♪ I don't have to party ♪
♪ To have fun you see ♪
♪ I got different hobbies ♪
♪ And that's all I need ♪
♪ Some say life is boring ♪
♪ But I disagree ♪
♪ I wake up in my dream ♪
(upbeat music)
- We got lucky,
were able to get into the free city park.
- Yeah, not bad.
It's a two day stay for free.
And then any day after that, it's 10 bucks.
So not a bad deal.
- And there's not a ton here to do in this small town.
So two nights is more than enough
for you to see everything you're dying to see.
- Yeah, blink you might miss it.
- We actually came here for Chimney Rock
(smooth upbeat music)
- Well we made it to the Chimney Rock
except Chimney Rock is closed.
- Well, the museum part is closed
or the office is closed whatever you want to call it.
Apparently for the summer
they closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
So something to know,
although with all the National Park closures for COVID
I don't know if they're even open at all.
- Yeah, that's true.
But there it is behind us and there's really no way
to even hike out there that we can tell.
We haven't really looked that hard on the map
but there's a fence that goes all around the museum.
So I don't know that there is a way to get out there.
- Yeah, I don't think you can hike out there anymore
from what they said there used to be trails
but not anymore but I thought we could get a little closer
but that's it.
There's the rock that is another one of the ways
people made it to the Oregon trail.
That that was one of their signals
that they were going the right way.
Actually it was the Oregon trail,
the Mormon trail
and the pony express
and the California trail all used it.
So it's pretty cool.
It is huge.
You see it from miles away
so I can understand why they used it as their marker.
- Yeah
- Also a little tidbit of info
I know you're dying to know about this.
This was actually originally of course named
by the native Americans because they were here first.
The translation to English actually meant elk penis.
And as you can guess
when the new settlers came through
they didn't really like that name.
So it actually had a whole bunch of different names
before they settled on what it is today Chimney Rock.
- Yeah, and I'm gonna take their word on it
because I've never seen one.
And now that you see it,
you can't unsee it.
So thanks for that little nugget of info.
- Well, you know, I have to read
a little bit about the history before we go places.
That's how you get you know, the best enjoyment
out of exploring an area.
- The city park offers electric and water
and you have both 50 and 30 amp hookups.
Not too bad.
We didn't need the water because we came in full,
and we're only leaving or we're only driving
about 45 minutes today.
So we'll be able to dump there.
But if you needed a dump before you left here,
there is a campground close by that you can go to and dump.
- Yeah, and there's a nice city park
right across the street.
So when we looked out our window,
we have nice green grass
and a bunch of trees to check out.
It was a really nice stay here.
When you're looking for places to stay
don't neglect city parks,
they can be some real gems.
We found some awesome ones.
Some are free, some have you know, charge you,
but usually they're much cheaper than private parks.
So make sure you check them out along your travels.
They offer this park in hopes that you're gonna spend
a little bit of money in their town.
Tourism although small,
it does help this small town a little bit.
So if you need some groceries
or if you need to go to the hardware store
make sure you pop in downtown.
- Yeah, good call.
(upbeat music)
- You might say I'm a sucker for oddball roadside attractions.
I do love them.
- Well, you're just a sucker.
I don't know, one of the two.
- Well, maybe, but this was free.
I mean, it's kind of cool. - It is kind of cool.
I mean, really, how cool is this?
When you see old cars stacked on top of each other,
buried partly in the ground resembling Stonehenge?
- And we've actually been to Stonehenge.
- Yeah, this is pretty cool.
I recognize some of these cars
because my family owned them when I was a kid.
But it is pretty cool nonetheless.
- We are in Alliance, Nebraska heading north.
Again, still trying to beat the heat.
It's 90 something today.
We aren't winning,
but we found this cool
little artistic,
I don't even know what you want to call it,
roadside attraction to check out along the way.
And it's free by the way,
it doesn't cost you anything to come and walk through here
which makes it even better.
- Yeah, and the original carhenge started out as 25 cars
that were put into the ground at a family reunion
of the guy who owns the property.
And they did it in six days.
That's pretty cool.
- Yeah. They painted it later on,
to make it look more like Stonehenge
and they actually were trying to force him to get rid of it
because the city thought it was an eyesore.
Well, now they're pretty glad
because it actually brings tourism to their city.
It's one of the most popular tourist spots
actually in Nebraska,
even over all the national monuments.
That's crazy.
- It is.
And since the original 25
he's got at least another 25
that he's added
that are painted gray
and then pushed into the ground
or dug into the ground around the carhenge area itself.
So it is pretty cool.
- We are getting ready to leave this campground
Over The Hill campground.
I'm doing my last check here,
getting us something to drink for the road.
So this campground isn't a bad campground.
It's fine for an overnight.
It's not anywhere you would come to as a destination
or wanna stay very long.
But the advantages it's full hookups, 35 bucks
and it's right next door to carhenge.
