A few days after we returned home, they had heavy snowfall in some of the areas we had just left. The Weather Channel reported snowfall in the following areas:
Yellowstone National Park...9 inches
Casper, WY...16.2 inches
Deadwood, SD...48 inches..... yes...48 inches. I just could not imagine.
Rapid City, SD...23.1 inches

They are now forecasting snow again in those same places beginning tonight in Yellowstone. I will be following the weather broadcasts to see how much they get this time.

October 1, 2013.. Tonight we are only 150 miles from home. We had a good driving day today and are at Renfro Valley, KY now.

I thought it would be a good idea to mention some tidbits about our trip. Some are interesting and some are probably not.

We will have driven about 5400 miles on this trip by the time we get home.

We had warmer temperatures than we expected everywhere we were on this trip. Even the cold nights in Yellowstone were warmer than when we were last there and it was later in the season this time. On our way west, we had temperatures of 95 degrees across IL, IA and SD.

The lowest diesel fuel price we paid was 3.68/gal and the highest was 4.05. The 4.05 was only for one purchase. Using Gas Buddy saved us money on most fuel stops.

We saw lots of vehicles with Alaska tags. Many of them were in Yellowstone but we even saw one today in Indiana.

I learned that getting older has advantages too. As I get older, I will be able to hide my own Easter eggs.

It has been a wonderful trip and we are very blessed to be able to take a trip this way. We are very thankful that we were able to take the trip and return safely.

I appreciate the notes and comments from some that gave me encouragement to continue with the blog. Sometimes it was hard to do a posting like when I was running everything on battery power, getting my Internet by using my phone and very tired after a long day of seeing all we could see. Your nice comments made me want to go on.


Tonight we heard on the news that 5 people had been killed on a trail in Colorado. The trail goes to Agnes Vaille Falls and is near Buena Vista, Colorado. We hiked on that trail up to the falls in 2009. The trail is on the road to a ghost town we went to called St Elmo. We were shocked to hear about the people getting killed on that trail by a rock slide on Monday. I looked up the photos I have on this computer that we made on that trip and I am posting some to show you what it looks like where the rock slide occurred.

Agnes Vaille Falls is located up between the two mountains up from the parking lot and on the right of the photo. 

 Along the trail to the falls

September 30, 2013.. Today was another driving day. We proceeded along with no significant things happening along the way. We had strong side winds during the first few hours of driving but that either stopped or we drove out of it and then it was an easier drive. We drove for a couple of hours after it got dark tonight. We were glad to be stopping for the night.

September 29, 2013.. We moved closer to home today. It was a driving day with nothing much to report. Tonight we are in Charles City, Iowa. It was here in 1901 the term "tractor" with a combination of the words traction and power was first coined and in 1903 the first successful production-model tractors in the United States were built.

September 28, 2013.. We spent some time in Mitchell and enjoyed just going slowly for today. We love travel but it can be very tiring going day after day. Mitchell is the location for one of the big Cabela’s stores but we did not go there this time. We went to the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. This tells about it from their website: “The Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village is the only archaeological site in South Dakota that is open to the public. The Village is an active research center and is a National Historic Landmark. Visitors to the site can see the many artifacts that have been excavated during the annual digs and they can tour the dig site itself in the comfort of the Thomsen Center Archeodome.”

After looking at the photos of the Corn Palace we made yesterday and the photos we made on our first stop there on this trip, we discovered the images on the building had been changed since our first visit. Some are still being created. We were surprised they had been changed or in the process of being changed. We learned that about 275,000 ears of corn are used to create the murals each year.

Tomorrow we plan to drive more miles toward home.

Here are a few photos I made in Mitchell:

The photo below is inside the archeodome showing the archaeological digs. The archeodome is a modern air-conditioned building built around the dig site. 

The following is from the Prehistoric Indian Village website:
The Thomsen Center Archeodome covers the open archaeology dig in the Prehistoric Indian Village and provides visitors year-round access. The 10,000-square-foot building encloses two full lodges on its exposed earthen floor. It includes a full laboratory, darkroom, computer classroom, and video conferencing studio. The site is the only preserved and protected archaeological site open to the public in the state of South Dakota.

