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No ER, No Bail

June 21, 2019 in Life, photography, RV, Travel | Tags: photography, Photos, RV, Travel | 1 comment

We have a motto for when we are out and about having a good time. “No ER, No Bail” which means no matter how much fun we’re having we WILL NOT end up in the ER or jail. Our status on that is now 50 percent successful. <sigh> More on this subject later.

Our first stop after leaving Spearfish was Sheridan, WY. Sheridan is a nice little city sitting beneath the Bighorn Mountains. A really nice city center with lots of sculpture, great parks and recreation, and large enough to support decent groceries and shopping which we have learned to appreciate. We really liked it and will stop by again if we are ever in the neighborhood.

The major thing we did while here was visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We really enjoyed the visit. The area is beautiful and the presentation of the events was interesting and well balanced between both sides of the events that took place. As a history buff I really enjoyed seeing the terrain. We walked the area of the “last stand” and drove the loop road that covers the overall territory. Fascinating. The Federal lands are actually in two areas connected by that road crossing Indian land which is used for grazing horses. Lots of horses. At one point a herd was crossing the road. What was apparently the alpha male blocked traffic (with help from one of his paramours) until everybody got across, then human and horse each went about their business. My horse-loving wife was thrilled.

When we checked into the campground, the nice gentleman recommended a loop drive through the mountains. It was only “90 miles” and would just take a “couple of hours”. Cool. We set out one day to give it a shot. 90 minutes, 60 miles, and a couple thousand feet of elevation later we came across a road sign that explicitly defined our path. We still had another 180 miles to go. Having been doing a lot of driving recently we noped right out of that, went home, and curled up with our books. That’s what I get for not doing due diligence. Google later told me it was just under a 5 hour drive. As an aside: the part we did do was very pretty.

Back to my lead in: one morning I was roused from sleep by major back pain that I, unfortunately, recognized. Kidney stones, and it was the worst I have ever experienced. That’s how we found ourselves in the Sheridan ER at 6:30 AM on a Saturday. We had an excellent experience, if I can say that considering the circumstances. Everybody was very supportive and helpful, although you know you’re in trouble when experienced nurses are looking at you with pity in their eyes. After judicious applications of opiates and various other drugs they sent me on my way, happy and relaxed. Apparently while I was drugged and numb I passed the stone, since I’ve been fine ever since. Cross the ER experience off of our checklist.

We left Sheridan and moved on to the thriving town of Reed Point, MT, population 185. Nice little town with a very funky saloon. We attempted to drive the Beartooth Highway but turned around due to weather. We enjoyed a nice lunch in Red Lodge instead. There was also a lovely walk to the Natural Bridge Falls, a trip to a real grocery store and some downtime. A good time was, once again, had by all.

Locations of fallen Native Americans, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument 6/9/19

Locations of fallen soldiers, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument 6/9/19

Native American Memorial, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument 6/9/19

Reed Point, MT 6/15/19

Natural Bridge Falls 6/13/19

A Little of This, a Little of That

June 15, 2019 in photography, RV, Travel | 1 comment

After the wonders of the southern Black Hills, we headed to Spearfish, SD, in the northern hills. We stayed in the Spearfish City Campground which had both pluses and minuses. On the downside, the sites were extremely narrow to the point where we had to move the picnic table on the site next to us in order to run our slides out. Fortunately we never had neighbors on either side, so in this instance it was not an issue. Many sites would have been difficult for us to get into due to trees, but again it was not an issue for us. What was an issue was the fact that our site was very unlevel. Our front left corner was 7.5″ lower than our rear. We managed to get very close to level through the use of lumber. Lots of lumber.

On the plus side was location, location, location. It was about a 3 minute drive to the heart of Spearfish which is a very cool little city. A trout hatchery was across the street and admission was free. The Spearfish River ran through the campground and there were nice walks everywhere. And we were just a few minutes drive to the bottom of Spearfish Canyon and the awesome Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, a 19 mile drive up an insanely beautiful gorge. In fact, we were so close that I could walk a trail to the Byway faster than we could drive to it!

We drove the canyon twice while here, looking at waterfalls and taking walks. The first time we looped around and made our pilgrimage to Deadwood, a can’t-miss stop for us since we’re huge fans of the HBO series. In fact, we walked around town, ate at the Gem, visited Wild Bill Hickcock’s and Calamity Jane’s graves, and then went home and watched the new Deadwood movie that had just dropped. Swearengen!

