More Pictures

We have had a great time in Yellowstone. The family is still together, maybe even closer. Chris has had three days of no Internet and is now catching up. Sue, Jen and I are sitting in the laundry room of this campground east of the Tetons. We are getting ready to make the run east. There is really nothing to see in Nebraska and Iowa. We are planning to hit Niagara Falls. We don't know where we will be on the 4th. I am turning the computer over to Sue to post.

More Pictures Bad Connection

Sorry for the multiple post but the Internet is slow.

More pictures while in the laundry room

9:00 pm MST doing laundry with Sue and Jen. I will continue to post pictures.

More pictures while in the laundry room

9:00 pm MST doing laundry with Sue and Jen. I will continue to post pictures.

Three Days Worth Of Pictures

I will try to upload some pictures now that we areback in internet range. There are more coming.

Pictures good connection

Thought I would throw a few pictures on while we have a good connection.

We are in Cody, Wy!

You know, when you live in the White Mountains, you really think that you live in the mountains, which is an accurate reflection, until you head out west. Let me start at the beginning of our day, so I can paint the whole picture.

We started the day again in Rapid City, SD, and took part in the daily $1.00/person pancake breakfast, and then hit the road. Bill had the trip all mapped out, and we were off for Devil's Tower. Now of course, on the way to Devil's Tower, I had heard about this fabulous little community of Deadwood - home of 80 casino's, with a maximum bet of $5.00 (until last year, when they increased it to $100), so I suggested a slight detour through Deadwood - only about 20 miles out of our way. In order to facilitate this change to our highly planned route, I was charged with adding the stop to our "route" on the gps system. When I did that, Bill must have hit a bump, so I added two stops to the trip - one on route and through Deadwood, and the other at the end of a couple of dead-end roads. So, we traveled to Deadwood, saw the great Main Street, and then proceeded to follow the GPS directions - to this dead-end road. Bill realized that we were headed in the wrong direction just moments too late, which necessitated a 7 point turn, to turn the RV around on this very narrow, children filled road. I must say, Mr. Perry was not pleased with my gps skills, and as such has banned me from using the gps system without assistance.

We eventually left Deadwood, and continued onto Devils Tower - another amazing natural beauty in these fine mountains. It is a great park, with awesome views, and lots of people. It was well worth the visit. We also got to see prairie dogs, in a prairie dog town. They are tiny, and very cute - I was expecting "dog" size, not "mouse" size when I was promised a sighting of prairie dogs.

From Devil's Tower, and after a gourmet meal that Jenny and I put together while Bill was driving (ham and cheese sandwiches), we were off, and decided that we would push it, to make to to Cody today. Well, to get from Devil's Tower to Cody, one must travel through the Big Horn Mountain Range - all 10,000 feet of it. The entire mountain pass was about 50 miles, with at least 30 uphill - at points, I thought we would have to push the RV up the hills - no point for speed limits here, since it is not possible to really accelerate through this area! The scenery was breathtaking, and we were able to capture some amazing pictures. There is this unbelievable lake in the middle of it - with this beautiful lodge - I would highly recommend a visit to this place if you are looking for some true solitude! Meadowlark Lake - check it out.


Well we drove, and we drove and we drove, until we finally reached the lovely community of Cody, Wy - a town founded and established by Buffalo Bill - in fact, we had dinner at Irma's - a restaurant, saloon and inn built by Buffalo Bill in the early 1900's - they offer a nightly all you can eat prime rib buffet each night - can you say - Chatham Bill was in heaven!

And here we sit, at the Cody KOA - Jen and I just returned from the heated pool, where she swam for about an hour, and we are all getting settled into bed. We will make the final leg of our outgoing journey, and head into Yellowstone in the morning. Everyone is excitedeand looking forward to reaching the park. Now we are "dry camping" in Yellowstone, so I think this will be the last blog entry for a couple of days - I don't think that Yogi and his friends require too much internet access in Yellowstone. We will be staying in the park on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and leaving on Saturday - I think at that point, we will be heading south, toward Jackson Hole, and are considering a new route home - perhaps Route 80.

