Travels with Debbie and Vince: Gering & Scottsbluff, Nebraska

July 21-23. We are in northwest Nebraska, and our campsite is directly in front of famous Chimney Rock. Chimney Rock was used as a reference point for wagon trains heading west on the Oregon Trail. On a clear day, wagon masters could see this unique shaped point at least 25 miles away. Since most wagons trains moved about 8-10 miles a day, it could be seen for 3 days coming and going. After Chimney Rock, they started looking for Scott's Bluff, another unique feature. We are only a mile from Chimney Rock and about 25 miles from Scott's Bluff, and we visited both. We took a National Park Service shuttle to the top of Scott's Bluff. When asked if we would walk down or just take a few photos and get back on the bus, we opted for a third option. We said that we would walk a trail and come back in 30 minutes, when the next shuttle would take us down. But, no other visitors opted to take the shuttle to the top in the next hour, so they didn't bother to come back up to get us. 90 minutes later, we asked a family, visiting in their car, to inform the Rangers that we were stranded on the top. They came and got us. It seems that our driver changed shifts after our run and she never told the next driver that we were waiting up on top!
We also went to the North Platte Museum, the Riverside Zoo, and to the races at Hwy 92 Raceway. It was so hot here (95-105) that we didn't dare cook in the RV,as it raised the temperature in an already hot, flat campground. We ate out lunch and dinner each day.