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.

A short post for our cat lover friends

If you don't love cats, just skip this post.

There will be another one later for motorheads about my big red truck.

But for now,

We were worried about our new cat, Boots and how he would travel. Our previous cat, Peaches was comfortable in her crate in the back seat of the truck. Never made a sound except when we were going up or down big hills. We never succeeded in teaching her to swallow on command so her ears continued to bother her. Other than that she was a perfect Airstream cat. But she was old and laid back. Boots is barely a year old and hyper.

He does whimper more than Peaches did while in his crate. Usually for the first 20 minutes or so when we start out. Then he lies back and enjoys the ride.

He is very comfortable in the Airstream.

One of his favorite places is between a curtain and a window. He gets a great view of the world from there.

The ledge is less than 3" wide but he uses the curtains that are attached top and bottom so he leans against them for support.

This is what it looks like from the inside.

Devil's Tower

We left Rapid City in the rain. So far the only rainy days we've had have been travel days. Which is a good thing. It's a lot better than wasting sightseeing days in the rain.

Devil's Tower is our first dry camping experience except for WalMart parking lots. WalMart is free. Devil's Tower is $12. but only six with my  National Parks geezer pass.

Best $6.00 we've spent so far.

Best description.

The trail around the tower is described as, "a steep ascent for the first 150'. Then an up and down hike around the base of the tower."

We did the "steep ascent" three times. The first two, as soon as we hit the top of the incline it started to rain. So we went back to the visitor's center. The third time we decided to walk in the light rain.


So we got to see different sides in totally different weather.

Overcast.

Partly cloudy.

 

 And beautiful blue skies. When Carol took this picture, we were standing in the rain.

 

It is a very popular climbing site.

This has been a sacred site for hundreds of years. So prayer scarves tied to trees seems entirely appropriate. We'd need much more than this before we tried climbing the tower.

 

 We sat on a bench and took a moment to thank God for all our incredible Blessings, to pray for the safety and well being of our families and in special appreciation for all the wonders of nature we had already seen and hoped to see.

A few minutes later, a truly, "I know this was You, God" moment.

Carol said, "Oh look. A deer. Oh my, she has one ---- no TWO fawns." Then she got this picture of them nursing.

It really does just get better and better.

Near the campground was a sculpture depicting smoke from a peace pipe. The Lakota's story of Devil's Tower says this is the place where a Spirit gave them the sacred peace pipe.

 WOW. Who woulda thunk it. A campground with NO services, but they have WIFI !!

 AH, no.

They have an outdoor amphitheater.

I'm sure there have been times when I felt more stupid. But I can't recall one.




 Mountain Bluebirds ?

 Prairie dogs everywhere.

 And they aren't afraid of people.

Even a bunny rabbit.

 Some of you know, Carol's "art" for her Honey Bears class consisted mostly of painting their hands and feet and making prints. Somebody did it for a lion cub.

We had hooked up in the rain in Rapid City, driven through rain most of the way to Devil's Tower. Then we got set up at Devil's Tower and hiked around it. It made for a long day and we were in bed before dark. I told Carol when I woke up in the middle of the night, if it was clear that I would wake her for her very first view of a sky with no light pollution. She grumbled. At 2:00 AM I woke her and said, "Please just come look out the window. If you still want to stay in bed, I won't argue.  She dragged herself to the door, took one look up and went to get dressed. So many firsts for her on this trip. Add, "She saw the Milky way" to the list. Poor city girl had never seen it clearly. I tried to take a picture but I don't have a tripod and without a LONG exposure all I could get was black sky. There is simply no way to describe a night sky away from civilization.

So many Blessings in one day.
God is good.
Every day.

Custer State Park

Our truck was supposed to be ready, "sometime Thursday". We still had the rental car so we had planned a lazy day with a visit to the historic district of Rapid City.

We got a call at 10:30 saying they were done with the truck. WOOHOO. We rushed to transmission place and got the rental car returned a day early. A quick lunch and we headed back to Custer State Park.

But first a stop at WalMart to get a prescription renewed. The guy in line behind us asked where we were from, where we going etc.  etc.  When we told him Custer, he said, "We were there yesterday. Saw HUNDREDS of buffalo. The only pass they sell is for 5 days and we're not going back. Come out to my car and I'll give you our window sticker." Super. We figured he was saving us 5 or 10 dollars but to be polite we followed him to his new Corvette.

Got to Custer - it was a $20.00 fee. BUT karma was at work. We didn't see a single buffalo. Just lots of wild donkeys begging for food.

This was after we stopped at the Visitor's Center to ask where the Buffalo were today. They have a topographical map of the park. They actually have little plastic buffalo they place where the herds have last been seen. Two places on the Wildlife Loop. We jumped  into the truck and headed out. But as  I said, karma said - no pay, no buffalo.

While were we in the Visitor's Center we asked the nice lady if we'd really be missing anything if we left the loop and headed back to Rapid City without going through "the Needles."  She told us that the Needles was a "must see". We had lots of time since we hadn't stopped to see any buffalo so we went home by way of the needles.


THANK YOU Ms. Park Ranger. Don't need no stinkin' buffalo when the Needles are part of the day.

 Our first view.

  A few miles closer.

 The scenery is getting much better

Well, maybe not.

Glad we didn't have the Airstream.

REALLY glad.

Wow.

The Needle's Eye.

Not quite as tight a squeeze for a motorcycle.

On the way back to Rapid Cit, we passed Sylvan Lake. 

Long time readers of my blog will say I'm beating a dead horse but ANOTHER DAY of total failure of our plans. NO BUFFALO.  Nada. Not even ONE.

But, thank  you again, God. Our best day so far for awe inspiring scenery. Thank you again Bonnie Kelley, for Tinkerbell Jerusalem and showing me how to see these incredible "inbetweens". Nothing goes as planned.

It's always as it is meant to be. And always better.