July 16, 2009, Thursday:
I discovered this morning on my morning walk with Daisy that if we had gone to the south side of the reservoir to camp, there were showers and other facilities that we didn’t have on the north side. It turned out that we had unknowingly made the correct decision. Dogs were not allowed on the south side, and the mosquitoes were vicious. We had our showers and left at 10:30am, planning to stop at the Bighorn Canyon National Recreational Area, located in both MT and WY. We would spend the night in one of the campgrounds that was accessed from the south through Lovell WY. On the drive there Susie identified another flower, the Mexican Hat. This flower grows along the eastern base of the Rockies from WY south into Mexico. We stopped at the Visitor Center (BLM), and they were very helpful. We were told that the Bighorn Lake was 6 feet above normal, the first time in years that the level has been above average. Looking at the exhibits, Susie remembered a PBS program, titled Cloud, on wild horses in the west. The film was made here in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, which is to the west of and partially included in the BCNRA. The BLM is charged with managing the herd and has tried ways other than helicopters to herd them to capture. Unfortunately, the alternatives are much more costly, and there is a question if the more expensive program will be continued. We drove north on WY37, stopping at the Horseshoe Bend Campground to check availability.
There wasn’t a tree in sight, so off we went, headed north to Barry’s Landing to check out that campground. On the way, after crossing back into MT, we stopped at the Devil’s Canyon Overlook where the Bighorn River flowed 900 feet below the overlook. Across the river was a meander that had been cut off over the years and had left exposed Natural Corrals, proving, I suppose, that the climate in this area was much warmer a long time ago. Down on the river was a privy placed on a floating barge so that people boating had a place to do their business. 
As we continued north, we saw a female big horn sheep. The animal was in the process of shedding its winter coat and looked very scruffy. Also, all those pictures you see in the magazines of big horn sheep, those are generally rams with the big horns; the females have much smaller horns. A bit further on we saw 5 wild horses drinking water from puddles beside the road. 
We are glad to report that the small herd of one stallion, three mares and one foal were in excellent condition The elevation of Barry’s Landing was about 3,700 feet and the temperature about 90 degrees. We decided that we had seen all that we wanted to and headed out, proceeding east on Alt 14A crossing the Bighorn Lake on a causeway. When we were here in 2006 and coming west on Alt 14A, there was almost no water flowing under the bridge. Now water seemed to be everywhere. Good News! We wanted to reach a higher elevation so that the temperature would be less, and so we started climbing a 10% grade from 5,700 feet to 8,900 feet at the Porcupine Campground in the Bighorn National Forest. A wonderful surprise, here we were some 3,000 feet above the floor of the Bighorn Basin, 15 miles from the nearest town, just entering the Bighorn National Forest and the cell phone rings. It was Kimberly. She and Susie talked about all sorts or things, especially the new Dalmatian puppy, Violet, and her (Kimberly’s) pregnancy. She is due in mid-November. At 8:30pm at the Campground, the temperature is 58 degrees and possibly could fall into the 40’s. I am now in the process of resolving the impossible task of how to stay at this altitude all the way home so we don’t get too hot. There are rumors of a wonderful hiking trail from the Campground. We’ll confirm that tomorrow. The mosquitoes around here are thick and aggressive. They don’t seem to bother Susie as much as me. She can sit out, and I need to be indoors. Just after the sun set, I was walking over to the pit toilet and thought that I saw an odd shape. I turned on the flashlight and saw the hindquarters of a large animal. I thought horse, but then it backed away from the tree, and I saw the big head of a young moose. I returned to the RV and told Susie. We both went out, and I was unable to find my moose, but Susie saw two, we believe a mother and her baby. I guess they had enough of us, jumped the fence and wandered off. That was it for the night. The skies were dark, the moon had not risen and the stars were bright. Nothing like being in a place with no light pollution.July 17, 2009 Friday:
It was 48 degrees this morning and there were two (that I know of) very short rain showers before 7:00am. This morning we decided to stay for a second night, giving us time to take a hike someplace through the surrounding meadows. The Camp Host directed us to a NFS Station one mile down the road, but they were all on work detail. We found a map posted in a shelter, but a critical part had been removed, and it was such a small scale that the detail didn’t show. We tried to sort it out and then return to the campground to tell the coupe from Memphis what we had found, but by that time, they were already a trail that showed on my GPS and the NFS map. It wasn’t much of a trail, or maybe it had been and was abandoned many years ago. We are finding that maps and GPS data has not been updated or new roads replacing old, and the old ones still showing. Pretty aggravating. We finally straighten ourselves out and returned to the RV to make a lunch and get proper equipment, plus prepare Daisy for the hike. We had a nice 4-mile round trip walk across meadows full of wild flowers and indications of places where animals had laid down to sleep or rest.
