Day 67 (Sunday 8/26/12)- Rocky Mountains

　
We were up before the sun rose. Not, as it turned out, because we needed to be. Our sleep requirements don't always agree with our plans, and our plans don't always accomodate a full cycle of sleep. We knew we had alot of driving to do, we underestimated though how little we would stop. Just when I was beginning to believe the Rocky Mountains were not so rocky afterall, today proved to be full of great views and yes, lots of craggy rocks. Driving the eastern portion of the Rockies we found no time restrictions as this area is construction free.

The rise of the mountains are gradual and smooth so when we were almost 12,000 above sea level it took me by suprise. The vantage point at the crest of the mountain allows a beautiful panoramic view of the rocks and valley below. Sadly a beetle is wreaking havok on our National Parks, at least the western ones and has destroyed countless trees, literally draining the life from them. It certainly makes the view a little less enjoyable and though we have come across the damage in virtually every park we've been in, here it seemed most severe.

Now our next stop may make some question our sense of direction, but it's actually much easier to just hop back over the border to see Cheyenne than having gone completely out of our way to see it when we were first in WY. Since Cheyenne does not have a Walmart we were exiled to Laramie. The upside is we watched the Hunger Games and ate a tub of icecream. What an upside it was!

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

 

Day 66 (Saturday 8/25/12)- Loveland, CO + Rocky Mountains

Driving to Loveland, CO involves relatively flat land that stretches as far as you can see. The terrain is more colorful and varied than NE, so a much nicer drive, but still flat seeming. (An interesting side note-we also saw more corn than we had in NE and more potatoes than in ID). This makes for a dramatic entrance of the Rock Mountains, looming right outside Loveland city limits, seeming to appear out of nowhere.
We had a nice drive up to one of the many visitor centers. There we caught a shuttle up to Bear Lake. The ride went fairly well though construction in the park has caused a traffic nightmare. In fact no cars are allowed in the area from 9 - 4. This meant that we were asses to elbows for 40 min on the shuttle ride.
Bear Lake is scenic and popular, with great views of the mountains and is small enough that you could walk the perimeter fairly easily. We didn't, but seemed easy enough. After working out the day before we were both sore and instead chose to walk a few yards and collapse on a bench, enjoy the scene and repeat the sequence. During one collapse a fearless squirrel tried to convince us with his persistant cuteness that giving him one of our sandwiches wouldn't hurt anything. He came up and touched us, but disappeared everytime we brought the camera out.
The heat and over crowding wore me out, so we ended the adventure early and took a shuttle back to the van. From there we divided the afternoon and evening between shopping and McDonald's. I most have really been out-of-sorts since I chose a salad instead of an ice cream cone.
We attempted to find the Cracker Barrel for our evening accomodations (they, like Walmart, allow campers) but we couldn't spot it through my flurry of obscenties. We saw it from two different angles, but couldn't access its parking lot. Good luck if you miss a turn off in Loveland. There's no chance of turning around for miles. After much frustration we opted for the nearby Walmart in Greeley as the one we stayed in last night has a 24 hour cap.

Our fearless lunch companion

 

Day 65 (Friday 8/24/12)- Sterling, CO

After the Big Rig's snoring we needed a quiet morning. With that decided we drove around town trying to find the perfect park. The perfect park in which we could cut Isaiah's hair. The winning "park" was a large dirt circle on the outskirts of town and the edge of the highway (It should be mentioned the town is full of beautiful parks but the issue is that people inhabit those). We worked as a team to groom Isaiah into less of a wild man. (Just to clarify, if you think this is weird and gross. It certainly is weird, but using a garbage bag we ensured that my hair clippings weren't spread across the state of Colorado).

Naturally after getting a hair cut in the park, the next item of business is to bathe yourself in a public pool. Bathing can be so mundane, why not have some fun with it, maybe get a little exercise? Don't feel bad for us, I bet we had a better time than you had in the shower this morning. Does your shower include three monster water slides? Well, to our frustration ours didn't either, if you want to get technical about it, but only because they had drained the outdoor pool for cleaning. What luck. 

As we were approaching the pool our eardrums were assaulted. Emanating from the open truck of parked car came a "song" with rhythmic and lyrical OCD. It seems the song could not proceed or end until it perfected it's two notes and simplistic ode to vagina's, though they weren't called that. I'm quite sure these were not musical ideas worth pursuing and even so, it shouldn't have taken five minutes for them to perfect three notes and as many words.   

