From the South Dakota Badlands to Sheridan Wyoming

We have just arrived in Colorado -  so we have some catching up to do - from our last update in Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

We would love to hear from you -  at

donwshank@hotmail.com

We have been on the road -  just over 3 weeks and have really enjoyed camping and traveling with our trailer and have seen some incredible places and learned alot about this part of the country through visitor centers, museums, Park headquarters and just hiking and exploring around the area.
We just pulled into Grand Mesa Colorado and this is the first of 3 timeshares that we have booked into during the trip ~ so we have a week here with the trailer parked and we are free to explore without hitching up and have laundry, good wifi connection (and catch up with the blog), and a nice 1 bedroom condo to spread out in for a while.

So....... where were we!  between Devil's Tower and Here ~ we spent 4 days in the badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota, 3 days at Curt Gowdy State Park near Sheridan and Cheyenne Wyoming, and then onto Flaming Gorge NRA and Dinosaur National Monument.

Before we leave Devil's Tower -  here are a few factoids about this amazing geological features

• Devils Tower (in Lakota: Matȟó Thípila or Ptehé Ǧí)  is an igneous intrusion or 
• laccolith in the Bear Lodge Mountains near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, 
• northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet 
• above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,114 feet above sea level.

• Declared a National Monument on September 24, 1906
• Area: 2.10 sq miles (5.45 km²)
• Elevation: 5,114 feet (1,559 m)
• First ascent: Jul 04, 1893

Gotta Love it!

From Devils Tower it is a 2 hour drive to the Black Hills of South Dakota & we camped 3 nights at Custer State Park which was an amazing park and location for exploring the Black Hills, Badlands N.P. and paying a visit to Mount Rushmore!

                                                Grand entrance at Mount Rushmore

Our visit to Mount Rushmore was a highlight -  we all have seen pics of it our whole lives but to stand at the base and walk around the trail and see it from different perspectives is truly awe inspiring. 

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level.


 Custer State Park which is actually a huge part of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
There are 6 or more one lane tunnels along the very windy and scenic roads that traverse the Black Hills the smallest being about 8' x 10' opening.

                                         one of the many tunnels through the Black Hills

                                                           Black Hills Tunnel

                                                    Waiting line for the one way tunnel

We  saw more wildlife in Custer than anywhere we have been and on a later afternoon drive on the "wildlife loop" we saw Elk, Pronghorn, Deer, Buffalo, and Big Horn Sheep in little more than an hour!

The Black Hills are positioned in the western part of South Dakota and extend into Wyoming. In addition to being the home of Mount Rushmore, they also hold the title of being the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains. The oddity of the natural structure is that the hills seem to jut right out of the Great Plains, appearing as an island of trees when viewed from a distance.

                                                   Pronghorn Antelope in Custer S.P.

                                                                 Bison at Custer S.P.

                                                      Custer State Park

                                                                     Badlands N.P.
We spent one day driving through Badlands National Park which is almost 2 hours from Custer SP and covers a huge area.  The crazy landscape goes on forever and it must have been quite an obstacle for native americans and early pioneers

• Badlands National Park is a national park in southwestern South Dakota that protects 242,756 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States

                                                       Rattlesnakes at Badlands?

                                                                 Badlands of South Dakota

                                                     
From South Dakota we drove to Curt Gowdy State Park for 3 nights.  This is a beautiful park halfway between Cheyenne and Laramie Wyoming ~ a great base for exploring both classic western cities and the surrounding area with a very unique landscape.  We refrained from buying boots ($200 - $2000) and took some great drives and bike rides around the Park.

                                               Countryside around Curt Gowdy S.P.

                                                                      Pronghorn

                                                Crystal Resevoir at Curt Gowdy S.P.

                        Dinner of Wild Sockeye with Curried Lentils at our campsite in Curt Gowdy

                                                Wyoming is the least populated State in the Country!

Vendauloo is a popular rock climbing destination just outside of Sheridan

                     Thanks for looking -  more to come!

Don and Carol                                              

                              

Across Wyoming!

Hello All!

