Setting out to Oregon

The first stop on a drive to Oregon from Springfield, Illinois begins about 90 minutes after leaving home. We stop in Hannibal, Missouri to admire the Mississippi River and get some inexpensive gas for our car. This statue of Mark Twain is near the river, and celebrates his work as a pilot on riverboats. You can read his Life on the Mississippi to learn more about this experience. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) grew up in Hannibal, Missouri.

A riverboat sets out on a scenic cruise on the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri

The Missouri forest experienced on Boy Scout Trail in Pershing State Park, Missouri

The Chillicothe Airport in Missouri has a decorative retired jet out front, and an older large RV as well.

Typical Missouri Countryside scenery as we drive across the state on US-36.

Wind Turbines in Missouri appear near Cameron.

In the Albrecht-Kemper museum of art in St. Joseph we met Mark and Carol Moseman, and saw an exhibit of their collection of art expressing the agrarian spirit between 1850-and 1949. It turns out that Carol was social worker, and shared my enthusiasm for art that celebrated the lives of ordinary people. This work is Georges Laugee’s painting End of Day, 1889. Tired satisfaction is exactly how people feel at the end of a day outdoors working in the fields, and this depicts that mood for me.

The American artist Frank F. English (1854-1922) created this watercolor, Harvesting Wheat.

Alexis Fournier (American), Approaching Storm, c. 1898. The sheep and haystacks in the foreground should not distract us from the dark clouds of a storm front.

Hohokam Culture earthenware by an unknown artist who lived most likely in the mid 13th century in the American southwest.

The Native American Jane Quick-to-See Smith created this lithograph, Four Directions in 1995.

Mackenzee Butts, made this collage as a junior art student at Northwest Missouri State College. The work is titled Desert Flower and it concerns ideas about standards of beauty for girls and women.

This was one of our favorite paintings in the collection shared by Mark and Carol Moseman. This by the American artist Adam Emory Albright, and it is Hidden Treasures, 1901.

Noontime, by Clark Hulings (American, 1922-2011).

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), the American portrait painter, came from a family of artists, and painted a portrait of George Washington when Peale was just 17 years old (while Washington was President); later in life, he made many replicas of that work, including this one from 1860.

This fine settee was displayed in a room of furniture at the Albrecht-Kemper museum. It appears to be from the 1890s, but I did not notice what the museum information sign told about it.

Jane Freilicher (1924-2014), is a noted realist painting from America. This work from 1976 is Game on The Lawn.

Otto Duecker (American, born in 1948), made this mouthwatering oil painting, Four Plums, in 2002.

This painting, Ladies Having Tea (1890), by the American artist Frederick Judd Waugh, makes me think of my great-grandmother’s older sisters.

This was Mark Moseman’s favorite in the agrarian spirit collection he and his wife shared in a special exhibit at the museum: it is by the French artist Therese Cotard-Dupre (1877-1920), Haying.

A view out the car window looking east as we were near Easton, Missouri, looking toward US-275 from our car traveling north on I-29.

These are fields in Missouri River Bottom near the Iowa-Missouri border.

We stopped for the first night in Stromsburg, and the park where we camped also had this public Swimming Pool, opened in 2012, and beyond the pool was an arboretum. The showers were near the pool.

We went into town to see what was open, and found the Economy Market in Stromsburg was closed, but there was a food truck parked on the town square, so we got some food there.

Just across the main road from the campground and park in Stromsburg there are two tall grain elevators. At dusk the letter “S” is illuminated atop one grain elevator

Stromsburg Grain Elevator behind a church steeple used as a decorative focal point in Buckley Park, just at the entrance to the campground.

Grain Elevator in Stromsburg, Nebraska. At sunset. There is also a paved trail (Two Parks Trail) from Buckley Park to the City Square park in Stromsburg.

Stromsburg is the Swede Capital of Nebraska

Swedish Nebraska signs on lampposts around the main square in Stromsburg.

Driving across Missouri or Nebraska, one can admire the many farm buildings, like this barn with stables near St Paul, Nebraska.

St. Paul, Nebraska has a block with historic buildings like this old train station. Jeri is standing in front of the building.

The St Paul Historic Area, with the town’s water tower looming over the scene.

School House and church in St Paul, Nebraska. Each would have had bells that would have marked the days and hours.

Eric standing by a wagon in St Paul. When I was a child, some old wagons like this could be found in wood lots and near abandoned houses on vacant farms near my home.

St Paul, like many small towns in the midwest and high plans, has an exhibit of old farming equipment.

Howard County Courthouse in St. Paul, Nebraska. War memorials and monuments in front of the courthouse.

