At the end of the Mormon Trail

We've been following the western trails since Nebraska, one of which is the Mormon Trail, down whence Brother Brigham led the Latter Day Saints for sanctuary from religious persecution.  They settled between the Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake and basically built Utah.  The Temple and structures around it are beautiful, especially when frosted with a bit of snow.

 

And I confess I know very little about the religious aspects as opposed to the historical events surrounding the CoLDS, but did find these monuments outside the Temple interesting...

 



 

 

The drive from WY to SLC was much nicer than the day before, even though it was 12 degrees ... no wind = no wind chill!

 

Veterans' Day travels in WY

If you're stuck on the road, being a college town is a good choice.  As the only Division I school in Wyoming, UW is home to book stores, school swag stores, ethnic restaurants, theaters, and sporting events, so after the morning thaw, we headed into historic downtown.
And it really is historic - all the funky-cool shops and eateries are tucked into tall narrow building along the streets that border the RR tracks - just like they were 100 years ago.  First goal was to find a secondary general science book so Sophia can keep up with Mrs. Wiatrek's lesson plans.  Night Heron Books had just the right text, plus huge muffins and home made sardough breads!  Now, Soph can get the real scientific description of chemical equations and tectonics without my somewhat muddled interpretations.  Although, I am pretty good about pointing out real-world applications, i.e. adding sugar to your hot tea or driving over the Continental Divide.
Also took the opportunity to stray from the standard road fare of bacon & eggs and CFS to enjoy a nice Italian hamburger (spicy Italian sausage + beef on Italian roll with basil and fresh romas) and mushroom soup at Lucianos for brunch, then roasted duck curry and pot stickers at Anong's Thai for dinner.  If you find yourself in Laramie, can readily recommend both, but Anong's gets the nod for a RAVE!
Spent the afternoon watching the Ags beat up on 'Bama.  Not that you'll hear it often, but glad one of those silly Big 12 offenses showed up the vaunted SEC defenses...tired of the east coast love affairs with the SEC.  Hoping it's K-State and Oregon or ND this year.  And who knows, maybe now that they feel like they're out from under the shadow of Texas, the Aggies might turn out to be relevant...
Finished the evening watching the UW Cowgirls vs. UNLV in volleyball.  Appreciation of volleyball is just one of the many benefits derived from having daughters.  Those athletes, even on two teams that won't be in the post-season, could run rings around most football players.  Non-stop flying around the court, diving, leaping, pounding each other with spikes ... and they're such gracious players, sticking around after the matches to chat with fans.  I was frankly amazed - the wind chill was -8 as we walked to the arena and there weren't many seats available on a Saturday night!  Good stuff.
Let it warm up to 20 before we headed west on Sunday morning - north to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons NPs looks like it's out of the question due to heavy snow, but we'll see later this week.  Secondary routes were marginal, so we stuck to IH-80.  Lots of blowing snow with the 30-40 mph winds (didn't even want to know the wind chill), but the road was relatively dry and I have a lot of confidence in UPLNDR's tires and auto-4WD.  Made for a great teaching moment for Soph about driving in hairy conditions ... and about idiot drivers and how to predict/react to them.
Also had her look up the origins of Veterans' Day and the significance of the Nov. 11 date (not the bank holiday).  Discussed US troops on foreign soil during WWI and times after.  Made of list of all the folks we know that have military service.  She wondered why most didn't discuss it much ... obviously can't speak to that personally, but did relay the feelings and comments these fine men have passed along to me.
Were able to hit a few historical points along the way ... Flaming Gorge wasn't flaming much under its 6" snow blanket, but it is pretty and Green River was the starting point for Powell's exploratory expedition - we'll cross his path numerous times as we trek south later...

Jim Bridger is one of my favorite mountain men and was widely recognized for his trapping, exploring, and guiding prowess.  He built a stockade on the Black's Fork River in western WY that was later used by the Army ... I bet it looked like this very frequently during his tenure!

Stayed up too late watching Band of Brothers and now headed for Salt Lake City...