In front of the speakers were three adult men working out as if they were bench pressing in their garage. Only they were blaring sexually explicit material and doing pull ups on the monkey bars of a children's playground. Stranger still was the other car next to them full of three other men watching them work out. Leaving Muscle Playground behind us we got to the pool.

Being not just a pool but a recreation center too, the $2.50 admission price was one of our best buys yet. Our tickets included a long list of rec possibilities; a weight room, racquetball, Foosball and ping pong tables. We chose the 86 degree indoor pool and also chose to race. Isaiah won but it was a photo finish. (We could have used you J.C.-who, we hear, has a new underwater camera) Then we spent over an hour pumping weights. We chose court room T.V. rather then strip club music (I'm sorry, I men exotic entertainment palaces). Judge Ross is comparable to our beloved Judge Mathis but makes more of an effort at professionalism (he repeatedly scolded a defendant for using the term "stripper," insisting they be refereed to as "exotic entertainers") which is laughable since all his guests are clearly nuts.

In the first case a woman was suing a bartender for setting her on fire. On the night before her wedding no less. Thankfully she only got a few words in before the case was thrown out as she admitted to being so intoxicated during the incident (her Bachelorette party) that her whole testimony turned into a murk of unwarranted self confidence and poor decision making, such as first sculpting her hair into a rock formation with three coats of hair spray and then, in an attempt to let her hair down, dunking it into a shot glass that also happened to be on fire. The second case was won by the plaintiff when it came to light the bachelor party he threw for his best friend was broken up by the soon to be blushing (with anger) bride...with a golf club. When the Judge asked why she brought the golf club with her, she had the audacity to say "...it was in my car." As if it was just convenience and not pre-meditation. The judge might have been biased, for the ex fiance clearly did not respect the entertainment value of what outside the court might be called stripping.

The intensive workout exhausted us and we got a little shut eye in a park (parks, we learned today, are almost as multi functional as rec centers) before hitting the road for Loveland. We pulled into Walmart with the help of GPS. The parking lot was massive, there were trucks everywhere. It was a Walmart factory. Opps. After a detour we finally made it to the actual Walmart.

Day 63 + 64 (Wednesday 8/23/12 + Thursday 8/24/12)- North Platte, NE + Sterling, CO

Spending much of the day driving through endless highways of dead grass and lazy cattle made for an uneventful day. We found our destination of North Platte, NE little better. We were swimming in the humitidy. Enough that when we saw a sign urging the community to "pray for rain" we had a religious experience. We would have prefered to swim in the affordable outdoor pool, but it was closing down. Also, we found that in North Platte it is strange to ask if you can get a discount for not actually swimming. (We would just bring our water wings into the glorious and elusive shower). We would go tomorrow and smuggle all the hot water we could.

Instead in an awkward moment (this time asking if we could use the facilites for free) and with a flimsy excuse (we were going to go check in at our hotel and be back in an hour-they closed in an hour) we ducked out of the historical museum (I am starting to think this Internet thing is full of unreliable information with dubious sources and profit making motives-except this blog of course which is straight gospel-as several things, including this museum, were represented online as free) On to the library where the distrust is free. Libraries are perfect places for us to research the next day's adventure. Research is expedited when both you and the librarians desperately want you out of town.

　
We tried to make up for the dissapointments with carbs. We gorged ourselves on garlic rolls and an italian loaf w/ spaghetti sauce. For desert-mini eclairs. We chased it all down with indigestion, though that could have been due to our movie choice-The Dictator. (We both thought that Borat, despite its desperate nudity was entertainingly perceptive. I now think it only worked because of the real life idiots-characters were weirder than any creation, more funny because serious, more scary because real. The Ali G show could be hilarious too, again when interviewing people not in on the joke).

Feeling that our skin was on fire after just the shortest of walks to return the movie we collapsed in our mobile oven (capable, as you know, of heating liquids to near boiling).

Morning rain pelted our roof. Hallelujiah! Wait....crap, there goes the pool. Instead teenage thugs in training whose bling included ankle monitoring braclets secretly entertained us as we tried not to make eye contact. It was hard to turn away.

