Sat. May 19th: NEBRASKA to SOUTH DAKOTA

Down the road from the Walmart, right off the freeway was a Wild Bill Cody trading post and fort.  It was an adorable old western store full of fun country items. 

 It also had an amazing diorama of Wild Bill Cody’s “Wild West Show”.   The man who built it hand carved each character and carefully sewed all the tents together.  It took him 12 years to make the whole set.  It played every 30 minutes with music and description of the show.  Some of the figures move to the actions of their role in the show.  It was amazing! 

Wild Bill Cody was a Union Army Scout from 1861 to 1890.   He rode for the Pony Express  in 1860 and he was a stage coach driver in 1865.  In 1867 he killed 4,280 buffalo in 8 months which gave him the name “Buffalo Bill” and made him famous.  He decided in 1883 to start the “Wild West Show” on a ranch in North Platte, Nebraska which is just a couple of miles up the road from this store.  His partner was Bailey of Barnum and Bailey which eventually became the circus.  They were so successful that they traveled all over the world with their show and is still remembered as the greatest wild west show ever to be done.   We’re so glad that we stopped so that the kids could learn something about “Buffalo Bill” and shop the western goods!!

Getting back on the road of nothingness we drove on to Chimney Rock, Nebraska.   There is not much out here in Nebraska but the land has changed quite a bit from Kansas with more hills and rock formations.   We also followed the North Platte River and crossed over it several times which is the major river in Nebraska where Omaha and Arapaho Indians originally lived because of the water.   Chimney Rock is a beautiful natural rock formation that has a pointed top and was a major  landmark in the 1800’s for the wagon trains going to Oregon and California.  It was also one of the famous Pony Express stops.  It was amazing to see and a wonder at how that rock can stand on top of one another like that.   All I can say is God is amazing!!

We had to drive another 3 hours to Mount Rushmore and thankfully after driving a little longer we entered Mountain Time and gained another hour.  The moment we entered South Dakota the terrain was incredibly different.  It is very mountainous, woodsy, with beautiful rock formations.   I felt like I was in Tahoe.  We had to climb several mountains and we could tell that we were in higher elevation.   We finally arrived at Mount Rushmore just in time for the amazing evening program where they light up the faces on the mountain.  They have a huge outdoor amphitheater right under the faces and the Rangers do a very special program every night.  First the ranger gave a long talk about the Lewis & Clark expedition and President Jefferson.  It was awesome because we had just been to the Lewis & Clark museum in St. Louis, and everything he said, the kids had just learned.  After the ranger was finished talking, he started an outdoor movie that was all about the creation of the 4 president heads and why they were chosen.  As the movie was finishing, slowly the lights were illuminating the faces.  It took about 7 minutes for them to be fully bright enough to see.  It was spectacular!!  I am so glad that we made it.

The temperature is definitely colder here in the mountains and actually felt very refreshing.  Next, we drove 5 minutes to our South Dakota KOA.  As we drove in we were in awe of how big it was and the amazing entrance that had all kinds shops of  ice cream, fudge, wine, and a general store.  They had covered wagons for rides around the KOA and a huge pool!  WOW . . . I think this one is going to take the prize as the best one yet!!