2016 travles, Going from Minnesota to Colorado. Carhenge in Nebraska.

Our summer travels continue with a travels on I-90 across the rolling plains of South Dakota. Not much to see out here. The grass lands are all but gone, replaced by industry and interstate. What SD lacks in topography it makes up for in grand statues and roadside attractions.

A new statue of Sacagawea was recently installed at the Chamberlain Visitor Center.

We stop at the Visitor Center at Chamberlain which houses a Lewis and Clark boat and supply exhibit. This is another milestone along the Lewis and Clark Trail. We're welcomed by a newly installed monumental statue celebrating Sacagawea. The lady looks every part a princess of the plains. The blue glass in her blanket is illuminated at night and you can see her for miles.

There was a lack of overnight campgrounds so we ended up staying with truckers in a gas station parking lot. Not the best camping but it worked in a pinch.

Skeleton T-Rex chases skeleton man across the plains along I-80.

There's no telling what you'll see as you buzz along I-90. Keep your eye out for a skeleton dinosaur chasing a skeleton man across the plain.

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Folks in South Dakota have creativity and know how to use old stuff. This 15+ foot whitetail deer is made from old car parts.

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We stopped to visit the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site along I-90 on our way to Badlands National Park. The museum details the history and timeline of the arms race in the 1900's. There are also exhibits of how daily life was affected. I remember the "duck and cover" drills when I was in grade school in the 1950's. They play the film that we saw in grade school. I didn't really understand the magnitude of the threat but I knew what we were doing wouldn't do any good. You can't fool a little kid. The site is well worth a visit. They give tours of the missile silo but they were booked the day we were there.

The scenic drive through the Badlands.

Our next stop was Badlands National Park where we planned on spending several days in our continued mission of riding our bikes in every National Park and Monument we visit. Rain and very windy weather moved in and we were unable to ride.

Banded Badlands.

The Badlands are always beautiful even vailed in the muted colors of a rainy day.

The scenic drive through the Badlands looks like good bicycling.

The roads on the scenic drive through the park look great for bicycling and has us hoping for better weather. But it is not to be.

A little hike into the Badlands from the Cedar Pass Campground.

We camped for one night at Cedar Pass Campground near the Visitor Center. It's a nice campground with electric sites for $37 per night, $10 discount with the Senior Pass. No-hookup sites are $24, and $12 with the Senior Pass. There's a dump station with potable water. There are restrooms and coin-op showers. The best part are the dramatic views of the Badlands. On this day the razor-edged ridges are softened mists and we take advantage of a break in the rain and put on rain gear and hike from the campground into the Badlands. There are no trails so we cross country.

There are no trails so we hike cross country from the campground.

The Visitors Center is a quarter mile and an easy walk from the campground. It has wonderful displays about the unique geology and a fossil room were we watched expert staff carefully removing fossils from the stone in which  they're incased. It was really interesting and I wish I'd have taken the camera. Be sure to visit the fossil room if you get to the Badlands.

There are no trails so we hike cross country from the campground.

Mists soften the severity of the landscape.

Junipers on a shelf above the basin. There are very few places where trees grown in the Badlands.

The ragged edges of erosion.

The next morning it was still raining and conditions were expected to continue. We decide to travel south into Nebraska were the weather was better. In a half day drive the weather cleared.

Carhenge, the mid-western answer to the original.

We visit another roadside attraction. Many of the places we've gone to on this trip were recommendations from friends as was this place just north of Alliance, Nebraska on highway 87. Carhenge is just what you think it is, the mid-west answer to the original.

I somewhat wish they would have left the cars the original rusty colors like in photo in this plaque.

Jim walks through Carhenge.

Carhenge will test your knowledge about late model cars.

What car is that?

Jackie standing in the center of Carhenge.

Follow the path through Carhenge and you'll discover more sculptures like this hybrid wagon.

A hybrid wagon. 

Giant Sand Carp.

Our travel day ends at Scotts Bluff National Monument, a destination and landmark for the Pony Express and wagon trains traveling the California and Oregon Trails. This prominent butte stood out against the plains skyline and signaled the end of the passage across the Great Plains. The Visitor Center features a visual history of the trail and outside along the highway model covered wagons follow the trail into the west.

Scotts Bluff.

Model covered wagons follow the trail past Scotts Bluff and into the west.

Scotts Butte Monument has no campground and we had to retreat to The town of Scotts Bluff and stay at Riverside Campground, their city campground. It was nice. The showers were old but large and warm. Full-hookups were $25, water and electric were $20 and tent sites were $10.

In our next post we'll be back in Colorado just in time for the fall color. Join us again for a post on a drive through the colorful Rockies to Glenwood Springs and a bike ride on the Rio Grand Trail from Carbondale to Aspen.

'Till then,
Jackie