Our devotional today was from Psalm 43:5. The lesson we got from it was this: when you are down and things look hopeless (and we all get that way from time to time) don't forget to turn towards God and put your hope in Him. The last time we read this particular devotional was when we were on our way to Valdez, Alaska in 1997.

We pulled out of camp at 7:45 heading towards Nebraska, crossing into the state at 8:30 . Our morning was very nice...72 degrees with a nice blue sky. As we traveled we saw many very content looking cattle, wide open plains, and a distant ridge of hills. 

Our first stop was one John particularly wanted to see: the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chandron, NE. Rhonda and Larry, you would have loved this museum...especially Larry D. It is excellent. The museum is located at the site of James Bordeaux's trading post and is dedicated to preserving the history of the first business in North America, the fur trade. The Steerman Firearms Hall has the largest and most complete collection of guns made specifically for Indians--the Northwest gun, plus Kentuckies, Hawken rifles, buffalo guns and many others. The main exhibit hall has a chronological history of objects of the fur trade.

The Lindeken Exhibit Hall has "The Voyageurs" which is an exhibit to commemorate the canoe men who moved the fur trade goods and furs across the continent . For nearly three centuries, birchbark canoes, keelboats, York boats, Mackinaw boats, log pirogues, and skin canoes plied most of North America's waterways to supple the trading forts and bring in the furs. It is a fascinating story of the boat men and their unique way of life.

The Bevin B. and Maxine Bump Exhibit Hall concentrates on textiles. Textiles were the single most important class of goods traded to American Indians and the Museum of Fur Trade's collection is the most comprehensive in the world. This was probably my favorite section.

After touring inside the museum we went out back where we saw a reproduction of the original trading post. The post was usually run by James Bordeaux. In 1849 he became an independent trader, operating this and several other posts. In later years, his son Louis often ran this post. Much later the trading post was occupied by Francis Boucher who was a leading supplier of illegal repeating arms and ammunition to the Indians who were resisting government efforts to force them on reservations . In 1876 soldiers closed it down for the selling ammunition to the Indians. All in all, this was an excellent stop and is one we would recommend to anyone who is in the area. This museum is internationally recognized for being dedicated to saning and exhibiting the history of the North American fur trade.

Leaving the museum around 10:30 we continued to the Alliance, NE area to stop and see "Carhenge" which is apparently Nebraska's answer to "Stonehenge" in England! They may have a ways to go to achieve total parity! It is a replica of Stonehenge, England's ancient alignment of stones that chart the phase of the sun and the moon. Created from Vintage automobiles, the dimensions of Carhenge replicate Stonehenge. The cars are primarily from the 1950's and 1960's. They are planted trunk down and rise 15 to 17 feet. The cars are approximately 7 feet wide; the same size as the standing stones of Stonehenge. All 38 of the major stones at Stonehenge are cleverly represented at Carhenge . Also on this site is the Car Art Reserve, which features a number of sculpture pieces made entirely of cars and/or car parts. This stop was a hoot...we really enjoyed it. The folks who put this together really did a good job placing the cars in the positions the real stones are in...lots of imagination was used. 

On our way out of town we stopped for fuel in Alliance paying $3.59/gal. John didn't figure the mpg because we ran the generator close to three hours yesterday keeping the inside cool while we toured. However, he thinks even with that we got close to 10 mpg.

From Alliance we headed east on Nebraska Highway 2 on the Sand Hills Journey Scenic Byway. This really was a beautiful drive today. We went through miles and miles and miles of rolling sand dunes that were covered with prairie grass blowing and twisting in the wind. I took pictures but doubt that they will show the full effect as the area is so very large . The rolling sand dunes were mesmerizing. Many, many unit trains carrying coal passed us on this route. It is a wonder that there is any coal left anywhere in the country!.

We made it back into CDT at 3:30 this afternoon so we no longer have to make adjustments mentally from the time we left on the motorhome clock and actual time where we were. At 5:15 we pulled into Broken Bow, NE and are in Tomahawk Municipal Park ($15/night) and are tickled to death. It was easy to get to, site is level, power is good and I have a good hot spot. Life is good! We do seem to have a major storm coming up. We could see it in our rear view mirror for the last hour of our drive. There is a severe thunderstorm warning for the area so we shall see. John was getting ready to go out and wash some of Nebraska's contribution of bugs off but thinks he will wait and see what happens. A big wind gust just hit us...may be an exciting time for the next little while! (Oops...thought I heard the sound of a train and semi-hypervenilated...until I realized what we heard...was an actual train going by about 200 yards from where we are camped!! My bad!)

We drove 302 miles today.