments which are sand.  I concentrated on drainage areas where I thought fossil fragments would go during any rain. I did find some things and maybe once I wash them off I’ll have something good.  I was hoping for a shark’s tooth but didn’t find one.   Mostly shell fragments.

Two more cars finally came and I took a photo for one family and then we headed out.  Bill spotted a nest with what we think are swallows.

The swallows

We continued down the gravel roads 9 miles and passed fields of wheat, corn, cattle and oil derricks.  We came out on the main road and visited Keystone Gallery across the street.  They are professional fossil hunters and do restoration for other museums with fossils.  He had a huge Jurassic fish and other large fossils.  Some stuff was for sale but we really don’t need any other clutter. 

Must be lots of crude for 3 derricks

It was closing in on lunchtime when we got home so we ate and re-organized for a trip into town.  We had dessert at the Diary King.  What a nice treat and then Bill dropped me at the library to use the internet and while he took the FILTHY car to the car wash and filled up the gas.  I posted some blogs and loaded some software that was missing on my new laptop.  Bill came in but wasn’t able to get on the internet.  He read a while then went to drive around town.  I knew he would be bored after a while so I finished up and called him to come pick me up.  Maybe things have changed in libraries since I used to go, but this was the noisiest library I’d ever been in.  Bill even commented on it and he’s hard of hearing.  One girl got loud and belligerent on the phone to her mother and the people working the front desk were just talking away like they were sitting on a porch for a long visit.  Think I’ll try our library in Ocoee and see if that’s the way it now is. 

Definitely not a long and winding road....

Once we got home and put way the laptops we read a while and for dinner we went to Cap’n Jack’s Pub and Grill which is located kind of on the RV property.  They gave us a $5 off coupon and in checking the reviews that and the steak place in front of it are 2 of the top rated places in the area so we gave it a try.  The bulk of the menu surprisingly is seafood.  Cap’n Jack is from the Chesapeake area and has the seafood flown in weekly.  The rest of the menu was ribs and burgers:  beef, kobe beef, elk and bison.  The seafood was all fried, which I steer away from but didn’t have too much other choice.  I had a platter of calamari, shrimp (tailless) and cod.  I traded up from fries to grilled fresh green beans.  Well, the beans were the best, but the rest was very good.  I would have preferred cocktail sauce to tarter but the remoulade sauce for the calamari was perfect.  Bill didn’t surprise me as he went with the elk burger and fries.  He did have a few of my calamari.  We were both stuffed!  Price was great for the amount of food and then $5 off, good deal!

Oakley is a nice little town.  The graduating class this year was 39.  That’s pretty typical of the town we’ve been through.  There’s a whole lot of nothing but farming out here.

Kansas is wider than you think

June 14 – It was quietly peaceful when we got up this morning.  A beautiful day out after a scary night.  We ended up pulling both slides back in and I slept on the couch and Bill in the bed.  The RV was rocking and thankfully I was so tired I finally fell asleep.  The RV closest to us didn’t have a good night.  The awning had been rolled up at dark but was totally hanging down this morning.  No one was there.

Former Town Hall

There was no major rush today as it wasn’t a terribly long day ahead.  We headed west and saw the giant ball of twine again as we passed.  The weather was nice, no wind, and VERY little traffic.  Our first stop for the day was a tiny town, Nicodemus.  The town is a National Historic Site.  Only 15 people live there.  After the end of the Civil War, Blacks were at a loss as to homes, jobs and starting a life in general.  Reconstruction offered them the opportunity to head west and develop their own all Black town.  Since most were former Southern slaves with mostly farming experience, they felt they could farm the land grants being offered to them.  300 settlers were recruited from Kentucky.  They traveled west by train and then walked 35 miles to the newly platted Nicodemus.  Some turned around once they saw the area, no trees, rivers, nothing.  They lived in homes dug into the ground until they could build proper homes.  The town was prosperous and grew to over 600 and then word came that the railroad would not being coming through their town and it slowly dried up due to the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.  A huge “reunion” of sorts is held every year and many ancestors of the original settlers come back for the event.  The National Park Service owns 5 buildings in town.

We enjoyed the video there and talking with the park ranger.  Most of the residents are elderly and are all descendents of the settlers.

It was time to continue west so we didn’t stop again until we reached our destination for the day, Oakley, KS.  We got parked at the only campground in the area but at least the sites are big and level.  It’s literally right off the interstate.   After lunch we went into town. 

Makes Bill look really small

We stopped first at the Visitor Center which boasts a huge statue of Buffalo Bill shooting a buffalo.  The story is that this is the area where he and Bill Comstock held their famous buffalo shootout competition.  Cody shot 69 to Comstock’s 46, thereby becoming “Buffalo Bill”.  They had some interesting information there about him and provided information about other points of interest in the area.

We missed the post office yesterday as it’s hard to park the RV in towns, so we stopped today to mail the faulty SD card back so we can get the new one to get our GPS system running.  After that we visited the Fick Fossil Museum.  The Ficks were ranchers in the area whose hobby was collecting fossils in various locations in the area.  They had a huge collection in their home and allowed visitors to come and see what they had found over the years.  When the people got to be too many and stopped by all hours of the day, they asked the city of Oakley if they would have a place for the collection if they donated it to them.  So the city library is one half of the building and the Fick Fossil Museum is the other half.  Over time other residents have donated fossil finds and when they have traveled to other places they have brought back items and the collection has grown.  It was one of the most famous fossil collections in the country. 

Once we complete the museum Bill saw the library had a book sale so we “had” to go see what they had.  He got 2 books and I got 1 for $2.25.  That’s a good deal!  We stopped at the grocery in town for a couple of things then came home.  Right after we got in an RV like ours but a longer one parked right beside us.  Bill and the guy both were out at the same time washing the fronts of the RV’s.  They are heading back to Indiana.

I did 2 loads of laundry and some mending while Bill was outside.  I made chicken and dumplings for dinner.  We have our plans made for tomorrow so guess we’re good to go!