Since we have been doing a lot of dry camping (without hookups) it has been hard to get out a blog so we have some catching up to do.
We have really been enjoying getting to know Obi Wan-der (our Trailer) and learning to conserve on water and battery when dry camping is a challenge but also rewarding at the same time.
One thing I managed to pull off before we left was setting up the trailer with a 100 watt solar panel and inverter so that we can keep the 2 batteries charged up.   We can grind coffee, and even watch TV if we want!  (Yes we have a tv and DVD player on board)

                                     Carol serving Lunch at Buffalo State Park (note solar panel!)


So...... What have we been up to the last week or so (you might ask?) ?
Well currently we are in the Black Hills of South Dakota , so we have some catching up to do!
We had a great stay at Buffalo Bill State Park - just west of Cody, WY and about 50 minutes from the East entrance of Yellowstone NP.  The setting was beautiful and a great location to enjoy the town of Cody and the Park.
Yellowstone is amazing with all the geyser pools and Yellowstone lake is breathtaking - but we were more impressed with the scenery leading to the entrances leading to the park than in the park.
We have approached Yellowstone from 5 entrances and all the roads leading to the park are mind blowing.

                                     

                                 Shoshone river along Beartooth Hwy near NE entrance of Yellowstone

                                     Alpine Lake along  Beartooth Hwy (above 10,000 ft.)

 West Thumb Geysers along Yellowstone Lake with fly fishermen

  Don fishing on the Shoshone

We loved exploring Montana after including seeing some of the smaller towns that maintain the Western appeal the state is famous for.

We spent part of a day in Red Lodge, MT at their annual Octoberfest and had some good beer and music  as well as exploring shops around town.

                                                          Boots in Red Lodge MT Shop

When we left western MT we headed across the Big Horn Mtns. and stayed near Sheridan, WY where Carol was born XX years ago and lived until she was 1 yr. old.
We stayed at a great little campground (Connor Battlefield State Historic Park) which is one of many historic battlefield sites in the area -  including the Little Bighorn Battlefield which took us back into Montana to visit the site of the Indians one victory over the American Calvary in the long campaign to subdue the  non-compliant Sioux Indians.

From Sheridan it is a 2 hour drive to Devils Tower Natl. Monument and our day and overnite there was fantastic ~  What a phenomenal natural feature.

                                                         Entrance to Devils Tower WY

                                                                        DT

                                                    DT at Sunrise from our campsite

                                          
 So here is where we are at!  I am finally getting this out in Laramie Wyoming and it hopefully it will not be long before you get another post filling you in on our time in South Dakota ~ which we just left for our westward trek across southern Wyoming.

We had a great trip through northern Wyoming on our way to the black hills and we are now heading towards Flaming Gorge and into Colorado.  More on that to come.

For those of you that have done some traveling - you know how being in another country is an eye opening experience and gives you insight into your own culture and  perspectives.  It is always surprising to find differences in perspective travcling oround our own country.  The differences are more subtle but in some ways very significant.
Hope you are all well.   we are having a great time and will try to be more consistent in updating this blog.

Don and Carol

Yellowstone!

We are spending our second night in Livingson, MT just an hour north of Yellowstone National Park.
Livingston is an historic Western town with quite a history as well as a present day haunt for artists, writers, and actors.  We have had a couple of very good meals and are enjoying the laid back ambiance and Montana hospitality that a small town provides.
We arrived late afternoon yesterday and after lunch cruised around town and got settled into our digs at Osens RV park just out of town.  We drove up river for a few miles (the Yellowstone that is) and it was a beautiful time of day for the light and the mountains going up the valley are really stunning.

The weather has been a factor in our plans and we debated whether or not to wait out the cold front in Livingston buton Wednesday we decided to leave our trailer in Livingston and go to the park for the day and check on the camping possibilities and weather in the park (they have been predicting snowfall).  I was great to finally see Yellowstone and spent time at various areas along the way - notably Norris Geyser Pools and Old Faithful.  

                                                              Norris Geyser Pools

The drive through the park is beautiful and with all the talk of bad weather we had a great day.  Lots of Buffalo and Elk and classic scenes with fly fishermen in the Firehole River with steam vents all around.

