Road Trip

Sunset on the Great Plains Sunset on the Great Plains from the RV. Beautiful. But you want to be indoors for this as the mosquitoes are particularly active after a bit of rain. I'm waiting for the Brakes to be checked on Thursday.  I'm waiting for the Title for the RV. I'm waiting for Sturgis. I'm deciding whether to get a South Dakota Driver's License. I'm deciding whether to head East to The Adirondacks or West to the Oregon Coast. I'm playing more guitar and the left hand injury is getting better. See the vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQb3aMTHKck I'm resting in the sense that I'm staying in Rapid City for two weeks. Probably drive 100 miles East, over to the Badlands after that But I'm also tired from compounding and waxing the RV. The pictures did not come out bright and shiny enough to justify all that work. I'll work on that. It looks good, it has rust patches, dents and other problems ...

$32 round trip about 2 hours of very scenic history - it was highly recommended to me back in Deadwood and I will pass on the recomendation.

Dungeness Wildlife Refuge - 19.may.19  The day before I bought the Lazy Daze RV. Bald Eagle Olympic Mountains from the Straits of San Juan De Fuca _____ Actually, the trip could be said to have begun when I left my old apartment in St. George Utah on April 30 and spent some time in Bend Oregon and Boise Idaho looking for an RV or a van or some kind of home. But those pics are not to be found so far. The best of that part of the trip was the wilderness around Mount Hood near Portland Oregon. As soon as I had the RV I went down to  Sequim Bay State Park with Dean, the previous owner who then showed me how to get started with it. Thanks Dean. This was before I started the blog and the pictures were not saved. Images from along hwy 101 and Hwy 3 (there was a fatal accident and I had to retrace my route) to Portland Oregon where I drove through the downtown streets at midnight trying  unsuccessfully to find a bank atm and Wilsonville Oregon which had ...

Mount Rushmore Revisited The RV is now registered and plated and with the enormous crowds expected for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, I thought to return to this monument to what the United States really is all about.  In the ideal. The right of the individual to be self-governed and to be free of forced servitude to others. Never guaranteed, never perfect, ever under attack, always requiring the individual to enforce that right. The Presidential Trail around the right side of the Grand View Terrace brings you to the Sculptor's Studio shown here where models by Gutzon Borglum are displayed and a Park Ranger gives a talk on the conception and construction of the monument The many, many steps of the Presidential Trail takes you much closer to the monument and a greater appreciation to the dedication of all who worked to bring the conception to life here.  I climbed the trail twice today, once early in the morning with no one else in sight, later in the d...

Sturgis is a short distance from Deadwood, South Dakota. A motorcycle rally, a kind of celebration of the whole lifestyle will be taking place in early August and they are getting ready. Looks like a Party Hearty kind of affair. I also stopped at the Buffalo Chip RV Park which is a few miles outside of town and apparently has some sort of reputation of its own. I was told I might be able to register the RV through them but that was not the case. Did some RV registration research at the Treasurer's Office, shopped and ate breakfast at Lynn's Dakotamart, all in all a small rural town (6-7000 pop.) getting ready for one heck of a party. But not really my cup of tea, not my lifestyle, from the looks of things not much tea is going to be consumed there, I asked the girl at the Buffalo Chip bar - I was the only one in the place - if she had any coffee, she was real nice about it but, no, nothing like that there...portable toilets out back. Since its all about the rally...

Devils Tower is apparently an incorrect translation of an original Indian name "Bear Lodge" or something like that. There are efforts to change the name and others want to keep it. By any name the same, mystical, magical, spiritual.  A "Must See" destination and a life changing one if  you allow it. I hiked the Joyner Ridge Trail and the deer did not notice me till quite close, the picture did not come out, the memory remains. The movie "Close Encounters..." was filmed here and is show every night at the KOA campground at the base. I went to great effort to get a picture of the movie with the actual monument in the background. Now lost, Google Chrome is working very poorly for me these days, frustrating. Youtube's Closed Captioning translation is however working incredibly well at the moment and will hopefully continue. Might prevent these naming controversies. There is very good dry camping within the monument grounds - it is much ...