Orderly retreat

We knew weather could be an issue the further north and west we traveled, and the current front has driven us south a bit.  Since we don't really have fixed destination goals, it's really just an opportunity to see other new stuff, but the looming grey clouds on the horizon, threat of negative wind chill, and howling winds are constant reminders of what the pioneers must have faced as they passed this way on wagons.
As we were driving through the Laramie Mts yesterday evening, just ahead of the first flurries, we pondered the poor souls that had entered the pass via mule-drawn wagon in the 1860s on a pleasant Fall day, yet in the three or four days it might take them to traverse what we did in 45 minutes, they ran the very real risk of being snowed-in without food or fuel for days.
Our retreat actually began back in Miles City, where Les Church at Les' Auto Repair (write that down in case you're ever in eastern MT) did a complete rear brake job by 10:40 a.m.  Didn't even need a late check-out!  His mechanic was giddy to receive Sophia's pheasant and sharp tail grouse as additional compensation.
We made our way southwest towards Little Bighorn Battlefield Natl Monument and arrived mid-afternoon, coincidentally about the same time the battle occurred, so the shadows, etc were relevant, although the 35 mph wind in November was probably much different from the June afternoon of the battle.
RAVE - The terrain and relatively small scale of the engagement makes it possible to visualize the events very clearly, from the location of the Indian village to the final assault at the last stand.  You can easily see where the cavalry might have considered themselves at an advantage from the heights, but the sheer numbers of warriors would prove their demise ... Custer knew he was outnumbered and paid the price.  How anyone survived is testament to their training and use of the remaining hilltops for defensive positions...

View to the NW; Last Stand to top right, national cemetery, visitors' center to left.

 View to the west towards the Little Bighorn River valley.  There would have been hundreds of tipis on the plain, for nearly 7,000 inhabitants - Oglala, Hunkpapa, Cheyenne, Arapaho...

 Weir's efforts to assist Custer would have stalled about here, approximately 1.5 miles southeast of the Last Stand.  Custer's troop was annihilated by this point and it was nip and tuck whether Weir could make it back to the hillside where the remaining forces were dug in.

 View from the Last Stand into the river valley.  Custer's marker in black.

Our retreat landed us in Sheridan, WY for the evening, a wonderful small city chock full of mountain, cowboy, and pioneer history and charm.  RAVE - Sanford's Pub & Grub downtown had wonderful steaks with exceptional onion-rings, tasty beer, and really quick service so we could skip just across the street to see Wreck-it Ralph at the Centennial theater.  We're having really great luck with restored old movie theaters as well ... not exactly stadium seating, but sound and picture have been fine, and the atmosphere unbeatable.  Wish we could catch North by Northwest somewhere!

The retreat continued through central WY yesterday ahead of the storm.  The Bighorn Mts were a center of Army/Indian conflict from the 1860s to 80s.  In fact, the US Govt agreed to abandon forts along the Bozeman trail for a while, so Red Cloud and Crazy Horse happily torched them.  That means most of the historical sites are reproductions, but Fort Phil Kearney near Story, WY had a number of heated engagements, including the Wagon Box fight where 32 troopers and wagoneers held off hundreds of warriors from a fortified position and the Fetterman massacre - he couldn't retreat back to the fort only a few miles away.  Maybe the highlight of the site for me was when Kali pointed a flock of sharp tails just outside the net wire fence!

Now we're hunkered down in Laramie, waiting to see when the heavy snow will pass.  Only an inch or so here, but up to 16" north and west and temps expected below zero tonight!  So we'll take in Laramie's museums etc, do some laundry, regroup, and then continue towards the NW!

One of the games we play along the road is trying to select a suitable mascot for the upcoming town based upon its name ... some seem fitting, while others are just mascots.  Personal fav is still the Winters (TX) Blizzards and Buffalo (OK) Bison is obviously appropriate.  Beach (ND) were not the Balls or Sharks, but the Buccaneers, which ain't bad.  Sturgis (SD) wasn't the Harleys or Hoggs as we expected, but the Scoopers, which has local significance - they were the thieves that stole gold dust from coat pockets.  Still works in a headline though ... "Scoopers Steal Big Win Friday Night".  Also liked the Newell (SD) Irrigators!  Had to pick up a Kaycee (WY) Buckaroos shirt...if you want to join the conversation from the road, send me a text and I'll add you to my Mascots group, but you must have witty and fitting suggestions!  Hey, it ain't car bingo, but it is interactive and fun.  Plus, there's some really great mascots out there!

