AGATE FOSSIL BEDS N.M.﹠CHIMNEY ROCK (NE)

TUESDAY - We've got a long 224-mile route to travel today. To break up the long day we have scheduled a stop at the 150-mile mark to check out a National Monument and eat lunch.

We were barely outside of the campground when the wildlife came out of hiding to wish us "safe travels" today.

This young buck was the only one of six deer who paused in the middle of the road for a photo.

Then just a few more blocks up the road, right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, we spotted this quartet of wild turkeys picking bugs out of the grass and only one took the time away from their meal to "gobble-gobble" us a goodbye.

I must admit that today's route could have been slightly shorter if we had taken the direct route, but we're adding a few miles by crossing back over into Wyoming and then heading south to cross into Nebraska from Wyoming.

We are still in South Dakota heading west into Wyoming. Not much to see!

We are now in Wyoming heading south and at least there are a few interesting hills to see.

OK, we are now obviously crossing into Nebraska from Wyoming here.
That's right! We've now collected our 102nd Border Crossing and only have 5 more to go.

In Nebraska there are definitely some plateaus and valleys to keep us interested.

I can't remember where was the last time I saw a tree today. Oh look! There's "one" now.

Just 34-miles after crossing into Nebraska we found ourselves turning off the highway to visit the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

AGATE FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

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Inside the Visitor Center there were all kinds of plaster skeletons like the ones found outside.
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This is the beginning of the 1-mile Daemonelix Trail at the park entrance.
It's the only place open to the public where you can still see fossils in their original place.
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This is what a 22-million year old fossilized dune looks like today.
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It looks like we have more visitors in the parking lot. I wonder if they're going to hike?
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Sure looks like it! At least we won't be alone out here.
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This is affectionately referred to as "The Phone Booth".
It protects a fossilized spiral burrow of an ancient Paleocastor.
Think of a Paleocastor as an ancient beaver-like animal.
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I'm glad I turned around before I got to this section of the hike.
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At least it looks like it's all downhill from here.
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That building down there houses something very special.
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It's completely surrounded by glass to protect it from erosion and vandalism.
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It's a little hard to make out, but this spiral burrow goes off in two directions
when it gets to a certain point. A unique find here in the park.
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That doesn't look very stable from this vantage point.

Now that our visit to the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is complete it's time to get back on the road. We are still over 75-miles from our destination.

I hope the entire 75-miles isn't like this. At least there's no traffic or stop lights.

We passed by this huge processing plant and I thought about going inside to see if I was in any way related to the owners and possibly be entitiled to a few profit sharing checks.

Afterall, my dad was born in Nebraska about 360-miles east of here back in 1919.

Yeah, no such luck!

We are headed to the town of Bayard which has a small FREE RV campground next to their city park. There are only 3 FCFS campsites at the city park with water and electric hookups. I'd like to get there early enough to get one. Our batteries sure could use a rest and get a full overnight charge too.

On the way to the campground we passed right by our next sightseeing destination. Here's a quick peek at what it is!

We arrived at the city park and found two of the three sites were already occupied. So we secured the last one, unhooked and locked up THE POD before we "took off" to go see Chimney Rock, they close at 4:00PM and it's already 2:30PM.

CHIMNEY ROCK

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Here is the Visitor Center with Chimney Rock in the background.
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Here it is without the Visitor Center in the way, much better.
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They have placed a couple of props to make your photos look more authentic to the 1850s.
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We drove over to the hiking trailhead to get a closer look.
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A storyboard explained that since 1850 more than 80' has eroded from the top of Chimney Rock.
Don't panic, there's still another 120' before it's gone.
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To get any closer than this you'll need to put your hiking boots on!

We got a big suprise when we got back to the campground. Instead of three RVs here there were now five. The one of each end don't get the water and electric hookups, but they do get a FREE and safe overnight parking spot.

There is even a nice shade pavillion for us to use.

Count 'em! Five RVs, but only 3 electric connections.

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