After the whole Wind Cave adventure, we hit the road again, towards Devils Tower in Wyoming!  First, we drove by the Crazy Horse Memorial, the world's largest sculpture, and took some pictures. They have been carving this mountain for over 50 years, and exist solely on private donations and visitors fees. It was too late in the day to go in, so we just took some pictures and moved on.   Heading out of town, we saw a roadside stand offering firewood for sale..  large tied-off bundles of logs for $5 each,  or 5 for $20.  For the size of the bundles it was a bargain, so I dropped a $20 bill in the coffee can "honor box" on the card table, and Tyler helped me load the bundles under the cargo net in the truck bed.   While we were loading, I saw someone in the back yard, so I waved and pointed to the can- I wanted them to retrieve the cash, lest it be too tempting for the next person who happened by!

Devils Tower is the biggest thing in the area, it loomed up on the horizon as we approached it. We stayed at the Devils Tower KOA, right at the base of the mountain. This is the location where Stephen Speilberg filmed "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", a movie they show every night at the campground. We had a great site next to a redrock wall by a river.  There were deer and rabbits roaming freely around the campground. It was warm but  very windy, and the area was so dry campfires were not allowed, so we had to break out the camp stove to cook some burgers.  It was very buggy out, so I lit several citronella candles.   They don't go after Dawn at all, but for some reason they were eating me alive!

     We got up today and headed out to drive what is considered one of the most beautiful highways in the United States the Beartooth Highway. The highway connects Red Lodge, MT to Cooke City, MT just outside Yellowstone’s northeast entrance. We didn’t take it the whole way to Cooke City but got off of it and onto the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway to head into Cody.

If you ever get the chance to drive the Beartooth Pass DO IT. I thought after hearing all these things about how beautiful the scenery was that it would be pretty, but I had no idea it would be breath taking. I can’t describe how gorgeous it is and neither pictures or videos do it justice but I’ll post them all just the same, lol.

     One of my favorite parts of the drive were the Chipmunks at the Rock Creek Vista Point, they are partially tame and will come and eat nuts right out of your hand, there’s also an area on the Chief Joseph highway where they come up and kinda beg for food., they are took cute and some were kind of chubby, come to think of it, it’s the chubby ones that come and beg. We spent 7 hours or so in the car this day mostly because we stopped around 21 times or so to take pictures and walk around. I found an area that still had snow on the ground so I walked over to that to see if I could walk in the snow (I could) and then spent the rest of the day with frozen feet :)

     We got into Cody in the early evening, checked into the Cody Cowboy Village, our hotel for the next 2 nights. CCV is a great place to sleep, it’s all decorated in cowboy motif and they are individual cabins each with their own front porch and an amazing pool sized outdoor hot tub! We bought tickets for the Cody rodeo at the front desk and headed to dinner at Bubba’s BBQ. Bubba’s BBQ had really good food if you’re into that sort of thing. I had the pulled pork and it was very, very good, I would definitely eat there again. After dinner we headed to the Cody Rodeo; Cody has a rodeo every night in the summer. I had never been to a rodeo and am not a huge fan of rodeo’s but when in Cody, the self-proclaimed Rodeo Capital of the World, you got to see a rodeo. The have the normal rodeo events, bull riding and bareback riding which I did watch, barrel racing which I watched and then there’s the events I don’t watch. Tie down roping is one, it’s where they rope the calf and then pick it up and throw it down on the ground and I don’t mean gently. I decided I would get up and walk around during the event and ended up watching people chasing the horses and bulls around with wipes in the holding pens to get them ready for the bucking contests. This didn’t make me happy either. I went back up to watch the next event which was team roping, I figured I could watch this no problem but then the first cow that got roped limped out of the arena on three legs so I decided that it probably wasn’t an event I was gonna like either, luckily (for me not the cowboys) not many were able to rope the cows so it wasn’t too bad. I’m glad that I went and saw a rodeo, but I doubt that I would want to see one again. I’m sure my mom and Kerry (who both seemed to enjoy it) would not complain if next time I stayed home since I was up and down 100 times throughout the rodeo. Truthfully tho I’m not sure how much of the rodeo Kerry watched cause every time I looked at her she was not looking at the arena but down the area right in front of our seats where the cowboys were hanging out, lol