The idea of hauling the trailer through the Park seems daunting with narrow windy roads, mega traffic and also some really extensive road projects with up to half hour delays.  It turned out to be a good idea to drive up for the day in the truck -  it will be easier to camp outside the park and do day trips in.

                                           Buffalo grazing

                                          fly fisher in the park

Elk everywhere -  right in the center of Mammoth Complex

Right now as I write this on Thursday morning in Livingston ~ there is snow falling and temps in the high 20's.   Our current plan is to drive through Red Lodge to Cody Wyoming on the East side of the Park and spend a couple of days camping at Buffalo Bill State Park and go into the Park - truck only -  Looks like now we might hole up another day in Livingston and head out on Friday when the weather is supposed to improve to Sunny weather!!

                              Thursday Morning 

Well we slept like babies and woke to another beautiful day!
We are here at Heyburn S.P. In Idaho at the south end of Lake Coeur d' Alene and it is a beautiful area.  Our friends Carl and Mimi had been here and raved about it and we can now see why.
There is a paved 73 mile bicycle path that connects Plummer, ID to Mullan, ID and goes along & across the lake and is an old railway converted to a bike trail.  We're here for 2 more nights and early this evening our friends Phil & Yvonne are going to join us for the first week or so as we make our way across Montana.

Here is a link to the park:
http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/heyburn

Did you know that Heyburn S.P. was created in 1908 and is the oldest park in the Pacific N.W.!

Carol on the Trail of the Coeur d' Alenes 

Lake Chatcolet-  bike bridge in background

Carol close to the 24 mile Mark!

Carol, Yvonne, and Phil on the Heyburn SP boardwalk

if you made it this far - then I am am adding onto this several days after the above was posted, but not sent ~ basically because of a lack of wifi support and maybe the learning curve being a little above that of Stuart & Sara - who told me how easy it would be to set up this blog in the first place. ;)

Also our plans have been altered somewhat because of some unforeseen weather coming into Montana and we have had to bypass Glacier NP (Major Bummer) and have headed towards Yellowstone NP and we are currently in Livingston, MT  - which is about an hour and a half north of the park.  We are still looking at some very cold and inclement eather over the next couple of days and might spend 2 nights here before venturing into the park (where camping is at 6500 to 7500 ' elevations.
It is kind of ironic as we were really looking forward to traveling in September  as when we would travel on our winter break from the Rhody - we could not take in places like Yellowstone and Glacier NPs  as they are closed in winter.   Next year we may have to leave in August!

 
                   Oh ~  did I mention where we spent the nite in Missoula?  Well not the most glamorous place but what a beautiful Sunset at our site in the Missoula Walmart lot!  ;-)


We hope to send pics soon of Yellowstone and destinations beyond.   Hope you are all well !

Don and Carol

                  Looking upriver on the Yellowstone - just south of Livingston, MT

Adjusting to Retirement and Hitting the Road

    It's been a little over 11 months since we jumped ship and began what is often termed the third phase of Life - otherwise known as "Retirement".
    After 40 plus years in the restaurant business and having the Rhododendron Cafe for just shy of 30,  we are enjoying our new life which has been anything but laid back!  With many home projects that had been left unattended and some not foreseen we spent much of our time at home (with some travel time thrown in).  ;-)   We also had the fantastic experience of our son Stuart getting married this summer to Sara our wonderful new daughter-in-law.

                                                                      Stuart & Sara


 So this brings us to "the Now" and the beginning of a 10 week road trip!   Did I mention that this year we also became the proud owners of our new 23' Trail Lite Travel trailer "Obi-Wan".

Obi Wan at Heyburn S.P. south Lake Coeur d' Alene, Idaho.

There is 73 miles of paved bike path - much of which is alongside the length.
Pics coming to show more of that!

 It has been quite a few years since we have done any trailering - but we do love road trips and this one has all the promise of being a great one.

So come along with us as we explore some of the beauty of the western U.S. and we'll let you ride shotgun as we head on down the highway!