These old guidebooks all described, and sometimes had drawings, of landmarks that they would see along the way. It's been fun to read about, see photos of, and then actually see these landmarks for myself. They are mostly visible from a long distance, perhaps several days or a week's travel away. They are at most an hour or two on my path. The first major one was called Courthouse Rock and Jail Rock. They are in an unsettled area that seems like wild prairie, although I did see a few houses some distance off. 
Rattlesnakes?!! Oh, no, I thought, it's too cold for them to be out. But the docent informed me that several had been seen in the last week. So you bet I watched my step and stayed on the path!
From these landmarks to one that is a little more famous, Chimney Rock, it was only about an hour drive. That one was also in the middle of nowhere, with a pair of delightful docents in the museum there.
But the more surprising thing about Chimney Rock was the sign as you started up the sidewalk to the museum.
Another hour or two down the road was Scotts Bluff, a huge uplift in the earth alongside the North Platte River. I have been following that river since Ft. Kearney NE, and will only finally leave it tomorrow in Casper Wyoming. A road goes to the top of the bluff, providing a spectacular view on a clear day. From here you can see all the way to Chimney Rock.
View from the top of the bluff
Thsi was a rest stop for me -- time to do laundry and shop for groceries, then find a campground for the night. It amazes me now to think that I saw all 3 of these landmarks up close and personal in one day, when I'm sure it took the emigrants at least a week and maybe more to get from the first one to the last.
The going from here on was not going to be quite so easy as crossing the prairie -- we are about to get into the Rocky Mountains. But that's another blog entry!
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