Our Wander Years

STW2 wrapup

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Sparky

With our arrival at the gates of Yellowstone National Park (and with a brief foray into the park) we have completed the middle segment of the Second Trip West. Time for a wrapup.

9 hops in 16 days, 1624 tow miles, 2299 truck miles, total campground cost: $750.04 ($46.88 per night). The most expensive stops were Spearfish SD and Rapid City SD, but we had a grand time at those parks, so we didn’t mind paying a premium.

The highlights:

The Field of Dreams movie site. Very cool and free.
Badlands National Park. Amazing scenery. Also totally free.
Wall Drug and Wall SD. Good food, good souvenirs, free ice water. Lived up to the hype.
Mt Rushmore National Monument. The night photos were useless, but the day photos were spectacular, aided by an impossibly clear day. $5 for parking.
The Deadwood/Sturgis day trip. Had a great dinner in Deadwood and won some money.
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Beautiful and sobering. And free.
Yellowstone National Park. Incredible. Again, got some great photos on a beautiful day. And saw some wild buffalo.
Adding 6 states to our map: Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The lowlights:

The Corn Palace in Mitchell SD. A complete waste of time.

The final segment of the trip west – STW3 – will take us from the eastern edge of Yellowstone, across the continental divide, all the way to Tillamook OR. We will travel about 1250 miles in 16 or 17 days, probably in 8 hops (there is some uncertainty as both the weather and the wildfires could cause us to reroute). We will add Idaho and Washington to our map, raising our state count to 44.

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Yellowstone National Park – part 1

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Sparky

Sylvan Lake

We have been blessed with very fine weather on our STW – we have had mostly sunny, warm days. Great picture-taking days. But that is about to change. The forecast for the Yellowstone National Park area is for scattered thunderstorms today, rain tomorrow and rain and snow both Friday and Saturday. Yes, snow. There is no other word that scares me as much as “snow.” I simply have no interest in hauling an 8-ton trailer around on slippery roads.

So we have changed our plans a bit. Today we will haul the RV across Yellowstone to West Yellowstone, but will stop at Old Faithful on the way. We really want to visit the geyser and are not at all certain that we will want to return to Yellowstone once we leave it. I can’t see that there would be much joy in driving around the park in a cold rain or wet snow.

I also took the day yesterday – a warm, sunny day – to drive into Yellowstone to take some photos. Because it was just the truck – and just me (Jett stayed home) – I was able to get to some places that would have been impossible otherwise. Most notably I drove to the top of the Lake Butte Overlook to take some elevated photos of Yellowstone Lake and I walked the 1 km trail at the Mud Volcano. I also got some unexpected up-close-and-personal shots of buffalo.

In all, I took over 100 photos. A few of the best are shown here.

Sylvan Pass – elev 8530 ft

A bend in the Shoshone River

First glimpse of Yellowstone Lake

Buffalo ignoring signs

Chimney Rock

The northern shore of Yellowstone Lake

Fishing Bridge

LaHardys Rapids

Grazing buffalo

Mud volcano

Boiling water

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STW2 Hop 9: Garryowen MT to Wapiti WY

Posted on September 12, 2017 by Sparky

STW2 Hop 9

197 miles via I-90, US 212, US 310, MT 72 and US 14/16/20 with stops in Billings MT and Laurel MT. Cumulative tow miles: 1624. Truck miles: 237. Cumulative truck miles: 2166.

This hop was unusual in that we made two stops, not for refueling but for shopping. The first stop was at the Cracker Barrel in Billings MT, to return our audiobook. Cracker Barrel rents audiobooks and we thought we would give it a try. The rate is 50 cents per day, which is reasonable. The problem is that Cracker Barrel locations are few and far between in some portions of the US. We actually finished the audiobook 11 days ago, in Minnesota, but couldn’t return it until we got to Billings. An annoying waste of about 5 bucks. No big deal, though, and we took the opportunity to get a takeout lunch from Cracker Barrel.

The second stop was at a Walmart in Laurel MT which happened to be adjacent to an AutoZone. We bought another Keurig coffeemaker at Walmart. Our old one failed in SD and we bought a new one there, but it, too, failed. We will return that one for credit later.

Why is it so hard to produce a coffeemaker that actually makes coffee?

The AutoZone was needed because a rear turn signal bulb on the GMC truck failed a couple of days ago. Got a bulb and replaced it last night.

The hop? Easy navigation (except at the Walmart where there was construction), little traffic, good roads and absolutely gorgeous scenery. Montana was beautiful and Wyoming, as we approached and passed through Cody, was spectacular. I don’t think I would enjoy winter here, but summer is glorious.

Our home in Garryowen MT was the 7th Ranch RV Camp. This is an actual working ranch that also has a medium-sized RV park (about 100 sites). It is adjacent to the Little Bighorn Battlefield, which I have already described, and has the same rolling hills and golden grassland that you find there. Just beautiful. And beautiful sunsets, too. Rusty loved it because he could take walks off the leash. We would absolutely return here. And we were able to add another state to our map.

