Summer 2021, Day 62: Pullman National Monument

Posted on August 15, 2021 by Ben

After a nice weeklong family reunion and Shabbos in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, I continued east into Wisconsin:

A sample of the wonderful town names of Wisconsin:

I continued east into Illinois, fighting my way through Chicago traffic:

I drove to a Chicago suburb to visit Pullman National Monument:

The Monument preserves America’s first planned industrial community, built in the 1880s to support production of Pullman sleeping cars. I checked out the visitor center:

I then walked the community. The houses are now privately owned:

I continued east into Indiana to roller skate at Sk8 World in Portage:

I continued on to Elkhart Indiana to overnight at a field where a PPG pilot will meet me for a morning flight. See the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2021, Days 53 through 60: Family time in Minneapolis

Posted on August 13, 2021 by Ben

This morning I woke up at a PPG pilot’s house to find that the weather wasn’t flyable:

I drove into Minneapolis and spent some time visiting with my parents and my brother and his family. After spending Shabbos in St. Louis Park, I picked up Trish and the kids at the airport. We spent the week at a hotel near by brother’s house.

Most mornings we went for walks around the lakes near my brother’s house:

Whenever we walked by this restaurant, I felt I was in danger:

Trish and the kids flew home on Friday, and I repositioned to spend St. Louis Park for Shabbos.

Summer 2021, Day 52: Ashfall Fossil Beds SHP, Missouri NRR

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Ben

First stop of the day was Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park:

The barn covers the exposed fossil bed, mostly composed of Teleoceras fossils:

The fossil preparation area:

Next I visited Missouri National Recreational River:

The fish hatchery:

Onward to Minnesota:

I overnighted at a PPG pilot’s house near Minneapolis. See the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2021, Day 51: Chimney Rock NHS, Carhenge, Niobrara NSR

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Ben

Today’s first stop was Chimney Rock National Historic Site:

I hiked out to it:

I met this fellow on the trail:

The spire has lost about 30 feet of height in the last 150 years. Here’s a photograph from 1906:

[map]

I next stopped in the town of Bayard to take on water at their free campground:

Continuing north, I visited the quintessential Americana that is Carhenge:

Next I visited Niobrara National Scenic River:

I ran the Cowbow Trail to the bridge:

Views from the bridge:

I continued on to overnight at Rock County Airport in Bassett, Nebraska:

I checked out the pilot lounge:

I spoke with a couple guys who were flying home from the EAA fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin:

See the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2021, Day 50: Torrington Homesteading Museum, Fort Laramie NHS, Register Cliff SHS, Oregon Trail Ruts SHS

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Ben

This morning the wind was too strong, so I said goodbye to the Pawnee Buttes and headed north into Wyoming:

My first stop today was the Torrington homesteading museum in Torrington, Wyoming:

Next stop was Fort Laramie National Historic Site:

Fort Laramie was a 19th-century military outpost and fur trading location along the Oregon Trail:

The Fort Laramie Bridge, built in 1876, spans the North Platte river. US troops used the bridge when fighting Native American tribes in that year:

If you’re thinking to yourself “isn’t that a King patent tubular bowstring iron bridge?” you would be right. This bridge is the best preserved bridge of this type still in existence.

Next, I visited Register Cliff State Historic Site, where travelers on the Oregon Trail carved their names into the cliff:

19th century graffiti:

Next, I checked out Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site, where the wagon ruts made by pioneers traveling the Oregon Trail in the first half of the 19th century are visible:

I continued on into Nebraska:

I overnighted at the Walmart of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. See the trip map for today’s drive.