Big Horn - Chief Joseph's Hwy - Beartooth Pass (5)

Our first goal today - Drive over The Big Horn National Forrest. It reaches an elevation between ten and eleven thousand feet, and abounds with breathtaking views.

Along the way we visited The Burgess Junction Visitor Center.

We did not see any Big Horn Sheep, but we did see mule deer, wild turkey, and domestic sheep by the thousands. All of the animals roam free and require a vigilant eye.

Herds of Sheep along side of the road.

We arrived in Cody, WY about 10:30 am and booked a room for tonight. After eating lunch, we set out to ride over The Chief Joseph Highway and Beartooth Highway and Pass.

The beginning of The Chief Joseph Highway.

High atop the mountains, two Nez Perce Indian silhouettes look out over the vista.

The Chief Joseph Highway connects to Beartooth Highway which reaches elevations around 11,000 ft. The highway snakes around the peaks with astounding views at every turn. Snow can be found at the higher elevations throughout the summer.


The Beartooth Highway was under construction in many places.

This is July snow!

Carolyn had a room with a view!

Notice the sharp contrast between the flowers in the foreground combined with the snow.

A statue of Chief Joseph in Red Lodge, Montana.

After reaching Red Lodge, we back tracked to Cody, WY for the night.

Cody is an interesting town with old west atmosphere. The streets are wide, which in the past accommodated turning horse and wagons around.

The local eatery, filled with really good food and old west cowboys.

The Irma Hotel and the Silver Saddle Saloon.

This picture was taken for our good friends, Kevin and Rita Pugh, who are excellent horsemen.

The town is filled with beautiful wildlife art and statuary.

Tomorrow we are leaving early in hopes of beating the Sunday crowd to Yellowstone.

The only threat to fulfilling our dreams is surrendering to our fears.
~Unknown~

Hill City - Deadwood - Belle Forche - Devils Tower (4)

A side note to yesterday. You never know what you will encounter in the mountains. Last night about eleven pm, we were awakened by thunder, lightning, and a hail storm outside our window. The parking lot was covered in good size hail. However, this morning, after a close inspection, we could find no damage to the car.

After leaving Hill City, SD, our first destination was Deadwood, SD.

Deadwood is a historic gambling and mining town. Today the town is full of casinos and tourist attractions.

Leaving Deadwood, we turned our attention to driving The Spearfish Canyon. Along the way, we encountered beautiful wooded hills and the scenic Lake Pactola.

I would like to thank Mike Jennings for the Spearfish Canyon recommendation. It is truly a beautiful ride that starts at nearly 6,000 ft. The narrow road winds along wooded creeks, waterfalls and sheer rock walls, decending 2,000 ft over 15 or so miles.

Bridal Veil Falls along The Spearfish Canyon Road.


After arriving in Spearfish, SD, we decided it was time to wash off a gazillion bugs that had accumulated.
Our next stop was at Belle Forche, SD, the geographic center of the entire United States.

This marker locates the geographic center of the United States.

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming.

This is simply an amazing site. The vertical rock face rises 867 ft from it's base and stands 1,267 ft above the river. The diameter at it's base 1,000 ft.

After leaving Devil's Tower, we continued our drive west, stopping in Buffalo, WY. We decided to stop a bit early today to rest up for the mountains tomorrow.

Todays weather continued to be nothing short of beautiful! The temps were in the mid to high 70's with low hudmidity and a light breeze.

He who dares not offend cannot be honest. ~Thomas Paine~

"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving." ~Dale Carnegie~

Carhenge - The Badlands - Mt Rushmore - Crazy Horse (3)

After leaving Sidney, we turned due north and drove toward Scotts Bluff.

For a decade, in my younger years, I made duck/pheasant hunting trips to the Scotts Bluff area. One of my goals on this trip was to show my wife the Scotts Bluff sites. Sadly, it was not to be.

When we arrived in Bridgeport, NE the highway department had placed large signs proclaiming "Fresh Oil" on the road. Not wanting to make an extensive detour, or having fresh oil on the relatively new Camry, we chose to head to The Badlands and save Scotts Bluff sites for another time.

Today was spent playing the stereotypical tourist! The first "Tourist Hot Spot" was "Carhenge" near Alliance, NE. You have to admit, the guy had a wicked sense of humor.

After seeing this, Carolyn said she felt like she was in the movie National Lampoon's Vacation.. LOL

The Badlands National Park

The Badlands Visitor Center provided a break and lunch, before we began the tour.

Mother Nature at her best and like no other place.

The pictures speak for themselves.

After leaving The Badlands, we quickly arrived in Wall, SD, the home of Wall Drug and the 80 ft dinosaur. We bought gas and passed on all the tourist hoopla. When traveling in expansive spaces we operate on the top half of our gas tank.

