2016 Road Trip - Day 11 & 12

Day 11: Big Plans today so we headed out of our Devils Tower campsite but first we had two things we needed to do.

One, take a family photo in our Mariner's gear.

My side of the family will appreciate this photo, I tried to use my timer so I could join in the photo. (We have many family photos of my father looking the same way as me.)

Two to stop by "Prairie Dog Town" so Jo could get up close and snap a few photos.

(This is the ground at the base of Devils Tower, Prairie Dogs everywhere!)
No zooming in to get a close up as some of those little dogs came running right up to Jo and posed for her.

Headed to the stone faces today but first stop would be North Dakota. Why do we want to go to North Dakota?
1. To get a geocach.
2. So we can all say we have been there.
Is there any other reason to go to North Dakota?

But then the conversation turned:
Jill: You know we are going to be very close to Sturgis?
Me: What? REALLY?
Jill: Yes, what if we set up camp near Sturgis, drive into town and then jet up and back to North Dakota in just Lucy?
Me: REALLY? We can go to Sturgis?

Yes we can and yes we did.

We took the kids to eat at One Eyed Jack's

Both kids were quite uncomfortable sitting at the outside bar with the ladies dressed in not much other than leather, fish nets. More skin showing than clothes.
 
But they powered through and the food was good.
And WE GOT TO GO TO STURGIS!

The town was/is setting up for the 76th annual event so everyone in town was quite busy. Jo bought a shirt and Mom got a new hat.
AWESOME!

Back to the town of Spearfish to set up camp and head North. The temperature was quite high and no one was really moving quickly after getting Ethel set up for the night.

Oma took the kids to the stream that was close to camp so they could cool off and even Doug got in the water. Did I say it was hot?

We decided to pass on N.Dakota and just "be". So we did a little laundry, got some fresh produce at a market and tasted some local ice-cream, showered and called it a night.

It's Hot...I really mean it's HOT! (Although Jill ins't suffering too much)

Stone Faces on day 12 I guess and no North Dakota this trip.

Day 12: All refreshed and ready for a very long day, as it did turn out to be.

Stone Faces here we are!

Again, Doug was not allowed to enter so Oma stayed with him in Ethel while the rest went to see our Fathers.


I have heard others state that they were not impressed with this as they thought they might be, but I was extremely impressed as was Cole. With the technology of the time to measure, blast and sculpture this is very impressive.

And I have heard for days and days now that we must get ice-cream at Mt. Rushmore.

So these two did.

Conversation has turned a little to "is this all we are going to do? See that tree, see that rock and ooooh and ahhhh?" A little force behind this conversation. The confinement of the truck has caught up to us.

We did a turn off at Crazy Horse, was given a pamphlet for the history and did the "Ooooo....Ahhhh" and kept driving without getting out of the car.

What is Wall Drug?
Well after seeing all the billboards Oma finally said, "We must stop".

Life is grand when you see something and it makes you think of someone special in your life. It has happened often on this trip. This one however is for Connie. Jackalope, baby!!


Fun place to get out and stretch legs and they let Doug in all the stores but the cafe which was great! The kids seem much happier as well.

Badlands were neat. It's amazing to see how different terrain can be from one mile to the next.

We drove through a good chunk of this but only made a few stops for viewing.

Big Horn Sheep! We have kept our eyes open this whole trip to see one of these and we finally found two grazing on grass in the Badlands.

Happy people in Lucy, this was not a rock or tree to look at!

West = Home.
Not many places or any to pulloffs for dinner so we pushed onto Wounded Knee knowing we could grab a little history and eat dinner.

It was not a comfortable spot to stop at 8:30pm as we were immediately approached by locals asking to buy dream catchers or just donate to them (over and over). We quickly ate and left without truly appreciating what this area was about.

Nebraska! Another state and another Walmart for the night in Chadron, NE.
Cooler weather helped with sleep along with it being almost midnight when we were in bed.