Sunset day 2

Cowboy horses at 7th Ranch

Golden grassland

Our site

Sunset day 1

Rusty roaming free

#41 – Montana

On US 20

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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Sparky

Last Stand markers (the dark one is Custer’s place of death)

Yesterday Jett and I went a few miles up I-90 to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, site of “Custer’s Last Stand.” I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but what we found was a remarkably well-preserved battlefield with markers for the locations where soldiers’ bodies were found after the battle, plus a few markers where notable Indians were found as well. A 5-mile dead-end road with informative signs along the way connected the Last Stand site with the site where the survivors beat back the Indians for two days.

There was a haze from wildfires that prevented seeing some distant points – most notably the Crow’s Nest where Custer camped the night before the battle – but the stark beauty of the place was not compromised.

We started with a 30-minute lecture on the battle from a National Park Service employee that was very informative and ended with a short hike up the hill to view the monument and the markers for the 211 men – including Custer – that were killed in the Last Stand.

There were three horse-related events worthy of note. First, we were surprised to find free-range horses along the roadway. We asked about them and learned that they were horses belonging to a local rancher who just let them graze freely. Second, there was a marker near the Last Stand memorial that commemorated the role of the horses in the battle and marked a common grave for all horse bones found on the battlefield. Finally, when we left the park we went a mile north to Crow Agency, the capital of the Crow Reservation, and were surprised to find a horse wandering freely through the town.

After Crow Agency we returned to the Last Stand Café across from the park entrance to have a bite. I decided to try the “Indian taco” which is traditional taco ingredients piled on top of Indian fried bread – something similar to fried dough, but not so sweet. Delicious!

Free-range horses

Looking down at the Little Bighorn

Marker at the survivor site

Fallen soldiers at Calhoun’s Hill

Horse grave

Last Stand memorial

One-horse town

Indian taco

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STW2 Hop 8: Medora ND to Garryowen MT

Posted on September 10, 2017 by Sparky

STW2 Hop 8

The view from our site

278 miles via I-94, MT 47 and I-90 with a refueling stop in Forsyth MT. Cumulative tow miles: 1427. Truck miles: 351. Cumulative truck miles: 1929.

This was an easy hop in terms of navigation, a fast hop in terms of average speed and a long trip in terms of clock time (almost 4.5 hours). The day was hot and hazy, due to the Montana wildfires. The landscape – what we could see – was beautiful in a rugged way. I didn’t realize how rugged the land was out here in eastern Montana. How could I? I have never been to Montana before.

Our North Dakota home was the Red Trail Campground in Medora. This was an old campground, poorly maintained, with small, cramped sites. We will not return. But that is moot because it is highly unlikely that I will ever return to ND. I call it the “state I am least likely to visit again.”

But the campground, while not very likable, was in a very likable location. The view from our site was very nice, Medora was an interesting small town and the shot I got at sunset as I crossed the railroad tracks made the stay memorable. Unfortunately I was crossing the tracks to go to a bar to watch the Patriots lose. Very sad.

North Dakota is our 40th state.

Outskirts of Medora

Medora at sunset

Our cramped site

#40 – North Dakota

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Theodore Roosevelt National Park (South Unit)

Posted on September 9, 2017 by Sparky

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Buffalo

I got a quick look at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (South Unit) yesterday. It was quick because we had guests coming to our RV for drinks at 5pm and because I was low on fuel. I entered the park with a plan: drive until the “low fuel” light appeared or 17 miles, whichever came first. Well, the 17 miles came first, so I turned around after driving about a third of the loop around the park.

This plan was necessitated by my belief that the nearest refueling location was 17 miles away from the RV park. So I drove to that location, got 29.4 gallons of fuel (in my 30-gallon tank) and returned to the RV park. Along the way I tried to find wine and cheese for our little party and finally found some at the one-and-only convenience store in Medora. And I was surprised to discover that they had diesel fuel. Yes, it was 17 cents per gallon more expensive than where I filled up, but it would have saved me 34 miles of driving. It would have been a wash, money-wise, and would have saved me 45 minutes of travel. More importantly, I could have done the entire park loop. Dang!

Anyway, what I saw of Teddy’s park was impressive. Not as impressive as the Badlands National Park and not quite what I was expecting (I really thought it would be more wooded), but very interesting nonetheless. Most interesting was the wildlife: besides two very large prairie dog towns, I saw a coyote romping through the prairie dog community (which they didn’t like very much) and two American bison (aka buffalo), one of which was in a location where I could get a photo.

The park has a north unit and a south unit, 68 miles apart. I visited the south unit. I also visited the “Painted Canyon” scenic overlook off of I-94. That was a small version of the Badlands.

Rugged landscape

Painted Canyon

Distant peaks

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STW Hop 7: Spearfish SD to Medora ND

Posted on September 8, 2017 by Sparky

STW2 Hop 7

212 miles via US 85 and I-94. Cumulative tow miles: 1149. Truck miles: 316. Cumulative truck miles: 1578.