RAGE - have to admit it's easy to ignore the election when you haven't been through a blue county in a week, and oh yes - it's pretty easy to tell out here.  But with all the windshield time, there's been enough time to consider how little I'm going to let the next four years influence my happiness or success.  I'm enough of a student of world history to know that we've taken a long stride down the path of the Roman and British empires, certainly not in a direction I'd have chosen.  So instead, I choose to maintain my optimism, seek means to protect my family from the increasing tentacles of big government, and remain eternally grateful I call Helena, Texas home!  Like the line from Josey Wales, we shall "endeavor to persevere" though as a friend pointed out on Wednesday, seems like I might be one of the type they try to put on a reservation in a decade or so...

Wondering if it's gonna hit 0 in Karnes County this weekend?

More Big Birds...

Our other traveling companion, Kali, has gotten quite fed up with all of these stops in towns and national parks where dogs, even uber-dogs, are not permitted to run about looking for birds and trouble.  Can only buy so much peace with bacon and beef ... eventually she needs to run afield.  But the weather has been our primary foe - pleasant for visiting museums and parks, but too warm for little dogs.
Finally got some cooler weather in North Dakota, plus the land owners there just seem to be better stewards, as there's abundant habitat ... and go figure, birds walking around in plain sight almost everywhere you look!  Sure makes for an excited dog and anxious novice hunter!
Made for an excellent ecology/biology lesson as Soph navigated us along gravel roads toward walk-in hunting areas.  Why are there birds by this field?  How come there aren't any over there?  It's a formula I call Upland Pie ... leave out one ingredient and it may still be pie, but it won't be good.
With less than 45 minutes til sunset, we put Kali out on a quartering wind through a CRP field adjacent to wheat stubble - just like the sort of stuff we'd seen roosters walk into earlier.
Kali immediately went crazy with all of the scent.  Bumped a couple of phez that were downwind, but we marked where they landed, swung downwind and brought her back.
Soph folded her first rooster with the second barrel and I was able to reach him just after Kali did, so he was only partially plucked ... but heck, she deserves a little fun too!

 Kali was smiling as big as Soph until the camera came out ... just love ND!  I know SD is supposed to be the pheasant capital, but for the way we hunt, on public land vs. at lodges, you just can't beat ND!  We bought her license at 2:55 p.m., drove around looking for a hunting area until 3:45, and were back at the truck with her bird at sunset - 4:35.  And saw more birds in that time than in all of NE or SD combined!
Western ND has its own little shale play - the Bakken...you may have heard of it.  Lots of full motels and high rates, so we ended up traveling way east to Dickinson to find a room, but the next morning we decided to hunt our way west towards Theodore Roosevelt NP.  Found phez on the two walks we made, but they were hens ... poor Kali!
Have already mentioned that Teddy was one of my fav presidents, and I can see why he was enamored with SW ND, but the southern end of the park was more badlands, so we didn't stay long, just discussed Teddy's life, ambition, determination, and accomplishments and moved on...

More upland pie north of Beach, ND, but this time for sharptail grouse, an indigenous American species!  Rolling grassy hills with wheat stubble are the perfect combo, and even though it was pushing 70, we let Kali out on a small strip of CRP and she found three birds.  Sophia dropped the first one, again with the second barrel (?!) and notched her second upland species...

 As you can see, it's just a really beautiful part of the world to wander with your kid and your dog.  Birds are simply a bonus.  Oh, Kali said "enough with the camera already" and refused to pose.

At this point the rear brakes decided to fail on UPLNDR so we made for Miles City, MT, after one more stop to look at Montana's badlands ... found a shop near the motel; talked small towns and diesel trucks and hunting with the owner for 20 minutes, then he gave me a ride back to the motel.  Giving the mechanic Sophia's two birds (less a few feathers) for his dinner and he's gonna get us out first this morning!  God, I love red counties...
Then we're off for Little Bighorn before making a mad dash south to avoid the worst part of the winter storm coming in this afternoon ... ain't got nothing that prepares me for -7, or even a high of 12 for that matter.  Except heated museums!  Will return north when the storm has passed.

