May 28, 2013 Cody, Yellowstone

Tuesday, May 28    On the Road Again

We rose early and left Paul and Sandy’s about 6AM as the two of them were getting ready for work.  Headed toward Yellowstone, which is a lovely drive through canyons and occasional tiny towns like Wapiti -"small town" is just too big a term as many are a tiny post office and 5 or 6 houses! We arrived at the east gate to Yellowstone just after 7AM and the only ranger on duty there waved us through for free since he wasn’t set up yet ($25 – thank you!)

Not long after entering the park we pulled over to take a photo of a water fall (The first of many from the snow run-off) and came upon a herd of big horn sheep!  They were spectacular and two even posed along side the road.

As we climbed into the park there was quite a bit of snow, though all the roads were clear.  Passed some beautiful lakes, but unfortunately the area was pretty devastated by fires in 2003 and 2005 and hasn’t yet recovered.  

 We came to  Yellowstone Lake which is the largest high-altitude lake in North American.  Began seeing bison and many geese.

 Stopped at the visitor’s center and then headed north, seeing a beautiful bull elk,  many bison, including a baby that seemed lost. Stopped at Mud Volcano, an area of great geothermal activity , as is much of Yellowstone.  Took a short walk along the rapids of Yellowstone River.

lower falls

Next stops were at the Upper and Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River.  With all of the snow melt, the waters were thundering and it was magnificent despite the clouds and a bit of rain.  Sky was just totally cloud-filled.

upper falls

Continued to Mammoth Hot Springs, where elk grazed contentedly in a park between the visitor’s center and the post office.  We continued north to the North Exit of the park, stopping for a quick walk at Rescue Flats.  Saw several more elk and pronghorn before bidding farewell to Yellowstone and heading into Montana.

Once we reached Route 90 and headed west and north in Montana, the landscape was very green and large herds of cattle and sheep grazed in lush pastureland (which is irrigated) between green and sometimes snowy mountains.  Crossed the Continental Divide and ran into occasional rain squalls.  Just past Missoula, we turned north and stopped at another Flying J.

Canadian Rockies, Roadtrek Travelers

Monday, May 27   The Long and Winding Road

After Sandy’s great breakfast burritos, we headed out for a tour of Cody and then on to the Bear Tooth Mountains for a day of sightseeing.  Since Paul and Sandy both grew up here, they know all the people, history and interesting stories about the area and made great tour guides.  Saw some beautiful homes, the kids’ schools, the school where Sandy works and highlights like the  new hospital, Buffalo Bill Museum, the Rodeo grounds, the Irma Hotel and more.

We took the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway out of Cody and it lived up to its name, with beautiful red rock.

  After a wet few weeks, everything was green and the hills looked like they were covered in velvet.  We connected to the Beartooth Highway and climbed and wound by beautiful cliffs, canyons, mountains and streams, stopping often for photo ops.  We skirted rainy weather, but the clouds obscured the tops of the snowy Bear Tooth peaks. We saw  antelope, deer, an elk and a coyote.

Paul took us to a small town near Bear Tooth Pass called Cooke City that had an old (established 1886)“general store” with many original furnishings (and good chocolates!) There was snow on the high mountains and a few flurries even swirled around us in Cooke City.

Had a cookout for dinner, Greg and Paul and Parker played horseshoes, then we did the obligatory group photo and enjoyed a few rounds of Golf again.

May 26, 2013 Wind River Canyon, Thermopolis to Cody

Sunday, May 26, 2013     Cruisin’

Headed out through Wind River Canyon.  Gorgeous canyon walls and rumbling, tumbling water with occasional ranches, like this one.

Next we reached the town of Thermopolis.  Famous for their hot springs, this is a pretty little town with a very green central park dotted with blooming lilacs  – I miss those in Texas!  There was an unusual globular structure which we discovered used to be teepee shaped and is a vent for the hot springs.  The water and steam flows from the top and has built up quite a bit of mineral deposits.

 The springs themselves also put out a lot of this material, creating what looks like a frozen water falls.

Unfortunately the bath houses did not open till noon on Sunday so we missed a soak.  Instead we ran the generator for hot water,  and cleaned up in the Trek. We stopped at Mickey D’s for breakfast and wi-fi.  then headed to Cody, 84 miles north.

Arrived at Paul and Sandy’s about noon and had a nice reunion and re-met the kids, Parker and Skylar.  Their house is lovely and back yard has a great patio with fireplace and comfy furniture.  Paul gave us a tour of his sign shop, then Sandy fixed dinner in a can cooker ,(google Seth McGuinn’s can cooker) a large milk-can shaped cooker into which she layered potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, brauts and shrimp.  Yummy!  We taught them to play the card game, golf,  got caught up a bit with wi-fi enjoyed hot showers and slept well.

May 25, 2013 Colorado, Wyoming

May 25, 2013   Tumbling Along like a Tumblin' Tumbleweed..