- Yeah, and word to the wise,
you may have trouble leveling
because none of their sites are level
it's kind of on a hill.
Wait until she gets done making noise.
So we did have a hard time leveling
but we figured it out.
Even the guy that works here said you know,
our leveling is not the best
but we're working on it.
So if you were coming through Alliance, Nebraska,
the Jeske's Over The Hill campground
not a bad stop for an overnighter.
It allowed us to do laundry which was a plus.
- That was definitely the priority
'cuz we're hoping to boondock for the next seven days
once we leave here.
But we're not really sure if it's gonna happen.
We're going to a first-come, first-serve campground.
We may or may not get a spot.
So my choreon the way up,
which is only about an hour, is to find a plan B.
Yeah, well, I'm gonna go with the law of gross tonnage
and we're just going to force our way in.
No, I'm just kidding.
- It's another city park.
So when we get there we'll show it to you.
It looks really cool.
And hopefully we'll get something up there.
- Yeah.
- We made it to Crawford city park
and the first-come, first-served...
Yay! There was nobody here when we got here.
- Yeah. And I think we've only had
three or four come through for the night and leave.
So we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
- Yeah. There are four hookups spots
and they're pretty good size.
I've been a 45 footer could get in there easy.
- Yeah, I think that class C
or that Super C that came in last night was pretty long.
It was a tag axle.
So he fit in there just fine.
- Yeah, and then on this side where we are
there are a whole bunch of spots with water
for 10 bucks a night
and there's a dump station
right on the other side of this building here.
So you can dump before you leave.
Let's talk about quiet.
It's quiet...like it FEELS quiet...
- As in no neighbors around,
but if you can hear off in the distance,
we'll be quiet for a sec.
(people heckling)
You hear that?
That's a stampede of cattle being put into cattle trucks
across the street or right behind us.
Right here.
- Yeah, there, it's an auctioneer place.
So a cattle auctioneer and there are trains right there too.
So I guess they actually bring them in on trains
and not only leave in trucks,
but on some of the cargo trains as well.
So, but I have to say
we've been here for a couple of nights already
and it's the first time
they've done the cattle selling, auctioneering kind of thing.
- Yeah. We could hear the PA system going off
pretty much from sunup to sundown.
- Yeah. It's finally done.
- Yeah. But you could still hear the angry cows over there.
Either they know what's going on
or they just don't like being messed with.
- Yeah, maybe.
Now the location could actually be a destination.
We are surrounded by three really cool places
for you to check out.
There is Fort Robinson state park.
There's I think it's called Toad... Toadstool Park,
which is really cool.
And then there's a third state park.
I can't remember the name,
but I'll put it here on the maps
you guys can see it when it pops up.
And you can hike, bike. Fort Robinson is really cool.
It's actually an old Army Fort from the 1800s
and many of the buildings are still there.
Except for all the closures with COVID.
They actually usually have a ton of activities
and including tours and swimming pool
and all kinds of stuff.
So if you're going north or traveling through this area
this would be a really cool place to stop.
- Yeah, Fort Robinson has three
separate campground areas as well.
And they had pull-in and back-in sites there.
It was pretty nice.
- And if you hear that noise behind us now
that is actually a motorcycle
because right behind us is a dirt track.
Now, if there's no motorcycles on there
you can ride your mountain bike on there
and you can have a little fun.
We haven't made it over there yet
but we hope to before we leave here.
- I think tomorrow morning.
I'm gonna try to go over there and sneak in
before the the motor cross bikes get there.
- Yeah and they only had a couple come
since we've been here.
So it hasn't been that active.
- No. And most people that walk by or drive by,
they're kind of shocked to see somebody sitting here
on this side and not hooked up.
I guess everybody comes in and goes to the hookups.
- Yeah. Now the city park is used.
There's a really cool playground.
There is a lot of grass
and a lot of places for kids to play.
And it's really nice.
And you see a lot of families here for dinner
bringing out their picnic and playing and eating.
So it's really cool.
- Yeah there's not a whole lot in Crawford to do.
- There's nothing in Crawford to do.
- I was being polite.
- If you're going through this way stop by and check it out.
- Yeah give him a little bit of love.
I mean, it's $10 a night to boondock you can't beat that.
- You can't beat it.
Especially knowing you're safe and it's patrolled
and you know, they come and get the trash or whatever.
It's really cool.
I like it.
- Yeah
- All right, We're going to finish our beer here
that we got from Parts and Labor.
If you don't know what that is,
then you've missed one of our videos.
So go back and check out one of the ones from before,
until later we're out.
- Cheers!
(cool upbeat music)
- Lessons learned from today's bike ride:
I still suck at it.
- It's not a lesson learned. That's a 'always yelling'.
- I learned today how bad I was.
I'm going to blame it on two things.
One I'm training for a 10K
and I upped my game last night.
So we're going to blame it on that for one.
I had a really good run.
- I'm sure you did.
- And I worked really hard.