2016 Road Trip - Day 10

Day 10: Oma and Jo grab their geocaches this morning and did you know that these statues are in every state?

We are going to have to do a little research on this of course but this is what the sign indicated.

Started our day earlier to get a jump on the driving and any stops we happen to come across along the way that we might not know we wanted to stop at.

The town of Ten Sleep.
Passed this sign and turned around so Oma could jump out and grab a geocache and a photo of the sign to read to us as we kept driving.

Bet you didn't know you would learn a  little history from the BS Family Blog?

And then there would be this stop.

One must always stop for Crazy Lady.
It's really a sad story about a family traveling during in the frontier days when they were attacked by Indians, all were killed but the mother. She managed to kill four Indians in a return attack before they left. A mountain man soon found her and buried her family for her. She refused to leave them so this man built a cabin for her and left a warning for other Indians to leave her alone, using the heads of the Indians she had killed. The man who helped her found her at some point deceased in her cabin from malnutrition.

And there you go, a little more history you never thought you might know.

The highways here have pull out parking areas every so often with large dumpsters and nothing more. We used one today for our lunch stop just East of Buffalo, WY. And yes, we managed this stop before any crankiness bubbled over.

So using the "Ten Sleep" travel index we traveled about Six Sleeps to get to one of Mom's bucket list stops (based off a start in Yakima).

Ever since the Close Encounter movie I have always wanted to stand at this site and see it with my own eyes.

We tortured the kids with this movie before we left home over Ten Sleeps ago. They appreciated it for what it was and loved the ending.

Nerd Allert! Do you see it?
I love that my family plays with me.

Oma and Jo hiked a little around the base.

What an incredible site this is. Absolutely amazing and beautiful.

Storm came in as we were heading down the hill and so we decided to stay in the campground at the bottom for the night.

It was a cool storm, lots of rolling thunder and lightning that streaked or filled the clouds with light and then very large rain drops that came down in buckets. It didn't last too long and moved through quickly, plus it cooled down the evening nicely.

Mom is in heaven seeing this image.

Happy Mom and Happy Family.

2016 Road Trip - Day 9

Day 9: Packed up and headed through Yellowstone with Ethel in tow.

First stop would be Lower Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pot.

Oma and the kids took the walk around as Doug and I hung out in Ethel and waited.

What we have learned is that taking a dog with you on vacation isn't always the best idea as no dogs allowed on the walk ways. And it's just too hot to leave him in the truck or Ethel. Live and learn.

Next stop Midway Geyser.

This parking lot was SO FULL that I couldn't even park, I just drove with the flow of traffic in the parking lot circle until the family got back.

Black Sand Basin seemed quiet so we pulled in there and even parked!

I was able to get out and take my first look at these bubbling pools of water and color. Incredible. It's like we are not even on planet earth. So glad I was able to walk these paths and see this wonder! (Walking is getting easier each day as the pain becomes less.)

Bison? We want to see a bison!
Got our wish!
Oma took Doug outside for a quick pee when a bison walked out of the bushes next to her. She quickly came and got us so we could also view this magnificent beast, while Oma had to changed her shorts! ;-)

Cole was able to get this photo as I tried but the camera was on a selfie and I couldn't find the reverse button quick enough. I guess I could have snapped a photo of myself "seeing" the bison but it just wouldn't have done the bison justice.

OH NO!
As we were standing there admiring the bison who had just walked away another bison walked out of the bushes right behind...directly behind Jo and Cole. We all jumped back quickly and this time I had the camera correct.

This is how close we were...well, Jo was probably closer at the time the bison was first spotted. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

The bison didn't seem to care one way or the other that we were standing there, he was on his way to the river for a drink and a sauna I guess.

Continental Divide = COOL!

OK, I understand what this place is but I had zero clue that there was a river that flowed both directions (really, its a pond, but the point is about water flow...)

What an incredible thing. Mother Earth is just awesome!!!

Stopped Traffic? Must mean some sort of animal to photograph.

