Day 13 - Mount Rushmore & SD Badlands

We spent the night in Keystone, SD at Kemp's Kamp RV Park. We were hoping to watch the American Idol finals, but missed out. We got up early and headed up the road to Mount Rushmore which was 4 miles away. We arrived early and had breakfast at the memorial site, watched the presentation, and hiked to the base of the sculpture. There were not very many people around, so we enjoyed exploring the area. After our visit, we were excited to head east through the South Dakota Badlands. We were also looking forward to staying the night in Wall, SD and visiting the "famous" Wall Drug Store and have a cup of 5 cent coffee and a home-made doughnut. The drug store is 76,000 sq. ft. in a town less than a thousand people. The owner of Wall Drug came up with the idea during the depresson, of offering FREE ICE WATER to thirsty travelers. Not only did they successfully survive the depression, but they have become the #1 roadside attraction in America today!

The Badlands are a geological feature that rise up out of the prairie created by wind, water, and time. They are mystical and give you the feeling of a painted desert, moonscapes, and Jurassic Park all put together. It is hard not to imagine, as you cross the Badlands, the thousands of Tatanka (Bison) that migrated across the grasslands of this magnificant arena of beauty. At one point in history, the Plains Indians would hideout in the Badlands or camp up against them for protection. There were also many famous outlaws that had their strongholds in the area.

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Day 11 - 12 (Custer State Park)

We spent two nights at Crooked Creek Ranch RV Park and it was very peaceful. It borders the Michelsen Bike Trail which cover 109 miles of old railroad bed converted to a bike trail. We had every intension of riding this portion of the trail, but decided to catch up on laundry and relaxation. We met Mike, Maxine, and Mini Swartz from California. They also have a Roadtrek, so we stuck up a friendship with out any issues right away. We "Trek'ers" stick together. We also met up with Dennis Bennett, his wife, and two labs. There daughter Julie, an actress, is a very close friend of Adam Lambert (2009 American Idol finalist). We had a big day of traveling and adventure ahead. We went to Sylvan Lake, explored the Wind Caves, did Iron Mountain Road through some very narrow tunnels, and spent the night in Keystone, SD.

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Day 10 - Crazy Horse Memorial

"They made many promises, more than I can remember - They never kept but one: they promised to take our land, and they took it" (Red Cloud, Lakota Chief 1891)

Crazy Horse is pointing and saying, "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

In the mid-1940's a group of Lakota elders approached famous sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and ask if he would create a memorial to their history and heros. This was after Mount Rushmore had been started. He agreed and the project began in 1948 and the work continues today at the memorial site. Although Korczak has died 7 of his 10 sons, daughters, and wife continue the project today, strickly on donations. They have refused any government assistance due to past history. Inheriting this project and it's goals from their father, they continue to fulfill this original committment. They have built a beautiful museum which includes the original home and studio of Karcsak and an extensive presentation of Plains Indians artifacts and history. This memorial site is a very spiritual and emotional experience to visit. Putting the magnitude of this creation into perspective, upon completion the final sculpture will be as long as a cruise ship and taller than a 60 story skycraper. Crazy Horse is the world's largest carving and is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

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Day 9 - Deadwood, SD

After the TOWER, we headed through Spearfish and onto Deadwood, SD. In the 1870's was the site of the last big gold rush in North America. In fact, in Deadwood on upper main street you can still take a tour of the Broken Boot gold mine. Fueled by gold, Deadwood became a lawless camp of get-rich prospectors and a business district largely of saloons, dance halls, card palors, and bordellos. Then came frontier legends like Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane who lived and died in Deadwood and are buried in the local cemetary. Today, it is designated as a National Historic District. Our first impression arriving in Deadwood, which was set deep withing the mountains of the Black Hills is a very western, wild, casino filled, and Harley's. It is still a rough, dusty, dirty authentic western town. It is a mecca for gamblers and it was interesting to see the variety of people in town. Kevin Costner has left his trademark after "Dancing With Wolves" and owns an entire building which is filled with movie memorbilia of his past. He also has a an attraction called "Tatanka", which is the story of the bison and a huge sculptural reinactment of a "Buffalo Jump". Not being gamblers, we walked around the town for awhile, ate dinner in town, and took the trolley back to Whistler's Gulch where we were spending the night with TREK.

