What a day!
We got on the road rather late (3:30ish) Then we stopped @ walmart (picked up a power inverter and tissues), stopped at the library and returned/picked up a couple things.
Then we FINALLY got on I-80. We watched Tangled. Then just sat and read/sight-see.
The view was incredible. Well... let me explain. Yep – it was FLAT. And straight. But I-80 after GI (Grand Island) follows the Platte river, so there is ALWAYS a tree line to the Left (or right) side of the freeway. And what does water + trees =? Wildlife! And tons of it! We saw hundreds of deer and turkeys. Sadly I only got pictures of a few of them, but I did get a few. We drove under a really cool bridge!
When we arrived in North Platte – we decided that the campground we had previously chosen was too close to the freeway, so we pulled into a village inn, and I googled/mapped to our next destination.
My brothers had run off to the “Trading Post” in the joining parking lot. We went over there and looked around for a minute. It was REALLY cool! They had tons of souvenirs to sell. Then in the back they had a little museum dedicated to buffalo bill stuff, including a giant scale replica of the Wild West Show. We only had a couple minutes, but I took a bunch of pictures. I also bought a really cool eagle statue (but it was rather small – and for $6, it seemed a bit over-priced, but oh well.)
We pulled out and drove down the road a couple miles. Passed through some really cool sand-hills and saw a nice 10pt mule deer! (Sadly I missed him. (Don't ya which you could take snapshots of what you see??) ) We stopped at a gas station and bought park permit.
When we arrived, we weren't sure where to pay, but we found the camp superintendent and he showed us. We paid then went looking for a site. We couldn't find one with a power hookup so we just camped near the bathroom (It had electricity we thought).
We unpacked and setup. (I went off and took a few pics of the sunset.) Got everything setup – then went exploring a bit. Came back and went to inflate the air mattress. No power! By now it was dark, so we were all running around with flashlights. Finally I just took our 3 extensions cords, ran them over the road and plugged into the superintendents box. (He seemed to be the only with electricity, plus he was already asleep!) We inflated everything, then hauled it back. Went exploring some more. Went creeping down by the dock, and eves-dropped on some teens looking for a a flip flop. (Now it was like 10, and basically pitch-black. We just stood in the shadows and listen. It was... rather colorful. (Yes, two of them had gotten IN the water. (temp out was prob 50, water temp.. 30?) ).. So yeah. Colorful – but SO FUNNY!!! “I think it went farther” “Easy for you to say, you're not out here” “I would but I'm where jeans” Just get ** out here and look for your own * flip flop.” “** I'm SOO COLD”
Finally Micah came up and flashed a light. “** Somebody's watching us!”. At this point we steadily – but stealthily glided away – laughing at them. :D It was fun.
We came back – finished setup, cleaned up, and got ready for bed. (I found that INSIDE the bathroom had electricity, so I plugged in and typed this up.)
Now its 11:55, and I'm ready for bed. What a great first day. Cant wait to see what tomorrow turns out like! On to Colorado Springs.
Talk to ya then.