Big Birds

If the best things in life are free, then the South Dakota Air & Space Museum has to be at the top of the list.  I admit, I'm a bit of a military history geek and avid supporter of the armed forces, their personnel and the sacrifices they make.  And who doesn't like jets?
The museum located at the entrance to Ellsworth AFB outside Rapid City, SD is a must-see for anyone passing through.  Frankly, I think it made a bigger impression on us than Rushmore in a number of ways!
The museum focuses on aviation history, and there's some pretty somber displays to consider ... the Berlin air lift, the Cold War, and the NVA POW exhibit for an aviator shot down during the Vietnam war.  I feel terrible because I lost the paper that had this young lieutenant's name, but he lays out his four-year story of being shot down, hiding in the jungle, being captured and transported to the Hanoi Hilton, and the ceaseless torture he and others endured.  Grim as the story was, one just can't stop reading the account, out of, I don't know ... respect, amazement, guilt...  Soph was drawn in and pretty quiet while she processed it all...




Then of course the aircraft on exhibit outside ... many from the 28th Bomb group based at Ellsworth over the years...

 

 For reference, B-52 tires are as tall as me...


Just absolutely love the name - Minute Man!

 

 As I said, a must-see, and please leave them a generous donation - really fine folks working there and an amazing display!

Some yum...

Gotta give the folks at Wall Drug in Wall, SD credit, they know how to lure me in ...

It's a kitschy tourist trap, but the whole town is set up to capture visitors from Badlands NP ... the cafe seats 539!  One nice thing about our travel this time of year is the incredible lack of people!  Granted, there are some places that are closed for the season, but the ones that are open have discounted rates and no lines!

Wall Drug did serve up a pretty good lunch today ... buffalo burger, nickel coffee and 'homemade' cherry pie.  Since they bake for thousands, it's not real homemadey ... it was too sweet and the top crust was too thick and sugary, similar to a fried pie actually, so I can only give it 3 stars ...

Now, time for a RAVE! 
One of the places with abbreviated hours is Dale's Family Restaurant in Hot Springs, SD.  Finally caught up with them this evening and was the culinary highlight of the trip so far!
Started with caramel apple nut pie and it's definitely a 4-1/2 star delight!  Slightly gummy caramel on the flaky top crust, with just hints of sugar sprinkles (prolly turbino), spicy and crispy apples mixed with walnuts, and a perfectly browned edge crust!  Perfect at any meal!

And my meal was an 8 oz. tatanka ribeye with beer-battered onion rings and fresh green salad with chipotle ranch dressing.

Mmmhmmmm!

Bad Lands?

Ventured east today towards the Badlands of SD to see what all the fuss was about.  Another amazing NP created from just the last 500,000 years of erosion.  They figure in another 500k the area will be a plain ol' plain, if it keeps raining.

Even though they're transplants, Sophia got to see her first bighorn.  Like most NP wildlife, comletely non-plussed by us.

So, actually the Badlands are very beautiful and full of life.  The Sioux and Cheyenne did just fine on them.  Here comes a Rage ... many of the states west of the Mississippi have large parcels of public land - national forest, national grasslands, BLM, state school grant etc. etc.  Plus, there are private lands that receive public funds to plants CRP grasses to prevent erosion.
I'm a frequent visitor to these lands, whether hunting, hiking, or exploring and more often than not, I'm enraged by how BAD those lands are being treated.  Overgrazing is the primary culprit ... on most, you couldn't find a blade of grass if you laid on the ground and stared hard.
When I first encountered this, I was just discouraged because I was looking for hunting habitat.  Then I became frustrated because the problem seemed so ubiquitous.  After years of the same ol' same ol', I'm fed up.
If you graze public land and pay for that privelege, then there should be simple stocking criteria, rainfall formulas, and maintenance requirements ... like any pasture lease.  And infractions should come with financial penalties and removal from future consideration.  I know we don't have a bunch of BLM rangers, but these ranchers are stealing from us.  In the real world, if it doesn't rain, you either sell stock, move them, or find some way to feed them ... the damage being done to the land may be irreparable.
And when a drought does come along and you're given emergency clearance to graze or bale CRP land, you better be able to prove that every bale of hay you cut was fed to your cattle or you owe the citizenry $100 per.  There's not many folks around out here to make sure you play by the rules, but the results of cheating should be substantial ... rules are what you follow when people are watching and ethics are what you follow when they aren't...

It's YOUR land - come out and see for yourself!

Crazy Horse

A Lakota Sioux warrior, Crazy Horse was revered by his people more for his service to them than his fighting.  He had an early vision that told him to care for the elderly, widows, and less fortunate in his band, so he never fought for glory or to accumulate wealth (scalps, horses).  Many historians claim he never sought battle, but when he was engaged, he was one of the greatest and bravest warriors on the Plains.