The Elephant Head Lodge is another of those “different” kinds of place to stay. It’s located just 11.7 miles outside the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park, in an area called Wapiti. This small Three Diamond AAA rated log-cabin mountain resort lodge and most of the cabins are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It gets its name from a rock formation overlooking it. Our stay was in a rather small, okay diminutive, cabin that was one room with a bathroom tucked away quietly in one corner. The door to the bathroom could not be opened completely with the queen sized bed in the room. The sink for the bathroom was actually in the room and the shower was most definitely a single person size. The window opened into the cabin and there was no screen so out in the forest where this was we closed it for the night to keep any little critters out. Our bed was good and we did enjoy staying there, smiling the whole time. We weren’t there long enough to enjoy the evening campfires, horseback riding or fishing nearby in the river. We did get to eat at the restaurant and gave them super high ratings on the food both for dinner (we had great steaks) and the large breakfast.

This was the day I dreamed about!  To see Devil's Tower in Wyoming and head back south and east through little towns... and to go into Sturgis... the American Mecca of the motorcycle world... an event that already had people trucking and trailering their bikes to attend... but to which I RODE the entire way.  Devil's Tower was monumental, over powering and majestic in size and scope.  To think that that it was formed as a result of erosion and that the actual top of the magma mass was still under the bed of an ancient ocean at the time of it's forming is beyond human comprehension.  The size of the boulders of magma that had broken off an tumbled were staggering.  The fact that people were climbing the Tower was astounding.

I also had the opportunity to ride through towns like Spearfish, Lead, Stugis and Deadwood where I went to Mt. Moriaty Cemetary to pay my respects to Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.

We stayed the night at the Yellowstone Valley Inn outside the east entrance to Yellowstone Park.  The view from the hotel was breathtaking to see first thing in the morning since we drove to the hotel late at night.  After breakfast, we drove back into Yellowstone Park where we set up camp at the Bridge Bay Campground with a beautiful view of Yellowstone Lake.  Throughout the day we saw buffalo, elk, deer, bald eagle (spotted by John throught a forest, amazing) and coyote.  We drove up to the northern tip of Yellowstone just under Montana about 100 miles from the campsite and got back to the campsite around 9p.m. where we crashed for the night.  The moonlight over the lake and the star filled sky was magnificent (Shannon's word) and Kelly said it was super cool.

We left Evanston, Wyoming where we stayed for the night to head up to Yellowstone.  On the way we stopped in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and went through Teton National Park where we partially climbed up a mountain and then came into Yellowstone through the south entrance.  The last thing we did was see "Old Faithful" before heading to The Yellowstone Inn in Cody, Wyoming where we are staying for the night.

One year ago, while driving across the West, I was in the mood for stopping at any and all roadside points of interest...and found the Ayers Natural Bridge.  It is a gem in the middle of nowhere...to be found only by those with a stitch of curiosity...as all there is notifying travelers is a single sign on the Intertate "Ayers Natural Bridge".

Five miles off I-25...east of Glenrock, WY is Ayers Natural Bridge.  The county has done a wonderful job of crafting a park around the bridge...with numerous picnic tables, grilling boxes and horseshoe pits.

Be sure to spend a couple hours there to explore the geology and animals that make their home in the cliffs.

The park can be found by going to Google maps (maps.google.com) and typing in: "Ayers Natural Bridge Wyoming"

Upon leaving Mount Rushmore and heading west to see Yellowstone I found myself driving along I-90 pretty late and much to my surprise there wasn't much to choose from once you cross the South Dakota border so this place was pretty much my only choice. Its less than an hour from the Devil's Tower (America's 1st National Monument) and about 2 hours from Rushmore itself. It was a little more than I wanted to pay for a Best Western, but as I mentioned there really isn't much to choose from, and I'm not kidding about that one boys and girls. And there was a ton of wildlife out that evening so I found it both in mind and their best interest to get off the highway and catch some much needed Z's. As far as I could tell the restaurant in the lobby was the only extra and the rooms were older and not terribly clean. The bathrooms are very small, but it wasn't a bad hotel by any stretch. Recommendation - Either stay closer to Mount Rushmore in the Southwestern portion of South Dakota or just continue to drive west and enjoy one of the really cool little towns closer to Yellowstone. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jason

Cody is an ideal place to call home while visiting Yellowstone National Park, assuming of course that you're not actually camping in the Park. Its roughly 52 miles outside of the East Entrance, but its important to note that the drive to the Park is very beautiful as it takes you along the river and through another National Forest. The hotel itself is very basic in that it doesn't possess any bells and whistles, however, with Yellowstone nearby there's no reason to be spending much time in your room or on the property for that matter. The service was surprisingly delightful as the gentlemen working the front desk set me up with the AAA rate even though I'm not a member. Hey, I'll save a few bucks whever possible. The property is on the east side of town so be prepared to jump in the car if you want to head downtown. The Internet connection was better than most of the Super 8 Motels I've visited. Cody is a really cool little town and if possible take in the Cody Museum honoring its famous namesake. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jason

Left Indiana on July 10, drove all night through the flyover states of Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, arriving at Vedawoo in late afternoon to enjoy scrambling on the rocks and a small dinner.

