My Tillie alarm clock went off at 6:50 AM CDT.

We are still in awe after observing the eclipse. We learned today that I-80 was a parking lot west of Lincoln, and beyond our site near Henderson. We couldn’t observe this directly but heard about it from other campers when they went to town after totality. There was also some price gouging in Scottsbluff, NE. One motel charged $900 a night. Another person bought 100 acres of land, for $40K, and charged RVers $1000 each to park without any hookups. He made quite an indecent profit. The average price for our RV has been around $38 a night including 50 ampere electric service, water, sewer, WiFi, and other amenities such as laundry.

We packed the RV, walked the dogs, thanked the campground owners and left. There was just one RV remaining when we departed at 11:15 AM CDT, and began our journey home, headed for Beatrice, NE.

Along the way, we stopped in Lincoln for doggy walks and lunch at a Casey’s General Store.

Just north of Beatrice, I walked the dogs while Marla shopped for groceries at a WalMart. From there it was a short drive to Homestead National Monument .

At the Monument, they were still cleaning up from the previous day’s eclipse activities. The NPS crew looked weary. Marla got her passbook stamped and I was able to get a lifetime senior NP pass before they increased the cost. We also took a brief look around and viewed one of the largest tracts (100 acres) of restored tall grass prairie in The United States.

Our dogs also walked near this area which officially made them:

PRAIRIE DOGS!!!

I also learned the homesteaders secret to success:

Then, we went to our campsite near Nebraska City. I had trouble navigating near the campground since the local roads were torn up and the GPS was useless as a result. I called the campground for directions and arrived successfully.

Tomorrow, we plan to stop at Camping World in Council Bluffs, IA, and then go to Pipestone National Monument, which is just east of Sioux Falls, SD, in Minnesota. South Dakota will be a new state for Marla, and Minnesota will be a new one for all of us.