The RV continues to behave itself, as do the kids. Jenny and I played a bunch of games today, and she beat me about a hundred times at connect 4 - they didn't have connect 4 when I was a kid, so I am definitely at a disadvantage. I did manage to beat her once at cribbage, and then she did the same to me - I knew that I shouldn't have taught her all my tricks! Chris spent a good part of the day as co-pilot, and gps manager. He also took tons and tons of pictures - of course, when we saw that he was photographing the mirrors, we had to discuss proper use of lighting and scenery to him - he's getting better, but we do have a handful of pictures of his feet.


I can't add pictures today, since they have been loaded to the other laptop computer - which doesn't have interest access tonight - so when we leave the park on Saturday, we should have lots and lots of great things to update you all on.

Take care!
Thanks for reading!

Sue

Long day, good day!

What a day. We got up early, hit the $1.00 pancake breakfast, then on the tour bus by 8am. We traveled 150 miles and 10 plus hours. We saw a lot! Mt Rushmore is beautiful. The black hills are breathtaking. The road system is 10 times worse than Hurricane. The tunnels just big enough to get the bus through. I tried to talk Sue in bringing the RV back up to the road, she didn't seam to think that was a good idea. Crazy horse is an unbelievable undertaking. Construction still in progress by the sons and daughters of Curzack (SP). The wild life is great. We ran into a buffalo heard and had to wait for them to get out of the road. There had to be 500 or more. Right beside the bus. We learned a lot of history. I have posted just some pictures in the last post. I am attaching the picture of our next rig. Sue really wants to drive the Needle road.

Also a picture of the cat at Crazy Horse visitors center, his name is Thunder just like our cat, except he looks like Lighting his sister.

Tomorrow we are off to Devil's Tower then west toward Yellowstone. Don't really know where we will stay tomorrow night

Pictures

pictures

Pictures

Wow!!!

What incredible 4 days we have had. This country is so huge and so magnificent. The changes we have seen coming across the heartlands is beautiful. The state of SD alone changes so much in 400 miles. Corn farms from Ohio to SD then cattle ranches. The bad lands appear out of nowhere. They are breath taking.

We are parked for the day. Two nights in Rapid City. That means no driving today. We will hop on a buss and see all the local sites in the Black Hills.

The trip has been going very well. The family is still together and talking to each other. We did have some step problems, nothing an $8.00 stool from Wal Mart can't fix. We have run the rig hard on the road. 500 plus miles a day at 70 mi/hr. So far so good. "Team Shasta"

Sue has done a nice job driving the camper. She has handled the narrow construction sites and the winds of the Plains. I think she might be looking at becoming a truck driver when we get back. She keeps pointing out big trucks.

Bill (not Sue)

I am going to try to put up a few pictures from the last couple of days. If I can work the uploader. Then off to the $1.00 pancake breakfast.

We have been through the badlands!

Sunday - we headed out from Sioux Falls this morning, and made our first stop at Walmart - there were a few essentials that we just couldn't do without - of utmost importance was the acquisition of a new "step" since our electric step has decided to malfunction, and is shorting out somewhere - without this step, it is a challenge to get in - getting out is okay. I'm sure in a couple of days, I will have mastered it, and won't need the new step anymore!

We left Walmart, and hit the road - first stop - Cabela's... I don't think any trip across South Dakota could be complete without a stop at Cabela's - a pretty impressive store. I found a new pair of sandals, and some sunglasses (I left home without them...), and picked up some sandals for Bill and Chris too - we also dined at the Cabela Cafe, and had yummy salads! Cabela's was in Mitchell, SD, and then we were off - due West.

Next stop for the day was the crossing of the Missouri River - another pretty impressive river; I can't get over the size of these rivers....

The scenery today had two themes - before the river, it was corn fields. After the river, it was rolling hills, and cows - more cows than imaginable - hills that we almost needed to push the RV up. The State of S.D sets the speed limit at 75, but I'm not sure that anyone can really make it up to 75, or higher for that matter - at least not for any length of time. And did I mention wind... the wind was blowing so hard, that I thought that the RV may blow right off the road.

