Hey Guys,
This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Wyoming & Nebraska.
Our travel dates were June 26 – July 6, 2024.
Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here, Day 7 here & Day 8 here. Click here to see links to all of my blog posts
After having our coffee at the hotel, we packed up and checked out our hotel and began our 2 hr 45 min drive to our first stop of the day.
This trip gave us an opportunity to mark 3 new states off of our list so, in an attempt to visit all 50 states, we had to add as many new states to our itinerary as we could!
We had already been to Wyoming on a previous trip so that state wasn’t a new one for us.
It was definitely a challenge mapping out the best route in order to include all of these states on our itinerary because we were going to have to make some long drives.
But, we were up for the challenge because we knew we would probably never be back in this area since we have a long bucket list of other places to see!
Tip: I highly recommend that you have plenty of gas on these drives because there is little around. I also recommend that you download off-line maps so your Google Maps app will continue to work even when you have no service.
About 1.5 hrs after leaving our hotel in Keystone, we crossed into Nebraska.
Of course, we had to stop at the Nebraska welcome sign and take our picture!
After getting our pictures, we stopped at a nearby McDonalds in Chadron to get something to eat.
I hate eating fast food but when you’re hungry, you will eat whatever you can find!
After our stop, we continued our drive to our first stop of the day which would be Carhenge.
You are driving through flat prairie lands the whole way!
About 1 hr after leaving the town of Chadron, we arrived to Carhenge.
Carhenge is located in Alliance, NE.
Tip: Unbeknownst to us, there is a very cute town in Alliance! We hate that we missed it!
Carhenge is a replica of Stonehenge which is England’s ancient mystical alignment of stones that chart the sun and moon phases.
It was completed in 1987 by Jim Reinders and his family in honor of his dad who once lived on the farm that was located here.
At one time, Jim had lived in England so he had studied the dimensions of Stonehenge. When he built Carhenge, he used the same dimensions in order to replicate the same formation that Stonehenge had.
Carhenge consists of 39 automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about 96 feet in diameter.
All of the cars are spray painted gray in order to give the appearance of a stone colored rock…just like Stonehenge.
It was really cool to see!
The visitor center, known as “The Pit Stop”, was added in 2007.
Carhenge has been used in many movies over the years!
In 2023, it was featured in Disney Plus’ Cars on The Road Series.
Click here to see more scenes that have been filmed in Nebraska
There have been several pieces added along the way…like the “Spawning Salmon” that was created by 29 year old Geoff Sandhurst from Canada.
His artwork won him a $2500 prize and placement of his art creation at the site of Carhenge.
There’s also the area called, “Fourd Seasons” which is comprised only of Fords.
There was also a dinosaur made out of car parts. 
Of course we couldn’t leave here without taking our pictures standing by this quirky roadside attraction!
A few more pictures 
Read reviews here
After leaving here, we headed to our next stop, Chimney Rock National Historic Site.
The site is located approx. 1 hr from Carhenge.
The only “vehicle” we passed on the way there was a train!
After about 45 mins of driving, we arrived to the small town of Bayard, NE.
The place looked like a ghost town!
The only store we saw that was open was a Dollar General.
However, we must have driven through the historic part of town because there does appear to be some things to do/see in this area.
We did pass by the Bayard Depot Museum.
And the Kelley Bean Company 
The company started in 1927 and is one of the largest originators and marketers of dry edible beans in the world.
Click here for restaurants in Bayard
As we continued our drive, we could see Chimney Rock rising in the distance!
Getting closer!
About 10 mins past the town of Bayard, we arrived to the Chimney Rock Visitor Center.
The site itself is free to visit however, if you want to tour the museum inside the visitor center, there’s a fee of $8 for adults and $4 for children ages 5-18 yrs old.
We were surprised how big the visitor center was due to its location and it was just the rock that was here!
We headed inside the visitor center to check it out and to purchase a t-shirt!
We decided not to tour the museum so, I’m not sure if it was worth the money or not.
The visitor center also contains a small theater with a video presentation about the great migration West.
Read reviews here
After making our purchase, we headed back outside to walk the trail to the rock.