We at lunch in the woods and walked back taking a slightly different track to avoid crossing Porcupine Creek and some small streams. Susie did better than I, more patient I suppose. Both my feet were wet but neither of hers was. We returned to the RV at 3:30pm and had a rest before starting our afternoon activities. I am trying to work out our schedule for the rest of the trip.July 18, 2009 Saturday:
Today is the day we leave the Bighorn Mountains. It is a neat place and feels as if a set of mountains were uplifted about 6,000 feet above the land below. I say that because you have to climb that amount to get onto the plateau and then go down the same amount to get off. The highest we went was at Medicine Wheel NM, just a bit below 10,000 feet.
This is an ancient Native American sacred place, and a spoked-wheel laid out on the ground and marked with stone. It is not a building, and the only indication of living quarters, and this is a guess, were the small circular rings at the perimeter of the big ring that may have been there to hold tepees in place. I can visualize the winds that blow across this mountain top all times of the year. We continued east an US14A until it ended at US14. We continued east on US14 and found that they are in the process of straightening this road and taking out many, if not all, of the switchbacks. Nothing like big equipment and dynamite to move rock! US14 in Wyoming is the northern-most road in the state, and we suspect truckers will use it extensively. Of course, when it really snows, it may be difficult to keep open. US14A is closed during the winter. When we came down out of the mountains we came across a viewing area for the ‘Fallen City’, a number of very large granite rocks that were about the size of buildings with a height of 6-10 stories, thus the name. I don’t think we have ever seen anything like this before. When we reached the plain, and the boring part of the trip, we stopped in the town of Dayton WY where we had lunch at the Branding Iron Restaurant. The food was good, especially the pie a la mode. The waitress was a bit old than we, and she kept us in line. The land out here is mostly sage and used for grazing, plus it seems that natural gas grows well here. It is not very attractive, but I suspect we knew that in our hearts as we left the Bighorn Mountains. We stopped in an RV park in Gillette WY because we were afraid that the State Park some 30 miles further would be filled, being it was Saturday night. Susie made the comment that Wyoming equals big trucks, ATV’s and chainsaws, but she could become a western WY and MT girl, but only during the summer months.July 19, 2009 Sunday:
Daisy had a bad night last night; once again the effects of coming down from high altitude (10,000 feet) to lower altitude (4,800 feet). She was up every 2 hours, and I had to take her for a walk. I finally stayed up at 6:00am, took a shower and rattled around the RV (making more noise as it became later) until Susie got up. It was a bit cloudy, but we followed our plan to visit Devils Tower National Monument as our last big event in WY before we passed into SD. As we drove from Gillette east on I-90 we saw numerous oil/gas drilling rigs, but the most surprising was the coal generating plant on the south side of the road and a small but growing open-pit coal mine on the north. A conveyor under I-90 connected the two. The BNSF has a set of railroad tracks that pass by the plant, and Susie and I wondered if they were selling any of the coal or if it was all being used to supply the plant. A few miles east, we saw three long coal hauling trains, and we assumed that they were waiting to be loaded so some of the coal from the open pit is probably being shipped some other place. We passed north of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands, with an area of 1,800,339 acres. In the early years settlers familiar with farming in humid areas homesteaded the area with catastrophic results. The area turned into a dust bowl. It has now been replanted with native plants and is being used with great success as grazing land for sheep, cattle and pronghorn antelopes. At the north edge of this grassland, which is blessed with great energy resources, operates one of the largest coalmines in the US. There was a two-issue article in the New Yorker magazine a few years ago about this mine and the challenges of transporting the coal, some of which was sent to a huge power plant somewhere in the southeast. The train never stops as it is unloading and returns empty to WY for another load. There is a scenic road that includes Devils Tower, and the routing is, from I-90 Exit 153, US 14 north, continuing past Devils Tower and then turning left (south on WY111. It is very different from the land we past through from Buffalo WY to Moorcroft WY on I-90. Susie and I couldn’t believe the difference. The route was generally flat with an elevation of approximately 4,000 feet until past Devils Tower
