Our Drive to Cody, Wyoming

Well, silly us!! We thought all of Wyoming looked the same but, boy, were we wrong!! Our drive to Cody took us over the Bighorn Mountains and the scenery was gorgeous.  After a short drive on I90, we passed through farm and ranch country with green pastures and fields. Then we started up the mountain. The climb had to have been 8-10% grade all the way to the top with no relief!! After starting up the mountain our speed dropped to 25MPH and stayed there until we got to the top. The climb had to have been 8-10 miles long with switchbacks up the side of the mountain. We went up to around 8900 feet altitude so our truck had to work very hard to get to the top, but she made it!! She got a rest when we started back down..... We also saw snow still on the mountain tops.

We did see one interesting thing during the drive that did not have anything to do with the Wyoming scenery. We saw our first "back pack" for a car!! An SUV had a back pack style luggage carrier strapped onto the luggage rack and hanging down over the rear window. And it was loaded (full).

The top of the mountain was several miles of open meadow/pasture land (free range) where we saw a very large flock of sheep and several cows just meandering across the road.

On the way down the mountain, we stopped at Shell Falls for some pictures. Shell Creek has carved a path through the rocky terrain and it now looks like a small canyon surrounds it. It is amazing to see so many different types of scenery in such a short drive. Our pictures will help explain.

The rest of the drive was just barren and desolate countryside (and it was a little boring).

We arrived at Absaroka Bay RV Park at 1:00PM. This is a fairly nice park with paved interior roads and pull through sites. And they have free WiFi (which is always nice). After setting up, we chill-axed for the rest of the day.

Climbing up the mountain

Snow in July

 Beautiful scenery

Shell Falls

 More Shell Falls

 No idea what this rock is ??

The barren countryside

 They own the road!!

Please click on the picture below to see all of our photos from today.

July 22, 2011

Packing up and heading out!!

We spent some of yesterday preparing the 5er for our departure this morning. Otherwise we took it pretty easy. Charley did go to the Woodcarving Museum in Custer and found it to be very interesting.

This morning we finished up preparing for travel and headed out of Custer at about 9:00AM. It will take us 2 days to get to Cody  so we have stopped at Peter D's RV Park in Sheridan, WY for tonight. We stayed here for a couple of nights last year. It is a very small park, not fancy, but very convenient to I90.

We only have about 150 miles to travel tomorrow so will not be in a rush to get started in the morning. Maybe we can have an extra cup of coffee and a leisurely shower before we leave!!

Here are some pictures from the Woodcarving Museum and a couple of the Wyoming countryside.

 

Some very talented folks did these!!

Wyoming is pretty in its own way, amazing how the terrain changed when we crossed the state line!!

Needles Highway at Custer State Park

We went back to Custer State Park today to finish our tour on the Needles Highway. This is a beautiful drive with so many rock formations, mountains, lakes and tunnels. This is the highway that has one tunnel that is only 8 feet 4 inches wide. And our truck is 8 feet 2 inches wide with the side mirrors folded in. One guy was standing there watching us. I believe that he thought we were not going to make it……but we did!! This is an absolutely fantastic drive and it does not take very long at all, as long as you don’t stop to hike on the many trails that are available.
 
On our way back we stopped by to meet Mike and Pat McFall. We are followers on their blog. We also purchased our Pressure Pro system from them. They live just down the road from Broken Arrow Campground. Very nice folks. We are going to try to get together for another visit when we return to Broken Arrow in late August.

Tomorrow we will be getting the 5er prepped to leave on Thursday morning so will probably be spending most of the day at the campground. It will take us 2 days to get to Cody, with an overnight stop in Sheridan, WY at Peter D’s RV Park.

Here are a few favorite pictures from today with a link to all of them if you are interested.

Looks like it is about to fall, doesn't it?

Gorgeous scenery everywhere

The 8 ft 4 in tunnel!!

Beautiful Sylvan Lake

 Longhorn Cattle

Click on "Needles Highway" below to see all of our “many” pictures from today. We had two cameras going!!

