Summary of our first trip of the season

I loved this trip. It was very educational. We did not have time to take the RV out for a trip before hand to make sure everything was working and we had all our gear on board. But we had no problems whatsoever during the trip and we remembered to bring everything. I am constantly amazed by the good quality of our RV. We only had an electrical hook up for one night, at Fort Robinson. The rest of the time we were dry camping and it was often cold. Our furnace runs easily off the battery through the night, we use as many lights as we like, I can take a nice hot shower, we cooked on our grill, in the microwave (off the generator) and on the stove top. Everything was just perfect!

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

Our last stop on this trip was to the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. This was a fabulous little last minute addition to our trip. Very nice video and explanation of the fossil beds as well as good displays.



An unexpected bonus is this national monument is located on the ranch of James Cook who was a great friend to the Indians. He received many gifts which are displayed along with their history in the national monument building.



The road home through Nebraska.

Fort Robinson Nebraska State Park

On our way home we stopped at Fort Robinson a Nebraska State Park. This is an interesting place. Very oriented toward kids. I was impressed with all the activities. You could sign up for horseback riding ($16-$22), pony ride for kids 5 and under ($2), tubing down the river ($10), kayaking ($12.50), a stage coach ride ($2), take a meal at the dining room, attend an outdoor steak cook out ($18 adult, $8.50 children), go to see a play at the play house, play in the river going through our campground, swim at the pool ($5), play tennis on the courts, ride bikes around the grounds, attend a cookout ($9 adult, $6 child), visit the free museum, visit the pay museum, or take a jeep tour to see the scenery ($10) . It was kind of like going to a dude ranch in Colorado without paying the high $$$$s and had a wider variety of activities. I think it would be a great family destination. Most things had a fee but they were very reasonable.

We had a lovely camp site for $24 with electric (this included the state park fee).

Many of the sites are tight but we got one with a huge side yard. The grill to the left is for our spot.

The free museum covers the history of the fort.

It is such a shame that it was involved in the terrible treatment of the Indians in this region at the time. So that is kind of depressing to read about. But you have to admire what Nebraska is doing with it to make it an affordable vacation option for families.
Link to info about Fort Robinson:
Fort Robinson

South Dakota Air and Space Museum

We stopped at the South Dakota Air and Space museum. There is a bus tour there to the local air force base which visits a missile silo also. While we didn't take the tour I think it could have been interesting. The museum however is very interesting. There are alot of aircraft outside with informational signs. Inside there are alot of displays with video and informational signs. This is all free and well worth a visit.

Prairie Homestead

I really enjoyed our visit to Prairie Homestead. This site has a short video about the family that originally homesteaded this sod house, prairie wear for those who want to dress up and take pics and a tour of the original sod house and outbuildings. You can also pet the goat and see some ponies. A fun and educational stop. Especially for those of us who had read about sod houses. It is very interesting to be in one and imagine what it would have been like living there.







Their gift shop was my favorite of the trip.

The Badlands

After our missile silo visit we toured through the Badlands National Park.

What can one say about the Badlands? It is spectacularly bad land. It was named for it's difficulty in crossing.

Minuteman Missile silo

From the tour they give you directions to a minuteman missile silo. There is a guide there that allows you to call in on your cell phone and get an audio tour of the outside of the silo. The orange chain is to keep cattle out. You can disregard the sign that says use of deadly force is authorized for trespassers.

This is a picture of the silo cover.

This is a replica missile in the silo.


We weren't aware of it at this point but at the air and space museum that we visited later they had a tour to the Air Force base that included visiting the inside of a silo. They also had the training facility equipment for the command center as part of the museum and had a nice audio overview of the functions.