Thunderstorms and Cooler Temperatures

We only drove 175 miles today from North Platte, NE to Scottsbluff, NE in the panhandle of the state.  We left in a light rain, but within half an hour, we encountered a severe thunder-storm.  It rained hard enough we had to slow down to 45mph on the interstate, but we were not alone!  It took about half an hour to drive through it - we were going west and it was headed east.  Getting off of the interstate highway, we opted to take the road less traveled, and got onto US26 traveling the hypotenuse of the distance from point A to point B. 


We are glad we did, because the scenery was beautiful -when we could see it.  We found ourselves driving into another fierce storm that slowed us down again - we could see the storm coming.  The clouds were actually pretty awesome looking - if you didn't know what they were going to do to us!

The route we took followed the Oregon/California/Morman Trails along the North Platte River.  Lots of green grass and a river to feed the livestock.  Now there are fields of wheat and corn and lone farms in the middle of the vastness. The panhandle of Nebraska is beautiful!  We passed one of the milestones for those travelers of old - Chimney Rock.  

They probably had a certain date that they had to pass it to be able to get over the mountains before winter.  I'm sure that they looked at it as a special place and they probably stopped to rest along the river before venturing further.  


We are staying in a small city outside of Scottsbluff - Gering. The RV park is a city run park and is just lovely.  Long pull thrus, cement pads, grass, trees and lots of room between sites, and the wifi seems pretty good as I'm able to do the journal tonight without the help of our hotspot.  We are off the main road by about a mile and it is so quiet.  I've looked around and there are no lights to shine in the windows at night.  We are staying here two nights.  Since we got in early today - noon - it is giving us a day and a half to rest and to see the area.  The temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s most of the day and it's been wonderful - except I dressed inappropriately this morning and had to change into shoes from sandals and put on a lightweight jacket.  Weird.  I think it will be back in the 90s tomorrow, but that's ok - it's still much cooler than it is at home.

We are back in Mountain Time!  Yesterday we started in this zone, but ended up in Central Time in the afternoon which messed up our bedtime as we waited up to hear Obama's speech.  It's good to get that hour back.  The time zone zigzags across the western part of the state - obviously a political move when they delineated it.  Psychologically, though, it means we had gotten back into the West - yea!!

Tomorrow we will make a quick visit to the Scotts Bluff National Monument - get a bit of history about the western migration and a stamp for my national parks book!