East of Nowhere

Flynn’s interim job is East of Nowhere. It’s seriously in the middle of NOTHING. There is a fairly major city of around 100,000 people 2 hours away, but there is nothing else remotely close to the town where he’s living. I’m sure there are times that the area is pretty, but it’s not really fair to judge it right now since it’s the end of January. So I will refrain from any harsh criticisms.

HOWEVER, I have to say, Interim-ville is in a prettier location than Gross Yucky Florin was. The rolling hills and grassy plains are much prettier than the red dirt and sage brush that surrounded G.Y. Florin.

Scooter and I visited Flynn over the long weekend that leads up to what is known as Civil Rights Day or Martin Luther King Day. Our school district made the Tuesday after MLK Day a teacher inservice day, so we had a beautiful 4 day weekend! Yippee!! That’s a good time for a road trip!

It’s a long drive to Interim-ville. About 7 hours on good dry roads… in the daylight when you know where you’re going. For me, driving in the dark in unknown territory, always adds extra time, so add about 1/2 hour. I’m wimpy like that. Oh, and add extra time because the Diet Dr. Pepper I drank to help me stay awake has also kicked in and I need multiple potty stops.

Even though this town is out in the middle of rolling prairies and stubby plateaus, there is some fun historical sites to visit. If you’re into Old West, cowboys and Native American history, there are some fun things to see and do.

One of the coolest things was a place called Pompey’s Pillar. It’s a nondescript place just off the Interstate. I wouldn’t have thought to stop here if my dad, an avid Old West historian hadn’t told me about it.

Pompey’s Pillar “bears the only remaining physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.” William Clark, on his return trip from the Pacific Ocean, stopped here and carved his name into the sandstone cliff. And surprisingly, over 200 years later, it’s still there… it hasn’t been defaced and looks as good as the day he carved it (I assume).

(Clark nick named Sacagawea’s son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, “Pomp”, so this cliff is named after him.)

We enjoyed our time here. And we were thrilled to see that lots of people throughout the ages enjoyed their time at Pompey’s Pillar. Look at some of the dates that have been carved next to Clark’s… 1883, 1914, 1947, etc.
(You can click on the pic for a bigger view.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a pirogue displayed, similar to the same pirogues that the intrepid explorers used to navigate their way across the country to the Pacific Ocean. The boys had fun playing in it. I’m not sure how close to correct scale this was, but the one we saw was LOOONG!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also took the time to travel to the Little Big Horn Battlefield. For you Old West aficionados, you’ll remember that this is where General George Custer and most of his army met their doom as Chief Sitting Bull and the Lakota and Cheyenne Indians fought to preserve their way of life.

This stop was unplanned and about 40 miles out of our way. Sadly, we arrived only 40 minutes before the gate closed for the day, so we weren’t able to spend as much time here as we would have liked. The good thing is, that since we’re visiting in “off season” it was FREE! Woo hoo! My favorite tourist spots are free!!

Did you know there is a National Cemetery at this spot as well? I didn’t! It was humbling seeing the graves of so many servicemen and women that were buried here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d like to visit here again and be able to spend more time reading the signs and listening to the stories (you can use your cell phone and listen to stories on many of the stops as you drive through). We didn’t have time to go inside the Visitor’s Center either. So this will be a repeat stop when we go back to visit Flynn next month. Only we’ll plan to be there longer than 40 minutes!