One of the Corn Palace murals made from corn

A close-up of the mural above showing detail of the corn used in creating the image

September 27, 2013.. We moved to Mitchell, SD today. We decided to take a couple of days off and just enjoy the area and relax a bit. We are ahead of schedule and it really feels good to rest some. Sometimes, it has been a bit hectic during the trip.
We went back to the Corn Palace and they had actually changed some of the images that were created using corn. Before we leave here, I will post a couple of photos I made of the images. It looked as if they had worked on the corn images recently and maybe even today since there was corn grains all around on the street. There were more people around the Palace today. There were many tour buses there; one from Knoxville.
It was hot early in the day but has cooled off considerably now and is raining.

September 26, 2013.. It's time to catch up...We did not have Internet/phone service when this entry should have been posted. Wednesday, we spent several hours visiting Deadwood, SD. In the old days, Deadwood was a "rip-snortin" wild west town and is mentioned in some of author, Louis L'Amour's, western books. When we were there in 1989, Deadwood was truly a small western town as we had imagined. But...today it has completely changed. They legalized gambling in the early 90's, and that brought casinos, new hotels and lots of people to the area. The legendary Wild Bill Hickok was killed in Deadwood's Saloon No. 10 by Jack McCall with a shot in the back of his head as Hickok was playing poker. He was holding a poker hand made up of black aces and eights which is known today as "dead man's hand". He is buried on a ridge overlooking Deadwood in Mt. Moriah cemetery as is Calamity Jane. We walked around town observing how things had changed since the last time we were there. Once again, we enjoyed our visit to Deadwood.

September 26, 2013.. Thursday...We spent the night last night in a campground in Badlands National Park.  We did not have any hook ups or telephone/Internet service. It was an enjoyable stay except, during the night, a really strong wind woke us up and we were awake several hours. I think these winds are typical in this particular park. Today, we visited the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site,. This site was a key part of the U. S. defense strategy during the Cold War. The following information is quoted from the brochure we received:

It was established by Congress in 1999 to preserve two 1960s missile sites: Delta-09, a missile silo, and Delta-01, a launch control facility. There are no longer active ICBM silos in South Dakota, but 500 nuclear missiles are still deployed in the upper Great Plains.

Our tour guide was a retired Air Force major who had been stationed at the launch facility.

Tonight, we are staying in Plankinton, SD.

Welcome to Deadwood, South Dakota

Downtown Deadwood-It sure has changed a lot in recent years

This was an active brothel until about 1980

Inside saloon No. 10 where Wild Bill Hickok was assassinated

Photos of Hickok in saloon No. 10

Badlands National Park

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site-Looking down through glass at the Minuteman II Missile. It would have contained a nuclear warhead before being deactivated and could reach Moscow in 30 minutes. There were 450 of these sites nationwide. I am sorry for the reflections in the glass but it was the best I could do.

We have been very blessed none of these missiles have been used on either side.

The launch room was in a capsule about 30 feet underground and suspended so if bombed, the equipment and two people inside could still do a successful launch. Notice how thick the steel door is beside the guy in the white shirt. Be sure to read what the sign says on the door.

The two men in the launch room are strapped in seats with a seat belt at the launch control panel. The seats are attached to the floor so if violently shaken by getting hit, the launch person can still function. 

It takes both people to launch a missile. There are lots of safeguards to prevent an unintentional launch. Each launch center could launch quite a few missiles at different locations. The launch room was not at the actual missile site but several miles away. The missiles could also be launched from high flying planes if the launch room was destroyed. 

Each of the Minute-Man II missiles carried a warhead explosive equivalent of 1.2 million tons of dynamite. These sites have been taken out of service but there are still 500 more modern missiles still deployed in the upper Great Plains. 

