Hallelujah! We woke up to beautiful skies and sunshine so Toadstool Geological Park was a go… as soon as we could get these boys up and moving. Thankfully the Airbnb owner left us juice and homemade rhubarb scones, so we made coffee and had a nice breakfast before we packed up for another reeeaaallllyyy long driving day.

Once we packed the car with our bags and cooler, off we went to the Oglala National Grasslands. It was a beautiful drive with meadows that looked like a page from Little House on the Prairie. The Grasslands began to give way to sand and stone… we were nearing Toadstool Geological Park

Toadstool Geological is a lot like a Mini-Badlands National Park. We decided to do the interactive trail, since we were a little short of time trying to squeeze everything in today due to the rain. It was a beautiful hike and the temperature was perfect. Mike and I hiked, and the boys climbed over and on any available surface.

Even worked on a few optical illusion pics

We left Toadstool and headed to Fort Robinson. Fort Robinson has been used repeatedly by the US Government to detain folks. It was where Crazy Horse surrendered and then later died during of revolt against the leaders of Uniter States. The Fort later housed German prisoners of war during World War II. Since then, the Fort is used like destination for families in the summer and holidays.

We left Fort Robinson, and head for Carhenge. What is Carhenge? Exactly what it sounds like… Stonehenge made out of cars 🤣

It’s pretty weird to be driving along near Alliance, NE and then BAM! Painted cars buried in the ground 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️ but what better Roadside Attraction?!?

The boys wanted this picture of TowMater, and of course a dinosaur skeleton. And I thought the fish made from car parts was pretty cool.

Souvenir ornament purchased and pin placed in the map for Climax, NC,

We said goodbye to Carhenge and headed back into the town of Alliance for a little restocking (2nd loaf of bread and another pound of turkey). The Alliance Safeway must not get a lot of visitors before I felt like people were all staring like a telepathic message we sent out “new person in town” 🤣🤣 Anyway restocked and ready, Mom’s Cafe opened on the journey to Ness City, Kansas.

We have 5 hours ahead of us and initially, it seemed like a beautiful day for a drive…

We made it back into Kansas…

And then, the rains moved in…

The thunderstorms out here are no joke. Wind gusts up to 70mph and just sheets of rain with hail the size of quarters!

As we got to the end of the storm, the clouds were crazy. They looked like something out of a movie or the apocalypse

And then to watch it lighten as the storms would clear…

I have a whole new appreciation for the movie Twister now 🌪️

With the storms and threats of more, we decided to grab a pizza from Pizza Plus in Ness City and take back to our Airbnb for dinner. Ness City is small town about 70 miles north of Dodge City.

Pizza in hand we headed to our Airbnb – a renovated grain Silo! And of course, another dirt road…

We didn’t get many outside pictures due to storm but definitely will tomorrow. The inside was really cool. Almost like a camper with every bit of space maximized

We didn’t get any photos upstairs because once the rain started hitting the tin roof, the Browns were snoozing… which is also why Friday’s post isn’t posted until Saturday morning 🤣) Once we are up and going, it’s a short one hour drive to Dodge City! 🤠