August 5, 2013
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Epic Road Trip, Day 4, part 3
It's the 4th of July and I've seen Mt. Rushmore, Needles Highway, the outside of the Jewel Cave, rocks, trees, cemeteries and roads that mirage into nothingness in the distance and still we drive on and on. We listen to audio books, the kids sometimes play Battleship or Bingo. Kendrah rolls down her window, pumping her fish wildly at each trucker in hopes of getting them to honk (many do, most don't). When we need to switch things up, we stop the book and listen to Daft Punk with the windows down and stereo cranked. We stop and buy ice. We stop and buy ice cream sometimes, too. We ask Kendrah questions and she answers them all with "Edible painted squirrels."
Life is good in Nebraska. We start with a geocache at the base of the state line sign, a picture and a "Hurry up, we're almost to Carhenge!"
Have you even heard of Carhenge? I hadn't, but when I'd sent Kendrah on a task to find a good place to visit that's on our route, that's what she found. That, and Chimney Rock, which is where we ended our day. So for those that have not heard of it, it's a replica of Stonehenge, made entirely out of vehicles. American made ones, I might add. All painted a stone-gray, of course. Carhenge is surrounded by other cars for those aspiring to be graffiti artists. We had a can of spray paint and a handful of Sharpies ready, but there was still some road to travel. Even if it disappears.
If you asked Quin a question he'd always answer "purple pickles." What does he eat for breakfast? Purple pickles. What does he wear to bed? Purple pickles. This silliness set the tone nicely for the place called Carhenge.
It's a place that could bring tears to your eyes, isn't it?
In case Carhenge wasn't enough, 
how about having a dinosaur in the outskirts?
But seriously, THIS is art, people. Even if you study edible painted squirrels in school. Or wear purple pickles on your head in a rainstorm.
You can imagine that when I took this picture, Kendrah was pretending to be one of the truckers she was trying to get to honk at her. Feel free to add sound effects.
Then, off to see graffiti cars! 
And add to the artistry! There was a cache there, of course, so first things first, find, sign and replace the cache, then...why stop there? Add our caching names to the car!
And the words "EPIC ROAD TRIP 2013" on a tire!
There goes Quin with a Sharpie! 
He let the world know that he's cool, while Kendrah expressed her obsession with Dr. Who by drawing the TARDIS and quotes on various vehicles.
Another view of Carhenge and the sun peeking through the windows of a graffiti car.
The carfish seems to be a mostly harmless species, but Kendrah discovered the dinosaur has a tendency to give chase. Her nighmares have finally subsided, don't worry.
This half-buried car intrigued Quin and he wanted me to "tilt the camera so it looks like I'm getting in."
Then, saying good bye to Alliance, Nebraska and the weird art at Carhenge, we turned our car to Bayard, also in NE. Well, okay, honestly, I didn't see a Bayard, NE, perhaps I blinked, but that should go without saying, since we spent the night there. Next to the trains. That went by every hour. For a half hour. Blasting their horns. Once when they arrived in Bayard, and once when they left. It was a looooonnnng night.
But, before we discovered how close the train were (and they weren't all that close, but there was nothing to block the sound out there but grass), we knew our camground was at teh base of Chimney Rock so we drove and drove till we spotted it. Yeah, that teeny tiny spindly rock in the distance.
Even close up, it wasn't the landmark of monumental proportions that pioneers used to navigate by that I was expecting. Still, it was interesting. And we're all about interesting right?
Interesting would describe our campground, which I'll show you on Day 5. It was easy to find, as the only building on a flat town, and we pulled up to a closed office, and a huge campground with one lone RV in it. I shrugged and picked a spot, any spot to park at. Considering it was 7pm and it was practically empty I wasn't too worried about stealing someone's spot so I chose one that had thick green grass to set the tent on. As we got out of the car to stretch, the RV'ers came over and asked us if we were the managers. I said no and that I was surprised no one was here. They said they'd called the office number to get the bathroom key but no one answered. They wandered back to their RV and we set up camp. Around 7:30, a car pulls in and a woman with a clipboard gets out. She talks to the RV'ers then comes and talks to me, giving me the bathroom passcode, taking my money and telling me to come have a drink with her sometime.
After she left we finished setting up and headed off to the bathrooms. The passcode was in Roman numerals in a circle but it got us in to the cutest bathrooms on the prairie. Knotty pine walls, "barbed wire" towel holders, Mason jars over the light bulbs, tin tiles just above head height. Totally cute. We did our nightly thing and then went back to the tent and got settled in. Or as settled as you can get with trains chugging through the tent all the time. Quin's position in the tent afforded him a smidgeon of a view of some fireworks. I heard them between trains once, but was too worn out to move and take a peek. Happy 4th of July, now GO. To. Sleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night I had to pee, and I got up, slipped my shoes on and enjoyed a walk in the star-lit darkness to the office/bathrooms. There's no light over the bathroom doors. There's no way to see the keypad without a light. I figured if it was too dark to see a keypad it was too dark for anyone to see me so I peed outside. And they were such cute bathrooms! But, only from the inside. I went back to the tent and slept/woke/slept/woke/slept/woke all night. I could easily get used to the train noise, but the horns blaring were a different matter altogether.
Day 5 involves three states, a school bus, and more gorgeous scenery. But you'll have to wait a while, I'm off to have a mini adventure and will be away from my computer.
Till then, if you ask me a question, I might say "Grandma's smelly sneakers."
Just an FYI.