when it climbed in to the Black Hills National Forest and the Bear Lodge Mountains to reach a high elevation of 4,400 feet. It seems like an insignificant amount, but all of a sudden the grass turned green and lush and we found many ranches that were harvesting and bailing hay. It reminded us of the east coast with its lushness. We returned to I-90 and continued east into SD and Rapid City. Rapid City is host to one of the largest and most famous Harley Davidson rallies in the USA. We only know about this because in 2006 we ran in to some folks headed there. It was hot today, but a cold front was expected and did arrive with thunder and lighting and heavy rain. The RV Park we are in is packed full as it is close to Mt Rushmore NP, Wind Cave NP, Custer SP and the incomplete Crazy Horse Memorial. We are hoping to get the RV house battery issue resolved in Rapid City before we push on further east. Tomorrow Meredith and Michael Ray close on their new house in Indianapolis IN. Happy Days are here!July 20, 2009 Monday:
Oops, talked to Meredith today, and the closing will be on Wednesday due to a law that requires the buyer to have the appraisal in hand for 3 days before the closing. That makes the closing on Wednesday. Today was unusual one in that whatever we had planned seemed to go amiss. We tried to go to Safeway for some minor stuff and Gabby Garmin had us doing all sorts of silly things. We eventually took measures into our own hands and got there. Next was the stop at the Interstate Battery store to check on the RV house battery. There has been some road configuration in the area and Gabby had us on the wrong side of the tracks, figuratively and literally. In addition, the address on the Interstate web site was wrong because they had recently moved. It turned out that the battery was in good shape, but for some reason it was not getting a full charge. More investigation is needed, but when we get home. Off we went, headed towards Badlands NP in SD. Along the way, we noticed great areas being hayed and even the areas between the fence and the road surface (the right-of-way). This serves to give the ranchers more feed and eliminates the need for the road departments to mow. Seems like a good concept to me. Most of the ranchers out west no longer bale the hay in rectangular shapes, but now make roll bales. The roll bales are easier to handle in large quantities. We took the scenic route US44 along the south side of the Park and entered at the southeast entrance. We took the road through the center of the Park from east to west, losing some of the easterly progress we had made earlier in the day. We saw a herd of 25+ Bighorn Sheep, primarily females and young ones, at the end of the drive. It was 5:30pm when we pulled into a RV Park in Wall SD. If that rings a bell, Wall Drug is really a mini-mall in the town and seems to be the obligatory stop if one is traveling the northern route across the country.
We saw at least 6 tour busses in the parking lots, and many people with nametags pinned to their shirts. Back in the 1930’s Wall Drug’s first marketing ploy was to offer free ice water to shoppers. We toured the many stores in the evening and will stop there in the morning to get 5-cent coffee and fresh donuts. They seem to sell everything in this place, but we only bought a commemorative pin and an ice cream cone. We had steak, corn and green beans for dinner, mostly cooked outside. The little Coleman stove had a hard time boiling water due to the strong north winds. It was a much cooler day than usual, and most everyone we saw commented on this fact. Daisy is feeling much better, and we hope we are near the end of her altitude problems.
July 21, 2009 Tuesday
It was cooler last night, and we had a better sleep. Susie gave Daisy a bath, and she smells much better. There was a hair-cutting shop across from the RV Park and needing help Susie called over for both of us. The earliest they could take us was 11:00am and too late. We took showers and left the RV Park at 10:00am and headed to the public parking lot in Wall. We found a spot near the trees and in the shade. I thought we would be able to keep Daisy cool and pull right out after Susie took her pictures of boots and hats, and I bought fresh donuts.