Burned some hotel points at the Hampton Inn in Laramie.  Off to Kalispell, MT in the morning.

I will write more about the overnight camping trip in another blog (which by the way really was fantastic and something we would all definitely do again).  This is just my sleeping bag liner story.  Most of you who will be reading this know of my fear that I had about sleeping in something like this.  We arrived at camp after rafting for about 2 hours, hiked up a short hill and staked out two tents.  There were about 12 tent/cabins with 3 wood frames and a piece of foam and a sleeping bag.  The liner that they gave you was very clean and better than I thought.  It was a sheet sewen together to resemble a sleeping bag that you insert into the sleeping bag that has been used (by someone else), but I tried really hard not to think of that.  I darn near froze to death because I refused to get fully in the bag.  Anyway, things were going well, the tent/cabins were relatively very clean.  In fact, they were nicer than the hotel that we had stayed in the night before and without the smell (that's another blog).  Terry and I were getting our liners in our bags and our stuff settled in our cabin when Kelsey asked if I would help her get hers set up (why couldn't she have asked Terry?).  I went to help her, got her liner and went to put it in the bag and saw something grey with a long tail.  Had I not been with about 13 other people that I had just met 2 hours prior and had to spend the rest of the evening with and half of the next day, you would have probably heard my scream in New York, but I QUICKLY exited the tent/cabin and asked Terry very calmly if he would please help us out.  He got the sleeping bag and proceeded to shake out not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but SIX (yes six) baby moles.  I called it a mouse but was quickly corrected that it was a mole.  I didn't stay around  long enough to give it a thorough inspection and wouldn't know the difference between a mouse and a mole anyway.  They're both grey with long tales and gross.  It was one of the most disgusting experiences of my life even beating the dead bat story in PA.  If you haven't heard that one, ask me next time I see you and I'll tell you.  Needless to say, we didn't use that sleeping bag and I'm not quite sure I'll ever feel the same when I put my feet under the covers.  Other than that, the trip was really fantastic!!!  :) 

Same results?  Definitely.  After the two man made monuments, we traveled across the state line into Wyoming.  Another state, check it!  I had heard from numerous people how amazing Devil's Tower was...so we ventured off the beaten highway and headed into the northeast corner of Wyoming.  Same results as before.  Except this time, the view wasn't quite as amazing.  I think the admission was something around $12, which would've been $3 a person.  Not expensive by any means...but we were trying to save every penny.  And what was a view of that amazing tower with the sunlight behind us anyways??  As you can see...the sun was unfortunately placed behind the plateau, but you could still see the ridges snaking down the tower from the edge.  It was a sight to see....so randomly placed, randomly shaped, randomly made into a tourist trap.  It's just a tower...albeit a picturesque and famous one.  But still.  Honestly?  These college kids weren't about to pay again....so we stopped in the gift shop at the foot of the tower instead.  After a brief browse through the store, we called it a day in terms of sightseeing and made our way deep into the heart of Wyoming.  Next stop...wherever we felt like stopping.

There was little debate about which route to take.  The longer, less scenic route seemed commonplace and less adventurous.  We chose the scary as hell, pitch black, winding route through woods that reminded me of the Blair Witch Project.  But before all that, we needed food.  When we got to a good stopping point, aka a rest stop halfway up the Bighorn Mountains, we pulled over and made way for another stove top meal.  This time, however, one of my roommates was bent on making a fire.  So there, in the middle of the parking lot, a fire was created that brought life to Bighorn Stew.  This meal, a distant relative of Badlands Stew, consisted of Ramen noodles, green beans, and corn.  And Tandori Sauce.  Delicious!  Actually, it really was.  Increasing in altitude as we went across the mountain range, we quickly noticed the temperature change when we got out of the car to make dinner.  This warm meal was welcoming to our shivering bodies and empty stomachs.  I think we probably could've mixed just about anything and it would've tasted amazing, haha. 