On to the next state, on to our next adventure-Colorado. We've both been looking forward to it (especially after cutting through Nebraska) and crossing over into the clearly superior terriortory was heartening. The town of Sterling, CO was in some ways similar to North Platte, but spectacular in its small town modest, sorta dumpy way. The librarians-nothing like the trolls in NE. The musuem lobby, for we didn't make it past the register here either-vastly superior (Again about to close when we found it. This time we were sad about it). The thug lites-more muscley. The pool-less judgmental. As we sat out on the library's verandah watching Comedy Central "news" we saw a librarian quickly approaching. Thinking we were about to be scolded for having the volume up on the lap top and encouraged into the next county, we were completely blown away to be handed candy. It was the first day of school and free candy for all! Jack Johnson beamed from the library speakers (the only documented occurence of Jack Johnson being rebellious). I didn't think you could play music, not even mellow man Jack Johnson, at the library, well, at least I did before the rocking performance at the Cody library.

　
After literally sputtering into a gas station (there is no warning light and the gauge is a little off) we made it to Walmart to re-up on discounted garlic rolls. Sleep didn't come easy as an oil tanker parked beside us and left the motor running all night. All I can hope is that he left the windows down and suffocated before he ran out of gas. Sorry, I get a little irratable when I don't get any sleep.

In the library courtyard

 

 

Day 62 (Tuesday 8/21/12)- Gillette, WY + Custer, SD + Chadron, NE

Three states in one day? Yep, that's what kind of day it was. We started out early and easily made the fairly short drive from Wyoming to South Dakota. Other than much higher gas pices it can be hard to tell where Wyoming ends and South Dakota begins.

Wind Cave has a sister cave nearby. Due to school picking back up in many states we practically had the tour to ourselves, with just one other couple from Germany along with us. The lovely couple from Dusseldorf bragged about how they get 30 days of vacation leave every year. (Seriously someone should get on this immediately. We're losing our world dominance on slacking. We can enact 2 months of vacation time for every American. We can call it the "waste of space race").

Even though the caves are relatively close to one another and some scientists believe they may one day find a connection between the two (both caves, despite being huge are still mostly uncharted) each is completely different from the other. Wind Cave had so much to see we were glad to take the well lit tour and get a good perspective on all it's cool formations. We felt though that taking the lantern tour was the best way to experience Jewel Cave.

Holding an oil lantern for almost two hours is a bit of a challenge, especially, as we were to find out, when you have to crawl on your hands and knees, but it provided much of the thrill of our descent. Since it was a small group with limited lighting we got to meet a few bats. Our tour guide was a 13 year veteran of the cave and had a wealth of knowledge and was, in addition, an amature philosopher and senitmental storyteller. Amanda cried. Though she also hit her head a few times. Hard to say.

This brings up a stark contrast between the two caves-safety. The first tour guide stressed again and again the importance of using hand rails and being very careful even though its path was a relative cake walk. Even so around every turn half the group would yell in warning "stairs" or "wet" or "low ceiling." In Jewel Cave we each took a turn racking our heads against cave rock and both gentlemen took (graceful) tumbles. It's stair passageways were so cramped, long, and steep it felt like we were climbing into a nightmare Escher world.

Speaking of nightmares, next was lights out. Though I learned I have poor suction or blowing powers (thats what she said...Wait, does that work when it's your girlfriend?) and despite a dozen attempts could not blow out my latern. Since a bat had been hovering the moment before we extingusihed our lights the total darkness was frightening.

After all this we had seen merely a fraction of the 2nd longest cave in the world. Jewel Cave is 162 miles long (and counting). We next headed out for what will someday be the world's largest monument.

An assistant to the sculptor of Mount Rushmore began his own project in the region with a goal of dwarfing the predesesor in every conceivable way. (Though only containing the presidents' heads, Rushmore also depicts a giant middle finger to the Native Americans to whom the land on which Rushmore is carved is sacred and was promised to them). One way it bested Rushmore is in length. Sadly the sculptor died in 1982 decades into his project. Now his entire family, 10 kids in all, (this guy can't do anything small) is continuing his efforts. And this is some effort (he reminded me of a mountain man Marlon Brando). For several years the sculptor did all the mountain blasting himself. In over 50 years of work on this massive scultpure of Native hero Crazy Horse just a small fraction is complete (his head) but even a fraction shows up Rushmore (the 4 presidents could fit like oversized hair clips in Crazy Horse's long locks) and it does seem that production has picked up as funding has become more consistent. The final way the monument shows up Rushmore is in price ($10 each). Though they need it and is good to know the money goes towards the project which honors the Native tribes all over the U.S. but also that 50 years from now we can again visit and see where they are at in completing what will be the world's largest scultpure.

