The North Platte River runs the entire length of Nebraska, almost right through the center of the state. It’s a braided stream, a river or stream with many intertwined channels separated by islands or sandbars, so it looks somewhat like the strands of a braid. The folks heading west followed the main channel of the river, where there was grass for the oxen and mules, water for everyone, and fairly flat going. The government built Fort Kearny along the North Platte fairly early—1848, my guidebook tells me—to help protect the travelers along the Oregon and California Trails. Fun fact, both of those were the same trail until far western Wyoming, and they were on the south side of the river. When the Mormons started heading west to Salt Lake City, they walked with handcarts along a trail on the north side of the river, a route that was called the Mormon Trail, and met up with the other two trails around what’s now the border of Nebraska and Wyoming. North Platte River in Nebraska The tow...

  . . . But we were in Kansas for a couple of days, because that’s the beginning of the Oregon Trail (and the California Trail, as I mentioned, which is lesser known because no one made a video game about it). It officially started in Independence, Missouri, then almost immediately crossed into Kansas territory, no river dividing the state and territory. Our trip out west followed the Oregon Trail as closely as modern (paved preferred) roads allowed Besides crossing over into Kansas, we also left U.S. 50, which had faithfully delivered us from Addyston, just down the hill from where we were staying in Cincinnati, to Kansas City. We headed northwest on Kansas 10, and across fields we saw the Blue Mound, the first landmark the emigrants saw on the Oregon Trail. It’s just before you enter Lawrence, and it’s just a hill, about 1,000 feet high, but many of the travelers climbed it for the view. The Blue Mound near Lawrence, Kansas, is the first landmark on the Oregon Trail At Lawrence, ...

We left Cincinnati on Sunday, June 9, 2025, to continue our year on the road after a few months’ hiatus. Since we had such a good time following the Natchez Trace last fall, we took our son Cyrus’s suggestion to follow the Oregon Trail out to Oregon. Like the Natchez Trace, there’s lots of historic markers and other things of interest to see. We’ve been on the road for a week now, and on the path of the Oregon Trail (more or less) for five days. Here’s what we’ve seen so far. A Conestoga wagon, used by travelers on the Oregon Trail, is just a bit bigger than our Scamp camper First day, we drove down the hill to the Ohio River and turned right onto U.S. 50, which we know as River Road. My sister Amy had given us some basil plants to take with us—fresh herbs are always nice, especially basil, it goes in everything! We followed U.S. 50 through Indiana and Illinois, stopping at the Pizza Palace in Seymour, Indiana, for lunch. We made it to Carlyle, Illinois, and stayed on the shores of L...