The Last Day...... Home

Our last few driving days through Wyoming and Montana were miserable.  In two days we were only able to drive about 300  miles and were still 150 miles from Yellowstone.  
By this time, everyone was tired, cranky and ready to get home so we decided when Saturday, May 21st, dawned drizzly to just get in the RV and drive as long as the weather held.  Yellowstone would have to wait.

The weather held and drive we did.

Through Western Wyoming, Central and Western Montana (which is *beautiful*), the panhandle of Idaho, Eastern Washington and finally....

hitting the Columbia Gorge in Oregon.

Mt Hood

We arrived home Saturday night at 11:30.    Nine Hundred and Thirteen Miles, Five States and Eighteen Hours later. 

It was great to walk through the front door.

I'm sure I'll have a couple more post trip posts, but, for now, I think I'll go have another cup of coffee and lounge on my couch a bit.   :)

State observations

*In Indiana you can only have a roadside emergency for two hours.  It's true, I saw the signs.



*Texas and Idaho have incredible rest areas.



*Louisiana's non smoking signs are apparently just suggestions.  We also saw our first styrofoam containers in at least 10 years, in Louisiana.



*Texas had this really strange bird called a Grackle.  Good imitators, these Grackles--we heard a fine car alarm imitation one morning.



*New Mexico loves a good Chinese Buffet.  They are everywhere.



*Pennsylvania has a reputation for having the worst roads in the country, yet the  roads we drove on in Pennsylvania were just fine.



*Georgia's WalMart carries Krispy Kreme doughnuts while Wisconsin's WalMart has a horrible cheese selection.  Strange.



*Mobile, Alabama looks like a beautiful city to visit.



*South Dakota is the land of cheesy, roadside tourist attractions.



*In Sparta, Wisconsin you can visit the Deke Slayton and Bicycle Museum.  Huh?  Yes, that is the same place.


*Wyoming has terrible water.  Why, I wonder?  No one lives here!



*The really old section of every town in America is "Historic" and should be visited.  I guess.


*I think Montana is a pretty state - hard to tell since all we've seen is rain.   :(

Thank Goodness for Handy Husbands

Yup, another problem-- the electrical transfer switch died tonight meaning we didn't have electricity.   Sigh.

Keith was able to rewire and bypass the switch, giving us power and buying us time.

*IF* the weather holds, we can be home in just two days.

Still Raining

We decided to skip Yellowstone and just try to make it home.

We only made it about 166 miles today due to the rain.  We really need a break so that we can get some serious miles in and get through the mountains and into WA.  We've traveled over 7500 miles so far, but this last 1000 is going to take us forever at this rate.

Here's hoping for some clearing tomorrow so that we can get clear of some of the worst of it.

Oh Boy. We Might Need to Build an Ark to Get Home.

We intended to drive 330 miles today and then another 200 on Friday to arrive at Yellowstone.

Our run of good weather is at an end.  This area of WY/MT is getting hammered with rain.  Everything is flooding and they are expecting 2 inches by Saturday, which wouldn't be a problem for us EXCEPT...

Remember the red neck water ingestion fix that didn't work back in Utah?  Yeah, we went through three air filters today and only went about 200 miles.   This RV does not like rain and rain is in the forecast for this whole area for the entire upcoming week.

We are going to attempt to make it to Yellowstone tomorrow, but if we can't, we're just going to continue on and limp our way home.  Fortunately, if we have to miss Yellowstone, it's only a two day drive away.

Here's hoping the storm moves through faster than anticipated!

Where's Slippery Soap?

At Devil's Tower National Monument

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (and Devil's Tower)

We're stopped here in Sundance, WY where, yes, The Sundance Kid got his name.  He spent some time in the local jail and there is a decent museum in downtown Sundance, along with a bronze statue.

We then headed out to Devil's Tower National Monument where the rain held off long enough for us to complete the 1.3 mile loop around the base of the tower.

We finished up by having lunch at Cindy B's in Aladdin, WY - population 15.  The place was run down and, by appearances, a total dive, but the burgers, pie and fries were delicious!

Squeezed at the Reptile Gardens

Yup, we did it.  Had our wallet squeezed at a bona fide South Dakota tourist trap.  We stopped at the Reptile Gardens on our way out of South Dakota today.  

They have all kinds of snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles and spiders on display - they even have a Komodo dragon.

We watched a snake show, saw a king cobra and petted an albino python.  They also had a collection of poisonous tree frogs.   It was a pretty neat place - for a tourist trap. 

Crazy Horse

Today we visited Crazy Horse, the largest sculpture in progress in the world.  Pretty impressive, especially given the fact that this is being done without any government funding.

What's been done so far

Close up of the finished head

When finished....

The museum

Tomorrow we are off to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower.  The forecast calls for rain, but here's hoping the weatherman is wrong.

Where's Slippery Soap?

At Mount Rushmore.

Mount Rushmore and the Needles Scenic Drive

Today dawned chilly and cold, but clear, so it was off to Mt Rushmore!

We took the scenic route which took us through this tunnel

and gave us this view on the other side.

We still had about 3 miles to go to the actual monument.....

Once there we took the obligatory family and Mt. Rushmore pictures that everyone sees on postcards and in magazines.

 We then walked the Presidential loop which takes you down in front of the mountain.  It was really cool to see it from all the different angles. Did you know you can see Teddy Roosevelt's spectacles?  I never realized that.

We then headed out to the Needles Scenic Drive and encountered this view of Washington as we left. 

This drive took us up to 6200 feet and through the most awesome tunnel I've ever been through.  We came around a corner and saw this

only to drive around to the left and through this 8' 4 wide one lane tunnel at the top of a mountain.  Cool.

Of course, we stopped at the other side to take another picture, feed the cute chipmunks and admire the incredible view.

The drive was windy, narrow and offered up some great views of the Needles and the incredibly blue sky here in South Dakota.