Chimney Rock was a significant landmark on the Oregon Trail.
It was mentioned in more emigrant diaries than any other landmark on the Oregon Trail!
The rock rises more than 300 feet above the surrounding landscape and is visible for miles.
There are several different trails that you can take to the rock.
It was so cool looking!
Over the years, its spire has been eroded by wind and rain and even lightning!
Be sure to take water with you because you are fully exposed on this trail and it was hot when we were there!
The trail is only about 0.5 miles one way so, it’s an easy walk and takes about 10-15 mins.
Be aware of rattlesnakes on the trail!
Sunflowers were blooming all along the trail!
It made for some really beautiful pictures!
There was also a TON of thistles!
We hate these things in Tennessee but they sure made for some pretty pictures! 😉
After walking for several minutes, we decided to stop at a bridge crossing and take our pictures from here instead of walking any further.
There were more sunflowers blooming near the bridge!
We were shocked when we spotted a parking lot for the rock very close to the bridge!
So, just be aware, that if you don’t want to walk or if you have mobility issues, you can park very close to the place we took our pictures!
You could tell the parking lot was very new.
There were some informational plaques located here as well.
A few pictures from the bridge 
After taking way too many pictures, we headed back to our car. 
Look at all of these thistles!
Once we were back at our car, we headed to our next stop, Scotts Bluff National Monument.
Scotts Bluff is located 30 mins from Chimney Rock.
You will pass through the town of Gering, NE on the way.
Scotts Bluff is another 10 min drive from the town of Gering.
Tip: You will pass the Legacy of the Plains Museum on the way
Click here for restaurants in Gering
We saw a sign that said we were driving the Old Oregon Trail.
After passing through Gering, you will start seeing Scotts Bluff.
Arriving to the entrance
After going through the entrance gate and getting a brochure of the memorial, we began our drive to the top of Scotts Bluff.
Tip: This monument is free to visit
The road to the summit is only 1.6 miles long.
The road was built in the 1930’s and is the oldest concrete road in the State of Nebraska.
The drive features scenic views and the only three vehicular tunnels in the state.
The road is narrow with sharp curves so vehicles longer than 25 ft and/or higher than 11 ft 7 inches are prohibited as well as all trailers.
After reaching the top, you will find paved trails that lead to two summit overlooks.
There are 4 miles of hiking trails located here.
Views from the parking lot
Scotts Bluff towers more than 800 feet above the North Platte River. It encompasses 3,000 acres.
Click here for a map of the monument
It has served as a landmark for peoples from Native Americans to emigrants on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails.
The area is rich with geological and paleontological history.
We headed over to the North Overlook Trail that was 1/2 mile long.
Tip: This trail also connects to the 1.6 mile Saddle Rock Trail which leads to the Visitor Center
Views from this overlook
Along the trail, you will find a metal survey post that was placed here in 1933 that marked the highest point on the bluff, 4,659 feet above sea level.
You will also see a memorial for Hiram Scott. Scotts Bluff is named after him after he died in this location around 1828.
Click here for more things to see/do in this area
Walking the trail
We spotted lots of cacti!
Be aware, there are rattlesnakes in this area too!
There were several informational plaques along the trail that told about the history of the area.
Some of the views from the trails were not as dramatic as others.
Tip: The mammals which can be found in the monument include mule and white tail deer, badgers, coyotes, skunks, red fox, raccoons, porcupines, cottontail and jack rabbits, and prairie dogs. Rabbits and mule deer are often seen on the summit. Other mammals seen include porcupines and coyotes, depending on the time of day and season.
We spotted these arrows that pointed to Chimney Rock and Laramie Peak
You could actually see Chimney Rock from this overlook! You definitely needed a zoom lens camera in order to capture it but we could see in the distance!
After completing this overlook, we walked over to the South Overlook Trail.
From this overlook, you could see four of the five rock formations of Scotts Bluff. …Crown Rock, Dome Rock, Eagle Rock, and Saddle Rock.
We had a couple offer to take our picture….we reluctantly agreed. 😉
Walking the trail 
You could also see the visitor center from this overlook.
