The Pony Express and Jesse James

Eastbound beyond these sites is a lot of driving. Nebraska is a step above Kansas for a cross-country drive, but not a big step. The eastern two-thirds of the state are flat instead of the entire state.

We were going to make a stop just over the border in St. Joseph, Missouri to see the Jesse James museum and the house where he was shot dead. The Pony Express also has a museum that is the beginning of the Pony Express trail that wound its way west between St. Joseph and Sacramento, CA for the two years it ran. St. Josephs is actually a great historic city (http://www.stjomo.com/historical_museums.aspx) and worth the stop.

From St. Joseph's it was a short drive home and the end of the saga. We covered eight states in about 10 days. Too much, too fast, but it gave us something to look forward to in the future - going back to some of the better places we saw.

Visit our other trips and stories at this link: http://kimbasfam-roadtripamerica.blogspot.com/

EASTBOUND via Nebraska

After our short visit in the Jackson Hole area, we headed east. Wyoming is beautiful, but as you drive along the highway eastbound, the only mountains seem to be in the rearview mirror and the land is barren farmland. An occassional pronghorn is seen in the fiels along the road. Otherwise, its 85 mph straight away. I was doing about 85 and was in the way of a Wyoming state highway worker and he passed me ....

We spent the night in easter Wyoming and headed into Nebraska early the next day. We would ride right past Scotts Bluff National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/scbl) and Chimney Rock National Historical Site. Major landmarks along the Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express Trails.

Chimney Rock NHS is maintained by the Nebraska Historical Society (http://www.nebraskahistory.org/sites/rock/moreinfo.htm) (not the National Park Service). It too was a landmark to the wagon trains headed west. It has been a landmark for centuries. It is eroding, but it is unknown exactly how fast.