My ears are popping.
Two, the ride going out, it was an out and back.
So going out was fine.
It wasn't great it was fine.
But we turned around and come back
and the freaking headwind I don't know where it came from
It's like, it knew I was tired and was like
Oh, let's screw with her today.
- Yeah at 30 miles an hour is what it seemed like.
So there was no wind going out.
Luckily we only went out about three miles
turned around and came back.
- Yeah. It was a baby ride for sure. It was pretty flat.
It was on gravel but it was you know,
a little bit of hills but it was an easy ride for sure.
Yeah, it was crushed red rock trail's that's we were on.
So it wasn't too bad.
But somewhere on the way back,
I was developed a slow leak in my tire.
- Oh yeah, he was almost flat.
- Yeah. So we got back just in the nick of time.
- But the bad part was we hit the decline
I was so excited for the whole way back
to hit my little decline co I could coast a little bit.
Of course the wind was so strong.
I couldn't even go down the hill.
- Yeah, she stopped peddling
and the wind almost stopped her in her tracks
that's how much wind it was.
- So anyway, we'll get there.
That's that's all I can say.
I need new diaper shorts
because the butt pad on these aren't working,
- These both of our shorts need to go.
So we need good biking shorts.
But other than that,
we'll just have to take it
one ride at a time.
Luckily this was a good ride for Phil
to test out his shoulder.
- Yeah the shoulder feels good.
It did feel, I mean it's a little sore.
But I think it's because I'm lifting the bikes and stuff.
I'm doing stuff that I probably
- Shouldn't be doing.
- But I'm trying to get my strength back.
So it's, I mean, it's tolerable.
It's workable.
So I just need to pay attention to what I'm doing,
but it felt great riding.
- So we get back to San Antonio
priority number one is a bike hitch.
So we don't have to take the bikes apart every time.
And for those of you wondering where our mountain bikes are,
they are actually in the rig.
We put them in the rig
just to make sure nobody mess with them while were gone
- Actually the mountain bikes are here
the e-bikes are in the rig.
- See, I'm so tired.
I can't even think right now.
So the e-bikes yes we pulled them out
'cuz we normally stow them in the back of the Jeep.
So they're inside Ruby. Giz is guarding them.
So they're good to go.
- Right, he's probably knocked out right now.
- Well, this was actually less than eight minutes
from our campground.
And if you're smart,
you would realize that this trail
actually starts at the campground.
- Right.
So you wouldn't have to drive to Fort
- Robinson state park.
- Which, although it is a beautiful place
you wouldn't have to drive here and pay eight bucks to park.
You could just catch the trail and go as far as you want
and turn around and go back to the campground.
And I did look at the campgrounds here for us to stay at
but this is another state that charges a per vehicle
as well as a campground camping fees.
So I didn't want to pay campground and the car fees
'cuz we're out of our state residents.
It wasn't enough for us to buy it for the annual pass.
So where we are as much cheaper.
- Yeah. All right, we are going to go ahead
and close this video out.
I'm trying to keep them below 20 minutes
especially since I don't have a lot of time
before my wifi is gone.
- Yeah we are obviously in the mountainous ranges.
- Not that you can see now. It's not a phrase.
- But our internet is about to become a little spotty,
as we head on into,
yeah, at best, as we head on into
other areas that don't have great connectivity.
- And yes, we're being evasive for reason.
You're gonna have to keep watching
to figure out where we're going next.
In the meantime make sure you head over to the blog.
Our latest blog posts will list a ton of places
we have been to since we hit the road.
- Yeah. And we're also updating our FAQ page.
Our FAQ's are ever-growing
you know we get a ton of questions
so we figured let's go with the FAQ's
and then as we think we're ahead of the game,
we get more questions that warrant us to add more FAQs.
So we're growing it,
we're building it.
So get on over there to the website,
check out the blogs, check out the FAQ's
you might find a lot of the answers
prior to sending them to us.
- Yes. Prior to an email
or even the comments down below
but either way I will put links for those down below.
Also I'll put the link to join our newsletter
do that and we will send you a link to the blog posts
as soon as it goes live as well as the video.
So, and I promise no more than one email a week.
I try not to hound you guys too much.
'Cuz I know how overwhelming it can be
in my own email inbox.
- Yeah and the more the newsletters go out,
the more emails we get and that's my job.
So I'm the one that has to answer most of the emails.
So it's not Stacy, it's me.
So when you say hey, Stacy in your email,
it's really me that you're talking to.
- This is true.
- And then I normally when you stump the chump,
I go hey Stacy, what do we do?
And then she has to answer anyway.
So, but that's how we do it.
- Yeah. Normally.
So thanks so much for hanging out with us today.
Make sure you hit that subscribe button.
- Give us a thumbs up and go ahead
and hit that notification bell over there.
- And drop down and hit those links to the blog.
And we hope you guys are all doing well
and we hope we'll see you soon on the road.
(upbeat music).