A street in St Paul. I like to see the late 19th and early 20th century commercial architecture in main streets and city squares in small towns of the American Midwest.

A train crossing Nebraska. The development of the state depended upon railroad routes.

In Broken Bow, Nebraska the boneyard creation museum caught our attention, but we had no time to stop to see the displays.

When driving across central or western Nebraska, one will notice cattle and grass, as these are main features in the landscape.

Picturesque old shacks and derelict homes or farm buildings attract my attention. Here is a shack in central Nebraska, not too far from Loup City (which is a small town with an ambitious and hopeful name).

Driving along scenic highway 2 across central Nebraska, we followed this modified old car for a dozen miles or so.

Scenic Nebraska countryside along State Route 92 between Loup City and Ansley.

Crossing Nebraska we mainly used State Route 92, State Route 2, US Highway 83, Brownlee Road, State Route 97, and US Highway 20. This is Route 92 near Ansley.

More Nebraska scenery. There is a lot of this sort of thing in the eastern half of Nebraska.

Scenic Highway 2 near Broken Bow, Nebraska. I enjoyed seeing the wind turbines rising behind the distant hills.

Near Broken Bow some hay bales out in the field.

This is the pedestrian bridge over the Middle Loup River in the Bessey Recreation Complex.

Blowout Penstemon growing in the Sandhills of Nebraska.

In Central Nebraska we already could see some lupine, here in the Nebraska National Forest

Some ruined ranch buildings in the Nebraska Sandhills.

Brownlee Road was our route through the Sandhills. We hoped to stop at Merritt Reservoir and also Snake River Falls, but we did not have time for the Reservoir and Snake River Falls were still closed, so this detour was useful only for the scenic drive, which we enjoyed.

This is what it looks like when you are out in the middle of nowhere on Brownlee Road in the Sandhills of central western Nebraska.

Welcome to Brownlee, the population is about 15, more or less.

We stopped in Brownlee to eat under the shade of this magnificent tree.

North Loup River at Brownlee, Nebraska.

The North Loup River.

Two trees along Brownlee Road.

For central western Nebraska, in the Sandhills, these trees could pass for a forest.

Nebraska watertank for stock, in the middle of the Sandhills.

A red-winged blackbird slakes its thirst at this stock tank full with water.

Redwing on fencepost

Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) on a barbed wire fence. This bird, along with the red-winged blackbird, seemed to dominate the Sandhills landscape.

Here is a pond not far from Bull Lake toward the western end of Brownlee Road in Nebraska

Merritt Reservoir. The grasslands of the Sandhills are a setting for many natural bonds and some reservoirs like this one. Dependable water sources were not available to farmers for the first 20-30 years of settlement in western Nebraska.

Merritt Recreation Area.

Two ranch signs along Brownlee Road.

Sandhill landscape with a shed.

View from the viewpoint in the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge near Valentine, Nebraska.

Looking east from the Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge viewpoint.

Eric and Jeri in the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.

Niobrara River, seen from the Verdigre Bridge (originally built in 1910; re-assembled in Smith Falls State Park in 1996).

Smith Falls in the Smith Falls State Park.

Smith Falls

Smith Falls, looking up from the base of the falls.

The creek that flows over Smith Falls as it approaches the Niobrara River.

Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis).

Red Columbine in Smith Falls State Park.

Driving from Valentine to Chadron we made a few stops, including in the town of Gordon, which has this impressive grain elevator. We bought gas and filled our tires with air here.

Gordon, Nebraska was one of the four cities mentioned as being significant to Jules Sandoz in the biography of him by his daughter, Mari Sandoz, which I read a few weeks before our drive to Oregon.

Heritage Center Museum in Hays Springs, the closest town to the homestead where Jules Sandoz settled in western Nebraska.

Rushville, Nebraska was another town frequented by Jules Sandoz. It appears to be struggling.

A vacant Hay Springs storefront, next to a mortuary, which is still in business.

Hay Springs. I wonder if this was an auto dealership in years gone by. A faded sign promising auto repairs could barely be discerned over one garage door. It’s a bleak ruin now.

This is how the country appears between Rushville and Hay Springs and Chadron.

The tent campground at Chadron State Park.

Evening in Chadron State Park. We camped here just a few days before the 100th anniversary of the establishment of this state park, the first such state park in Nebraska.

Sunset in Chadron State Park

This was the view of the sunset we had from our tent in Chadron State Park.

Shell-Leaf Penstemon (Penstemon grandiflorus )catches last rays of sun at sunset.