Allowing a detour to fulfill my whim to visit the Cosmos, Isaiah waited in the van while I saw magic. Now skeptics might have to turn off their brain to enjoy the show, but this tour was crazy. For a mere $9.50 you can tour the Cosmos. Several demonstrations show off its weirdness. I witnessed water rolling uphill, children doing matrix style back bends and before the eyes of a large crowd I shrank, becoming shorter than another participant that I had dwarfed moments before, all on level ground! I have no idea how this came to be, but they claim it's a vortex of some kind. I would lean more towards a crazy near anti-gravity area, but can't say with any certainty.

When my head stopped spinning we again crossed into another state. This time back to Nebraska to spend the night.

                         
                                                     Jewel Cave Entrance

                                    
                                                Jewel Cave Lantern tour

                       
                                             Crazy Horse Monument

                                
                                Flying in the Cosmos

Day 61 (Monday 8/20/12)- Deadwood, SD + Spearfish, SD + Devil's Tower, WY

Having enjoying a few episodes of the T.V. show Deadwood we were excited to see the (c*** s*****). I mean to see the actual town (If you've ever seen the show I think you might be able to decode that vulgar little game of wheel of fortune). But f*** if there were any murders, women, or gold. And gambling, s*** that p**** Kevin Costner thinks he's a gambler.....We were, needless to say, a little disappointed. Though we did find a free three story museum, one that was way more interesting than you would expect given that admission is only your time. It had artifacts and history about the town, including information on some infamous town folk like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and the lesser known Potato Creek Johnny. The basement, however, is a tribute to archiving, so can be skipped except for the one item that is always of historical importance--the bathroom.

Around 3 o'clock we headed over to Saloon 10 for a stage show of Wild Bill's demise. Bill had left his wife at home in Illinois to prospect in the Black Hills, which consisted of gambling in saloons. It was in Saloon 10 that he was shot in the back and in revenge. The killer's brother had died by Wild Bill's hand as a law officer. An interesting side note; Though Calamity Jane spread around all kinds of rumors that she and Wild Bill were wild lovers, Bill, or the man playing him, assured us it just isn't true. The majority of the reenactment cast-the gamblers and bartender-were adorable children from the audience. The main curiosity of the event was the juxtaposition between old timey barroom artifacts, the ancient sawdust on the floor, the male regulars that might remember having seen Wild Bill, that is if there was any chance of talking to them sober, and the sparkling Sex and the City slot machine.

　
While walking around town we got to see Kevin Costner's casino, the Midnight Star. Since we aren't big gamblers there wasn't much to do other than take pictures. Though we fared better than old Bill. (All the Wild Bill paraphernalia made me wonder how long it takes to sorts things out with the deceased's estate and capitalize on their death. Basically, how long before "Tupac's Bar and Grill").

Along our route we made a detour in the town of Spearfish to see their fish hatchery. After visiting I can see why it's well known. (I'm sure you all are familiar with it but we'll go ahead and describe it anyways). The Fish Hatchery has been turned into a gigantic park that includes a museum, a full sized fish train car replica (a train that transported fish) as well as an underground fish viewing area and plenty of spots to feed them. To finish off our stop we pumped a little iron in the park at the town's outdoor work out stations.

The last stop of the day was to see the Devil's Tower monument, the first ever national monument, featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We saw no aliens, but a few nerds, and two over matched climbers, who were only half way up the rock tower as dusk was coming on.

                    
                                Kevin Costner's Casino

                      
                                   Downtown Deadwood

                       
                                            Saloon 10

                              
                        Sawdust on the floor at Saloon 10

                           
                                     Tommy the Trout

                           
                       Working out in Fish Hatchery park

                           
                                      Devil's Tower
 

Day 60 (Sunday 8/19/12)- Badlands, SD

Following several days of intense exploration we have historically needed a down day. Today was no exception. In the middle of a sweltering prairie with buffalo shuffling about, we lounged beside a river--well more like a mud trough. Still it was quite nice. I eagerly read the second book in the series I am currently engrossed in and Isaiah read magazines (I've talked about how this trip is making me dumb.  You may have noticed how quickly I've gone from novel reading to magazine scanning.  To clarify the magazines were New Yorkers so maybe my de-evolution isn't yet complete. I'll be avidly thumbing through National Enquirers, gawking at alien babies by the time Texas rolls around).

It was a wonderful and relaxing day. A real vacation. Sorry, what makes for a delightful unwinding and recuperation also makes for a boring blog post. Oh, I should mention we woke to the sight of Bison 20 feet from our van.

