On the Road to Yellowstone..Spring/Summer 2012

Mt. Rushmore at night

After another quick stop in Omaha, we stayed basically along the same route that Lewis and Clark took, up the Missouri River basin through Nebraska and then a left in Sioux City,Iowa to pick up Interstate 80 and then toward South Dakota. It's now mid May 2012, and our next overnight stop was a little detour off I-80 to South Dakota's capital city of Pierre. We noticed an RV parking area right on the banks of the Missouri before you drive over the bridge into the town center. There was no one else there but after checking around, we found a space that actually had electricity and water that worked and we hooked up. After making dinner at home, we drove into town and looked at all the cozy little houses, the state capital building and offices, and saw the little movie theater with a nice sized crowd waiting in line to buy tickets. Of course this was our chance to interact with the locals so we got in line and went to the movies. It's a small town so we saw nobody texting in the theater, no one talked loud when the show began, nearly everyone smiled, and a few of them even said "hi", probably wondering who we were. We notice that sort of thing a lot in small towns we visit. We're still not used to it either, coming from the big city. There is a difference. It's a little perk for being on the road...like going back in time. Anyway, the next morning, after looking around at the park near our camp and reading the signs about the Lewis and Clark Expedition camping there too, over 200 years ago, we headed back toward I-80 to pick up our trek west to Rapid City.
We made our next major stop in Rapid City, after a night in Wall, SD to visit the famous Wall Drug. This place has been around with highway signs on I-80 since the 1930's. Some folks think it a tourist trap, but we found it fun and worth the stop. It covers about a third of the little town center, offers 5 cent coffee and handmade donuts in the morning, and, well there's so much stuff about it on the web, you can look for yourself http://www.walldrug.com/t-history.aspx/ .
Rapid city is a good sized town of around 70,000 and is the gateway to Mount Rushmore and The Black Hills. Our visits (twice, once during the day and also at night!) were awe inspiring...better than the pictures you see! We took a day trip to The Badlands National Park and did a little hiking, and spent quite a bit of time exploring the revitalized downtown in Rapid City. There are neat restaurants (best one we stopped in was Tallys Silver Spoon http://tallyssilverspoon.com/#f07/custom_plain),

President Reagan in front of Tallys Silver Spoon

shops, and park areas all around, and the town has a very good and active feel, even at night. There are statues of the presidents scattered all over downtown, with lots of benches to sit and pass the time at a bit slower pace than the big city (here we go again). Next, it's on to Sheridan, Wyoming, another surprisingly cool little city. This place has lots of uptown vibe also, especially for a much smaller population center (around 17,000). Sheridan's city center boasts lots of good eateries and coffee places (if you're there, check out Red Velvet http://www.facebook.com/RedVelvetBakeryAndTapas). We even walked in to one eating place and noticed the baked goods for sale in their little bakery section. We asked if they could bake us some fresh bread (we were having a tough time finding some REAL bread, without any funny stuff in it!!) and they did. We picked it up the next morning, and they told us they baked two loaves for us. It was still warm. Need we say any more? After exploring downtown, it was time for another day trip. This time to The Bighorn National Forest. This drive takes you through some of the most scenic and diverse land that we visited in the gorgeous State of Wyoming. No photos can do it justice, and the main attraction was our first Moose sighting! We were driving back towards home and there he (or she) was, just standing in a field, not too far off the road. Another traveler stopped, walked over to us and looked quizzically..."Is that a........M? "Yep! We both replied at the same time." We stared a few moments and then back on our way. He looked almost out of place to us. It could almost have been an Elephant or Giraffe. We've seen several more since, but that first one was really neat. After a week in Sheridan and getting to really know the place, it was finally time to start moving closer to Yellowstone. We wanted to get there before the big tourist rush because we'd heard the stories of rush hour like traffic.

The drive between Sheridan and Thermopolis, with a short stop in the cool little town of Buffalo, was harrowing. Harvey had no problem climbing the 10,000 foot pass with Smarty in tow, but near the top we ran into a rain, wind, and snow storm that was blowing good sized rocks (one about 10 inches diameter) on to the road. They were falling off the sides of the steep cliffs and besides the fact that we were on a narrow, two lane winding road, chiseled along the mountain, there was nowhere to go except over the cliff. We did make it through with a sigh of relief.

Downtown Buffalo,Wy

 Soon after that, we reached Thermopolis, Wyoming, to visit the mineral baths. This was a very fun place to spend a night or two. Besides their quaint little downtown area with  a couple of good restaurants, the state park mineral baths are locally famous and terrific. To be fair to all and to follow the wishes of the Indian tribes in the area who lent the land, everyone gets 20 minutes in the water. Not sure if they're as therapeutic as some think, but it sure feels terrific to soak in 104 degree mineral water for awhile. While relaxing in the hot water, we were disrupted by a scene straight out of one of the Chevy Chase Vacation movies! A family from Wisconsin all jumped into the pool at the same time, announcing.."We're goin' to Yellowstone and all have to be back in the car and dried off in 30 minutes!! We can drive two more hours before stopping again. HURRY!!!" Whew, our leisurely trip towards Yellowstone suddenly notched way up into another gear. Gotta beat those tourists!!!!!!!!!!!! We managed to calm ourselves down, but did leave the next morning and dead-headed straight to Yellowstone.