Ogallala, NE

Ogallala....yulp, it took us a while to learn how to say it...O gul-la-la... Named after a great Sioux Indian Chief. Chief Ogallala Fire was born in "Indian Territory" then the great plains of America. His youth was spent on the plains learning the skills of survival and hunting. He along with his tribe resisted the incursion of the "white man" by continued battles and skirmishes. He became the Chief of the Ogallala Sioux about 1860 and fought side by side with "Sitting Bull" at the battle of Little Big Horn. He related during a visit to Ottawa, Canada in 1913 that it was he who killed Custer at the "Big Horn" on June 25, 1876. He claimed to have killed Custer in hand to hand fighting with the butt of a gun, and the large scar under his eye was inflicted by Custer. Chief Ogallala was also badly injured in the battle and wasn't discovered alive until the morning following the battle as he was lying among the dead. For the next two years Chief Fire was confined to a reservation until a final peace treaty was concluded. After the peace treaty he was offered a job by the Chicago Feature Film Company where he toured with their wild west show for almost twenty years with tours in numerous countries. In 1898, then 72 tears old he retired from performing and lived in Chicago until he became seriously ill with a debilitating condition. As a result Chief Fire decided to take his life and cut his throat with a razor.

Quite an interesting person to name the town after!

The town of Ogallala was a booming cattle town in the 1800's - it was the northern terminus of the Great Western Cattle Trail that began in Texas.  Every season, hundreds of cowboys would drive thousands and thousands of cattle up to Ogallala and the Union Pacific Rail Road to be sold and delivered to buyers.  It was, to say the least, a rough town.  For a town of 130 permanent settlers, dozens died each year, usually in gun fights.  SO - the errant cowboys and the settlers that died had to be buried someplace - Boot Hill.  Named because the cowboys would be wrapped in a white linen blanket, boots still on, and rather unceremoniously buried in a shallow grave.  The settlers faired a little better, such as this young mother and her newborn, buried together in a fence enclosed plot.

The less fortunate have only simple wooden planks for headstones.

This beautiful statue of a trail boss watches pensively over the graveyard.

But all good things must come to an end.  With a cattle disease epidemic and also the encroaching  fences of farmers and pioneer settlers, the trail was largely abandoned.  The little town of Ogallala suffered.  But there are memories left - like the Front Street buildings.

Of course, they are tourist sites now.

Luke The Engineer was intrigued with the mechanics of this old water windmill.

 Every night at 7:15, a gunfight erupts on Front Street!

Of course, this is just a ruse to lure you into the bar for the $11 show!  But, it lasted an hour, was well done, cute, and entertaining. The girls had their turns.

The boys had their turns.

This is the 51 st continuous year that the show has run in the little bar.  The talented cowboys and saloon girls?  Local high school students!

We were also lured into driving the 20 miles to Paxton, NE to Ole's Big Game Restaurant.  Yes, this IS Main St. in Paxton.  Well, there is another bar across the street...

Ole must have been quite a character.  He opened Ole's as a bar at the end of Prohibition in 1933. In order to lure in the customers and give them something to talk about, he brought in a stuffed deer.  He went crazy over the next 30 years....

There is barely any bare wall left.  He hunted on every continent and brought home (and to his bar) big cats of every kind, elephants, giraffes, monkeys (shutter), bison, elk, birds, just everything.  Even the master showpiece, a polar bear holding onto a baby seal (shutter again).  The bear is larger than I ever imagined.

Lunch at Oles was definitely a destination!

After a very full day and early morning, we left Ogallala this morning, braving the endless highway construction.

For several trips west, we have driven under this strange bridge over I-80 in Nebraska.  It goes over all lanes in both directions, and has always been a curiosity to us.  So, this year, we stopped!  It is the Archway Monument, a tribute and history of the pioneers' ambitious trek west. Interestingly, the arch was built next to I 80, and, during an 8 hour shut down of the road, moved into place across it!  Located at Ft. Kearney, NE, this is the eastern end of the Great Platt River Road that all the major trails to Oregon, CA, and  Salt Lake City followed because of the easy terrain along the river.  From 1841 to 1866, almost 350,000 men, women, and children followed the trail.

It is a beautifully done museum, one that starts with an escalator ride into the wagon trains leaving Ft. Kearney.

The archway is an interactive museum, full of dioramas that you walk through. They chronicle the struggles of the wagon trains.

The hardships when all is lost and the wagon deserted in the vast prairie.

The museum continues through time to a more recent era of the late 20th century.  A window in the middle of the archway gives a great view of I-80 - when was the last time you saw an interstate this empty at noon!??

Our travel today ended just west of Omaha, at the Two Rivers SRA.  This is the prettiest park we've stayed in this trip!  All state parks should be this peaceful and beautiful.

Besides the two rivers, there are 7 small lakes in the park.  Here is one.

Luke stands on a floating dock across the lake. 

We will spend two full days here.  Our plan for tomorrow is the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha.  TripAdvisor bills it as the best zoo in the world!  Looking at their web info, I might agree. Here is a link that describes the zoo/aquarium.  We plan to spend all day!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Doorly_Zoo_and_Aquarium