His people commissioned a Polish sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski (jak se mas?) to build a likeness of Crazy Horse more impressive than Mt Rushmore at Thunder Mountain, just a few miles away... work began in 1948.

For reference, the presidents, all of them, would fit between his nose and the gray rocks behind his ears.  The outline for the horse's head is painted on the rock...

The project is totally privately funded including donation and will takes decades to complete.  It will also include a number of facilities for all American Native peoples, including a college and hospital.

Crittters

Along the way, we encounter numerous critters...

Tatanka!

That's my favorite bunny by the rock - he jumped out of the exhibit on the right and scared Sophia to death!  She was reading about the prehistoric rodents that created the fossilized tunnels when he scurried out of the exhibit...her screams might have been heard by the nearest human being, several miles away.

  As common as prairie dogs...

Even eagles shouldn't mess with angry birds!!! Yep - they're chasing him...

Bully

Teddy has always been one of my favorite presidents ... visionary and determined, his hunting and conservation priorities are evident throughout this region, as well as other places (Panama).  His National Parks and Antiquities Act preserved so much of our heritage.

Wind Cave NP popcorn and frost formations.  The first NP created for a cave, they have explored 139 miles since they started in the 1890s, still discover 2-3 miles per year, but think there's 90% unexplored.

95% of the 'box' formations in the world are in this cave... not created by dripping water, but by the erosion of the minerals within the boxes by the carbonic acid in the water that entered the cave when the crust was uplifted during the formaitonof the Rockies.

 Teddy definitely belongs on the wall!

Maybe one day she will too...

What's most amazing to me is the effort and planning and design associated with the monument!

Time lines

This trip has been all about moving back and forth across history.  It's impossible to keep it orderly or sequential, especially when you're standing on a single spot that was a) an ocean floor b) trod by dinosaurs c) trod by Native peoples d) crossed by horses, then wagons, e) crossed by the iron horse and telegraphs f) carved by roads and g) flown across by jets.

Doesn't time wear on everything, including travelers?  There's so much to see and do, but we took a double whammy with the time change, as 24 hours after we crossed into MST, we lost an hour to daylight savings!  Sun sets at 4:41!!!

And we're at exactly one week on the road, in SW South Dakota, and I think we're doing pretty well.  It's not like there's a real schedule to keep anyway, other than Sophia needs more sleep than me and time dedicated to school stuff.  She is journaling daily because she admits, we're seeing/doing so much that to miss one day is to forget something...I'll begrudgingly admit her technology is more convenient than mine - she can snap a photo on her phone and post it on her blog before my laptop is online.  So I just make her load/unload the truck with her spare time when we stop...

A few time-oriented photos...

 

The Niobrara River bed in Nebraska where wind and water erosion revealed numerous artifacts and fossils.  Can see into tomorrow also...

 

In the middle of the prairie, if one is struggling for road names, there's always the obvious ... this is an operational one-room school house.  We only saw three houses within ten miles!  From a bygone era...

 



 Kali's not one to waste time, but neither is Sophia...

Following the trails

Friday morning dawned cooler and damp, so we hit one more WMA as we left Kearney for the West.  Good mojo when a covey of quail crosses the road ... spent the next hour chasing them through the woods - never get tired of the sound of gentleman bob flushing from beneath a point!

We then hit the trails west - all of them follow the Platte and North Platte!  Sophia's research made her well-versed in the Who and Why, but actually traveling the river bottom provided valuable insight into the Where and How ... the difficulties in crossing, the gullies where wagons could mire in mud, why the Indians lived and hunted there and were upset when all the pioneers killed or drove out the game.

Chimney Rock was a major landmark for the travelers ... and still is!  But, at the speed they progressed, I can just imagine the frustration pioneer dads felt as they were asked day after day "are we there yet?" when the Rock was in sight but not really any closer!

It really is indescribably cool to have history funneled into a single river valley and to travel along the river, taking it all in.

Culinary note ... sugar beets are an important crop throughout this region and they literally produce mountains of them, then convert them into sweet stuff.  There were a dozen piles of similar or larger size at this facility!  And this is just one plant...