After this hearty meal and some pictures of the mountains/moon, we set out for west.  No stopping point mentioned.  "Just go until you can't go anymore."  I love it.  My parents would kill me if they realized that philosophy we took.  My roommates took it in stride. 

It was my turn to drive, and I'll never forget the next 200 miles of my life.  It started out much like the previous 20 miles had before the rest stop....slow, winding, and treacherous (we were beginning to see more and more snow).  Then...the road got narrower, the trees got taller and closer to the road, and thicker.  And the inclines/declines of the road forced me to be 120% alert for 3 straight hours.  Seeing deer warning signs EVERYWHERE, I was extra cautious...driving a car not my own.  We passed a total of 4 cars in that 3 hour stretch...none of them going any faster than we were. 

Back to the creepiness of the area....without headlights, I wouldn't have been able to see my hands in front of my face.  The moon was tucked away behind the thick branches of the densely-packed forest around us...so that was useless.  And deer.  Oh boy....deer.  I passed 4 deer on the side of the road, saw 3 deer scramble into the woods when they saw headlights, and still another 2 dart in front of the car as we descended the mountain.  Scary stuff.  My heart was beat-boxing.  There was no rhythm to the constant jumpiness of my vital organs.   After what seemed like half a day, we finally emerged at the bottom of the Bighorn Mountains, having successfully made it to the other side after a scenic (way too much so) ride through the heart of Wyoming. 

An hour later, you could find our car on the side of the road in Worland, Wyoming.  Side of the road as in we had been pulled over.  I had been pulled over.  For the first time in my life.  Pulled over at 12:30am, going 41 in a 30.  41 in a 30.  Say it again.  41 in a 30.  You do it all the time, right?  Well, when you pass through a town that enforces a speed limit drop of 35 mph just like that (65 to 30 in the blink of an eye), then you pay the price.  Worland, Wyoming, according to the 2000 census, has a population of 5,250.  They've gotta make money somehow, huh?  Well....I feel like a good samaritan after mailing them a nice hefty $116 check for my 11-over travesty.  Oh well.....can't let it happen again for a while.  Those small towns will get you, my dad said before I left.  Yep...I guess I learned my lesson.  Those small towns SUCK.  3 traffic lights, and 20 minutes to go 5 blocks.  Ridiculous.

Anyways, I finished my stint and slept through the rest of the drive to Cody, Wyoming.  Our living arrangements this night would not be so luxurious.  If you haven't looked into this, though, I strongly recommend you do.  Walmart Supercenter.  24-hour parking, 24-hour camping...well, we made it camping.  Two roommates pulled out the tent and set up camp in the rear of the building, while I, along with the remaining roommate, stretched out the front seats and made reclining car beds.  Free isn't free.  You pay the price of sore necks, cold feet, and this awful feeling of congestion/bad taste in your mouth when you wake up. 

Ahhhh, the GREAT outdoors...of Cody.  Haha.  Just a pit stop, we'll make do for the night.

Yellowstone tomorrow!!!!!

We had been working in the Pinedale, WY area...finished up early...and ran into Jackson Hole for drinks and dinner. Ted recommended Roadhouse Barbeque. Tanvi and I decided to split a sampler plate. Ted should have joined us. The sampler plate was loaded with thick-sliced brisket, 1/4 bbq chicken, sausage, pulled pork and ribs. Our glasses of sweet tea were never empty...as the waiter made sure we were taken care of. On the drive back into Jackson Hole, we watched an Osprey snag a trout from the river and fly in front of us. Maybe he ate better than us.

We started the drive across the country. Took I-15 to I-80. So 80 had a business loop though some towns in Wyoming. I really really had to use the bathroom, around 11 PM, so I figured a business loop was bound to have something on it. Well, this loop was 14 miles long. We went through a town with a population of...... 150. No need to say that they didn't have anything open. Or anything at all. The next town on the loop was Lymon, pop. 2000. They had a gas station open, thank god. There was a girl in there, and she gave me the stink-eye when I went in. Like I was intruding on her turf or something. Jeez, I just had to pee, I was going to steal her boyfriend and take him to the sock-hop or anything.
Wyoming is kind of odd, it's fairly flat, but flat at 7000 feet. I got an awesome picture of a huge Abe Lincoln statue. Pics to come!

This place was out of this world. There were two guys, one taking orders and one cooking. These two were hilarious and made our day. Besides that the cheeseburgers were fantastic and with some fries all I can say is ummmmmmmm. It is a very small diner but worth the stop. It's clean and the service was the tops.