Badlands National Park

 

Badlands National Park 

 

 

Badlands National Park

 

Prairiedog town in Badlands

 

Bison traffic jam

 

Day 59 (Saturday 8/18/12)- Badlands, SD + Wall, SD

 

This morning entailed an enjoyable drive around the last leg of Custer State Park. The traffic was delightful.

When bison jam up the road they can stand right in front of your car and because of their size do so for as long as they like. Warning signs spatter every national park cautioning you not to engage the buffalo as they can be quite dangerous. This leaves you in the delicate position of trying to drive around the buffalo without letting them know you are there or at least not pissing them off. This typically involves pulling off to the side and waiting for them to once again meander to the other side of the road to munch on grass. I would estimate our typical wait at around 20 minutes or so.

At first with these back ups we were like any other tourist, enjoying every minute and wondering how we got so lucky. When we realized it was not unusal but a daily event it quickly started losing it's charm. Getting stuck behind three bison parades in two days we've reach annoyance. So we were thrilled to have in Custer a more cuddly delay. Donkeys (burros) of all shapes, colors and sizes crowded around our car with the sole intention of receiving every ounce of affection we could provide, much unlike the buffalo who begs to be left alone all the while being inches from your hood. The lovable burros even nuzzled their heads against our side mirrors and let me pet them until my hand tired. I would argue they are more affection than our cat Charlee, though I didn't actually try to pet their bellies.

Next we drove to Badlands National Park which offered no shortage of beauty, though a stark and rugged beauty. It is arid and I can imagine to the French trappers that named it and who were trying to live on it that it seemed some kind of wasteland, but to us the rock formations were magnificent.

We made a quick detour to see Wall Drug which is the mother of all tourist traps and something to see (or not). What began as a humble small town pharmacy grew into a tourist dream land that gives out over 5,000 glasses of free ice water a day in the summers and hosts block after block of shops and randomness (like the mini Mount Rushmore or the gigantic animatronic T-Rex). Though we never did locate the free water and coffee in the sea of bodies and souvenirs we did have quite an experience looking around.

Back at the Badlands after driving miles on terribly bumpy gravel we finally arrived at our campsite. Beside the fact we were joined by 20 other cars and I couldn't sleep until finishing my book it was a peaceful night.

                   
                                 Burrows at Custer State Park


                   
                                   Burrows at Custer State Park


                   
                          Burrow at Custer State Park "singing"
 

                  
                                     Badlands National Park


                   
                                      Badlands National Park


                           
                                          T-rex at Wall Drug


                  

Day 58 (Friday 8/17/12)- Wind Cave + Keystone, SD

 

 

Just recaping the day's events seems overwhelming. Not only did we cross into South Dakota, we hiked through an authentically one of a kind cave, drove through two thirds of Custer State Park, got stuck in a bison traffic jam and saw Mount Rushmore.

After a mellow couple of days in Nebraksa I was looking forward to moving on to South Dakota, only to find it a 100 mile long exquisite tourist trap. Despite visiting 3 national sites in a day and holding our National Park Pass, we ended up spending more money in three days than we did the whole week we were in Seattle.

The morning began at Wind Cave National Park. As luck should have it despite being late we managed to weasal our way onto a tour, making it just in time to hear introductions from our ranger guide, who herself was fourtunatly late at 38 weeks. A big mound of pregnancy didn't hold her back from hiking the cave with us. Wind Cave holds 95% of the world's box formations, which look somewhat like you're picturing, only more spectacular. Difficult to explain and harder to capture on film, the boxes were named due to their resemblence of Post Office mailboxes. Long before preservation of the cave became the main priority visitors even left notes in these boxes.

We completed the Natural Entrance tour ($9 and worth every penny) with a large group of travelers from all over the U.S. and had lots of fun getting to know each other and calling out every time there was a low ceiling or jagged wall. It was incredible.

In the afternoon Mount Rushmore loomed in the distance. We decided to pay for parking rather than getting pictures from the side of the road. If you have a low tolerance for crowds and a powerful zoom on your camera you could skip going in. It is amazing though, enough to sit and marvel at, which the shoulder of a highway probably won't allow for.

We jumped on a 30 minute tour and learned the following about Mount Rushmore's construction: Rushmore was no more than a well liked visitor to the town of Keystone and so the mountain had its name well before its transformation into a monument. I can think of no other piece of art that had such blatant aims at tourism. When they were raising funds for the project of getting people into SD Mr. Rushmore became with $500,000 the project's greatest donor. Building the massive sculpture required 400 workers (with plenty of contruction experience but no artistic inclinations) and a man named Borglum at the helm. That and 14 years.

