Day 26: Westward Ho!

When we left the VERY humid Omaha area in the morning we jumped on I-80 to get out of Dodge quickly. We made it to about Cozad, NE--the 100th meridian and the place where we left the East and entered the West, based on aridity. Yay. Then, after 4.5 hours on the numbing interstate, we just had to get off and take the US route 30. Ah. Much better.

We went through great, small towns like Gothenberg, a Pony Express site. This is a cabin that was one of the way stations for this 18-month long experiment back in 1860-61. (Many of you will remember that the Pony Express was put out of business by the completion of the telegraph. One of the first "disruptive" technologies in the country that have become commonplace to us now. The backers of the Pony Express ended up going out of business $100k in the hole.... But it gave us great stories.)



Then we wandered through many towns until we hit this sod house on the side of the road in...101 degree heat! But it WAS a dry heat.... Those pioneers really did rough it.




Then Chimney Rock--the major landmark (and graffiti spot) for emigrants on the California, Oregon, and Mormon Trails back in 1840-1880s (until the transcontinental railroad put the trail out of business).




Then we checked into our motel in Scotts Bluff, NE. This is our smoke alarm:




This is the strategy for having the smoke alarm work:




Off to figure out where the heck we'll be tomorrow. We weren't expecting the heat wave to follow us up into the Rockies, but it was 99 in Boulder today. We were not counting on that.

We lost an hour today--back in the Mountain time zone--and we want to get a very early start going to the Scotts Bluff National Monument tomorrow before the heat builds up. It's one of the few national parks/monuments we can take Nick hiking with us. Just have to beware of rattlesnakes, apparently. But no bears.

Starting to have a very distinct feeling that we'll be making a marathon trip across the Colo. and the Great Basin. Perhaps we'll hole up in Tahoe for a few days to cool down! Stay tuned....