 

 

 

 

While this trip is mostly about history and culture, there are other educational opportunities available, including the physical type.  After walking several fields in tall grass the past two days, it was time for Sophia to get her heart rate up a bit and low-50s at 4,000' elevation will sure do it.

 

Actually, she's more disciplined that I am - she studies Algebra every day and keeps looking up her science stuff while I'm studying habitat and wishing I was Jedidiah Smith!

 

 

Trailing

Our previous evening's scouting plus temps in the low-40s had us in the field before sunrise Thursday and the mojo was working as Kali found 3 pheasant hens plus 2 roosters tucked into thick cover in the corner of a quarter-section next to some unharvested corn ... dog - daughter - birds - cool morning.  Nice!

The hundreds of miles of gravel roads in southern Nebraska don't have a bunch of traffic, but are so well-maintained, an experienced driver can do 65 with a mile plume of dust in his wake.  A novice driver like Sophia can get some good practice ...

30 mph through Nebraska ... Mach 2 through life!

We just randomly ended up in Minden, NE (home of our current favorite HS mascot - the Whippets!) after the hunt and came across Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, which sure seemed likely to be a tourist kitsch trap.  Mr. Warp was watching the dramatic changes to the world and decided that someone should create a collection of stuff tracking the changes in autos, tractors, aircraft, toasters, lighting, toys, clothing, art, guns, etc etc etc and he housed it all in 26 buildings on 3 city blocks in a town of 1800 folks in south Nebraska.  Have to admit, I was not mentally prepared for the sensory overload that the Pioneer Village offered - one could easily spend days but we gave up after four hours!

The iCrank 4Times to the iPhone 4s...

 

 

We then wandered up to Ft Kearney on the Platte River.  The fort's primary role was a way-station for the myriad trails that converged in southern Nebraska on their way West.  We were vaguely aware of the trails in the area, but whoa ... they all passed through here - 49ers, Mormons, Oregonians, Pony Express riders, Transcontinental RR and telegraph builders, as well as military personnel.  So much history funneled through one river valley!

And Kearney, NE capitalized on that by building the Archway Monument, a really cool interactive museum that actually spans IH-80!  Worth the visit if you're in the area or at all interested in how the West was won...

One culinary note ... Lucas, KS has a meat market that makes awesome smoked bologna and sausage.  Makes for easy, tasty, and pleasant lunches from the truck wherever and whenever we get hungry ... they ship anywhere!

Centered

It is well-known that Helena, Texas is the center of the universe, at least by anyone that asks me.  However, should you find yourself drawn away from Helena, there's always the option to stand at the geographic center of the contiguous United States, just north and west of Lebanon, KS!  Good place for lunch and to consider which way to head next ... nothing like starting from in the middle.

Other random notes:  damn shame what's happening to habitat in KS/NE as farmers convert more and more acreage to corn.  Not uncommon to sit on a hilltop, look in all directions, and fail to see any grass or brush for wildlife... CRP was opened to grazing and haying due to the drought this year, making it even worse.  Sure makes it easy to decide where to hunt though...

Who wouldn't want to be a crop duster?

Arts day

Always fun to run across someone as/more eccentric than me, especially one with actual artistic talent ...  Of note, S.P. Dinsmoor of Lucas, KS was a Civil War medic who eventually moved to KS.  He was a populist and artist of the 'grassroots' variety, meaning no formal training.  His medium was concrete!  He also utilized the area post rock limestone to build his home to resemble a log cabin ... the longest piece of quarried rock was 17', weighing nearly a ton.
Dinsmoor's intent was to always be a tourist destination, but he also made political and religious commentary with his work, as seen below.

 

 

Dinsmoor also tended to become so engrossed in his work that his wife felt he ignored her, so he created a little man to wave into her kitchen window.  Perhaps I should have done something like that for Daphne prior to beginning this trip.  But, he did make her a nice cabin - again, all from stone.

 

Adam and Eve

 

 

And for Halloween, Sophia got to see a mummy - Dinsmoor made himself a concrete casket and entombed himself with his wife in a concrete mausoleum.  No photos permitted, but he didn't look too bad for being dead so long!

 

We also visited the Willa Cather museum in Red Cloud, NE, where Sophia was introduced to one of America's premier 20th-century novelists whose portrayal of life and the struggles on the Great Plains were based upon her childhood there.

 

Who knew the Plains could be so artsy-fartsy...