If you’re familiar with the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you’re familiar with the Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. It’s only a short drive from Spearfish so we made a day trip to it. Words don’t do it justice. Below are a few of the many photos we took. We walked the beautiful trail around the base on a lovely day. Well worth the trip.

Finally, we took a quick drive to visit the geographic center of the United States. That includes Hawaii and Alaska in its calculation. Who knew?

Wild Bill Hickcock’s Tombstone, Deadwood, SD 6/1/19

D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, Spearfish, SD 6/3/19

The Geographic Center of the United States, Belle Fourche, SD 6/4/19

Devils Tower National Monument, WY 6/3/19

It is a custom of the Native Americans to tie pieces of cloth to the trees. Devils Tower National Monument, WY 6/3/19

Devils Tower National Monument, WY 6/3/19

Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon 6/5/19

RIP Jeanne P. Lowman Hall Martin Seymour

June 12, 2019 in Family, Life | Leave a comment

8/23/25 – 6/11/19

Black Hills, Part 2

June 7, 2019 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Sylvan Lake, Custer SP, South Dakota 5/30/19

This will be short on words and a bit long on pictures. While still parked near Custer, SD, we continued to enjoy the many outstanding things to do. We went to Wind Cave NP for a nice drive/walk, went to Hot Springs on a rainy day to tour the Mammoth Site (an indoor dig that is uncovering tons of mammoth bones), and to Sylvan Lake for a beautiful walk. We also took a day trip to the Badlands. Wow, just wow. Too much to do in the 8 days we were in Custer. We’ll be back.

Patti and I both noted that this really felt like the real beginning of how we want to travel. Up to this point we were trying to get somewhere (Winnebago, in Iowa) by a certain time. Now we are going pretty much where we want to go and seeing pretty much what we want to see. And it just doesn’t suck.

Now, some photos:

The Mammoth Site. Hot Springs, SD 5/27/19

Nice view. The Badlands, South Dakota 5/29/19

The Badlands, South Dakota 5/29/19

Note the sheep hanging out on the ridge. The Badlands, South Dakota 5/29/19

The Badlands, South Dakota 5/29/19

These guys are all over Custer. Custer, SD 5/30/19

Here Comes the Sun! Finally!

June 2, 2019 in photography, RV, Travel | Tags: photography, Photos, RV, Travel | 2 comments

Custer State Park, SD 5/25/19

As you can tell from our last post, we were still continuing our run of bad weather. Including here at Custer Gulch, we have set up camp 7 times in a row under wet, soggy, flooded, or even snowy conditions. Rain, wind and snow have forced us to change plans at least twice. And we are over it. Finally, here in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the weather broke.

The day after we arrived, we slogged through the snow to the truck and took off to explore. This area, near the town of Custer, is target rich for sights to see and things to do, so we started right in by heading to Mount Rushmore. The route we took was through Custer State Park, which we have been told is the top state park in the country. I don’t know if that’s true but if it is, I can see why. More on that later, but a nice windy drive through spectacular scenery and tiny tunnels led us to the monument. It pretty much speaks for itself, but I was bummed to hear that the old visitors center, including the dining room, was torn down and replaced with a more modern facility. I was really looking forward to seeing the location where a famous scene from the movie North By Northwest was set. It was not to be. Still, we had a good time on a bright, breezy day seeing this iconic place.

From there we went to the nearby Crazy Horse Monument. It was a very interesting sight with an excellent museum focusing on the Native community. This is definitely still a work in progress that will not be completed in my lifetime but impressive nonetheless. All in all, we had a pretty good day. And when we returned, all of the snow in the campground had melted! And it’s been nice ever since.

The next day we took a drive on the wildlife loop in Custer State Park. Takes about an hour to do. About 10 minutes in, we had already seen a couple of bison and deer. We were impressed. Little did we know that in the next hour or so we would see many deer and hundreds of bison, including some calves. It was great. Afterwards we had a nice lunch at the Blue Bell Lodge where I enjoyed munching a burger made of some of the unlucky bison. So it goes. Then up the Needles Highway, which is just another spectacular drive, and back to base. Lots of photos were taken and a very good time was had by all. We could get used to this.