Travels with Debbie and Vince: Fort Robinson, Nebraska

July 18-20. We are at Fort Robinson for 3 days. We are now in Nebraska, our 11th state. After setting up camp, we signed up for a chuck wagon hayride and went for a swim in the indoor olympic size pool. The chuck wagon dinner, which was served out in a canyon, included steak, baked potato, Mexican corn, dinner rolls and a your choice of a drink. After the meal, the tour leader, Jim Lee, a real Nebraska cowboy-poet-post historian, gave us a history lesson about Fort Robinson. Jim also told us stories of the great Chief Red Cloud, who made peace and saved Indian lives by signing peace treaties and meeting with congressmen and senators. Sitting Bull turned himself in at Fort Robinson, a few months after he lead his warriors at the battle of Little Big Horn. Sitting Bull was imprisoned here and died here in an escape attempt. (stabbed in the back by a soldier) The highlight was his very fine poetry about cowboys, cowboy life and wildlife. Fort Robinson was active from the Indian wars, right up through it being used as a P.O.W. camp to hold captured German soldiers during World War II. It now is refurbished and on the roll of National Historic places. It is a beautiful but very hot place. It was 105 degrees today and our air conditioner struggled to keep inside at 81.
We ate breakfast at the fort's restaurant and will eat dinner there too, its just too hot to cook in the RV. We did laundry in the town of Crawford. We then drove to Chardon on our second day here and visited the Museum of the Fur Trade. Of course we learned quite a bit about the fur trade in the west from before Columbus up through today. It was a very extensive museum. We are learning so much on this trip, we just might have to go on Jeopardy!