September 24, 2013.. Today we drove from Sundance, WY to Deadwood, SD. We took a side trip to Devil’s Tower National Monument. This was about 28 miles from Sundance. While we were at Devil’s Tower, we walked the 1.3 miles trail around the base. The height of Devil’s Tower is 865 feet tall. There were rock climbers going up the side of the tower. It appears it is a popular destination for some rock climbers. It is amazing they can go straight up the vertical wall of the tower.

We stopped by the Vore Buffalo Jump. If you are not familiar with a buffalo jump, I will not try to explain it but quote what I found online on Wikipedia.
The Vore Buffalo Jump is an archeological site in Crook County, Wyoming. A sinkhole, formed where gypsum soil was eroded, leaving a steep-sided pit about 40 feet (12 m) deep and 200 feet (61 m) in diameter. Native American hunters could stampede bison in the direction of the pit, which was deep enough to kill or disable the animals that were driven into it. The location is one of a number of buffalo jump sites in the north central United States and southern Canada. The Vore site was used as a kill site and butchering site from about 1500 AD to about 1800 AD. Archeological investigations in the 1970s uncovered bones and projectile points to a depth of 15 feet (4.6 m). About ten tons of bones were removed from the site. About five percent of the site has been excavated, and the pit is estimated to contain the remains of 20,000 buffalo.
The Vore Buffalo Jump Site is the most important archaeological site of its kind in the world. 

The site was closed for the season so we could not go to the indoor exhibits but we did get to see the actual jump.

Tomorrow we are going to go in town to Deadwood before we leave the area.

Devil's Tower National Monument

We could see the Tower and the GPS was showing it was still 15 miles before we would get there

There were climbers going up the side of the tower. I zoomed in to get a photo of them.

Without the camera lens zoomed in, this what it looked like where the climbers where. They are there somewhere.

Some prairie dogs were near the road going to Devil's Tower. We stopped and watched them for awhile. 

This is Vore Buffalo Jump. The building in the bottom is an exhibit area where results of the excavations are shown.  

September 23, 2013.. We drove from Casper, WY today to Sundance, WY. The welcome sign coming in to town states “Sundance is where the kid got his name”.  There is a museum here and we plan to see it. I think it tells more about the Sundance Kid and I want to learn about him.

Do you know what state produces the most coal in the US? I would have said Virginia or Kentucky but I would have been wrong. Wyoming produces the most. On the drive today, we saw a huge strip mine. I don’t know if that is what it is called here but it was so big, there was a coal processing plant across the road from it and what appeared to be a power plant with a conveyor running to the strip mine. We also drove mile after mile seeing gas and oil wells. It was the most I had ever seen in Wyoming.

Tonight we are staying in Mountain View RV park just outside Sundance. We plan to go to Devil’s Tower National Monument tomorrow and also the Sundance museum.

In Teton National Park, there is an overlook that gives a good view of the Snake River. I didn’t take any photos today, so I am showing you one I made of it where the famous photographer Ansel Adams photographed the river. The photo below was made at the Snake River Overlook and is of an information plaque that was there. Also, I am including a photo I made of the same view he used. I thought it was really neat to be at about the same place he was when he made his famous. Notice he was using an 8x10 sheet film camera.

 Below is the photo I made. It is the same scene but the trees are blocking the view of part of the river in my photo.

September 21 and 22, 2013..
Saturday.. We finished up some sightseeing in the Tetons and prepared for leaving the next day. In the late afternoon,  4 moose came walking through the campground near our campsite. It was really funny to hear the sounds they were making. I had not heard that sound before. We got a close up look at them.

While we were walking around the campground, we met a very nice couple from Melbourne, Australia. We talked with them for about 2 hours and I see a lasting friendship with them ahead.

Sunday.. We said goodbye to the Teton area and headed toward Casper, WY where we planned to spend the night. We had not traveled that particular route before and we really enjoyed the beauty during the first 100 miles or so of the 275 mile drive. This route took us across 9500 foot Togwotee Pass and through Bridger Teton National Forest. The aspen trees were at about their peak in color and the cottonwoods were pretty far along in their color change.