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Day 8 - Devils Tower ("Bear Lodge")

We arrived in Sundance and spent the night. We learned something interesting about Wyoming. We took a walk to a convenience store to buy some beer. You can only purchase alcohol in Wyoming bars, so we did with out.

We got up early and headed for Devils Tower. This is a huge monolith rising up from the Black Hills valley. The Belle Fourche River runs along it's base. It is 5,112' high, which is over 900' from it's base. The Kiowha legend tells of 8 children (7 sisters and a brother) playing in the forest. Suddenly, the boy is struck dumb and began growing claws and hair, while running on all fours. The terrified sisters ran, as the "Now Bear" brother, chased them. The sisters came to a very large stump, which spoke to them saying, "Climb up on me now!" The stump started growing upwards immediately, as the BEAR clawed all around the stump trying to reach them. The seven sister were then born into the sky and became the seven stars of the BIG DIPPER. Devils Tower is a very popular rock climbing challenge and there are over 200 routes to the top.

This magnificant pillar set in the Black Hills was established by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 as America's 1st National Monument. We hiked around the base of this BIG ROCK and took many pictures. We saw many rock climbers and a giant BULL snake crossed our path. We also observed many examples of Native American prayer taliman's hanging from the trees, which stand for safety and good health.

Exiting from the park, we got to take a photo of the Mayor of Prairie Dog Town (see photo).

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Day 7 - Custer Battlefield

Packed up and left Cody and headed towards the "Battle of the Little Bighorn". We had to take a detour as the pass was closed on HWY 14. We went through Greybull, Worland, Buffalo, and Sheridan, WY. We went over Powder River Pass (9,668') in the Bighorn Mt. Range and the weather was great and the views were magnificant. We crossed over into Montanta and stayed at the 7th Ranch RV Park in Garryowen, MT. The couple that owned the park were educators and cashed in their retirement pensions and bought a section of land close to the battlefields. The facilities and views from out campsite were unbelievable. We got up early the next morning and headed to the battlefields on the Crow Indian Reservation.

The "Battle of the Little Bighorn" took place June 25-26, 1876. This site memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their ancestrial and traditional way of life. Although the Plains Indians won the battle, they subsequently lost the war against the white man's efforts to end their independent, nomadic way of life. After the battle, Lakota and Cheyenne families removed their dead and placed them in sacred places. We viewed a presentation of the battle history and then drove through the entire area stopping frequently to take pictures and spend moments reflecting on the gravitiy of what happened here and why (clash of two cultures and the end of one). We left after spending a couple of hours and headed down HWY 90 to Sundance, WY and Devils Tower.

Also at this site, there is a memorial burial area for other American soldiers that have died in many other wars.

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Day 5 - 6 (Cody, WY)

Arrived in Cody, WY late afternoon and stayed at the Ponderosa RV Park. We spent two nights here. Next morning we went to the Buffalo Bill Museum and spent about 5 hours there. It is made up of 5 different museums in one facility, four of which we went toured. The four we toured were the Museum of Natural History, Buffalo Bill, Plains Indians, and Cody Firearms Museums. The Western Art Gallery was closed. We took a break and found 4 caches in the area before visiting The Irma Hotel, which Bill Cody built in 1902 and had his Wild West Roughrider Show headquarters. Within this beautiful hotel we got to see the "famous" cherry wood bar which Queen Victoria gave to Bill Cody as a gift. We had a great time and really enjoyed this flavor and history of this special town.

