Wow! Four days since my last update! Getting lazy!
We left the Tetons and headed back into Yellowstone so that we could visit Cody Wyoming. They have a great museum of the west there, and of course the Cody Stampede! We didn't have any trouble with smoke going through Fising Bridge area of Yellowstone, so I guess they are getting that fire under control. The road out the east side was fun with some seriously long grades of 6 and 7 percent, as I recall. Again the RAM 2500 diesel handled the down slopes quite well, using the exhaust brake and downshifting automatically.
When we got into Cody, it seemed larger than I recall, but it had been 22 years since we were there! We found Absaroka Bay RV park on the east side of town on 14/16/20 up a hill on the left behind a Burger King. Check in was fine, and we got a pull through full hook up site. The downer was that we got there a day late for the Rodeo! We got there the day after the finals! Our consolation was that we went to two Rodeos during this trip, anyway. One at Cheyanne and the little one at West Yellowstone. For some reason we didn't feel like spending a whole day at the museum either, and I know you have to spend at least one day there to see it. So we decided to take the advice of folks on this RV forum, and boating friend Hugh Horton's advice and spend a day driving the Bear Tooth Highway. Hugh spent his youth in the area around Red Lodge and the Bear Tooth on a summer camp for boys. He raved about it as well. On top of all this good advice, neighbors in the fifth wheel beside us had just returned, and they were gushing about the Bear Tooth! About the hairpin turns, the high elevations, the scenic vistas. Sold us!
So next morning early we headed out of Cody taking 120 to Chief Joseph Scenic Highway to link up with the "All American Road" The Beartooth Highway! As we ascended, the morning became cooler, and the views ore stunning. The altimeter on my GPS said 11,090 at the top, although all the maps say it's really more like 10,400. Anyway, it was cold and windy up there above the trees! Old snaggletooth, as I nicknamed him, was sighted across the miles. We came to one pull off with several other cars and there was some kind of cable car arrangement that seemed to go straight down! I didn't dare look over the side as there were no guard rails! Another stop off was a canyon bridge where a group of teenagers were dropping huge rocks to see how long it took to hit the bottom and listening for the boom of the rock exploding on the larger rocks below. A one turnout along the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway we saw Sun Light Valley that was used by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians to escape from the Calvary in their bid to reach Canada and freedom. We stopped at a high mountain lake, where there were a few fishermen trying to catch trout. After reaching the top of the Beartooth, we headed down the spiraling dizzying hairpin turns. I was glad I took the advice of experts on the forum about leaving the trailer behind on this drive. Could I have made it? Probably yes, but without it back there it was easier and safer, and I could find places to park on the pull outs and overlooks. Our last turnout had a walkway out to a point with a waist high stone wall, and an additional steel railing to keep you from falling straight down a thousand feet or so. Chipmunks were scurrying about getting nuts from visitors. The kids loved this! But we didn't love the way some parents put there one and two year olds up on the wall with only a short railing to keep them from tipping over the side! And the parents were not holding on at all. In fact one father kept turning his back while the little girl jumped up and down and sat on the railing with her back to the abyss! I couldn't watch. We left and continued down the road to flatter lands near Red Lodge, taking 308 to 72 which became 120 when we crossed back into Wyoming.
We only had two nights in Cody, so the next day we headed out hoping to make it to Custer SD, but it was too far for us to do in one day, so we stopped off in Buffalo, at the Deer Park Campground. Nice overnight stay with very friendly hosts. Trees in the campground and good facilities. One reason we didn't make it to Custer was that we stopped to check out the Little Bighorn Battle National Monument along the way, and stop at a Wal-Mart to stock up on food.
We hadn't been to the Little Big Horn since it was renamed in 1991, shortly after we were there, by an act of congress and the signature of George the first. It was done so that the native Americans could also put up a monument and headstones to honor their dead who lost their lives in the battle. The Native American monument was closed for renovation, but we did see some of the headstones of Cheyenne Warriors, which said "A Cheyenne Warrior fell here on June 25, 1876, while defending the Cheyenne way of life".