What a rack on this dude!!!

Mud Volcano...is stinky.

A stranger told me to go stick my foot in the mud bath as it would probably heal me faster. I love people, they make me laugh often.

Dragon Mouth is also stinky but cool looking. It did remind me of a dragon breathing out of the mouth of the cave. The sound of the water and steam also helped this effect.

Time to move out of Yellowstone, or so Mom thought.

Jo: "Can we swim?"

So we stopped at Yellowstone Lake and the kids swam and skipped rocks for about a half hour. Water was cold and according to the kids it was colder the deeper they moved in the water.

It was a nice end to visiting the park.

NOW it's time to head out of Yellowstone.

Cody, WY: Oma ran into the Visitor center to grab a Wyoming map and also got some good information on the roads best travel. We changed our road choice to stay away from some of the higher elevations and steeper grades as Lucy is sounding worse each day.

Greybull, WY: for dinner in Ethel.
Again we drove too long and it was hot and we were cranky.
I'd say live and learn but we probably will do this again.

Fascinating weather. Left Greybull and it was in the low 80's when we hit rain and sideways wind gusts. The temp dropped to 63 and I really had to hold onto the steering wheel. After about five minutes of this we drove out of the rain and the temp again jumped back to the low 80's. Fascinating...like I said.

Worland, WY: for the night.

This is our view from the kitchen table at 6 a.m.
Nice town and nice store manager to let us park for the night. We purchased a few items from his store in thanks. Jo and Oma went for a walk to a park one block away, there was a farmer's market! Tamales for dinner!!! Oh, and Oma got her geocache.

2016 Road Trip - Day 7 & 8

Already over a week. Sure doesn't feel like it.

Day 7: Quiet night's sleep in our RV campground, woke to birds chirping and bunnies running around the campers. Very nice indeed.

Bozeman Trail.

Yup, an informational sign and another beautiful valley surrounded by the Rockies.

Could have made a stop at Ennis as it sure was a cute place. Tons of metal work of people, animals and more. But I think we were all ready to put Ethel into a parking spot that would last a couple days instead of just one night.

Oma did make us stop at an earth-cache at Earthquake Lake. (Thank you Oma and Geocaching)

This lake formed after an earthquake shook loose a hillside. It was so fast and violent that boulders from one side just slid to the other side of small valley without even tumbling. However, the really fascinating thing was that while reading about the incident we met a lady who had been camping down stream and told us her recollection of shaking earth and swaying trees. The sheer amount of earth that was displaced along with how fast created hurricane force winds that make their way down hill. What are the chances of meeting someone who was there in 1959 when a 7.6 earthquake hit?

We pulled into West Yellowstone early afternoon and after unpacking we all took a few hours for ourselves to just be.

Thanks to Oma for pushing us out the door to head into Yellowstone. Stopped in what seemed like a quiet part of the river so the kids could swim. Current still to strong for them to go out to far but the water was warmer than Oregon rivers (according to the kids) and crystal clear. Absolutely beautiful.

We made Old Faithful with 15 minutes before she shot up. Perfect timing.

Another close by spout (Beehive) went off within minutes of Old Faithful, it lasted quiet a long time and people could stand close enough to get soaked.

Not much wild life was seen. We passed a large mammal and Oma yelled out "A female moose! It's a FEMALE MOOSE!!" So we turned around and headed back to take a closer look and maybe grab a photo. When we arrived back to her Oma then said "DAMN IT, It's just an elk, well poop!" We all laughed.

Day 8: Lucy doesn't sound good and I'm sure it's an exhaust leak so we did a few searches online and Mom went out looking for a mechanic. Zero luck finding anyone who had time or did this type of work. Dang it.

Oma did some laundry while the kids slept in and after a bite of lunch we took the kids to Yellowstone Zip Line Adventure Park.

This was a hit as the kids played for over four hours. Some GREAT employees that taught the kids games to play up high like "who can push the other off the log" and...
 
going on the zip line backwards.