Penstemon (Beardstongue) in Chadron State Park

We enjoyed the huge Penstemon in Chadron State Park.

Salsify (Tragopogon dubius ) with a bicolored (Agapostemon viriscens) sweat bee on it.

Prairie Roses in Chadron State Park

Wild Blue Flax (Linum lewisii ). This was so abundant on some of the hillsides in Chadron State Park that it touched the green of the grass with a blue color.

Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium).

A tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) in Chadron State Park, which in this area is unusual to see, as cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are far more common.

Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) were plentiful around our tent in the morning, and their loud peeping chirps woke me up. They eat the seeds in the pinecones on the pine ridge.

Red-Headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) were also easy to hear and see in Chadron State Park.

Typical landscape along the Pine Ridge around Chadron, Nebraska.

Jeri poses during our morning hike in Chadron State Park.

Jeri with bluffs on the ridge behind her.

Jeri on the Black Hills Overlook Trail in Chadron State Park.

Eric in Chadron State Park.

Eric on the Black Hills Overlook Trail in Chadron State Park.

Statue of Mari Sandoz in Chadron State College.

Triceretops Skull in the museum at Chadron State College.

The Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center in Chadron was a pleasant stop. Here was some of the information about Mari Sandoz in the museum.

The approach to local history describing the Nebraska panhandle as a place where a parade of varied people lived or sojourned seemed good to me.

Keya, a work of art by Joe Pulliam (Oglala Lakota name: Akicita Tokahe).

This is an old dreamcatcher in the collection of Lakota artifacts owned by David Sandoz. Many of the items in his collection were given to his family by Lakota friends. It is nice to see dreamcatchers now used all over the world, and I hope their widespread use as a symbol of protection and good luck inspire more interest in the spiritual traditions of the people of the North American High Plains.

The Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center museum displayed the Nathan Blindman Collection, and this drum is part of that. Blindman is an artist living on the Pine Ridge Reservation (Chadron is the closest town to the reservation).

Nathan Blindman Gourd. I think Blindman has also appeared in movies and maybe even made one. The Heritage Center has several beautiful objects fashioned by Blindman.

This is a shirt belonging to David Sandoz, and is probably part of the collection of objects given to the members of the Sandoz family by their friends among the Native Americans living nearby.

Feathers and Gourd. Part of the Nathan Blindman collection.

Old Money displayed in the Heritage Center, which had a fine little exhibit explaining the economics of the Nebraska panhandle.

As we were driving to Fort Robinson from Chadron, we passed the Crazy Horse Ride of 2021, an event in which hundreds of riders make the trek from Fort Robinson to the Pine Ridge Reservation, a voyage Crazy Horse would have taken had he not been murdered by a solder at the fort back in 1877.

This boy is riding a tobiano horse.

Horses on road, heading from Fort Robinson on their way to Chadron on the first leg of their journey to memorialize Crazy Horse (Tasunka Witko).

People of all ages riding horses away from Fort Robinson as part of the Crazy Horse Memorial Ride of 2021.

This rider has a lovely cremello horse to ride.

Around Fort Robinson the landscape has more rock outcroppings like this.

Columbine on the grounds of Fort Robinson

Fort Robinson is a massive state park with many of the buildings of the old military outpost used as vacation rentals. This structure is now a hotel and restaurant.

Entry to the restaurant and hotel at Fort Robinson.

The interior of the Fort Robinson restaurant is very spartan, which befits a former military fort. The coffee we got here was delightfully inexpensive and very good.

Horses hangout out in western Nebraska

Typical house of the high plains in Harrison, Nebraska. Many houses in Chadron or Crawford (in Nebraska) or Lusk or Douglas (in Wyoming) would be similar to this.

Harrison, Nebraska is at 4,876 feet (1486 meters) of elevation, making it the highest town in Nebraska, and so it rightfully claims to be the Top Town for its state.

This happens to be a windmill and shed near Harrison, Nebraska, but such windmills and sheds are dotted all across the landscape from central to western Nebraska.

The scenery in far western Nebraska looks like this, and eastern Wyoming looks about the same.

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. It is off the beaten track, but the museum of Red Cloud (Mahpíya Lúta) artifacts here will impress you if you are interested in that great statesman of the Oglala Lakota Nation.

Agate Fossil Beds Tipis. James and Kate Cook, who had a range and fossil quarry on the land that is now the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, were great friends of the Native Americans, who regularly came south to the Cook ranch where they were warmly welcomed with extended hospitality for months at at time. Thus, these tipis are displayed outside the visitor center.

