Last Days

THE END OF THE TRIP


We tiptoed in late last night.

Now we have two days to sit back, relax and visit with sister-in-law, Shirley.

Look at her views.

 

Wonderful end to a 2000+ mile trip.

 

Day 5

Day 5

Saturday

After breakfast in Pocatello, Idaho, we followed the trail beside the Interstate to Shoshoni Falls in Twin Falls.  

The emigrants often were hot, tired and very thirsty when they reached the Snake River. They could hear the falls from three miles away.  But when they got to the river, the steep cliffs prevents them from getting to the water.

We drove on to Glen's Ferry to see the Three Island crossing. Very interesting here,too.

Nice Interpretive Center, where they used to have reenactments. This center concentrated equally on the cultural differences of natives and whites and how they worked together. Before leaving Glen's Ferry we stopped to get the car washed by cheerleaders raising money for new uniforms.

 

Here is a sign that on the first days of the trip would have beckoned us to follow the Byway.

 

 

But we looked at the map and decided to stay on the Interstate and make it to sister-in-lay, Shirley's home in northern Idaho, tonight.

 

 

Drove to Boise. Toured the university campus.  Roger showed me the blue football field. We picnicked at a city park along Boise River right near the university.

 

As we sat at a picnic table, we looked at our mode of transportation--a Buick to drive/ride in with air conditioning that allowed us to cover a distance in one day that took those pioneers one month to travel.  Although we ate lunch outside every day at a picnic table, we had the convenience of dinner in a nice restaurant every evening. We also managed to stop for ice cream every afternoon around 3.

Finally we arrived in OREGON!.  Stopped at the first information center we came to, which turned out to have a tribute to Blue Star Mothers (I am one.)

As we drove onward, we came to Flagstaff Hill where the Oregon seekers anticipated the end of their journey. They could see the Blue Mountains looming in the distance and knew they were near their goal.

We stopped at Baker City, Oregon  where there is a National Interpretive Center for the whole Oregon Trail.  It is a very impressive place. There are life-size displays with history descriptions and a one hour movie that summarizing the whole Oregon Trail experience. As we watched it and then walked through the extensive collection of memorabilia, we realized that we had stopped at every significant site along the way.

There also was an interesting display room on the Homestead era. The only really bad weather we experienced was a downpour while we were inside this center. Sun was shining in blue sky with a rainbow as we left.

We left the Oregon Trail. Both of us have traveled the north and south sides of the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, so didn't feel the need to redo that part of their trip.

We made it to Pendleton for supper. We ate quickly since we were trying to get to Coeur d' Alene before dark. We got turned around in Pendleton, but eventually found our way to the road to Walla Walla. Gas in WA was over $4/gal.

We decided to take short cut to sister-in-law, Shirley's. Trying to get out of Walla Walla, we got turned around on a round-about. A young (smiling) helpful motorcycle cop came along and directed us to the road we needed to get out of town.   (Can you tell we must be getting tired?)
As we progressed toward Coeur d' Alene on country highways with the sun setting, we came to a small town where the road turned a sharp corner. Roger suddenly started pointing his finger out the front window and was so shocked he couldn't speak--there was a camel in the farmyard! 

We both believed we have seen the elephant!  (check Google: Seeing the elephant on the Oregon Trail was an expression they used often when someone got so weary of traveling, they seemed to lose their senses.)  We, however, really did see a camel--why a farmer/rancher would have one is not something we could figure out.

As I wrote this day's saga, we progressed across southeastern Washington in the dark, driving 4 different highway numbers for 60 miles. We didn't feel lost, but we didn't see a sign in a long, long time.  We had no cell phone service and the highways we were traveling on, were not on our paper map.  We did find an outhouse restroom that was as fine a stop as I have seen. There were hand sanitizer containers on the wall.  There were lights outside--we were out in the middle of nowhere. We just kept driving, figuring if we kept taking the east choice of road at junctions, we would get to US 95 and know where we were and how to get to Shirley's. Tiptoed in at 11:30 pm.  Long day and night!

Day 4

We are still following the path the Oregon Trail Emigrants took west across the country. 

Today, Day 4, after breakfast we drove around Fort Caspar (Fort name is spelled that way).
We are going to try to cover more distance today. 
We have both been thinking that if it had been us back in those days, we would have stopped in what was to become the states of Kansas or Nebraska and not gone on to Oregon. That wasn't an option for the nearly 400,000 people who traveled over parts of the trail in the 1800s.

First major stop was Independence Rock, halfway point for the pioneers.  There was a nice center there with lots of historical items.

 We walked...

and we walked...

and we walked...

to the Rock.

  Roger (after double knee surgery a year ago) climbed up the rock all the way to the top!

He texted me from the top that coming down might be interesting.

A couple little boys who went up with their dad, slid down on their butts where it was too steep to walk.   Roger made it down, but much more carefully than the 2 little boys.

 I was still too sore from yesterday's two climbs to even attempt it. There are no trails--it is just climbing on a monster rock. I did, however, walk around the rock on the path pictured below. It stays fairly level.  That was my kind of walk.

 I did climb up two feet on the rock and have my picture taken. Roger did well to make it look like I was really accomplishing something!

Back on the Interstate, we were looking for information about South Pass, a way the pioneers got over the continental divide. I saw a sign that said South Pass City and suggested turning in. We ended up wandering all around mountains on a gravel road that became a dirt road that became a one lane dirt road.  Finally found a place that would remind a person of Landusky, MT. We stopped for our picnic lunch.  Roger found a way back to the highway and we stayed on paved roads after that.

The drive across the part of Wyoming from there on was just sagebrush. No scenery, no historical sights, just sagebrush and more sagebrush and more sagebrush! We decided I would NEVER have survived being on one of those wagon trains.

