Yellowstone Day 13

 Sunday Sept. 19

I slept in a little bit later today and didn’t get out and on the road until about 8:30.   I had plans to stop outside Nebraska City and see the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail and Visitor Center and according to their website they didn’t open up until noon on Sundays so I was stalling for time.   I stopped, got gas and drove an hour and a half east to get there.  I had looked and there were two geocaches hidden nearby the museum so I stopped and grabbed the geocaches first.  One geocache was just located just outside the Lewis and Clark Center, near a picnic table...

When I arrived at the museum I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they had opened at 9 o’clock.  I hurried inside and with my senior discount it was only six dollars.  Oh my goodness - it was six very well spent dollars!  The museum itself is laid out over three floors. 

Outside there’s an Indian Earth Lodge/Hut that you can go in.  I was surprised at the size of it - 48 ft. diameter and they were built to house up to 30 people....

The Center also has several hiking trails on the property.   One of the trails lead down to the Missouri River, the very river that Lewis and Clark and their Corp of Discovery travelled on over 200 years ago.  

I was there for over two hours and I could’ve easily spent several more because there was so much to see and do.  It was honestly one of the best museums I’ve ever been in and by far the best presentation on Lewis and Clark history that I’ve ever seen.

After that I jumped in the car and drove 2 1/2 hours to my KOA campsite for the night     Before I pulled into the KOA I stopped at the gas station and filled up my tank for the next morning and ran into Popeyes to get myself some chicken strips for dinner.  Then I headed over to the KOA which coincidentally was also the same campground I stayed at for my very first night on this trip.   This is a nice campground with easy expressway on and off and the bathrooms are clean.  My tent site was actually next to the site I had the last time so I parked the car, ate my chicken strips and then went and took a shower.      

I still had about three hours until dark so I just sat and read a book for a while, cleaned out my car, and reflected on the amazing trip I had just taken.  I couldn’t believe all the places I had been and the unbelievable number of things I had done in two weeks.  What an experience!  Tomorrow I’ve got about 6 ½ hours left to drive and then I’m home.  Is it too early to start planning my next trip??

For those of you who followed along on 13 separate posts about my Yellowstone trip - THANK YOU!   I've gotten so many wonderful comments and notes from people who enjoyed the posts and photos.  I'll be back in a few days with a trip "wrap up" that will include mileage driven, money spent on gas, favorite stops along the way and some helpful tips.  I hope you've seen something here that you'd like to see yourself.  And if I've inspired you to get out your tent and do some travelling, well, that's even better.  Safe travels!!

Yellowstone Trip Day 2

 Wednesday Sept 8

I left Missouri at 8:15 and headed west on 70 and then north on 29.   This was pretty much another drive day although I stopped in Sioux City Iowa to see the Sargent Floyd Monument. For those of you not familiar with Sargent Floyd, he was a member of the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery expedition of 1804-1806.  President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the journey to explore the Louisiana Purchase and establish a cross country water route to the Pacific Ocean. Sargent Floyd died of appendicitis at the beginning of the journey - the only person to die the entire time. The Captains chose a fitting spot to lay Sargent Floyd to rest on a bluff overlooking the river.

If you want to read more about this fascinating expedition I highly recommend "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose. The book goes into detail about their journey across half the continent and the trials and tribulations this rugged group of men endured to accomplish their mission.

(photo from Amazon)

It was a gorgeous sunny day in the 70's and good for travel.   Leaving Sioux Falls I headed west on 90 towards my 2nd nights campground. I stopped at a very nice rest area in South Dakota and grabbed a geocache.   I noticed that a lot of the rest areas in South Dakota had very cool tepee statues at them.   

I pulled into the Mitchell KOA Journey Campground a little after 3 pm.  It was a nice quiet campground and had some very nice showers.    I set up camp and piped some Neil Diamond songs thru my Bluetooth speakers while I fixed Kung Lao chicken wraps for dinner.  The campground was rather empty and there were no other tent campers that night.  Another camper from a couple of sites down walked over and asked me to turn up the music because he and his wife were huge Neil Diamond fans.  That's my kind of people!!

After dinner I took a shower. - I really liked the fancy sinks at this campground...

Finally I sat down and looked over brochures and my itinerary for the next day. After today I would start seeing and stopping at a lot of fun places and I was extremely excited about all that. The first 2 days were mostly driving days but from here on out I had a pretty loaded schedule.