Entelodont (Dinohyus hollandi) skeletons are displayed in the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Visitor Center. Fossils of creatures who lived in the area during the Miocene Epoch about 22-23 million years ago are plentiful in the bluffs above the Niobrara River in this area.

Narrowleaf beardtongue (Penstemon angustifolius) grows near the Niobrara close to the visitor center at Agate Fossil Beds.

Niobrara River is not much more than a little stream in Agate Fossil Beds, but it does not dry up, and it is a dependable source of spring-fed water during the dry summers.

Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) grows in abundance along the Niobrara River. We also noticed it plentifully spreading along the North Loup River the previous day. It is a noxious weed introduced from Europe to North America, but it is pretty.

Red Cloud by Bessie Sandes Butler, 1902. Red Cloud liked this portrait of himself, and gave it to James and Kate Cook. The shirt he was wearing when he posed for this painting is displayed in a case near the painting. He was in his 80s when this was painted.

Whetstone that belonged to Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse never allowed anyone to take his photograph. His sister had this from him after he was murdered, and passed it along to James Cook so that it could be displayed in a museum and help encourage the memory of her brother.

A ceremonial headdress from the 1870s, usually worn before and/or after battle, but not during battles.

Beaded belt.

Animal Figure that was hollow and would keep a person’s umbilical cord as a reminder of their origins.

Storage pouch fashioned from bison hide.

Gift Moccasins for James and Kate Cook

Winter Count (Waniyetu Wiyawapi) created by Dawn Little Sky, is a Lakota approach to history, in which each year is represented by a picture representing a significant event of that year.

Clouds near Van Tassell, WY

The sky to our north was dark and threatening from the time we crossed the border into Wyoming until we departed Lusk, Wyoming.

Driving across Wyoming in June, the skies can look like this.

We very briefly stopped in Lost Springs, Wyoming, population of 3. It had a population of 1 until a few years ago when the sign was corrected to show that the numbers of citizens residing in the town had tripled.

Ayres Natural Bridge Park. The road down to La Prele Creek and the natural bridge has some pretty sandstone rocks.

La Prele Creek, the stream that flows under the natural arch bridge.

Ayres Natural Bridge, with Eric standing under the bridge.

Under Ayres Natural Arch Bridge, this is the view looking up.

Trees in Ayres Natural Bridge Park seem to be homes to diminutive fairies.

Visitors can tell stories about who might live in this tree in Ayres Natural Bridge Park.

This stump seems to have become a home for tiny persons.

This is a tiny rabbit in the grass at Ayres Natural Bridge Park.

As we were heading back to I-25 on Route 13 (Natural Bridge Road), we saw this Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) by the road, and stopped to stare at him.

The pronghorn along Route 13 just a mile or two south of I-25 moves away from the road. The Pronghorn are called “antelope” but are in fact more closely related to giraffes, and not antelope.

Triceratops cut-out stands on the ridge fence line in Wyoming, in an area where its kind roamed over 60 million years ago.

Jeri and I enjoyed a late lunch / early dinner in Casper, Wyoming, eating at the Lime Leaf Bistro, where we have eaten on a few occasions when driving through Casper.

We drove under a storm along US-26 going from Casper to Shoshoni.

The storm gave us something to enjoy watching as we drove over the flat emptiness stretching between Casper and Shoshoni.

When we got to the west side of the storm, we could look back from Shoshoni to admire the clouds.

We arrived at the Jim Moss Arena Campground and set up our tent. It was windy almost all night.

Sunset as appreciated from the Jim Moss Arena on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.

Looking at the Wind River Range in the distance from the Jim Moss Arena.

Jeri preparing food for our breakfast at the Jim Moss Arena.

Horses at the Jim Moss Arena. This is a part of the country where rodeos are more popular than football or basketball games.

Baby sparrow on the fence at Jim Moss Arena.

Approaching the Wind River Mountains on the western end of the Wind River Reservation.

View out the window of our car as we travelled up US-26 toward Dubois.

Western Wyoming scenery from highway 26 as we drove toward Dubois and Grand Teton National Park.

The Owl Creek Range to the north of the Wind River Range.

Old Cabin by US-26 in Western Wyoming near Crowheart.

The Wind River flows out of the Wind River Range, and Highway 26 runs along it for many miles.

Along the Wind River there are irrigated fields amidst the stony land.

East of Dubois, the scenery is rugged, and similar to what you might expect to see in Utah or Arizona.

Geological layers uncovered to be seen by motorists on US-26 on the route over Togwotee Pass toward Grand Teton National Park.

A Jackalope in Dubois at the station where we purchased gas. Note the fiberglass skull on the car wash behind the gas station.