Homeward Bound With a too brief Stop At the Keystone Gallery

Our plan was to leave for Wyoming by ten am but like most of our plans we were too optimistic. We finally finished and left at twelve-thirty. The first day’s original goal, was to spend the night in San Angelo, but we changed the plan and spent the night further south at Junction, Texas. The next morning the wind came up but we were able to drive in spite of our high profile vehicle, which was even higher with the Thule Carrier. Still, we were able to drive five hundred miles to Liberal, Kansas. Arriving at Liberal, the wind increased again, and was so strong that I had to hold the door for Renita so she could safely exit the car. Checking into a motel we hoped to leave the next day, but the wind was still to strong for us to safely travel and we extended our stay to two nights in Liberal. The wind finally abated and we were back on our plan as we were able to drive to Ogallala, Nebraska. During our journey, we stopped at the Keystone Art Gallery and Fossil Museum along the way and engaged with two paleontologists. Chuck Bonner and Barbara Shelton, specializing in the excavation of fossil fish and other specimens from the Niobrara Chalk Formation. The formation was deposited from eighty-two to eighty-seven million years ago, . The Museum’s collection even included type fossils which are fossils discovered, described and named by the discoverer.

One of the fossil fish was named after the paleontologist’s, (Chuck Bonner), sister. Of course, I had to buy a fossil and tee shirts, (always support the Museum).Barabra and Chuck gave us great information on the Museum and fossil collectons. It was so nice to be able to converse with experts!

We next stopped at Ogallala and stayed at one of our favorite and cheapest motels. Eating out gets tiresome and expensive, so we resorted to the frozen food aisle in Walmart, and the microwave in the motel room. The next day we passed Chimney Rock in Western Nebraska, drove through Scottsbluff and reached the Wyoming Border! Two days later we finally arrived at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Our plan is to stay here for nine days and photograph wildlife in Grand Teton National Park. Clear skies