It was quite humbling to see Mount Rushmore in all it's glory and it's hard to say why but it really made the trip feel more real. Like Old Faithful before it Mount Rushmore is so iconic that once you are face to face with it you can't help but feel you are gazing at history, gazing at America.

(I guess its a bit like finally seeing in person someone you've only seen in pictures. Like maybe someone you've been talking with over the Internet. Only when you meet them and find that they weigh a ton and are made of stone, you are impressed)

Exiting the park we took a different route through Custer and found an altogether different landscape. We drove with spires curling into the sky on either side of the road and squeezed through several one lane tunnels, one so narrow we had to stop and fold in the side view mirrors before proceeded through it.

Despite this part of the drive and what we were to see tomorrow, when comared to the Badlands, Custer Park can safely be skipped. We drove back to Wind Cave to backcountry camp, making our tent in the dark and trying our best to avoid possible rattlesnakes. Forgoing the air mattress we got to actually spend a night roughing it and though succesful in dodging snakes we didn't in the dark avoid a hill slant and mattress of weeds. And so rough it was.

Box formations in Wind Cave

                       
                                             Wind Cave
 

Mount Rushmore (at WallDrug)

 

 

Mount Rushmore

 

 

Cathedral Spires on drive leaving Mount Rushmore

 

 

Bison traffic jam

Day 57 (Thursday 8/16/12)- Scott's Bluff + Chadron, NE

You can guess what we did in Scott's Bluff.
OK, a few details. At the base of the bluff is a visitor's center built right along a portion of the actual original Oregon Trail. We walked a short stretch of the trail, viewing three covered wagons and talking to a couple of young rangers dressed in period costumes who were excited to hear we were travelling the Oregon Trail, albeit with massive detours and in reverse. They went on to comment "you must see parts of the Oregon Trail all the time." In actuality neither of us has anything trail related since our school days.

After driving up the bluff and shooting it with our camera, we stopped to offend a lovely couple who, learning where we were from, raved about their travels in the Eastern half of Oregon right up until I called it a wasteland and they mentioned they were Virginians, farmers, and terrified of cities.

We next headed to Agate Fossil site, one of the more recently discovered fossil areas, which displayed the skeletons of relatives of modern day rhinos and camels. They even featured the bones and of the crazy looking beardog. Seriously. Small like a dog, with teeth like a bear.

We stayed the night in the town of Chadron. I can't say there was much of note there. We ended up quickly exiting their library when we realized our needs were much too technologically advanced than the town's capabilities. They had only two pronged outlets. They also seemed skeptical of books published after the Cold War. Even Walmart disapointed. Not a single postcard. Though one wonders what a Chadron postcard would look like.

Scott's Bluff Park along park of the OR trail

 

Scott's Bluff Park along park of the OR trail

 

Scott's Bluff park

 

Scott's Bluff park

 

Agate Fossil site

 

Winter's count

 

John Deere

 

Lewis and Clark meet the natives

 

Day 56 (Wednesday 8/15/12)- Douglas, WY + Scotts Bluff, NE

I raved enough about the Interpretive center to kindle Isaiah's jealousy. He now had to check it out before we left town. At the entrance a pronghorn was just hanging out. He didn't mind getting his picture taken. His appearance was unexpected since it was our first time seeing one and since the center is right off of the highway. After spending so much time at the center yesterday when the girls at the counter saw me come in they waved and exclaimed how great it was that the van and I were OK and we talked like old friends. It was certainly more enjoyable this time around since I had a companion, no car trouble and all the pictures looked so much less sad with both of us in it.

I love suprises, while Isaiah hates them, though he seems to enjoy planning them for me. So when, before heading out of town, I asked several times (pestered, really) where our next destination was and found Isaiah frustratingly vague, I was confused and so inquired some more. The strange thing is I normally don't ask and either wait for him to tell me or just find out when we get there, but I was anxious to get out of WY if just for a while and was full of questions. I took Isaiah's subtle evasiveness as his not having planned the next leg out and set off unsure where we would end up.