Bright blue sky this morning as we headed into Denver and then turned north, with the Rocky Mountains to our left.  Greener pastures, but still windy and occasional tumbleweeds on the road or caught up in fences.  More rocks and water begin appearing, though still dry.  The Wyoming WelcomeCenterprovided a nice break.

North through Cheyenne and west to Casper, where we decided to take a little longer route in order to see Independence Rock, which was a landmark on the Oregon trail and had the names of many travelers inscribed into it.  The drive was just more of flatland with sagebrush, occasional  cattle and antelope.  The rock itself, when we arrived, was a giant granite outcropping.

 We stretched our legs walking around it, about a mile, the oldest dates were fenced off for preservation, so we were more likely to see "Hank 1995"  or  William Thompson was here".  Still it was amazing to picture travelers by wagon or cart stopping here for a spot of shade and leaving a lasting memento. Saw a couple of grass snakes crossing the path which made one wonder what else was in the grass and rocks.


Today we have passed the Dave Johnston nuclear power plant, lots of wind turbines, train cars carrying coal, occasional jack-up rigs, and a few hydroelectric dams. Quite an "energy corridor".  Continued driving, heading north again through part of the Wind River Reservation which was pretty bleak until we arrived at Boysen State Park and the upper Wind River Canyon Campground, a beautiful spot  along the Wind River.  Our campsite marked the beginning of the canyon, with several tunnels for cars and trains.

MAY 23, 2013 HEADING FOR ALASKA, EVENTUALLY

May 23, 2013    UP, UP AND AWAY….

It was a dark and stormy morning…..well, not really.  It WAS dark at 5:30AM,  and it was warm and muggy enough to make us glad that we would be heading to cooler climes…eventually.  Heavy fog to the north made for slow going for a while, and the day never would get clear until we reached our destination – Palo Duro Canyon, in west Texas.

We passed by towns like Buffalo, Ennis, Waxahatchie, Fort Worth and Wichita Falls.  West Texas looks like you’d expect, with cattle, horses, jack-up rigs, cacti, windmills, cotton fields,  irrigation equipment, mesquite and flat, flatter, flattest terrain.

 One thing that didn’t appear in those old westerns was the plethora of wildly spinning wind turbines.  The huge sky looked rather ominous at times.  We even passed a van marked “storm interceptor” but all we saw (and felt) was very heavy winds.

Spent a long time (we had lots!) talking and singing favorite road trip songs, as well as looking up some lists on-line… you’ll no doubt recognize a few.

We arrived at Palo Duro  (Hard Wood) Canyon just before 5:00.  Still very windy, but the sun came out as we neared and there were welcoming blue skies.  The Canyon is 120 miles long and 800 ft deep (second to the Grand Canyon in the US)  and quite amazing to anyone with even the slightest interest in history or geology.  Beautiful colors and strata.  The park we stayed at was at the end of a very steep and windy road, at the bottom of the canyon, where the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River still runs.  

  It was easy to picture the native Americans who lived here for years, and some remnants of ranches that followed them remain,  as well as many CCC projects.  Cell phone and internet have been intermittent at best.

The folks in the campsite next to us were also Roadtrekers, so we talked with them quite a bit.  They told us about a walk just behind our campsite and it was, though not “official”, quite lovely, especially as the setting sun caught the red bluffs.  

There were several visitors to our campsites …

WHAT I LEFT OUT:  Dust clouds, road construction, grasshoppers and  a windshield ding (and we were worried about Alaska roads!)

May 24, 2013  DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS…

We rose early thinking we would see sunrise, but being in a canyon the sun didn’t make an appearance till 7:30 or 8:00.   We walked the Paseo del Rio trail along the river, which included a cowboy dugout made of rock, mud and wood.

Returned to our campsite for breakfast and a shower at the park facilities (mine was hot, Greg’s was not). Then stopped at the Visitors’ Center/Museum/Shop before heading north to Amarillo.  After a quick repair to the windshield we visited a McDonalds to use their Wi-Fi, then headed north  and west, through the Texas panhandle, a little of the Oklahoma panhandle, and into Colorado.

The terrain was flat and pretty bleak where there wasn’t irrigation going on.  Cattle here and there but mostly rocky, scrubby flatland.  Even the mesquite soon disappeared.  At one point we stopped so I could take a picture of the empty roads and lands.  Very little traffic - wide open spaces and silence except for the wind.

I actually had to battle to get a steady picture because of the strong winds.   “Quiet desolation” came to mind. Bonnie Raitt and others cheered things up! There was often a lot of dust wherever there wasn’t vegetation.  We pitied the motorcyclists!

After an  hour or so into Colorado, things began to get green and we saw herds of antelope,(they really were playing, or at least chasing each other LOOKED like playing to us) as well as cattle and farmland.  Still alot of wind and dust. Ended the day at a Flying J near the Denver airport.

WHAT I LEFT OUT:  Insurance sent us to a shop that couldn’t do the repair, but that shop sent us to another Toot ‘n Totum (really) that fixed us up.   The dust was awful. McDonalds internet was sooo slow – 10 minutes to upload one photo so we gave up.