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