Hot, hot, hot!   It has been in the very high 90's these past few days.... maybe even up above 100 late in the afternoon. So it is a good thing the humidity outside is still in the single digits, otherwise everyone would be slowly melting into the dust on the street.
   So I have been taking it pretty slow because of the heat these during the last couple of days. I took a long drive all the way into Scott's Bluff on Saturday. Partly to go visit a couple of sites, and partly so I could spend some time sitting in the air conditioning of the truck. That being said; I went and visited the site at 'Chimney Rock' again and looked through all the old pictures and accounts of the monument. Chimney Rock was used as a guide post for settlers going west on the Oregon Trail back in the 1880's. What is most interesting to me is to see the old photo's of the rock spire from the last century, and compare them to what it looks like today. Made of a pretty erodible type of stone, it is less than half the height of what it was even 100 years ago.
   Once done there I headed west to the actual Scott's Bluff Monument. Another site keyed in the settler migration along the Oregon Trail. This area was important because the wagon trains had to turn away from the Platte River at this point and climb up and over a pass through some cliffs bordering the river. Looking at the area today, with all the roads and trails, you wouldn't think there would of been any real problems moving one of the old 'prairie schooners' up and over the pass. But it obviously wasn't that easy way back then. Anyway; they have a small museum there and some displays of wagons and such outside. You can also walk out a trail and see where some of the ruts from the wagons on the trail are still viewable. It's nice to sit in the comfort of your 4-wheel drive truck and wonder about the hardships the pioneers must of experienced.
     Yesterday was spent in and around the State Park for most of the day. Did some walking earlier in the day and cleaned up some of the inside of the trailer. I had thought my nephew Brian and his girlfriend Liz were coming out later on for a cookout, but it turns out that I was actually suppose to go into town to their house instead. So I drove in only a little late and met up with them. Brian grilled up some of the biggest T-bone steaks I had ever seen, along with some fresh asparagus. With the salad  and bread that Liz fixed it was a meal to remember. In fact I am still in awe that I ate the whole thing, but it was delicious.
     The temperature usually drops a good 15 degrees as soon as the sun goes down at night, so I have been staying up late and reading until one or two in the morning. Not last night though, for some reason I was ready to go to sleep before even 11:00 p.m. So you would think I would be up pretty early in the morning with all of that sleep, but it is so nice and cool in the trailer until around 9:00 that you really don't want to get up and waste the cool.
    I was up soon afterwards though, and just hung out around the trailer until about 11:30. I headed on into Chadron at that point as my nephew Luke and his family were going to be passing through on their way to Rapid City and they wanted to do lunch with me one last time while I was in the area. We ended up meeting at a local restaurant here in town and had a wonderful meal together. The two kids, Aubree and Rykin are just adorable, especially when they are in good moods. Aubree usually is, but Rykin, at the age of two, is always a question. But if he's fussy, just wait 5 mins and he'll change. Today though is was just about perfect for a two year old. He spent most of lunch trying to feed me his french fries and then giggling when I would eat one. So it was a fun meal. The adults are doing well of course, but you sometimes almost forget they are there when the kids are around.
    Lunch had to end eventually though, and after saying goodbye I headed over to the local Wal-Mart. The lady down at the court house in town had told me that they could do passport photo's there so I went in search of a couple of them. My passport isn't actually due to expire until early next year, but it seemed a good idea to get all the paperwork in now just in case a problem developed later on. Plus I hear it sometimes takes up to 4-5 months any more just for them to process it these days. Unless you pay extra of course. For some reason that concept just seems wrong to me for some reason.
   Anyway; the photo's are done and they are a bit.... ugh! But what the heck, I don't have to look at that picture very often anyway. Hopefully they will have everything done and sent back to me before I need it next February when I go to the Caribbean. Will also need it later on next spring when I head over to England for a week long contra dance there. Hope to visit a bit longer than a week and maybe take in a couple other countries while there also, but it will depend on funds, or the lack of them at that point.
   Am also exploring the possibility of going to Australia next fall for a week long contra dance. Just heard about it not too long ago and really don't know much about it yet. But that one sounds like it would be a lot of fun also. Of course, once down there I may not come back until they actually kick me out of the country. Something to do with that accent. But then I can always go over to New Zealand  and check that country out too.
    Only one more day in this area for me. Will start to pick up and put things away tomorrow in preparation for getting on the road again. Only going down to Colorado from here so it shouldn't take more than a day to get there. Even then though I may spend one more day in a state park outside of Longmont before tucking Esmerelda into her storage space. It just takes a long time to unpack everything, put it all away, turn off the batteries and propane and do all of the other 100 or so things that need to be done before heading off to my friends place in Denver. Looking forward to seeing a lot of people again. Most of them I haven't seen for nearly a year, so it will be fun to catch up with them all once again. Right now though I need to  go do some email and banking stuff that I have let slide. There are a couple photo's below that I took a couple of weeks ago when I first made it into town. My nephew Brian and I walked into some ponds he knows of, to do some fishing. Plenty of fish in the ponds but nothing biting that day unfortunately. Still, it was a very nice day to be outdoors enjoying life.

Fishing with Brian near Fort Robinson Nebraska - July 2014

One of several ponds we were fishing in. By this time in the summer the moss and algae has grown pretty thick. The fish are still there and are doing well, but it might be to hot for any kind of bite. Still pretty though.

Brian and I both saw a monster trout, (at least 24" long), hanging out around the outlet, but neither of us had any luck in tempting it to bite. I even bounced my fly off it's head a couple of times, but it just wasn't interested. I can't even talk about it as the 'one that got away', because it was never on my line in the first place.

There were still a few wild flowers out and about that were still blooming including this very common milk weed bloom. The closer I got in the prettier it got.

You can never... at least I can't,  catch the way the light reflects off of and through these things. Still not a bad shot though.

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