When we walked back, we noticed several RV had pulled in, and from a distance I thought we were trapped. Luckily we were able to back out and escape, but I’m sure some others were trapped for a while. We headed east on I-90 through gently rolling grasslands. We saw few houses and even fewer cattle, but lots of hay bales. They even harvested the hay down the median of I-90 plus along the shoulders. We continued east and to be truthful it was a bit boring. We were desperately looking for a rest area so that we could stop and make lunch, but I guess out here no one stops for anything so we drove straight to Fort Pierre SD and had a late lunch at a restaurant we learned about from the Visitor Center. It had recently reopened after major renovations (we were told) but it really needed help with the food. I was dying for an omelet, thinking that would be fresh but had to settle for a club sandwich that wasn’t anything to write home about. We continued along to visit the State Capital complex.
The building is coming up on its 100 birthday. We spent about an hour inside walking three floors. It is a great building with materials and workmen from all around the world. Hopefully the pictures will show you the magnificence. We discovered that even though the dividing line between the Mountain and Central Time Zones is down the channel of the Missouri River, leaving Pierre and Fort Pierre in different time zones, the people have decided they belonged in the Central Time Zone, so we lost an hour. At least tomorrow morning the sun will not be rising before 6:00am. We have pulled into the Oahe Downstream Recreation Area for the night. They have electricity at the sites but no water, not a problem for us. Susie is working on her pictures for the next issue of her blog. Daisy wanted to go swimming so badly, but now that she is clean and doesn’t smell, it will be a while.
July 22, 2009 Wednesday:
HAPPY 42ND ANNIVERSARY TO US! Since we were operating as if we were in the CDT Time Zone, even if we were on the west side of the Missouri River, the sun came up later than just the day before. We were out of bed at 7:30am and on the road by 9:30am. We decided to drive over the top of the Oahe Dam and discovered to our amazement that there didn’t seem to be any way for commercial water traffic to pass upstream of the structure. When we have wifi again, I’ll check on that question. We headed east on US14 to Miller SD and turn north on SD45, planning to intersect US212 east to Watertown SD. When we reached US212, We found that the road was closed, so we turned around and headed south to SD26 and headed east again. After a few zigs and zags, we were able to get back on US212 and head into Watertown. The trip across SD from Pierre to Watertown was a study in rolling hills, pastureland and crop producing land. It was green without irrigation. The farms were well kept and the equipment was generally new. There were more John Deere and Case International dealers than Wal-Marts. What a refreshing change. Approximately 30 miles west of Watertown, we passed through the town of Clark, with a population of 1,285 people. What was most interesting and first caught my eye was a grouping of 7 cars, all the same model and year. All were painted the in the same color scheme and were lined up in 2 columns. After that we saw a sculpture of old steel wagon wheels and then two sculptures of wooden poles installed in the ground at a slope.
There were no signs about the origin, so we named this area the Stonehenge of SD. We pushed on, realized we were hungry and stopped under a tree in the town of Henry, population 268, and had lunch. Interestingly, there was a restored 2-story square house, with additions, that was the class of the town. It seemed a bit out of place, but it was nice. AS we drove east from Henry, the more lakes and ponds we saw. There were white pelicans on most of them. This northeast portion of the state is known as the Glacial Lakes Region. We finally reached Watertown and the Terry Redland Museum. I had never heard of him, no great surprise there, but neither had Susie. According to the magazine, US Artists, he was voted the most popular American artist 8 years running. It turned out that he had donated $1.8 million towards the construction of the building, which was designed by his son. Anyway, when we walked it, the paintings reminded us of velvet paintings we have seen on street corners. He must have sold numerous prints from the original oil paintings hung in the museum, but they weren’t to our taste.
There was a small room where approximately two dozen of his graphite sketch drawings that were studies for his paintings. We thought these were the best, but to each his own. Susie said that she had never been in and out of an art museum so quickly. We jumped back into the RV and headed south to Cottonwood Lakes SP in preparation for going to Brookings for three AAA Gems tomorrow. There are 2 campgrounds in the Park, There are big trees everywhere in Campground 1 and small going to be big trees in 30 years in Campground 2. We’re in Campground 1. We have been warned that they are going to spray for mosquitoes tonight between 9:00pm and 11:00pm. Glad we’re not tent camping. It has been a long time that I’ve heard about spraying, but the SD SP’s we’ve been in seem to do it regularly. We stopped at 5:00pm after having driven 266 miles.
