Middle America

We came down the Rockies from California into Wyoming, but couldn't stop due to family commitments. We came into Nebraska and saw all the way to Pennsylvania. Fields and fields of corn as far as you could see. But, we made a left turn off Route 80 and headed north for 50 miles to Scott's Bluff. There across the entire horizon were white bluffs that turned out be of 500' tall. 

As we got closer, we were amazed that we were still in Nebraska. 

Oh and by the way, Scott's Bluff was the place where the Oregon Trail and the California Trail. You can still see the ruts in the ground from the Conestoga wagons. The bluff is named after a guy who died there who really didn't do anything extraordinary. Sounds like what they will say about me when I am gone.  

Next stop was 30 miles north to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. With only three cars in the parking lot, this was my kind of place. The fossil beds were created somewhere between 19 and 20 million years ago when great drought hit the Nebraska plains. Lack of food and water led to thousands of animals dying. Over time their skeletons in the silt. What is left today is an ancient waterhole with hundreds of fossilized skeletons. The discovery of this find in 1900 was instrumental in the development of paleontology. Today, there is a excellent visitor center that focused not only the fossils but on the native Americans who called this area home. 

Nebraska frontiersmen James H. Cook first met Chief Red Cloud in 1874 and developed a lifetime friendship. Over the years, the Oglala and Cheyenne brought the Cook family gifts and told them stories of their families. Pictographs painted on hides (one of Custer's last stand), saddles, bows, shirts, moccasins, and many other items make up the Cook family collection that was donated to the park service. It is really something.

Moving east, we headed to Dayton, Ohio, the home of real aviation heritage. It is, of course, the home of Wilbur and Orville Wright. The national historical park consists of Wright Cycle Company and visitor center, Paul Laurence Dunbar House state memorial, and Wright Company factory.  The visitor center contains numerous displays of historical material and a full size replica of the Wright Flyer. The plane that helped alter history. Also the bicycle shop was very interesting. 

The bicycle shop...

My dad, the pilot, would have loved it!