Caught in a snow storm then into Colorado

 

Left Rapid City in overcast weather.  Shortly thereafter light rain fell.  This rain got heavier then turned to sleet.  By the time we stopped for lunch at Lusk the sleet had long turned to snow.  The snow got heavier and we ran out of fingers to count the snow plows we had seen.  The road was still open though so we made our way to Cheyenne.  At one point both lanes of the Interstate were covered in snow and we had to drive in the emergency lane.  Called in at an Exxon gas station and discovered that an unexpected storm had hit and a winter storm warning was in place and an advisory not to travel unless absolutely necessary. 

That made our decision to go no further easier.  Finding a parking space in the gas station was a bit trickier – every trucker and his dog seemed to have the same idea.  Eventually found ourselves a nice little spot by the workshop and, immediately after parking up, had two trucks next to us.  Definitely a night for moonshine … but only because we have no mulled wine (and if you believe that, you’ll believe anything).

Next morning the sun was shining and the snow and ice began to melt.  We took refuge in the diner attached to the gas station to recharge batteries and top up with coffee then some more coffee and even more coffee.  Love these bottomless cups.  After lunch we were able to get our slides in and we headed to Denver, Colorado. 

 

Did some touristing around the Denver area, visiting Fort Collins, Golden, Boulder, Estes Park, Lakewood and pretty much all points in between.  Once again though, we find ourselves too early in the season for some of the places we were hoping to visit.
 

Boo Hoo!

Regrettably that included a tour of the Coors plant.  Come the end of the month and Memorial Weekend pretty much everything will be open 7 days but then we’ll start complaining about the number of tourists out there.
 



One of the many weird and wonderful
 creations at Swetsville Zoo,
Fort Collins



Part of the funfair at Heritage Park
 - looks like it could've been fun

 

Stanley Hotel at Estes Park where
Stephen King wrote "The Shining"

We're not drunk ... honest ... it's the camera

Casa Bonita at Lakewood in Denver - this is all inside an old department store. 
The food's not all that great but the entertainment and surroundings
more than makes up for that.

 
Spent an extra day in Denver while Sue got over some bugs in her system then it was back on the road again.  Headed westwards from Denver, stopping at a town called Leadville – the highest city in USA before 

Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville

travelling through Glenwood Canyon.  Another spectacular piece of road – we have found so many.  Stopped in at Parachute where, as one of the stories has it, the town was named for a mountain that had been eroded into the shape of a parachute.  

How good is your imagination
- does this look like a parachute?

We preferred the story of the Anglicisation of the old Indian name Pahchouc.  Here’s the photo – you be the judge.

We had a couple of people on our travels hype up the town of Ouray so we decided to pay it a visit.  They weren’t lying.  What a gorgeous little town.  Touted as USA’s Switzerland it’s surrounding by mountains and has a whole bunch of restored Victorian buildings.  It also has waterfalls, an old mine, several hot springs but, most importantly, has a brewery.  No prizes for guessing where we went first.  One of the waterfalls of course.  Hard to get a good photo of the Box Canyon Waterfall so here’s one of our pickup and 5^th wheel in the car park in case you’ve forgotten what they look like.

Pick up and Fifth Wheel at Ouray

Okay, plus a couple from the brewery because you know we went there:

Sue with a 550 Red Ale, Ouray Brewery

Jean with a San Juan IPA, Ouray Brewery

I’ve seen this chap on the internet.  Never thought I’d see him in person. He was on the toilet door at the brewery.

Just realised it’s been over a week since I last posted a blog so will get this one sorted and straight onto a new one.  Ta ra.

One of my favourite buildings in Ouray

They're flying our flag here -
no wonder we like the place.

 

 

 

 

South Dakota

 

 

Left Cody to head to South Dakota and Mount Rushmore in our, now clean, pick up and 5^th wheel.  Managed to con a couple of local lads into doing the deed.

I love watching other people work

Actually it was one of the local cops and his brother who go round the campgrounds and wash rigs raising money for charity.  Otherwise we would have done it ourselves … truly J
 
Stopped at the Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis where we went for a relaxing dip in the State Baths.  They do have a clothing optional area but, as you can see, we didn’t go there.

Bliss

We could get used to this



Devils Tower

Headed east into South Dakota, stopping off at Devils Tower along the way.  It’s a pretty impressive rock – all straight up and tall columns.  Saw some groups of climbers but not tempted to join them.  We were satisfied with a hike around the base of the tower.  People can climb the tower all year except June when the local tribes hold some of their ceremonies at the site.

Leaving the Tower we crossed into South Dakota making our first stop at Sturgis.  27 bars at the Full Throttle Saloon.  Only 1 open at the moment but when the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally comes through, this place hums.  Lots of quirky sculptures, cars, bikes, trucks, a bridge and a heap more all throughout.

