Off To Wyoming

On the highway (Route 80) again and heading to Wyoming.

 Traffic was light and the ride was smooth.

And in no time, we were over the border.

 The biggest problem was the winds, and we were battling headwinds with gust coming from the side. Really hit us hard on our fuel mileage.

There were signs warning people with small trailers. Some didn't heed the warnings.

 The terrain is changing.

 We came upon the Lincoln rest area and stopped for a rest.

 Some cool information

 Large Bronze bust of Lincoln

 As we continued we saw snow, yes snow!

At exit 211 we exited to see the State Pen.

 No longer in use, it's a large facility. Opened in 1893 and closed in 1981.

 Some of the prison housed women but in a small number.

This a typical cell, with some having bunk beds. As you can see, not much room.

 This is the shower area where most of any in house killings were done. There were only two guards in the shower area and there were up to 45 inmates in one room waiting their turn for the showers which buy the way were cold water showers.

 Solitary confinement

This is the kitchen area. It was a privilege to get the kitchen detail because it was warmer than the cold cells they were in.

Metal tables and benches were installed after a riot in which the inmates burned the wooden tables and benches.

 Art an inmate that had lost an arm to a farm accident had a talent for painting so the warden gave him the job of painting the walls with relaxing outdoor scenes.

These are some of Art's paintings.

 Oh yea, I forgot to mention that the walls and ceilings throughout the prison contain blood spatter like this ceiling in the mess area. The blood is from the prisoners being whipped. They never bothered to clean up the blood.

 Small exercise yard.

 Looking back at one of the sell blocks.

 Passing thru a gate from the small yard, brings you to the large yard that even contains a ball field.

The prison did executions which started as hangings. The setup that opened the trap door was operated by water running out of a bucket until a counter weight was activated to pull the hinged leg that held the door closed.

 This is death row and contains six cells.

 This is the first inmate to be hung.

This was the last inmate to be executed, and it was done by gas chamber.

 This is the gas chamber used.

 I can't understand why Joyce wanted me to have a seat. Hey...don't close that door!

 After our tour, we continued on for a couple more exits and ended up here in a Pilot Fuel stop. I tucked us way in a back corner away from the traffic. Good Night!!!

 

A Day Of Site Seeing Around The Area

Off we go in a different direction. There is so much history on the Trails, every road seems to have something about it.

Then, along the way I always have to stop at these old abandoned places. This one being a church, was in very good condition.

Our ride took us to the town of Alliance.

Now if you're into old classic cars, the west is the best place to find them. The lack of the salty air means these autos last a long time without rotting away.

This guy had sheep protecting his yard. When I stopped to take some pictures, the sheep all stopped what they were doing and watched us. Guess there's not much else to do!

Anyways, there were so many back yards with old cars and trucks that looked like this.

I'm sure that the owner is just waiting for someone with money in hand to come along.

Moving on, we came upon Carhenge.....yup, another must see! It's amazing what you find on these back roads.

This is really cool. This is what you do when there is no other entertainment in the area.

It's like hey ma, what can we do with these old cars.

Lets do our form of Stonehenge

The majority of the cars are intact with the full drive train

And there were some classics like that Plymouth

This was a good take and it was free. They did ask for donations where you could put a few bucks in the slot in a pipe.

Look at the old Plymouth Valiant on top at the end.

Wild flower!

Even had fish here.

All made from car parts.

More in other parts of the field.

An old wagon, note the two oxen in the front.

This is a tough one to read but it was buried in 2004 by the 1941/1944 graduated students of the local high school. And it is a time capsule to be opened in June 2044.

Continuing our day trip, we run into more info about the area.

And I find another old school that I have to get a shot of.

We continue on down the lonely road looking for more interesting stuff.

We are now on part of a different trail.

The views are getting better.

Home sweet home!

Now in the town of Crawford

Just outside of town we came upon Fort Robinson.

This was a Calvary fort of enormous size.

There were buildings everywhere which could now be used for overnight stays.

The Buffalo Soldiers were also stationed here at one time.

The surrounding area offered a picturesque view

Those are Buffalo

 My point of view is that we really gave the indians a raw deal. All the government did was take, take , take from the indians!

 

From Fort Robinson, we continue along.

Our next stop brings us to the Agate Fossil Beds

Wow, fossils in Nebraska!

Appearantly this was a great find for this area. How it all started was that the owner of the land was out walking with his wife when they spotted some bones sticking out of the side of a hill.

This bonebed contained so many bone pieces all piled together, it was difficult to determine what they were from.

Years of work turned up a variety of animals

This is what the bonebed looked like.

Digs are still taking place by the University Of Nebraska.

We had to cut our visit here at the Fossil fields short because it was getting late and we were about an hour from camp. Tomorrow thursday will be a day of rest so I can get caught up on my postings. Friday we pull camp and hit the road westward. See Ya!