There were brave people defending their way of life on both sides of the battle. As usual (but not always) the stronger side won. The Indians won this battle but lost the war. Civilization pushes and drags us all along, better and worse. The white markers show where Custer and his men fell and  the red markers show where Indian Braves fell The current Wikipedia Article seems well researched but as the Ranger Talk given by Michael Donahue pointed out historical accounts change over time and I have seen Wikipedia drastically revised many times, often for the worse. Donahue has himself written a book: " Where the Rivers Ran Red " and he recommended another book "Crazy Horse - A Lakota Way of Life" by Kingsley Bray I am staying at the 7th Ranch RV Camp which is a great place, once you get past the entrance roadway which has been washed out in heavy rains lately. It is the closest to the battlefield and they were giving out free ice cream which I should ...

Written 2 days ago at Spring Creek RV Park in Big Timber, Montana I've been out of the park for 2 days now, still reviewing all that happened and all that I saw. The internet is virtually useless here so It will be a few days before I post this but I want to write out some of my feelings now. It was a once in a lifetime, unforgetable experience, and one that I almost gave up on twice. The crowds, traffic, and commercialism will always be found at the entrances and major attractions, the experiences that mattered to me took place mostly in near isolation in the more remote areas and early morning or evening hours. First, a few pictures, one or two of which actually recapture some of the moments as I lived them. This Elk stopped traffic along the Yellowstone Lake road. Again, my first sighting of one and incredibly close. Just grazing along without a thought of us and our concerns at all. Pronghorn, again my first view of them, here in the Lamar Valley where the g...

7-jul-19 Sunday 6:30 am - Yellowstone - Indian Creek Campground Waiting for the camp hosts to head on down to the Kiosk so I can exrend my stay. I never did get to see the geysers up close yesterday, Parking the RV was nigh impossible and battling the crowds at the entrance had me pretty well tired out. I was ready to leave the park but made several tries for a campground and managed to get in here. It is north of where I would like to be but at least I am in the park and can stay for up to 14 days Been up since about 3 am and reading some of the literature, there is gasoline available at several locations, Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower/Roosevelt, Grant Village, Old Faithful, and I may be able to make something of a loop past the geysers (Which I will see this time) down to Yellowstone Lake. Round trip about 100 mi - may be more than I want to do in one day. Will check on the possibilities of switching campsites. At Indian Creek there is no power, no internet, no cell phone, vault t...

Jolly Camper RV Park, Ashton Great RV park - very simple with all amenities except pretension, almost missed it, quick stop and back up. About 1 hr south of Yellowstone, closer parks are full tonight and 3x as expensive. This one I just lucked out on and it has these fantastic views. Saw a white crab spider with a captured bee inside a white flower at the office -  didn't know such things existed but things are pretty wild hereabouts. http://www.uwyo.edu/cesinsects/uw%20extension%20identifying%20page.htm Tetons is derived from early French fur trappers - three teats. A little closer to sunset: See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Teton_National_Park

250 miles to West Yellowstone, Montana - expect to be there tomorrow - depending on RV Park availability - Yellowstone Park restrictions and access, etc, and/or Grand Teton Park access and alternate route. Most people plan these kind of trips - I generally just show up on the doorstep of the destination, "Here I am, what can you do for me?" Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Same for too much planning which carries too many expectations. _________ Bonneville Salt Flats - sort of glistened in the sunlight the other day as I approached West Wendover, Nevada, which seems to be a sort of Sin City for Salt Lake City, Utah. - Lots of casinos, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonneville_Salt_Flats Didn't actually know it was Bonneville until I saw the sign as I drove through yesterday. Will have to wash the RV, salt is corrosive. Current record may be 503mph, not sure, My Lazy Daze does 60 on the flats, no problem. ___________ Hill Aereospace Museum (Y...

Too late, too tired for much typing, Lake Tahoe is beyond words anyway. Visited on Jul 1, these pics are from Nevada Beach - Georgeous, drove around the Lake, the East side is developed, touristy, and crowded The West side is much less developed, lots of park land and the incredible Emerald Bay of which no pics because the drive is something of a non-stop (for a motorhome) windy, sharp drop off,  kind of road and I was in something of a continuous caravan of cars. Last time I visited it was May and certainly less crowded. All beautiful, magical kind of place. Stayed overnight at Montebleau Casino Parking Lot D - sleeping not allowed but I got in a nap, wasn't disturbed and at 4 am, ate at the cafe and went over to the Hard Rock Casino and lost $20 so I figure I earned my overnight. The breakfast burrito lasted 3 days, worth the $13. ___________________ Granite Flats - US Forest Service - Primitive Camping - Truckee River Stayed here on Jul 2nd, about 10...