Rapid City, SD to North Platte, Nebraska. On our way home!
We rode on the Gold Rush and Western Trails Scenic Byways and stopped for a brief, cool-off, museum visit in Bayard Nebraska to see the Chimney Rock National Historic Site. The pioneer emigrants used this landmark to navigate the trails. More emigrants wrote about Chimney Rock in their diaries than any other trail landmark. The museum is interactive and pretty cool for being in the middle of nowhere Nebraska. We agreed the entrance fee was our contribution to education. We didn’t walk all the way out to the Rock, as it was very hot and we had on our riding gear, but maybe when we were in our twenties we would have enjoyed the climb!
After the museum, we rode through some horrible wind. Actually, we rode through strong winds all day. The byways are spattered with idyllic views. In the distance we saw Courthouse Rock (where we are told they used to put criminals on trial) and Jailhouse Rock (where they would hang them). We were on the bikes so I didn’t get a picture of those, but it entertained us nonetheless. I would like to visit them up close, as well as the remains of the pony express and other sites on the byways. This trip is the first we have spent riding through Nebraska and we left much for future trips. It’s a beautiful and historic state!
The bikes got thirsty so we stopped at Sinclair to fill up. It’s a popular gas station in this area, famous for their dinosaur icon. Even the DINO (Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus?) has a unique history. It was fun to see how each Sinclair presents the DINO. We like this local chain as it is clean and all, but they don’t usually have premium gasoline as it is harder to get. We settled for unleaded without ethanol. 🙄
I got 53 mpg on that last tank!
Á la prochaine…until next time.