Full Throttle Saloon



Have to get us some of these

Got the name of a stockist in Deadwood for their moonshine so no prizes for guessing where our next stop was.  Deadwood also being famous 

Calamity Jane on the left
Wild Bill Hickok in the middle
Mills family plot on the right

for being the town where James Butler Hickok aka Wild Bill Hickok was shot.  His memorial is at the Mt Moriah cemetery.  Calamity Jane was buried next to him and his bust looks over the Mills family plot.  Hmmm.  Some rough rider relatives maybe?


Leaving Deadwood we headed to Rapid City and Mt Rushmore.  What an amazing sculpture.  Even more impressive was the story of how the sculpture was made – the planning, the people, the logistics behind it all.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln

George Washington

Struck a bit of car trouble so we parked up until we could get into a garage and get him looked at.  Probably a good thing as if we’d ignored the problem we could have had a wheel fall off us while we’re travelling.  Worst case scenario of course but doesn’t conjure up a pretty picture.  Celebrated the minor surgery on the car by immediately driving 200 miles after picking him up – out to Badlands National Park and back.  Just can’t get enough of these national parks.

Next day we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial via a couple of very scenic roads – Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway.  There are tunnels on both roads however the 3 tunnels on the Iron Mountain Road all have Mt Rushmore framed in the distance.  Apparently they were the easiest part of the road to build.  Engineers at the time (early 1900’s) said the envisaged road was impossible to build.  Fortunately for us they were proved wrong.  Two fantastic roads built in an amazing place.

Finally we reached the Crazy Horse Memorial.  Started in 1948 the work today is being continued by 7 of the original sculptors 10 children.  They may or may not have it completed in my lifetime.  Such a massive undertaking.  When completed it will be 563’ high and 641’ long.  Larger than pretty much everything.

Crazy Horse Memorial 2014

Scale model of the completed sculpture

The Wild West and running repairs

 

When we left Yellowstone National Park we headed north back into Montana.  We were wanting to go east through the park to Cody but found out that the roads taking the direct route were still closed for winter.  With one of the mountain passes over 10,000’ I’m not surprised.



Pompey's Pillar

Graffiti from 1806

Travelling eastward, we stopped at Pompey’s Pillar to see some early graffiti (at what point does old graffiti become a national treasure?).  One of the early explorers of the region, William Clark, had engraved his name into the sandstone butte.  We forgot to leave our own names for future tourists to look on in awe? amazement? disgust?

 

Had a couple of problems with the 5^th wheel but nothing that couldn’t be fixed using kiwi ingenuity.  We put on our MacGyver hats, pulled out some No 8 wire (bungie cord) and fixed our step that keeps opening out while we’re driving along and put up a temporary vent cover.  Goodness knows what happened to the vent cover – that vent hadn’t been used for a couple of days and had been checked since but we did strike some incredibly strong cross winds after leaving Billings, Montana so likely that was the cause.

 

Spent the night at Crow Agency before venturing into the Little Bighorn Battlefield Memorial and a history lesson.  A place where the Indians won the battle but ultimately lost the war.  Very sobering.

Last Stand Hill
The markers indicate where the soldiers fell,
the black-faced one being Custer's

Part of the Indian Memorial

Definitely colder up on the roof

From the Crow Agency we headed west again, calling first into an RV shop at Sheridan to purchase and fit a new vent cover.  Jean got the short straw and ended up on the roof holding the cover in place while Sue stayed in the warm and wind-free RV screwing everything back together.

 

Sue smiling because she is out of the wind

After our minor repair job it was full steam ahead to Cody where we were parking up and chilling for a few days.  Went for a walk through Cody where the most we did was call in at Buffalo Bill’s old Hotel, The Irma, and have a welcome beer.

 

 

On our travels we’ve had a few people telling us if we get to Cody to visit the Buffalo Bill Center for the West.  As we were in Cody, we did.  It’s an affiliate of the Smithsonian and it’s huge.  We spent all Friday there and only got half way through the exhibits; the Natural History Museum, Buffalo Bill Museum and half of the Plains Indian Museum.  Fortunately the tickets are good for two days.  One of the highlights is the Raptor Experience where you get to meet a variety of raptors and talk to their handlers.  A bit nervy when they look you directly in the eye like it’s a tasty morsel.

 



Teasdale
Great Horned Owl

Hayabusa
Peregrine Falcon

 

 

 

 

 

Suli
Turkey Vulture

Day two at the Center saw us complete viewing the exhibits at the Plains Indian Museum, the Western Art Museum and the Cody Firearms Museum.  All very interesting, we were there for most of the day, but I think we’re museumed out for a while now.