Since we're on the way to Buffalo, and had a reservation we only spent about 90 minutes there before moving on.
The next day we made it to The Black Hills of South Dakota and the Custer in good time, and found Broken Arrow campground right where we left it in 2008. New owner Jerry signed us in and was very helpful even though he had problems of his own with his huge bus type of Motor Home. "Big Motor Home equals Big Problems," he said.
Broken Arrow is one of those campgrounds that caters to horse people who come to the Black Hills to ride, and meet their friends there, with the season winding down they had curtailed the weekly Chuck Wagon dinners for the season, which we were looking forward to. Half of the campground is for RVs and the other half is horse trailers, some of these have living quarters for the owners in the front!
Our goals for the Black Hills were to see Crazy Horse Monument, Mt Rushmore, and drive the crazy highway that loops over on itself with views of Mt Rushmore as you drive through tunnels. Word of warning! Three tunnels have height restrictions! One is only 10.5 feet tall in the middle! Don't bring your fifth wheeler through there!
This was our last vacation stop before hitting the road hard for our home in Florida, so we didn't want to wear ourselves out! We did Mt Rushmore one day, and enjoyed the loop trail to the base of the mountain. On the way we drove the loopy highway, Iron Mountain Road, and drove through Custer State Park's Wildlife loop. We spotted elk, antelope, prairie dogs, and of course bison! They are getting ready in a few weeks to do a bison round up, so there weren't blocking the road as we'd experienced before, but were mostly back behind high fences. Close enough though.
On the way back to Custer we were caught in a terrible hail storm, but luckily we lead no damage to the truck! The night before Crazy Horse Mountain area was hit by baseball sized hail, and several vehicles in the parking lot were totaled a, they had nine wreckers out there that night knowing them away! We got hit at our camp by the same storm and saw golf ball sized hail. I forgot about our slide topper and it now sports some fine new viewing ports! Forum members advised me to call my insurance agent right away (thanks Gary), and we'll take care of it when we get home.
Crazy Horse Monument was celebrating the Sept 6th birthday of the sculptor, Korzack, and honoring the death of Crazy Horse which happened on the same day, not same year! It was to start at dark, and if you brought three cans of food for the poor you got in free! The place was packed, but well staffed with parking guides, so it wasn't a problem getting parked. You could see piles of hail which looked like snow that they had shoveled off the walks! We had a cup of coffee and toured the museum of the Native Americans while we waited for the Laser light show and special once a year "Night Blast." We peeked inside the restaurant which was closed. They were getting ready for the after the blast celebration. A huge five by seven foot sheet cake was laid out and everyone was invited to partake! The laser light show was great, and featured themes related to the artist, and Crazy Horse. The Night Blast was a BLAST! A minutes long series of explosions lit up the night working their way from the base of the mountain up the ramps, and along the flat portion in front of the face of Crazy Horse! What fun. I mean what red blooded American doesn't like to blow stuff up?
After the Blast we flowed inside with the crowd, had some cake, and then headed out toward the door. On the way, Ruth the sculptor's wife who is keeping the project going was standing there greeting people, so I shook her hand and told her about my father's connection to her husband. It seems that during WWII, Korzack was in my father's company in France after D-Day. Also, he made a bust of my father and the other company commander. When I was there in 1991, I saw a photograph of the bust in a section of the museum called "about the artist." This section is no longer there, and the photo is gone. Anyway, Ruth was very interested in my story, and wanted my mother who is 92, to contact her with more information. There's more to this story that my dad told me long before I knew who Korzack was, but it would take too long to tell, and this is l Ingerson than most of my posts!
Today was the day before we get going on the road, so we spend the day around camp. I checked all the lug nuts with my torque wrench for tightness, checked the air in the tires. Cleaned up a few things inside the trailer, put away the lounge chairs, and went into town for a few last minute groceries. Oh! And I wrote this log!
We hope to make it back in seven or eight days, driving 300-350 miles per day, and taking maybe o me day off along the way. I'll check in if we have decent 3G or Wi-Fi.
Ron and Joyce about to leave Custer South Dakota for home.