Next planned stop was Soda Springs. 

It was a disappointment.

And Steamboat Springs we had read about in the history book is now underwater, so another disappointment.

Then more sagebrush! Found a place to get a huge, giant (they called it a single scoop) ice cream cone. Nice break from the sagebrush.
We glanced at a few more markers along the road, but we didn't stop for graves anymore or for Indian battles.  Being raised in Montana, we felt we know Indian history reasonably well.

Arrived in Pocatello, ID later than we usually drive, but ate supper and planned tomorrow's trek.
We covered a lot of distance today.

Day 3

 Day 3

We started out this morning from North Platte, NE. (Third day. and we are still in Nebraska!) We were surprised by how slow we were moving but there was a whole lot to see.  Here is a sign that let us know we were following the right trail.

We did stay on highway today, all day. Our first stop was Ash Hollow. It was a place pioneers rested after coming down Windlass Hill, a very steep hill they slid down with their wheels locked. They needed a few days to mend broken wheels and bones.

 

The climb up a paved walking trail was incredibly steep, but we made it to the top; Roger easily, Darlene not so easily. Next couple times I got out of the car, I sure was sore, but walking helped. 

Looking to the south, we can still see ruts left by the wagons.

 
That's our car down there.  You can kind of see that this was quite a hill to get down.

There is a pioneer homestead memorial at the bottom of Windlass Hill in Ash Hollow.

It took the pioneers about 40 days to get to this point.  I guess we shouldn't be suprised we are traveling for a third day.  They still have 2/3 of their trip left to go and it isn't going to get easier.

 Determined to get out of Nebraska and into Wyoming tonight, we quit stopping at every place of historical interest.  We will read about but not stop at gravestones or Pony Express stations.
We could see Courthouse and Jail Rocks from the highway.  (This is a picture from the Bridgeport, NE home page. We didn't get a good picture of these landmarks.)  We took a wrong turn, but only went about 50 yards before we realized it and turned around.

Another highlight of the day was seeing Chimney Rock. It is a landmark that is often shown with reference to the Oregon Trail travels.

We went to this Historic Site and went through their displays and watched a movie about the pioneers.  We went outside to get a better view of Chimney Rock.

Had to watch out for rattlesnakes—didn’t hear or see any—did hear lots of Western Meadowlarks!

Back on the highway we saw many sights around Scotts Bluff Nat’l Monument, then finally drove into Wyoming just before noon, MDT. Sure appreciated gaining an hour with the time change.

Next stop was Fort Laramie, where we started with a picnic lunch. Watched a movie in the center about Fort Laramie, then walked the grounds. Extremely hot out, so as we left we stopped in the ‘soldiers bar’ and had a sarsaparilla that was ice cold.  It was really a thirst quencher.
Although we spent a long time here going through all the buildings and walking around the whole reconstructed Fort the only picture I took was of the latrine.

We got back on the highway. Things to see were not very well marked and we wandered around on the highways a bit. Always ended up finding our way.

Next major place we stopped at was the Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site.

Another steep climb for us to see the site, but not as bad as Windlass Hill. The ruts were fascinating.

 The area was soft sandstone and the wagons left ruts that were nearly 5 feet deep.

I chose for us to take the ADA path down. It was longer but made for wheelchair access, and I didn't have any trouble getting to the bottom.

We drove about an hour and a half on Interstate to Casper, WY. There is a new National Historic Trails Center in Casper. We stopped there around 4, but they had already closed for the day. We ate a nice supper and plan to get an early start tomorrow. We’d like to get well into Idaho tomorrow.

Day 2

Day 2

After one of those really good buffets for breakfast, the kind with waffles, eggs, ham, rolls, cereal, etc., we went to a grocery store and bought picnic lunch stuff. Then we got on the road.

We drove a ways to Hastings, NE where Roger checked out a private college. Then we took a back road to Fort Kearny State Historical Site. 

At the Fort, we went through the museum, then walked the outside area. We walked all around it and through the buildings, even though it was quite chilly. 

We picnicked in their park.

As we continued on, we stopped and read historical signs along the highway, but from the car. It rained and was chilly and windy.

Next we stopped at the Great Platte River Road Archway. It spans Interstate 80 near Kearney, Nebraska.  It was extremely interesting.  Like their brochure states, they use film, computer graphics, light and sound to tell the story of our westward migration.  You are taken back in time to an era when covered wagons, hand-pulled carts, and trains first criss-crossed the prairies.  The Great Platte River Road Archway is an interactive adventure that pays tribute to the pioneers who passed through Nebraska on their way West.  The buffalo herd stampeding was one of the best scenes.  We spent 1 ½ hours there.  It would be easy to spend  a whole day if one had the time. 

What did we witness in the Archway?   "The thrill of an arriving Pony Exprss rider, the urgency of declaring war spreading over the telegraph wires, a buffalo stampede, the words and faces of those that lived and died on the route, the building of the railroad, the creation of the first transcontinental road (the Lincoln Highway), and today’s modern transportation system all becomes an adventure for you to share! "

We drove on to University of Nebraska-Kearney where Roger drove along all their roads. Quite a big college. He will go to a college football game there next year.

We started driving on I-80 (it is a lot faster than on the gravel roads yesterday) to get to North Platte where we stopped for the night. North Plattte, Nebraska is where east meets west on Union Pacific's rail line. We read about the Golden Spike Tower and since the Pughs were railroad people, we decided to go see it.  

It was fantastic! It is an 8 story high structure overlooking Bailey Yard's, the world’s largest rail yards. We learned a lot of railroad history in that facility.

See you tomorrow.