Jo, Cole and Clara hanging out for the zip line line.

Cole, Clara and Jo.

It's now towards the end of day 8 and we are doing the rest of our laundry, dinner and cleaning Ethel for our moving forward in the morning.

2016 Road Trip - Day 5 & 6

Day 5: Jill took off in the a.m. to grab some geocaches while the kids were still sleeping and the town was quiet. She called on the
help of some fellow geocachers to grab a web cache. Thanks Mom & Dad.

We then loaded up Ethel and parked down town Leavenworth for a late morning walkabout. A few shops we had each picked out the night before and food were on our to-do's.

Pastries and ginger bread snaps were yummy.

These are always a must do.

It was a HOT day, staying out of the sun was hard and even when we did we were sweating. Oma is loving the heat though, staying out of the sun but loving the heat.

The kids hit the candy store (again) where they bought some old fashioned candies like the wax bottles with sugar drink inside, mini soda cans with pop-like rocks, bubble gum cigarets and pop rocks.

We stopped at a Cheesemonger and the Cure store and sampled all we could and Oma bought a thick slice of garlic cheese And cured bacon. The bacon wrapped around the cheese was a hit on the road later.

And we got our bratwurst too. A little mustard and some sourcrout made it PERFECT! Kielbasa wasn't bad either. This little town would be great to visit in the winter as well with its beautiful mountain backdrop.

Onwards!

Dry Falls on the Coulee. What a spectacular sight. One can only imagine what this would have looked like with water pouring over these cliffs. For scale, Niagara Falls is about 1/4 the size.

And the then the Grand Coulee Dam.

Yup, we pulled into the parking lot and walked to the edge of the viewing area, took this photo and loaded up and headed out.

NOT TRUE! Jo did say "Oooo....Aahhhh...can we go now?"

We also had to do a quick stop at a wheat field because Jo kept saying "I want to stand out in that field and sing The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music".

Stopped at the edge of Wilbur in a gravel lot to fix and eat dinner. Oma grabbed a couple soda's and some fresh cut fries from a local burger place next door. I'd show you a picture here but again, three of the four of us were suffering the heat and crankiness was abundant.

Our final stop for the night was a Walmart in Spokane. I think we are all getting use to hearing freeway noise and semi trucks. I know it's the best night sleep I have gotten so far but then again I'm up at 5:30am and writing this. At least it's cool outside and that feels good.

Thinking another RV park for tonight so we can plug in and run our a/c, plus we would all be able to shower which will feel good as well.

Day 6: Decided to wake the kids early to get an early start. Everyone was loaded up when I stepped out of Ethel and well...we spent the next hour and 1/2 here.

And I have a severe sprain and a small fracture. Now I'm in a boot and with crutches.
Ok, I cried from the pain, but mostly I cried because it was/is going to change my trip and that sucks!

Jill did a fabulous job driving Ethel through town and out on the highways. Quite proud of my girl picking it up with ease. Me on the other hand did NOT do well at all with navigating and reading about the sites we were passing by or coming too. When Jill is navigating she keeps us entertained with facts and details about the areas we're traveling and the three of us are really enjoying this.

We visited the Center of the Universe located in Wallace, Idaho.

Prove that this is not the center of the universe. HA

The kids also grabbed this quick photo located near a restaurant and hotel.

Wallace is a cute little town of just over 900 people and I think most of them ride through town on four wheelers and golf carts. I loved it a lot! Neat buildings and store fronts. Worth the stop.

Pushed on, stopping for about an hour in Missoula, Montana as Jo has begged for two days to swim. Found a nice park where the kids swam about an hour
in the Clark Fork River. (This river seems to go on forever.)

Final stop for the day was Three Forks which is about an hour-plus south east of Billings, Montana.

(huckleberry ice-cream...nom nom)
The mountains are gorgeous and the rolling hills as well. Much cooler weather today and this evening is quite nice. Our park is off the main highway, it might be too quite for all of us to sleep. Not!