On August 19 we were off to Cody, Wyoming, and Absaroka Bay
RV park where new adventures could be had. Quite a fascinating place http://www.cody-wy.com/ named after a fascinating man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill and an attempt to bring the old West to
life, prompted us to attend a nightly skit
downtown. This reenacted various old time themes, including a bank robbery and
shootout to the delight of the audience gathered on the historic hotel steps,
many with beer in hand. We could also
make Wi-Fi and internet connections and get housekeeping and blog work done
during our day in Cody. Then off to Tongue River State Park, MT. The best and most
surprising part of this venture was the spectacular scenic route, Alt 14. We
had no prior knowledge of Granite Pass, which took us to over 9,000 feet – one
of the higher ones we’ve crossed, but worth every foot of it! Fickie rightfully
remarked about the similarity with Meiringspoort in South Africa http://www.mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/44-meiringspoort,-swartberg-nature-reserve.html , at some point. Very ready to kick our heels
up, we ended on an unimpressive dwindling little route across the state line
into Montana and by consensus, turned around at Tongue River after snacking on
sandwiches we had on board and headed for Sheridan, WY, https://www.google.com/search?q=Sheridan,+WY&client=firefox-a&hs=1hb&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=TfAEVNLLAcOqggTcr4KACw&ved=0CFEQsAQ&biw=1346&bih=614 where Peter D's RV Park had a terrific site
for us http://www.wyomingrvpark.com/ The prize-winning restrooms and host that
cultivates a vegetable garden on site for the benefit of his patrons made for
unique experiences. Susan and Stella helped themselves to squash, cucumber
green pepper and tomatoes at no charge! What a place; what a guy! The Wi-Fi
wasn’t quite as good as expected but our AT&T hotspot worked very well and
all communication needs were met.
Some of these later schedule adjustments would
result in us arriving in the Black Hills of South Dakota two days sooner, so we
secured a site for two days at Stockade Lake in Custer State Park https://www.google.com/search?q=Stockade+Lake+SD&client=firefox-a&hs=KCw&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Q1oHVK_2JM_pggTW04HQAQ&ved=0CD4QsAQ&biw=1346&bih=614 , preceding
the two day stay at Sylvan Lake in the same park. Getting there from
Sheridan not only took us through quite attractive agriculture country, but
also fascinating geological topography with rounded hillock mounds akin to
those outside of Uppsala, Sweden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamla_Uppsala ,
with obviously differing explanations!
In addition, the route via Gillette passed through oil boom country of
the late 1970’s https://www.google.com/search?q=Oil+boom+1970%27s+Wyoming&client=firefox-a&hs=m9a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=olQHVOaEBZGQgwTBsoLoAg&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1346&bih=614 ,
which gave Wyoming a boost to complement its impressive agriculture and
scenery. Our vote for the very best RV
friendly gas-station/rest-stop in more than a year on the road, goes to Coffee
Cup Fuel Stop on route 16 outside of Moorcroft, WY http://www.coffeecupfuelstops.com/store-locations/moorcroft-wy/ .
The electric camp site at Stockade, South Dakota,
was quite pleasant although we thought these State Campgrounds were over-hyped
for places providing limited decent rest rooms, lacked water hookups and dump
facilities and were thus pricy for what they offered, other than strategic
location. Once in the area we became
aware of alternatives, which we would advise interested readers to explore
before tying up reservations.
We made a road trip to Mt. Rushmore National
Memorial http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm .
Having been there 40 years ago, the sculpted mountain was the only thing that
hadn’t changed. Given that the site attracts 3 million tourists per year,
the1996 changes appear to have been for the better. It is hard to think that
the public reception area of the time (a true to life mock-up of which was
constructed for filming the movie, North by Northwest, with Cary Grant and Eva
Marie Saint http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_by_Northwest ) would be suitable for handling such
numbers. The Memorial is an impressive place and the detailed presentation of
what led to the sculptures, how they were made and what they articulate and
stand for, was very well done. https://www.google.ca/search?q=Mount+Rushmore+Memorial&client=firefox-a&hs=KLD&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=__YcVMCnG8eHyATB1oCoDg&ved=0CEAQsAQ&biw=1348&bih=614 It
harkens back to the era of think big, do even bigger unapologetically in
America, and the attributes highlighted for each of the four presidents so
immortalized http://www.nps.gov/moru/historyculture/why-these-four.htm , seem like the antithesis of what has been
associated with some office bearers of late.
We learned that the mountain is illuminated for a brief period
associated with a presentation nightly and decided to return the next evening.
This was equally worthwhile and consisted of a film presentation covering some
of the above historic background and technical details, followed by patriotic
gestures, such as having the huge crowd gathered in the amphitheater join in
singing the National Anthem, while the mountain was being illuminated. Those
present in the crowd who have served or are serving in the Armed Forces were
invited to the stage, where perhaps a hundred were honored by having
individuals state from which of the Services they hailed. They participated in lowering
the flag of the United States, which concluded the brief program. All and all,
it was a tasteful, fitting and uplifting experience against a gigantic
backdrop.
At our next campsite at Sylvan Lake we had Allen
and Kim with their lovely young family and Kim’s mom as neighbors. They were
from Bismarck, North Dakota and were helpful in more than one way. Willem
noticed a loose component on the RV hitch for which Ken had a wrench to correct
the problem. Being familiar with the area, Ken could give valuable input for
our way ahead.
Sylvan Lake is a stunningly beautiful place https://www.google.com/search?q=Sylvan+Lake+SD&client=firefox-a&hs=jpG&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yFkHVIXFD8PPggTO-oFw&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=1346&bih=614 which invited hiking. From here we also made a daytrip along the Wildlife
Loop Road. It was interesting to see
more buffalo but even better, to stop at a charming information center and
learn about the success of the reintroduction of buffalo to the Custer State
Park a century ago and the subsequent management program. This includes an annual roundup, vaccination
and branding program in addition to an auction of live buffalo, which yielded
about $500,000 last year from roughly $1,500 per head sold http://gfp.sd.gov/state-parks/directory/custer/docs/auction-announcement.pdf .
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