It turns out the town of Douglas, WY, which is very special, but probably only for my family and me, for in it sits the La Bonte hotel, coffeehouse, and bar and around it the La Bonte creek and canyon. Isaiah coyly led me right to the hotel with a clever "looking for a museum" ruse when I noticed the hotel sign. Unfortunatley for us we arrived the week of the state fair and every room was booked up, so we would not be staying the night, but as soon as the hotel manager heard me say, "my mom is going to freak when I tell her about this" he graciously led us around the hotel and detailed it's history, even showing us a couple of rooms.

As he described it, the hotel was built in 1914 and due to a housing shortage and a large oil rigger population is usually at at least 65% capacity throughout the year. Even long term residents were kicked out for fair week to accomodate the swell of visitors. After touring the hotel we sat down to lunch at the hotel coffeeshop and steakhouse and enjoyed local art as we waited for our food, our favorite being a crayon drawing with the caption "God is cool." A very good bowl of chili ("Green," I was told by the waitress, "is way better," and I won't argue) and a mediocre salad later I was curious about more La Bonte sights.

Now after having explained to the owner what "La Bonte" means (the goodness) and even that the name of her restaurant was French, it was perhaps a bad idea to ask her for her expertise, but asking for directions to La Bonte creek led to several weird conversations. We were first told to ask George. Several minutes later we realized (shortly after George did himself) that he was seated directly behind us. He was a customer, and a regular one at that, but in regards to his helpfulness, irregular. Also, based on his age he may be the town's founder. After deliberating another few minutes he told us to "go down the road." Disagreeing the owner took over and described an intricate journey to the creek, involving a dozen turns in each direction on several unnamed roads. When I mentioned the creek wasn't on the map I had, she disputed me. She made me go to the van and bring her the map. When finding not only was it not there, but that AAA had renamed and obliterated roads she assured me existed she went hunting for another map, returning with a state map that wouldn't fill the surface of a postcard, on which the only information was hunting grounds and school districts. Even this refuted her. After 20 minutes she dismissed the crook gerrymanderers at AAA and us to be on our way in the nicest of ways. In the end we scrapped the creek altogether judging the road(s?) would be too much for Vandrea.

　

Instead we stopped at Ayer's Natural Bridge, a fine example of mother nature's creativity. It is a rock fromation shaped into, as the name implies, a lumpy bridge. Surrounded by colorful rock walls and a lovely green park it was a nice stop. As we tried to keep up with a 2 year old who was scaling the rock, his grandmother behind us, we couldn't help but comment on his preternatural climbing skills. We found he was destined for such athleticism when we heard the grandmother yell, "Summit you need to get back here!" We were then told the toddler wasn't nearly as crazy as his father who "hiked the Rockies barefoot."

We rounded out the day by driving across the border into Scott's Bluff, NE. The realitively large town sits right along Wyoming's border and, true to it's namesake, boasts a large bluff named after a man who died on it. We arrived in the early evening and spent some much needed time at the laundry mat. We pulled in with Isaiah wearing a stripe on plaid combo and me with my (4th) ruined outfit, my shirt advertising our sloppy lunch of bread and spaghetti sauce. We were under a serious time crunch to get all of it done before the laundrymat closed. We enjoyed the musical accompanymnet of a young child who sounded to be stuck in the dryer on indelicate cycle. Sadly, it turns out the child wasn't. Previous screaming bouts had obviously deafened his parents, as they didn't even notice. Does curdled blood come out easier than tomato sauce?

Pronghorn in front of the interpretive center

 

Riding a stage coach at the interpretive center

 

Lifting a weighted backpack to see what the pioneers

experienced at the interpretive center

 

Name says it all

 

Ditto

 

Ayer's Natural bridge

 

Why is Danger in quotations?

 

Day 55 (Tuesday 8/14/12)- Casper, WY

I can't say if it was true interest or the need to prove something to the woman at the visitor's center but I was going to that $3 museum and was going to enjoy every damn minute. Isaiah on the other hand had nothing to prove, being "museumed out" after 8 hours of Buffalo Bill. He instead went to the library. This is the only time we've split up so far (other than using the bathroom...Though Isaiah did go in the woman's restroom the other day. And by "go" I am not just referring to entering it. He wondered why they had so many stalls. After so much time at Walmarts you develop habits just like anywhere. All it takes is one Walmart to switch the signs around and you've got a lawsuit on your hands).

After dropping Isaiah off I arrived at the Historic Trails Interpretive Center. The entrance was disappointing. Not only was there no smoky Buffalo Bill mirage to greet me, but there were great clouds of smoke gasping out of the hood of Vandrea. Thinking it was a simple case of overheating I let it cool down while I went inside to enjoy the museum. As luck would have it, the interpretive center is actually part of the NPS and therefore free to card carrying members. Damn, now I couldn't prove to the Visitor center lady that I could afford $3.