A few pictures from this overlook
After walking to both overlooks, we headed back down to the visitor center.
Arriving to the visitor center
There were a few informational plaques located outside of the visitor center that had trail and wildlife information.
The trailhead for the Saddle Rock Trail can be found behind the visitor center.
We headed inside the visitor center to look for a t-shirt.
There was a small museum located inside the visitor center that you could tour for free.
After making our purchase, we headed back outside where we spotted a concrete sidewalk that led to a replica of covered wagons.
The wagons represented the many people who traversed these lands many, many years ago.
One of the wagons was being pulled by a team of cattle.
Near the parking lot was a memorial for the Pony Express.
The Pony Express passed through here between 1860-1861.
After leaving here, we headed to our hotel in Chadron, NE.
Shortly after leaving Scotts Bluff, we passed this field with hundreds of cattle!!
We had never seen so many cows in one place!
After researching this, I discovered that cattle outnumber Nebraskans nearly four to one and that beef production represents Nebraska’s single largest industry! It is the backbone of their economy!
Chadron is located 1 hr 45 mins. from Scotts Bluff.
The entire drive was nothing but flat prairie land!
But, it was a beautiful, peaceful drive with few other cars around.
We definitely saw more cows on this drive than people!
We passed this old abandoned house in Crawford.
At around 5 pm, we arrived to our hotel in Chadron. 
We had booked our stay at the Holiday Inn Express.
The hotel was built in 2017 and still looked fairly new.
After getting checked in, we headed to our room.
We had a king size bed and a nice size bathroom.
The rooms also came with a Keurig, mini fridge and a microwave.
We had a nice view from the window in our room.
Read reviews here
After getting settled into our room, we headed out to find something to eat.
The town was quiet with little traffic 
We first headed to a place I had on my list called, the Ridge.
But after we got there, it was closed!
We quickly discovered that all of these restaurants are locally owned and closed early due to it being the 4th of July!
Click here for restaurants in Chadron
We had no choice but to eat at one of the fast food restaurants so we chose Arby’s!
I was not a happy camper having to eat fast food again but who would have thought every restaurant in town would close early for 4th of July?!
Even the fast food restaurants were closing early!
On the way to Arby’s, we passed the Gibbons Honey Farms building.
Fun Fact: Almond pollination in California requires nearly three-quarters of the honeybee population of the US to pollinate. It takes as many as 100,000 bees to pollinate the crop and there’s over a million acres of almonds in California. Gibbons ship their beehives to CA to help pollinate their crops.
After dinner, we headed back to Crawford for the Old West Trail Rodeo.
Crawford is located approx 30 mins from Chadron.
I had really wanted to see a rodeo while we were on this trip and ,as I had mentioned in my last blog post, I had pre purchased tickets to the rodeo in Belle Fourche before we left on our trip but since it was 1.5 hrs from our hotel in Keystone, we decided not to go.
So, I got online and found this one in Crawford and they were having fireworks for the 4th of July!
After arriving to the entrance, we had to pay $17 per person.
We paid an extra dollar to get the brochure that included all of the activities that were scheduled for that night.
After finding a seat in the bleachers, the show promptly began at 8 pm!
They played the National anthem and horseback riders came out flying the American flag. 
I loved being in a place that had a love for their country! 🇺🇸
We got to see bronco riding, calf roping, barrel racing, bull riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling and tie down roping.
It was so cool!
After about 1.5 – 2 hrs of events, they started the fireworks!
They turned off all of the lights in the stadium so it would be completely dark before they started.
Talk about an awesome fireworks show!
The fireworks lasted for about 20 mins.
After they were over, we headed back to the hotel.
The drive back to the hotel was so dark as there was zero light pollution around.
I could see tons of stars!
And even spotted the Milky Way on the drive back!!
After getting back to the hotel, we called it a night!
Thanks for reading!
Note: A few other places we had on our list to visit was Fort Robinson History Center, Toadstool Geologic Park and Agate Fossil Beds but we ran out of time.
Stay tuned for Day 10 where we head back to South Dakota!
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