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Day 4 - May 12 (Dillon, MT)

We are currently in Dillon, MT and are staying the night at Southside RV Park. The elevation is around 5,100' in Dillon and it is suppose to get into the mid-20's tonight. Dillon, MT is a farm and ranch community that has a touch of culture, history, and recreation. At one time it was the largest wool shipping point in Montana. It was also central for early Montana mining camps and settlements. We decided not to cross over Lost Trail Pass (7,100') because of the severe winter conditions in the mountains today, so decided to go east on HWY 90 to Butte, MT and then head south to Dillon, MT on HWY 15. We had dinner at Sparky's Garage Diner where we had a plate of BQ pork ribs, baked beans, sweet potato fries, and corn bread. that were outstanding. Our waitress, Melody, just graduated from University of Montana Western with a 4 year degree in education. She was very excited, full of idealism, and energy. She had just finished her first job interview and will be teaching 2nd grade. Her class load will be 13 lucky kids.

The University of Montana Western was built in 1890 as a Normal School, preferably a teacher training college. It recently has branched out into other academic areas, thus becoming affiliated with the Unversity of Montana. Melody's classes during her 4 year preparation were very much different than other institutions. She attended class for 18 days, from start to finish, and took her final. She would be in class for 3 hours per day for that time period. She mentioned that it was a very concentrated program, but she loved the learning experience.

As you can see from the picture above of TREK, we woke up to a very beautiful morning for our trip through Yellowstone National Park and onto Cody, WY.

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!

Day 3 - May 11 (Missoula, MT)

NO pictures today!. We left the RV park and got fuel. We were headed south on HWY 93 over Lost Trail Pass (7,056') towards Dillon, MT. OOPS! Big change of plans - the engine diagnostic indicator light came on and we have decided to head west to Kellogg, ID and the nearest Sprinter dealership to get it checked out. After reading in the owners manual about potential problems, we decided to head west. Ever heard of Dave Smith's Motors, well that is who took care of our warranty issue in about 10 minutes and put us back on the road east again to Missoula, MT. After a 250 mile round trip to take care of this issue we decided to stop at Jelly Stone RV Park again, so we could watch "Dancing With The Stars" and "24". We had an interesting day, but were glad that TREK was healed and ready to continue on her journey with us.

Day 2 - May 10 (Missoula, MT)

We headed east and crossed the Snake River between Clarkston, WA and Lewiston, ID. We headed up HYW 12 along the Clearwater River scenic by-way for about 90 miles towards Lolo Pass. We followed the river through beautiful farms and pine studded gorges on a narrow twisty road. This is through Nez Perce country, where Cheif Joseph led his people. Along the route the Locha ("rapid waters") and Selway Rivers merge with the Clearwater. We got to see many rafters and kayakers challenging the wild rapid, especially along the Locha River. We traveled over Lolo Pass (5,225'), which is the state line between Idaho and Montana. We wanted to stop by Lolo Hot Springs as Skip was there when he was 7 years old. We spent the night in Missoula, MT at Jelly Stone RV Park, where we met Linda and Georgette from Kelowna, British Columbia. They also had a Roadtrek and it was fun to share stories with them. We had a great night and were ready for Day 3 to come!

We Are OFF And Trek'in - Day 1 (Starbuck, WA)

We got up early this morning May 9th (Saturday) and hit the road. We had planned on leaving Friday, but got hung up with the satellite dish installation. The weather was beautiful so we decided to go on HWY 26 when we crossed the Columbia River at Vantage, WA. This is the highway that you would travel if you were heading to Pullman, WA to watch the "Cougars" play football. It takes you through Othello and some beautiful farm country. We turned right at Washtucna, WA and headed to Starbuck, WA. This is a bump in the road and we stopped to check out the famous old jail house. Yes, there was a little restaurant across from the jail that served coffee, just not Starbucks. We spent our first night at the Tucannon River RV Park which is about 55 miles west of Lewiston, ID. This is a very nice park right next to the Tucannon River, which is one of the few "wild and scenic" rivers left in Washington. We got to use the satellite dish for the first time and beamed in on all of the local channels out of Seattle. It was great!