Buddha and The Zebras

Scotts Bluff, Nebraska

We are back on the trail! It was a great weekend in Cheyenne, complete with great shopping for western wear, but it is truly lightening to be back on the Oregon Trail.

Our trip today involved a bit of backtracking, as Cheyenne was a trip out of the way. There were ominous and enormous thunderstorms lurking in several directions, sometimes in the distance and several times quite close. We managed, somehow, to escape nearly all of their activity, probably getting only a few minutes of rain on the car over a period of several hours.

We headed east and then north to return to the Bridgeport, Nebraska area, not far from where we had left off. This part of the trail, which continues along the North Platte River, a very shallow river ("too wet to plow, too thick to drink", they used to say), is very different geographically from the areas we have covered previously. It is at this point that the pioneers, after several weeks of travel across open plains, had their first glimpse of spectacular rock formations and large bluffs. There are hundreds of diaries that talk about this portion of the trail, as the prior journey had grown increasinlgly boring, and they had had to generate many strategies to try to take their minds off the same-view-every-day. Also, most of the settlers were from either the east or the midwest, and had never seen these sort of rock formations and outcroppings that are part of the landscape in much of the west. Apparently in those days, they could see the formations from up to 40 miles away, so it must have been particularly striking after so long on the prairie.

The first one they encountered (and it is amazing how it is truly the very first formation as you arrive from the east...you're on the plains and then suddenly there it is) is a pair of mountains that they named Courthouse Rock and Jail Rock, apparently because the grand monuments reminded some of the large courthouse (then new) in St. Louis. What we saw today is likely very similar to what they saw, though the places where they carved their names have eroded away. The broader one on the left is Courthouse Rock.


We then headed in the direction of Chimney Rock, the next and even more spectacular formation. But on the way, we noted an attraction off the beaten path in our guidebook, and decided to take a 35 mile (each way) detour. I can't tell you how excited I am about what we saw. It has nothing to do with the Oregon Trail, I've never even heard of it before, but it was absolutely incredible. For all of the artists (or wannabe artists) who are reading this, you HAVE to check this out.

So here it is. It's called Carhenge and it's a scientific and exact reproduction of Stonhenge, using old cars as the building blocks. They are in the ground upright, a bit like Cadillac Ranch (for those who know of that one), welded on top, placed in every formation. It was done by a guy whose family owns the piece of farmland, and he built it 20 years ago as a tribute to his father, after living in England for quite some time and studying Stonehenge in depth. I've provided links both to Stonehenge (for those who don't know much about it) and of course, to Carhenge. We took tons of photos and this will only give you a taste. There are many additional sculptures using cars in addition to the main Carhenge installation, but you'll have to wait to see those (or look at their website). If you're ever in this part of the country, I would highly recommend visiting (and if you think it's really great, you might want to become a "Friend of Carhenge", as we did today).



Here's a close-up...


and best yet, here is the sculpture that oh-so-conveniently ties in to our Oregon Trail journey....(drum roll, please)....a COVERED "WAGON" (complete with wagon wheels)!!!!



Then we headed to Chimney Rock, which we were lucky enough to reach around sunset, making it an even more spectacular vision. The spire was much taller in the 1800s, but it is made of a very soft sandstone, which erodes quickly. Below the photo is a quote from an emigrant diary about the spot, which echoes my feelings about seeing it...



". . . camped opposite to & about 1 mile from Chimney Rock. I had some curiosity to see this . . . Imagine a pyramid standing alone though surrounded by rocky precipices some 150 feet high & at its base 20 feet through . . . No conception can be formed of the magnitude of this grand work of nature until you stand at its base & look up. If a man does not feel like an insect then I don't know when he should."
June 27, 1849, Elisha Perkins

As we headed to Scotts Bluff, where we are staying for the night, the sunset continued to grow more and more beautiful, making me more grateful to be back on the trail every moment. At dinner, Phoebe drew a wonderful picture of Chimney Rock in the sunset on her kid's menu (no way to scan those things in, but if I find a Kinko's somewhere, I will post her picture), and we had long conversations in car after she spontaneously mentioned that she felt that she had not gotten a full sense in her studies at school of the importance of the western migration, at least to the extent that she is starting to on this trip. She said that she did not know about the natural sites like Courthouse Rock and Chimney Rock and had no idea that the people and their journey were so "famous", meriting so many markers, guidebooks, monuments, stories, etc. Made me feel glad that we're on this trip.

And then...yes, oh patient ones....we checked into our hotel, a locally owned place where the owners have seen fit to decorate to their hearts' content. Our room seems to be the Zebra room, with Zebra bedspreads (not "zebra print", but the fabric is all pictures of zebras) zebra pictures on the walls, zebra books. And a Buddha statue on the small refrigerator. I love it.

Tomorrow, we're headed back into Wyoming, including Fort Laramie (which is not the same as Laramie, Wyoming, not even particularly close geographically), a site Phoebe knows a lot about from her studies in school. And on that note, if you're reading this, and you're part of the Phoenix family, please consider leaving us a comment or a note on the blog or by e-mail. Phoebe knows that some of you are reading and is so anxious to hear from you!

We sign off tonight with a photo of the sunset as we drove west....don't you wish you came with us? (there's always next year!!)