Tonight is the first time we have had electric and water hookups since we were at Cody, WY on September 3rd.  We would gladly swap the conveniences to be back in that peaceful beauty again.

We are spending the night in Casper, WY.

Gros Ventre River a short walk behind our campsite

One of the 4 moose that was near our campsite last night

Elk herd in Grand Teton National Park

The entrance to a park in downtown Jackson. The arch was made of elk antlers.

Overlook on Togwotee pass looking back toward the Tetons

Downtown Dubois, Wy

September 20, 2013.. We woke up this morning to sunshine again and a temperature of 27 degrees. It was cold but it was going to be a beautiful day and it was going to get much warmer by day’s end. Soon after we woke up, 3 bull moose came through the campground near our campsite.

There was not a cloud in the sky the entire day!

After we got breakfast finished and reserving one more night staying here, we took off to explore some things we had not seen. We drove over toward Teton Pass. We did not go up the pass but stopped at the foot of the mountain at a small town called Wilson, WY. The population according to the sign is about 900. The town was made up of a post office, general store, gas station and a restaurant. We decided to stop at the general store and check it out. We are really glad we did. As we were walking around in the store, an older gentleman with a grocery buggy asked us if we were finding everything. As we talked with him, we realized he was one of the most interesting people we had ever met in our travels. He was a grand age of 93 years old. He had previously been the owner of the store we were in and his daughter currently owns it. He also owns the nice post office building next door and rents it to the government. Just yesterday, he returned from a trip to his cabin in a remote area in northern Canada. He said it was about 130 air miles from Fort McMurray, Alberta. He had built it himself over a 2-year period. He had to fly the material in by float plane and now has to fly in by float plane when he goes there. That all was interesting but not the most interesting part of what he said. He was a WWII bomber pilot (B17) in the air force and was shot down over Germany on a bombing mission to bomb a ball bearing factory. The crew bailed out and all survived but the air commander who had refused to wear a parachute during the mission.  The crew was taken prisoner and held for 13 months. I talked to him about 30 minutes but could have listened to him for hours. It was a real treat to be in the presence of a real hero. His name is Clarence "Stearnie" Stearns. I did a search on Google for his name and found some information about him that he did not mention, but it is pretty incredible stuff. I will not forget meeting him and I know talking with him will be a highlight of our trip. I think you would enjoy reading about him. Here is some interesting information about him.

http://www.donsbushcaddy.com/stearnie_sr80.html

We returned to the church where we had photographed the outside and made this inside shot. I made additional outside shots today but I won't post them since I had already posted some before. The view below is looking through the window from inside the church and is located directly behind the pulpit.

I thought these wildflowers would add to the already beautiful scene.

September 19, 2013.. We woke up this morning with SUNSHINE! …Yea! We went back to some of the places we had gone yesterday and made photos again since the weather was so much better. We have decided to stay here at this campground until perhaps Monday. We prefer not to travel on the weekend and we sure are enjoying it here.

We were told today they had enough snow in Yellowstone they closed one of the roads in the park yesterday. The low here in the campground got to 26 last night.

This makes our 15th straight night in a national park campground. We have not had any electric hookups nor water hookups but we have showered each night and stayed fairly comfortable. We don’t keep it as warm inside the camper as we would at home but it is fine. At night, we sleep under blankets and a down comforter. We stay very warm without the furnace running during the night while we are asleep. We run everything like lights and water pump on battery power at night and recharge the batteries during the day from solar power and power from the truck. The reason I mention this is to let anyone who is not familiar with RVing/camping learn how we can stay out in the woods comfortably in cold weather.
  

 Photos from today  

We remade some at Mormon Row since the weather was so bad yesterday. 

Photos along the Snake River

Late in the afternoon, we were on our way back to the campground where we are staying (Gros Ventre) and spotted this moose. It was at an appropriate place. A sign on the road identified the place as Moose Junction.