Next stop - the scenic bypass through the Badlands - wow. What am impressive display of the forces of nature, and they don't seem to end - it goes on for miles and miles. It was about 105 degrees through the Badlands - even with the wind.

After the Badlands - we made the stop that I think everyone makes - at Wall's Drug Store - talk about an enormous tourist trap - straight out the Wild West - we made a short stop there, and then headed to Rapid City - to stay the the campground below:

http://www.koa.com/where/sd/41102/facilities/

We checked in around 8:30 - and I took the kids over to the pool to cool off - it was still about 85 degrees - so it was a welcomed break. We are all settled into the camper - Bill is enjoying a glass of wine and some 10 year-old cheese from Wisconsin - yuck!

Tomorrow, after the all you can eat pancake breakfast the the campground offers (for $1.00 per person, I might add), we will embark on a 10 hour tour of all the highlights surrounding Rapid City, including Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, etc. The "Grayline" bus will pick us up right here at the campground, and drop us off after. I have threatened to get off at the first casino, if there is one included in the tour - apparently, there are 80 casinos in Deadwood - maybe we'll get there tomorrow....

I am including a couple of pictures of some of our amazing sights! I'll write again tomorrow, after the day of touring.

Day 3

So, here we are. The clock on the computer says 1:02am, but since we are now in a new time zone, it is actually 12:02. We have been traveling like crazed drivers, and have now, in just 2 1/2 days, reached South Dakota - Sioux Falls to be exact. The camper has traveled well, and handles real well on the highway. I have even spent a good deal of time behind the drivers seat - believe it or not!

Let's see - a few highlights from the day - we crossed the Mississippi River (actually I drove over it!), and arrived in Minnesota in time to watch a barge enter the dam, and start to travel through the locks - pretty cool! Watching the barge, as it approached the dam, Chris and I were discussing its size - let me tell you; up close, it is so much larger than imaginable! I had commented to Chris that is didn't seem to make sense to ship cargo that way, until we saw how much stuff can actually be held in that vehicle for transportation. All I can say is WOW!

We drove through Sparta, WI, and came across this sign - "Free Land - build your business here" Is that what North Conway has been advertising, and that's why there is so much commercial construction going on? Pretty interesting - I wonder what one needs to take advantage of the free land!

We drove by both Lake Erie and Lake Michigan - again - WOW. Two lovely little lakes that resemble an ocean.

I guess that's what happens when you are from small town New England - the rest of the country is just "WOW".

The kids are traveling well - not too many argument's each day. They are both tired, though, so tomorrow, I will work on getting them both to rest up a little, so we can start exploring and experiencing on Monday.

I'm going to head to bed - the rest of the camper is sleeping (snoring) already.

I'll write again soon!

Sue

Sioux Falls, SD

Hi All,


What a day. This adventure has been great so far. We have made great time. We are 380 miles east of the bad lands. We are in vacation mode now. We will make the bad lands easy tomorrow and tour them on Monday. Playing risk at the picnic table. Just discovered a short in the outside step motor. Will have to fix later. We made it from west of Chicago to Sioux Falls, SD. We saw a lot of corn. We think the county is big, there are hundreds and hundred of miles of farms. It is amazing. We stopped at the Mississippi River and watched a large barge load in the docks. It was huge. I can't believe we have two weeks left. The fun we will have. Here are a few pictures. Gotta get back to the game. It is 10pm CST. Check out the picture of team Shasta. The coach is taking the picture. Slow connection in campground will have to load pictures later.

What a Country

I don't know where to start. It is late Friday night. Want to post a lot but tired. We have had a great two days. We have made some great time. We are on the west side of Chicago by 60 mi. Union, Il. I am just going to throw up a couple of pictures and call it a night. I (we) are having a blast. Corn fields of Ohio and Indiana. Looks of local signs. Sears tower. Sue driving the big rig.
See you later.