Rapid City,, SD to Sheridan, WY and beyond

Saturday we left Devil's Tower and made the short trip via I-90 to Sheridan, WY. Miles and miles of miles and miles. Peter D's is a nice little campground in Sheridan run by a couple from PA. The shower rooms were ABSOLUTELY SPOTLESS. They were so nice. Even had a basket of fresh vegetables to take for free.

Saturday evening Mass left us free to take our time Sunday morning to get prepared for our first "mountain experience."  As we drove the interstate to Sheridan we saw signs saying "Rt 16 is the shortest way to Yellowstone."  "Rt 16 is the safest way to Yellowstone."  "Take Rt16 for the best experience on the way to Yellowstone." Of the three routes from the east Rt 16 is certainly the easiest and is highly recommended for RV's --- by all the merchants along Rt16 that is.  After talking with my Airstream expert, Hunter Hampton, we decided to take Rt14 out of Sheridan. The third route is Rt14A which she did NOT recommend.

 The squiggly line took us from 3900 ft elevation to over 9000 ft and back to 3500. Steep grades up and down. At least one RV caught fire this summer from overheated brakes. I LOVE my Big Red Truck. I'll go into detail in a separate blog. But I have added some great mods for towing. Most important is a computer tune for towing that uses the turbocharger as a sort of "jake brake". With the tuning set to "towing" I descended at between 55mph and 25mph without touching the brakes once except to stop at scenic overlooks or a quick jab as I downshifted. I think I drove the people behind us bonkers as they rode their brakes until they smoked and they never saw my brake lights come on.

Sooooo an uneventful but beautiful ride.

Cody, WY was the last town we'd pass through before Yellowstone Valley Inn and RV Park. The drive was beautiful and a stop at the Buffalo Bill Dam made for an interesting break in the driving. Click on the link for history.

Looking straight down the face of the dam.

 A side view.

They picked a great place to build a dam. Here is the canyon downstream of the dam.

Two views of the reservoir from the dam.

  e
Here is the view from our current location, 30 miles east of the  East Entrance to Yellowstone.

I'm a few days behind in blogging so we've already made a short trip into Yellowstone. I'll be posting on it later. But just to get you to come back ---   we saw this fellow on the way TO Yellowstone.

Lots more to come.
God is good.