Country Inn And Suites Kearney

We left Omaha in the  morning and decided to travel the back roads that most closely followed the original settlers and their wagon trains as they headed west. In the  evening we arrived at Kearney and stayed at a very nice state park adjacent to the old fort.Nebraska is already surprising us, and we are thoroughly enjoying our time here. 
So the town is called Kearney but it is pronounce ...

... had to go single file and left large ruts in the ground still visible today. Chimney rock was a unique looking landmark that indicated that the journey was about 1/3 over. – See Nebraska isn't completely flat.

At Chimney Rock, my powers as a rain god increased to include hail. While inside the visitor center a thunder storm came through ...

The Oregon Trail guidebook we are using recommended a visit to Pioneer Village in lovely Minden, Nebraska. The guidebook boasts "something for everyone" and "over 50,000 historical items". Hmmm...sounds good. Our plan was to camp at the lovely Pioneer Village campground and see Pioneer Village in its entirety. We were expecting almost a Williamsbury type experience ...

The drive to Kearney, NB today was very long. This was the first time in three trips West that I have encountered extended traffic stops on the interstate. My luck finally ran out. We stopped at Cabela's. This is my second trip to this store. It is fabulous. I bought some new assault rifles to defend myself when I get to California. Check out my photo with the bear. It is in the entrance of Cabela's store.

... many towns in the Midwest use Lewis and Clark as a tourist attraction. I wanted to ride the buffalo, but the docent went nuts. I wanted to try on Sacajawea's bison skin , but they didn't like that either. This is a great stop if you are ever in the area ...

So after five weeks of enduring America's public transport system, it comes as a relief to head west from Chicago in a car. I'm sharing the petrol and driving with a fella moving West from Chicago, who turns out to be a bit of a character. The first day takes us 800 miles over the Great Plains through Iowa to Western Nebraska - thoroughly uninteresting landscape but pretty stunning skies.

... past 110 on a straight stretch of freeway, trying to get ahead of the storm as the first few golfball-sized hailstones fell around us. Got past it just before it crossed the freeway. Didn't need a broken windshield and dented up car a few hours after fixing the oil leak. Once we were past it, it put on a spectacular lightning show and gave us a chance to stop for some dramatic photographs.

Today was a long long drive. To make it worse, I was just plain sick. I did make a run by the famous "Rock City" that I always saw the "See Rock City" signs as a kid. I did not bother to pay to go in. I was not feeling well. I got to the hotel and crashed hard.

... an hour! As we left the gorgeous scenery we traveled in very high winds for quite awhile,but no more snow...... We were glad we had saved one more really good book tape(Thanks Micah) for this part of the trip that we knew would not be so much to see. It is called Dark Moon by John Sanders,and we should have just enough of it left to get us home tomorrow. A HIGHLIGHT of our trip through Nebraska was our stop at Paxton....we had to stop ...