SPARE Time…

Today was the day we finally made it back to Nebraska! But we missed our turn and took the wrong highway so we got a really good look at the Wyoming country side.

Take a look at the highway though… where one state’s maintenance ends and the next starts? Does it look like the promised land to you? Because it did to us (no offense Wyoming but sheesh).

Not sure if I’m supposed to disclose this, but I’m super proud of the fact that Pete got to experience standing in one state and pee in another. Hashtag goals.

So anyway, we missed our turn to get back into Nebraska so we spent the whole afternoon with our time riding along the uh, very exciting… Wyoming border… slipped right on past Fort Rob racing the sunset, got about one mile away from Toadstool Park where our next campground would be……but didn’t quite make it.

We were deflated. 

You could say we were tired.

It’s a good thing we spared enough time to take care of it before the sun did actually set….. no pressure. 

Having to fix a tire in the middle of Nebraska summer was complete rubberish. 

Toadstool park is a lot like the Badlands in South Dakota, and actually the earth system connects so technically it’s part of the Nebraska Badlands. It had a completely different feeling to it though. The “big” badlands in South Dakota were hot and sharp and abrasive. It was so beautiful there, but it felt dangerous.

Toadstool park seemed friendlier somehow.

I’m sure Toadstool park is just as dangerous. There is a risk of rattlesnake, falling down a deep ridge or rockslide. Collapses happen. Ankles get twisted. Maybe it’s because the weather was milder these days, but this place felt like it was happy to welcome us instead of telling us to watch our step.

To be continued…

 

Devils, Aliens, & Giants

Pete’s Dirty 30 was designed to be pretty rough, but halfway through South Dakota we came upon Sturgis and decided to book an actual motel with real electricity, a hot shower, and a bed with real sheets.

At this point he still didn’t know where we were headed yet, but I was completely delighted to find a ginormous hint posted on the wall of our room. There were also maps of highways and destinations all over this little motel though, so it didn’t take too long for him to discover where we were headed next.

 

Devils Tower

If Pete were paying attention at Crazy Horse, there was a series of legends collected from different Native American tribes depicting how Devil’s Tower was created. Most stories include some children getting lost and being chased by a giant bear, only for the earth itself to raise them up to the heavens for safety. The ridges scored into the side of the ‘mountain’ come from the claws of the giant bear, and the original name of the structure meant something like “Bear’s Lodge,” or “Home of the Bear.”

 

It’s a sacred place to Native people that live near or visit the land, and if you pay attention the wind will catch items representing prayers in the trees. There were ribbons, bits of cloth, strings and even jewelry, but we were careful not to touch anything… except for a key we found when Pete went to climb a bit of the mountain.

 

A key was hidden underneath a loose rock that gave way. Pete went right to it like he knew where it was… but it was just guarded by a giant grasshopper. We put it back if anyone else wants to hike around and try and find it, lol.

When I first went to visit Pete he took me up the northern coast to visit the Giants Causeway and he taught me all about the legend of Finn McCool, so it was really cool to visit the home of the giant bear from my country. Plus we watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind while he was here and that was a hoot. Game and Parks gave us little envelopes to “catch aliens” on our hike….which were invasive plants that blow in and take over.

…it’s only just now occurring to me that I’ve been conned into literally weeding for the federal government… a step up I guess from my grandma’s “garden parties.”

…to be continued..