 Needles Highway

Quiet Day at Broken Arrow Campground

We stayed at the campground today and took care of a couple of fix-it jobs that needed to be done in addition to doing laundry and finishing a few cleaning chores. Nothing big.
We went to the chuck wagon dinner at the campground tonight. They had a cowboy singing and playing his guitar, accompanied by a guy playing the fiddle. The food was good and the entertainment was too. A few pictures are attached.
Please note that I have also loaded current pictures of our fur babies on the blog (right hand side). Sadie is growing like a weed!!
That is all for today. Stay tuned!!

Custer State Park

We completed the chores that we had planned for yesterday. The fur babies sure do smell lots better!!

Charley started a campfire last night after dinner and we sampled one of our Red Ass wines. It sure was good!!

Today we started our tour of Custer State Park. We drove the Wildlife Loop and Iron Mountain Road. Saw prairie dogs, burros, pronghorn, and buffalo on the Wildlife Loop. Saw beautiful scenery on both of these, in addition to seeing Mount Rushmore again.

Cheyenne and Sadie enjoyed the burros. We fed them apples and carrots so they got up close and personal!!

We will be going back to drive the Needles Highway another day before we leave for Cody on Thursday. Not sure if that will be tomorrow or Tuesday.

I have a few pictures included along with a link to see them all. Hope you enjoy them!!

Up close and personal…..

The little prairie dogs – my favorite!!

Mount Rushmore from Iron Mountain Road – yes, that is Mount Rushmore that you see through the tunnel!!

This is the pretty little town of Keystone

Click on the link below to see all of our pictures from today’s tour.

Custer State Park

An Update from Custer

We went into Rapid City as planned on Thursday and got all of our errands taken care of. Stopped on the way back at the Red Ass Winery. Did the wine tasting routine and picked out three that we liked. And, yes, we came home with three bottles of wine!! Planning to open the first bottle tonight in front of a campfire!!

Went on the 1880 Train ride yesterday and it was fun. Train only traveled 10 MPH and it went from Hill City to Keystone and back. Saw a lot of the mountain scenery like wild flowers, trees and deer and a lot of the mountain homes that you cannot see from a road.

Also, have to mention that our daughter had a birthday yesterday. She hit her first milestone – 30!! Happy Birthday again Stacey!!

One other major accomplishment was completed yesterday. We finished our itinerary for the remainder of July and August. Will be going from here to Cody, staying there for a few days and then up to Glacier National Park where we will be for two weeks. This gets us out of the hubbub surrounding the motorcycle rally in Sturgis. Then we will make our way back to Custer, returning to the Broken Arrow campground until time to head for Gillette and the Escapades Rally. All reservations are in place so we can now sleep more soundly.

Planning to take care of some chores around the campground today, cleaning up the 5er, bathing the two fur babies, and napping!!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

 Beautiful drive to Rapid City!!

 

 Updated picture of the Crazy Horse monument

The sign explains these two!!

 The 1880 Train in Hill City

Click on the Picture Below to see more pictures from the train ride.

1880 Train Ride

Rainy and Foggy in Custer

It has been rainy and foggy since we arrived in Custer so no real sight seeing yet. Gotta be able to see the sights and take pictures!!

We did get the windshield replaced in the truck today after waiting most of the day for them to arrive! After it was finished we did take a short ride to the Jewel Cave National Monument mostly to get me out of the camper for a little while. We did not go in to see the monument because it was too close to dinner time and we were hungry!! The drive there was beautiful, with lots of winding mountain roads that Charley enjoyed driving on. We did not take pictures so none to share today.

Tomorrow we are going into Rapid City (as we had planned to do today) to pick up prescriptions and other things at Wal-Mart. We are also going to the commissary at Fort Ellsworth to pick up a couple of things. Also need to check out the laundromat in Custer. The one here at Broken Arrow is too expensive!!

Friday we have tickets to ride the 1880’s train. We do hope that it is not foggy that day!! Then after that we will spend a day or two at Custer State Park.

Stay tuned!!