Change of Plans

One look out the window the next morning and it was clear we might have to adjust our plans. We had been following the weather for Cody and Yellowstone but they were 150 miles to the west and we were at 3700 feet. We had to get above 9000 feet to get there!

Worse yet it was saying freezing temps for Yellowstone and low of 20 for West Yellowstone. They had also closed Fishing Bridge, the all RV campground taking 300 campsites off line.  The handwriting was on the wall! 

We headed south to I-80 and lower passes. While coming into Rawlins, we encountered thick snow. The temperature fell to 34 so it didn't stick too long but for about 30 miles the wipers were earning their keep! The road got a little lower and the snow went back to rain then cleared up. We stayed in Fort Bridger after 440 miles. The campground guy said to leave the water trickling if we were connecting the hose, so we only plugged in the electric.

Sure enough it was 27 the next morning. I got to prove that my wet bay heater and water tank heater were both working. The heater cycled even though we had a 1500 watt electric  heater running too!

We were going through Salt Lake City and then heading south, since going from SLC to Fresno is the same miles if you go 80 to 99 or Las Vegas to Bakersfield and up 99.

We decided to stop in SLC at RF Mogul who makes a controller for the satellite dish on our roof. We suspected it worked OK, but the old MotoSat controller could not be updated to find the current DirecTV satellites. They were kind enough to help us install the controller and prove that it worked. They also let us boondock in their parking lot!

The next morning we got our earliest start and put in another 400 mile day to Las Vegas. The last half was in significant wind and we ended up in a traffic jam. The park was nice though and the dish went up in the breeze without trouble even though it was so windy we had to keep half the windows closed!

Friday was more of the same...another 400 miles but the wind was not an issue, just traffic on 99. The route gave us our 12th state (AZ): there's a 32 mile stretch on I-15 between Las Vegas and Barstow that takes you into Arizona. 

We were Home Sweet Home by 5pm!

6600 miles on the RV and 1400 miles on the tow car in 58 days

and the clouds parted

Sunday morning we were due to depart for WY. Lyn was not happy about missing Mt Rushmore. We had looked at webcams and one was broken, still showing a cloud, but another reported a better view, and I also found a downtown Keystone cam that implied clear skies, just 3 miles away. Off we went as did hundreds of others, like it was church. We passed Crazyhorse on the way and he was in the clear!

The formalness of this monument is striking. All the state flags are on the walk up to the viewing platform. It's an impressive site.

On the way back Crazyhorse was in the fog, and I suspect the 4 guys got covered up soon too.

We took off for Sheridan and had a pleasant ride up to the KOA.  The next morning it was warmer than our last (34 instead of 29 degrees!). We drove up I-90 to the Little Big Horn Battlefield about an hour. There we toured a very well documented 2 day battle where Custer and 225 others were killed by some very determined Indians. They knew were men fell, and there were markers for each. Some graves were moved back east, including Custer, who is at West Point.

 A relatively somber day knowing what lead up to the battle....

Back in Sheridan we toured the mansion of the former governor and senator John Kendrick. Built in 1913 the 13,700 sq ft home was quite the place for a guy who only had an 8th grade education, and made a lot of money from cattle ranching.

Tomorrow we move on to Cody, WY.

German Thunder

Saturday we tried to see Mt Rushmore but it was socked in. No part of it was visible. There were plenty of other disappointed folks. We looked at the other parts of the monument, but it was pretty anticlimactic with no guys on the wall! We left the wipers on and went the few miles down the hill to Keystone where we toured the Big Thunder Gold Mine.

2 German guys who were pyrotechnicians (the guys who loaded and blew up the dynamite) in Keystone, decided they were going to stake a claim adjacent to a known successful mine. They worked it for 35 years until one of the partners decided to go back to Germany and sold his half to his partner. At that point they had gone several hundred feet into the hill and only made a few hundred dollars. The now full owner, lamenting the loss of his partner and best friend was playing poker. Towards the end of the evening, the pot grew and he bet the mine. Several other miners were doing the same thing. He won that hand and eventually one of the mines he had won became profitable and he was able to retire.

The tour made it very clear how hard they worked and what was involved in separating the gold, the hazards of Mercury, darkness in the mines and hazards of the dynamiting.

The mine got it's name because the owners knew to put a metal plate at the base of the dynamited area to make it easier to shovel out the newly exploded ore. The 660 pound steel plate made the explosion much louder and the nearby town folks said it sounded like thunder.

The picture below shows rebar poking through the wall of the mine. This was an indication to the German miners that they were getting too close to the adjacent mine. 

Jewels and Bacon

We woke to rain, certainly welcome in that it cleared the air of the smoky haze. We were headed to Jewel Cave National Park, the third longest cave in the world (and growing). They map as they explore and from barometric testing, they expect they have only mapped 5% of the cave, which is already documented with 179 miles of tunnels.

The tour was the the best prepared cave tour we have taken with large aluminum staircases and platforms with 723 steps and a half mile of walking, down to 379 feet below the surface.

Still raining when we came out so we called it a day and got an early dinner. (DTV deployed!)

 This is 23 feet of (cave) bacon.

Crazyhorse, buffalo and Needles

Wednesday was a repositioning cruise. We left the shoehorn KOA on the cliff side and went 60 miles south to Custer's Gulch RV Park. Supposedly where Custer camped before his haircut.

We stopped off and saw the Crazy Horse memorial. Some people are spatially challenged. This project is testimony. Started 70 years ago, the original sculptor has since passed and several of his 10 kids have too, some of the rest are still connected to the project.

It's huge, and by comparison, they say Mt Rushmore's 4 presidents would fit where the Chiefs hair will be! They keep drilling and blasting and it remains privately funded.

We continued to the campground which has very spacious sites and a very nice backdrop. We connected with Larry and Linda who are here 10 days. 

Thursday we took a drive through Custer State Park and the Needles Highway, and saw buffalo and other wildlife, then met with Larry and Linda and rented an ATV for the afternoon. They provided a very accurate GPS app mapping our location on the national forest trail system.

We bumped along on trails I wouldn't walk on and good quality gravel roads, and it is street legal on the roads here too.