Sunday, August 31, 2014

Day 56-Rest Day 2 in Chadron

After breakfast I went with Alan to check his bug traps in the Nebraska National Forest as part of his work with the Forest Service. I got the full tour of this forest, mostly comprised of ponderosa pines, and the adjacent Chadron State Park. Alan showed me where he had wiped out on his bike during a triathlon a few years back.

We went to the university and joined Mary for lunch in the school cafeteria. Unlike at Oregon State, students at Chadron State pay to get access to an all you can eat style dining area. I loaded up with several helpings to fuel the coming days. Scarfing down the final bowl of ice cream was a bit of a challenge. We ate with several college staff, including the school's marketing director, who hooked me up with a new Chadron State Eagles t-shirt.

On the way home, Mary and I joined up with her dad at the Museum of the Fur Trade a few miles east of town. The artifacts from all around the world were very impressive and I gained a lot of insight into how prominent the fur trade was in the founding stages of the country and western settlements. Every geographic region approached the trade differently, but fur was an important industry in every corner of the US. Nanook of the North, a silent documentary from 1922 about an Inuit family in the Canadian Arctic captivated me for quite awhile.

I was pretty tired from the day and took a quick nap when we got home while Mary and Al ran. We enjoyed a dinner of enchiladas despite the fact that I was still plenty full from the university cafeteria bomb consumed hours ago. It was a nice evening before resuming the trek tomorrow.

View from Mary and Alan's back porch

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