19 Sep
This morning we drove 55 miles southwest of Alliance to Scotts Bluff NE to visit the Scotts Bluff National Monument. The drive down highlighted the famous Nebraska sandhills. If you did not know about them you might think there were just a lot of rolling hills. But it is an amazing land feature I've never seen before. Again, if you don't get out and drive around these great United States, you might never discover some of these things.
There are restrictions on vehicle length, height, etc not unlike Glacier but not as restrictive, so the big ol' brown truck was allowed on the road. I did fold in my mirrors though. .
We arrived at the parking area and headed up the trail towards the top of the bluff.
Interesting the composition of these bluffs. It is made up of a rock cap with sandstone, volcanic ash and siltstone under that. It is very susceptible to erosion as evident by this survey marker
Erosion carved this groove in the rock.
There were no barriers on the edges of the bluff, so there were many signs saying you had to stay on the trail. There was also at least one park ranger up there enforcing that. Needless to say, the view was spectacular!
Scotts Bluff was named for Hiram Scott, and employee of the Rocky Mountain Fur Comany. Hiram died in the vicinity of this bluff in 1828 after being deserted by his companions near the junction of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers. There is a placard there commemorating Hiram Scott.
A look at the town of Scotts Bluff from the top
Another interesting story. On Scotts Bluff there is a granite bench that commemorates someone named Rebecca Winters. 
Rebecca was a Mormon emigrant who died, along with many others, of cholera on her journey along the Mormon Trail here on August 15, 1852. When she died in 1852, Rebecca's husband and a close friend, William Reynolds, had the painful task of burying her, and their special efforts speak volumes for the affection they had for Rebecca. Often graves were dug directly in the roadway, and after burial, wagons were driven over it to obscure all signs of it. This was not done out of a callous disregard for the deceased, but to reduce the likelihood that the grave might be disturbed by wild animals. Mr Reynolds marked the grave with a metal wheel rim and chiseled the following words, “Rebecca Winters, Age 50.” The grave had been forgotten for years until 1899 when surveyors for the Burlington Northern Railroad rediscovered it.
Rebecca was a Mormon emigrant who died, along with many others, of cholera on her journey along the Mormon Trail here on August 15, 1852. When she died in 1852, Rebecca's husband and a close friend, William Reynolds, had the painful task of burying her, and their special efforts speak volumes for the affection they had for Rebecca. Often graves were dug directly in the roadway, and after burial, wagons were driven over it to obscure all signs of it. This was not done out of a callous disregard for the deceased, but to reduce the likelihood that the grave might be disturbed by wild animals. Mr Reynolds marked the grave with a metal wheel rim and chiseled the following words, “Rebecca Winters, Age 50.” The grave had been forgotten for years until 1899 when surveyors for the Burlington Northern Railroad rediscovered it.
On September 5, 1995, they exhumed the grave so it could be moved, with 65 members of the Winters family in attendance. Within a few hours, the work by a team of archaeologists from the Nebraska State Historical Society revealed human remains. Soon the complete skeleton was unearthed, a testimony to the care taken during burial so long ago. The grave was moved and unfortunately today we were within one mile or less of her new gravesite and we did not know until after we had departed the area.
Photo credit: https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/rebecca-winters-gravesite/
A view from the end of the trail. The picture does not do this justice!
Heading back to the truck!
From Scotts Bluff we stopped at Runza's in the town of Scotts Bluff for lunch, imagine that! Then we made our way about 22 miles to Chimney Rock, our next stop.
Chimney Rock is iconic in the American West. The first recorded mention of Chimney Rock was in 1827 by Joshua Pilcher. He journeyed up the Platte River valley to the Salt Lake rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain fur trappers. In 1941, 80 acres containing the site, near the town of Bayard, Nebraska, were transferred to the Nebraska State Historical Society by the Roszel F. Durnal family. In 1956, Norman and Donna Brown deeded additional land to the society. In that same year, Chimney Rock was designated a National Historic Site by the federal government.
We arrived and again, even though the entire facility was empty, we were not allowed to enter with Liberty in her stroller. Unlike Scotts Bluff, there is no driving to Chimney Rock. Deja vu with Devil's Tower in 2017.... This is as close as we are going to get:
Well, that was fun. Pack it in and let's head back to the campground. I did zoom in and this is how it looked:
The drive back was uneventful as we traveled the same path back as we came. We got back, grilled some tilapia and pork for dinner, and watched the Chicago Cubs, until it got dark. Then we headed for the Central Park Fountain here in Alliance. It is illuminated at night and it has been on our to-do list. I tried some videos and most did not come out, but we took quite a few pictures, but again, the pictures don't do it justice:
Tomorrow we will visit the military museum, stop at the grocery store, flush tanks, give the RV a wash and make preparation to head to our next destination, Kearney NE!
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