The town of Casper holds an esteemed place in history as it was the location where 400,000+ people passed through going west, each branching out from there to different locations. With this in mind, the multi-million dollar interpretive center was architecturally designed to give the visitor a pioneer's perspective. From the hike to the entrance from the parking lot, the covered wagon reminiscent entrance way and the blue tiles that lined the ceiling that represented the North Platte River, each detail was well considered.

The center holds six different sections representing each type of westward traveller-nomadic Natives who followed buffalo migrations, fur trappers, pioneers on the Oregon Trail, Mormons heading for Zion (Salt Lake City), Gold Rushers and Pony Express employees who made sure communication between the West and East was possible before railroads (They could get from Missouri to California in 10 days). Each area included not only an abundance of information, but an interactive exhibit. I "crossed" over a river clutching a barrel in the back of an oxen pulled wagon, attempted (not all that successfully) to pull a realistically weighted handcart as the Mormons did and "rode" a bumpy stage coach. My favorite exhibit though was the one dedicated to the Martin party.

During the Mormon emigration to Zion a party of over 800 people including very young children set out for Salt Lake City, but did so too late in the year and experienced unbelievable hardship. Recently I've been fascination by learning about other religions, especially the Latter Day Saints. Reading Jon Krauker's "Under the Banner of Heaven" sparked my interest and had already prepared me for the exhibit on this tragedy. As you sit in the museum in a small theater you hear the voices of the McBride family, talking at first excitedly about their voyage, then later despairingly as the cold sets in (cold air filters through a vent "chilling you to the bone" or at least giving you a vague sense of being uncomfortable). You experience with the remaining McBride children the loss of 150 lives and finally, as you yourself try to suppress the tears, you hear the youngest boy crying "Father?!? Father?!? Wake up!" A very moving experience.

The only possible disappointment came when I watched the over acted introductory video, though even this was mostly redeemed as the theatre was surrounded by life like three dimensional (more so than the actors) mannequins that were incorporated into the presentation through spotlights and great sound effects.

When I came back out to the van I had expected it to be completely cooled down. Not only was it still hot, adding water caused a water/coolant mixture to leak all over the parking lot. Without the help of my wonderful Uncle Rich and our AAA membership (thank you Betty and Gary!) we would have been in even more of a predicament. The whole ordeal included having to make several phone calls to the library and finding the librarians progressively less helpful (by the last time the librarian announced their was some girl calling who would not be picking me up), and Isaiah subsequently embarking on a walk across town to be with me and the van and the tow truck driver arriving an hour and 50 minutes faster than the 2-hour estimate, and before Isaiah could hoof it over, but not before he left the library. An added bit of mayhem included a kind but incompetent good Samaritan trying to help and...well I'll let Uncle Rich, who happened to be on the phone, while the stranger played mechanic in my other ear, describe the quality of the stranger's suggestions-
"Who is that?! Do NOT listen to him, he doesn't know what he is talking about!!"

In the end the very cool tow truck driver found Isaiah as he was walking towards where he thought I was and in the opposite direction of where I was now headed.

Strange as it may sound we had fun hanging out at the Thomas Crawford Repair shop. The staff was great and funny. They offered to let us sleep in the van in their lot and were willing to leave the bathroom unlocked for us. They made recommendations of where to go (in town and out of state) and played us YouTube videos. The owner himself was under the van in record time fixing the broken hose. Since it could have been a water pump or a head gasket we felt lucky, even with the $100 repair bill.

To cap off the evening we took Roger's (from the shop) advice and headed to On the Border for $1 Taco Tuesdays. Taco Night was so popular not one of the 50 parking spaces were vacant. We parked up the hill at the Walmart and found a dirt pathway directly down to the restaurant. On the Border is definitely worth the stop as I ate a fairly impressive amount of chips and salsa and Isaiah determined that it was one of the best ( $1 or no) tacos he has ever had. For the frosting on the cake (or butter on the popped corn) someone left a microwave popcorn bag taped to the Redbox machine (if they were really so thoughtful they would have included a microwave).

Interpretive Center

 

Quote from Interpretive Center "If you have ever thought about throwing your possessions in a car and heading out for parts unknown, you already know the feeling that propelled hundreds of thousands of emigrants westward in the 19th century."

Vandrea gets towed

Random act of kindess on the Redbox