The high point of our trip to date came when we arrived at Mount Rushmore. Truly an amazing accomplishment and something everyone should see. Our weather today was nothing short of spectacular! It was in the mid 70's with a slight breeze and absolutely no humidity!

The "Avenue of Flags" leading to the amphitheater in front of Mt Rushmore.

There are a thousand different angles and great shots of Mt Rushmore. I seriously doubt you could take a bad picture. Carolyn and I both think The Black Hills are just beautiful!

From Mt Rushmore it did not take long to cover the 15 or so miles to The Crazy Horse Monument. As you can see, this monument is a fifty year work in progress. It is totally privately funded.

To give you an idea of the size of this monument, the hole under his arm is actually ten stories high.

The statue of what it will eventually portray, with the actual monument directly behind it.

After driving across The Pine Ridge Indian reservation and later watching the video at the Crazy Horse Monument Visitor Center, Carolyn and I were struck by one quote from Chief Crazy Horse which I will paraphrase. "The white man broke every promise he ever made, save one, to take our land." How could any white man not feel shame for the way the Indians were treated?

From The Crazy Horse Monument we found a room in Hill City, SD. This is a tourist town much like Cherokee, NC. Tomorrow we will drive through Spearfish Canyon, check out Deadwood, and on from there.

The weather has been wonderful. We both hope it continues. We would also like to thank those who have commented both here on the blog, and written e-mails.

"Life is the Art of drawing without an eraser" ~John W. Gardner~

Kansas City - Lincoln - Sidney (2)

We left Blue Springs around 7 am and headed north, stopping in St. Joseph for breakfast. From there we followed a developing thunderstorm which politely stayed just to our east. Northern Missouri is made up of open country, allowing for a wide, panoramic view. Carolyn and I both enjoyed following along the edge of the storm and watching it develop over the expansive skyline.

We crossed the Iowa border and rode for about 15 miles before we turned west into Nebraska and on to Lincoln.


At Lincoln we took a sight seeing tour of the downtown area, including the State Capitol.


The Nebraska Governors Mansion


Lincoln is yet another town full of beautiful architecture. This is one of the Catholic Churches.

This is the Assurity Insurance Company's entrance. All of these interesting buildings were within a few square blocks in downtown Lincoln.

No visit to Lincoln, Nebraska would be complete without a trip to the mecca of college football, Memorial Stadium (Nebraska Cornhuskers).

After departing Lincoln, we turned west on I-80. It was not long before we were routed off to Hwy 34 due to an accident on the Interstate. We never did see the site of the accident, but we did see the cars and trucks backed up for miles.

The picture above was taken in Waco, Nebraska and illustrates the vastness of the area. Far off in the distance, a train light could barely be seen on the tracks. There was absolutely nothing obstructing the view as far as the eye could see.


The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument is unique because it spans I-80 near Kearney, Nebraska.

This statue was near the monument entrance and is for our grandson, Keaton, knowing how much he loves animals.

We finished our day at Cabelas near Sidney, Nebraska, staying at a nearby motel.

Tomorrow we turn north on two lane roads towards Scott's Bluff and on to the Badlands. To this point we've driven 1,028 miles.

When you come to a fork in the road,take it. ~Yogi Bera~

The adventure starts when things stop going as planned. ~Unknown~

Home - St. Louis - Kansas City (1)

Tuesday morning finally arrives and we are packed and ready to go! After making sure everything was taken care of, we bid our home goodbye and began our trip. We made it all of a quarter of a mile when the "Check Engine" light came on..... grrrrr....

Not wanting to start a month long trip with "anything" wrong, we quickly detoured back to Mike Smith's Toyota to have the problem analyzed. It did not take long for the Toyota Techs to run a diagnostic check and pronounce the non-existant problem corrected. Soon we were on our way, headed to St. Louis.

Nothing says you are headed west more than a picture of The St. Louis Gateway Arch. Just west of St. Louis we stopped to shop and have lunch.

Since we have plenty of time, we decided to make a side trip into downtown Kansas City to see the sites. Our original plan was to spend tonight somwhere near St. Joseph, MO.

As luck would have it, we had light showers as we checked out the downtown area. The larger portion of the storm moved over the north side of Kansas City and missed us entirely.

Downtown Kansas City is full of modern high rise buildings, fountains and beautifully restored architecture. It was well worth the drive through the rush hour traffic to take it all in.

The SPOT Satellite Tracker performed flawlessly. If you are not up to date on a SPOT Tracker, I will include a brief explanation. SPOT is a small, handheld, personal tracking device that transmits a signal via satellite, which is then registered on my web-based trip map. To see this map, simply click on the SPOT logo on the right sidebar of this page. SPOT can also be used to summon 911 help in case of an emergency.

Tonight we are staying just north of Kansas City in a small suburb called Blue Springs.

There are no short cuts to anywhere worth going! ~Unknown~

It is truly the ignorant man who would limit his knowledge to only his own personal experience. ~Scott McCarty~