August 20

We went to the top of Scott's Bluff last night but had only 45 minutes before the park closed. We went again this morning and hiked about 4 to 5 miles again on several trails. There is more to the bluffs than this one but this is the picture that is usually painted and printed. This is a national monument so where you go is restricted. The emigrants stopped here because there was wood along the river and a fresh spring. The North Platte River is just north of this. They kept their trail on the south side of the river most of the time.

This is leaving Mitchell Pass where they went through the bluffs. The cut in the hill is where the wagon wheels cut into the soil and then rain and wind have eroded the soil.

Kids, Pop and I traded our car in for this team of oxen and a covered wagon and we will take the rest of our trip in this. We just put the yokes (the wooden things around their necks) on so they can pull the wagon. This wagon and me are on the actual trail they traveled.

This is a part of the bluffs. We drove to the top then hiked around and down part of it. The highest point up there was 4,659'. The altitude of the town of Scottsbluff is 3,883. The altitude of Lynn, IN, which is the highest point in Indiana is 1,110. That kind of puts things in perspective. We haven't gone up any mountains on the way here, just continual climbing. There was one place in the Nebraska panhandle where we did climb about 800 feet in a mile.

This is just another view of Scotts Bluff from the top. Where the emigrants crossed Mitchell Pass is on the far side of this. They couldn't cross between this and the North Platte because there are "badlands" that look a little like those in South Dakota. Once they passed through Mitchell Pass they had flat land again.

Kids, here is what you do when you don't have a lot of toys or games. The soldiers at Fort Laramie painted a piece of wood to look like a checker board then cut corn cobs into little piece and put something on one set to give them a different color.

This is the barracks where the enlisted soldiers stayed at Fort Laramie. It was built in 1874 and is still there. Soldiers slept in two large squad bays upstairs. The kitchen and mess room (army name for dining room) were downstairs.

This is the jail which was built in 1876 after the army doctor said the old one was not fit for the prisoners. This is the room where those men who didn't do really bad things slept. How would you like to sleep right next to strangers in a little room?

Aaron, this is a Gatling gun which was used by the Union forces during the Civil War. It was the forerunner of the machine gun. This one could shoot 10 bullets before it had to be reloaded.







One thing we have noticed here in the west is that pickup trucks are usually larger than the ones at home and they are made to do work, not just show. Most of the county roads are dirt or gravel so cars and trucks get very dirty.

We are about to dry up like raisins or prunes. It has been so hot - upper 80s to upper 90s - and dry, and the wind blows all the time, and we have been outside most of the time. We have been drinking a lot of water!