This was a straight shot north through some very desolate landscape. If it wasn’t for one construction site where we were stopped for a minute, we would have made the trip non-stop.

The purpose of the hop was to get North Dakota on our map. I regard ND as “the state I am least likely to revisit” so it was important to get here once.

We were in SD for a full week and we really enjoyed our time there. It is a beautiful state. Our last two nights were at the Elkhorn Ridge RV Resort in Spearfish. It is a spectacular RV campground – huge, flat pull-through sites with concrete pads, a beautiful pool, two huge dog parks, tennis courts, a well-stocked camp store. We liked everything about this campground. We would most definitely return.

Our free day in Spearfish was planned for a day trip to Deadwood and Lead, two wild west towns just south of Spearfish. It turned into a longer road trip than originally planned when Jett needed to refill a prescription at the only CVS in the area – 40 miles away in Rapid City. But we combined that with a trip to Walmart and Petco to get some dog food and coffee, plus we came back on US 85 through some very pretty Black Hills scenery.

We loved Deadwood. It is filled with some great restaurants and old-fashioned casinos. We dined at Mavericks Steak House and then went downstairs to the Gold Dust Casino. Both were excellent choices. I had a ribs and pulled pork combo that was excellent, accompanied by a very tasty tequila chicken soup. Jett had a sirloin steak which she also rated “excellent.”

Because we dined at Mavericks we were given $5 credit each for Gold Dust. I lost $11 but Jett parlayed her $5 credit into a $120 win.

Grass at sunset

She wants to return to Deadwood. That would be fine with me.

We also stopped in Sturgis, ground zero for Harley-Davidson owners. We just had to stop at the HD franchise there and get a pin.

If we had had more time we would have visited both Lead and the Mt Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, where the graves of both Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane are located. Just another reason to come back to the area.

Our site

Elkhorn Ridge Resort

The view at sunset

Pool

Sturgis Harley-Davidson

Deadwood

Ribs and pulled pork

Categories: Adventures, Places, Routes, RV Parks, SD, STW | Leave a comment

Mt Rushmore National Memorial

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Sparky

My postcard shot

As I mentioned in my previous post, Jett and I visited the Mt Rushmore National Memorial on the evening of Labor Day. It was a beautiful night and I thought I got some really nice photos. But I was wrong – they were fuzzy and washed out. I guess I need to learn more about taking photos at night.

I couldn’t leave SD without at least one good Mt Rushmore photo and we were close enough that I could make a second trip there (and for free – the parking pass was good until the end of the year!). I got lots of photos and most of them were pretty darn good.

I walked the entire Presidential Trail which is not very long – maybe a mile or so – but has a lot of up-and-down. I got some good exercise to go along with my good photos. The trail takes you to the base of the sculpture, so I got some great up-the-nostril shots.

The other thing that the trail offers is a number of “isolation points” where only one of the presidents is clearly visible. These points have displays highlighting the accomplishments of the individual.

At the base of the sculpture

I have to give credit to the weather. It was an impossibly beautiful morning with crystal-clear azure skies. Couldn’t ask for better conditions for photography.

Besides the mountain, I also enjoyed the walk through the Ponderosa pines. It was strongly reminiscent of the forest scene from Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, which, of course, was filmed in this area.

Stairs on the trail

One of the isolation spots

Rubble

Ponderosa pines

Peeking over the trees

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STW2 Hop 6: Rapid City SD to Spearfish SD

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Sparky

STW2 Hop 6

61 miles via US 16, I-90 and US 85. Cumulative tow miles: 939. Truck miles: 144. Cumulative truck miles: 1262.

This was a short hop – just over an hour – to get to Spearfish, from which we will do a loop tomorrow touring Deadwood, Lead and Sturgis. It was an easy hop, mostly on a very flat I-90 through beautiful countryside on a beautiful day. An easy trip. Good thing, because Jett wasn’t feeling well.

But she felt well enough to trek to Mt Rushmore after dark. It was a quick trip; I stayed just long enough to get some photos while Jett stayed in the truck. Then back home.

Unfortunately, the night shots didn’t turn out very well so I returned this morning. I will post the day shots separately.

Moon

Our one night in Rapid City was at the Rushmore Shadows Resort, a very nice newish resort about 12 miles from Mt Rushmore. It isn’t the closest RV park for someone who wants to visit Rushmore and it isn’t in Keystone which looks to be a pretty fun town. But it was a nice park that was well positioned for both a trip to Mt Rushmore and a resupply trip to Walmart.

Yesterday was a day of transition, weather-wise. It was over 90 when we left Interior and dropped to near 40 last night in Rapid City. The haze, due to wildfires in Montana, also cleared. The nearly-full moon was spectacular

Sunset

Mt Rushmore at night

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Badlands National Park

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Sparky

Near the entrance

We drove most of SD 240 on Saturday – about 25 miles of very scenic roadway through the Badlands National Park. We ended up in Wall, home of Wall Drug, which I have already described. This is to record some of the beautiful photos that I took in the Badlands.