OK, leaving Douglas we had to go downtown and check out this urban legend. Actually, the Jackalope was the brainchild of Doug Herrick of Douglas, WY and thus Douglas was named "Home of the Jackalope." Doug and his brother were on a hunting trip and tossed a jackrabbit carcass into the taxidermy store and it landed by a pair of deer antlers. That gave Jack an idea and the first Jackalope was sold for $10. As they say the rest is history. Douglas issues thousands of Jackalope hunting licenses every year. BTW the state trademarked the name Jackalope in 1965.
Leaving Jackalope Park we continued east on US RT 20. The landscape continued to be pretty barren and the hills were somewhat challenging to the Model A's, nothing that they couldn't handle though. The biggest issue we had was with the weather. It was clear, but hot and VERY windy. The wind was really strong and seemed to blasting us constantly. We needed a break and found Fort Robinson near Crawford, NE. We parked the Model A's under some large Cottonwood trees. The Fort was just what we needed; a place to stretch and walk about and also to get
something cold to drink. Reading the history of the Fort we found it had one significant event that linked it to one of our earlier stops. Fort Robinson was where the legendary Sioux warrior Crazy Horse was brought to when he was captured and it was also where Crazy Horse died while trying to escape. It seemed appropriate to have the rest of the story after visiting the Crazy Horse memorial near Rapid City.
The other thing we noticed was the size of the trains. They were huge and mostly carrying coal from the local mines. It was nothing to count over 100 cars. Incidentally, we were told that the cities were spaced about 25 - 30 miles apart in Wyoming and about 15-20 mile in Nebraska. This was primarily due to the distance steam engine could go between water stops. Development occurred first in NB and moved west to WY and as steam engines improved the distance between towns also extended. Makes sense to me...
The heat and wind forced us to seek refuge and we stopped early in Valentine, NE. Even Edsel and Squeek were running low on energy. The Dunes Inn was a welcome stop. It also gave Nan & I a chance to do laundry. Dinner with Dick & Barbara at the Peppermill was great. The Prime Rib sandwich was huge, good and priced right, what more could you ask for. OK, want more, our waitress came for Portsmouth, NH and has relatives in Kittery Point.
OK, leaving Douglas we had to go downtown and check out this urban legend. Actually, the Jackalope was the brainchild of Doug Herrick of Douglas, WY and thus Douglas was named "Home of the Jackalope." Doug and his brother were on a hunting trip and tossed a jackrabbit carcass into the taxidermy store and it landed by a pair of deer antlers. That gave Jack an idea and the first Jackalope was sold for $10. As they say the rest is history. Douglas issues thousands of Jackalope hunting licenses every year. BTW the state trademarked the name Jackalope in 1965.
Leaving Jackalope Park we continued east on US RT 20. The landscape continued to be pretty barren and the hills were somewhat challenging to the Model A's, nothing that they couldn't handle though. The biggest issue we had was with the weather. It was clear, but hot and VERY windy. The wind was really strong and seemed to blasting us constantly. We needed a break and found Fort Robinson near Crawford, NE. We parked the Model A's under some large Cottonwood trees. The Fort was just what we needed; a place to stretch and walk about and also to get 
something cold to drink. Reading the history of the Fort we found it had one significant event that linked it to one of our earlier stops. Fort Robinson was where the legendary Sioux warrior Crazy Horse was brought to when he was captured and it was also where Crazy Horse died while trying to escape. It seemed appropriate to have the rest of the story after visiting the Crazy Horse memorial near Rapid City.
The other thing we noticed was the size of the trains. They were huge and mostly carrying coal from the local mines. It was nothing to count over 100 cars. Incidentally, we were told that the cities were spaced about 25 - 30 miles apart in Wyoming and about 15-20 mile in Nebraska. This was primarily due to the distance steam engine could go between water stops. Development occurred first in NB and moved west to WY and as steam engines improved the distance between towns also extended. Makes sense to me...
The heat and wind forced us to seek refuge and we stopped early in Valentine, NE. Even Edsel and Squeek were running low on energy. The Dunes Inn was a welcome stop. It also gave Nan & I a chance to do laundry. Dinner with Dick & Barbara at the Peppermill was great. The Prime Rib sandwich was huge, good and priced right, what more could you ask for. OK, want more, our waitress came for Portsmouth, NH and has relatives in Kittery Point.
Nice picture of Edsel and Squeek. Who is Squeek and when did he/she become a member of the entourage?
ReplyDeleteI remember those very long freight trains out west and the very large corn fields in Nebraska. I'm sure things flattened out once you hit Nebraska. I don't remember any hills there - it is all pretty flat.
It's been raining here for four days now with the temps in the 60s. The weekend looks like it's going to be nice though.
I'm enjoying your pictures of the wide open spaces of the West. You haven't mentioned ice cream in a few days. Hopefully you will get your fix soon..
ReplyDeleteJackalope...that is interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteSqueek must be the praire dog that chased mom! HA HA
The weather has been pretty miserable the past few days..
Miss and Love You
Jess