Buffalo Herd (4 posts today, don't miss any!)

View from Little Devil's Tower

Tom on Little Devil's Tower

2 for 1

Saturday
The Black Hills are still scorching, but at least it’s a little cooler in the hills. After driving into the middle of BFE yesterday to find a campsite, we were shocked to find that apparently there were 8 other people that knew about it so it was filled. We camped in a clearing along a creek just up the road, so everything worked out. This morning we got up early (thanks Tom) again and decided to take a quick hike. The trail went on longer than we thought but it worked out great because it actually led to the top of Castle Peak, one of the highest around. The last part of the trail was a lot steeper than we had anticipated but the view was great; Castle Peak is one of the tallest in the Black Hills. As an added bonus, it’s an old mining area so there were old mine shafts (filled in, don’t worry Mom) around there.

Now we are in Custer, right on the edge of Custer State Park. Hardy should be here this evening and then we’ll do some stuff around here for the next couple of days. We plan on going into Custer SP to see some things (buffalo, reenactments) and check out the rest of the area. If the fireworks are still on, we’ll be at Mt. Rushmore on the 3rd, but we’re still uncertain if those will happen.

Sunday/Monday
Haven’t had internet connection in a couple of days so you get two posts on this one. I decided to post a few extra pictures. We’ve been having a pretty darn good time out here. We’re staying put at the campground we are at until we leave for Wyoming; it just turns out to be easier than trying to find someplace each night and repacking all of our stuff and yadda yadda.

Saturday evening we had some hail. Just little dime size pieces of hail. Not much really. Unless of course you take into account they all stuck together to make golf ball size chunks of ice flying at you. So that was nice. We hung out around the campfire on Saturday; Hardy’s here now so campfire stories are definitely entertaining.

Yesterday we hiked to the top of Little Devil’s Tower early in the morning (well, not real early, but we beat most of the heat). Little Devil’s Tower (in Badlands National Forest, or maybe Custer State Park, it’s right on the border) is considered a strenuous hike and let me tell you, those loooonnnnggggg stretches of uphill climb definitely felt strenuous. When you near the top you have to climb up and over chunks of granite (yes Mom, you would be nervous so I didn’t put up a picture of that for you to see). It was all worth it though because the view from the top was absolutely fantastic. You could see for miles in all directions, truly a unique little spot.

After the hike, we drove south through Custer State Park (including a few rock tunnels) to Wind Cave National Park to take a tour. That was a neat little excursion, especially when they turn off the lights and plunge you into complete darkness. With absolutely no light your eyes will never adjust to the light and that feeling of blindness with your eyes open is a very eerie feeling.

On our drive back to camp we drove through the part of Custer that just burned a few days ago. We also had an opportunity to see a large herd of buffalo (a few hundred), some pronghorns, and tons of little prairie dogs. Today we’ve already been to Crazy Horse Monument (quite an ambitious project…check back in 100 years when it’s finished) and are going to go swimming this afternoon. Then it’s off to the Badlands to do a short hike and drive back to camp at dusk. Tomorrow the plan is to watch the fireworks, but we may have to get there earlier than we had hoped and just hang out; sounds like its pretty busy all day there so I guess we’ll play it by ear. Enjoy the pics: the one on this post is from the top of our Castle Peak hike the other day, Tom is at the top of Little Devil’s Tower, the view out from the peak, and then there’s some of the buffalo.

Black Hills Heat!!!

The Black Hills are baking! Rapid City is 99 degrees as we pull into town. Just stopped by the Visitor Center to get some information for camping. We’re gonna head into the Black Hills and try to find a site. Thought about swimming…the information lady said the water’s about 45 degrees…doesn’t get up to 50 until August or so.

May have bad news on the horizon: word is that the Mt. Rushmore Fireworks may be canceled because of the dryness in the surrounding hills. We’ll keep you posted. Plans for tomorrow are to hike a bit and then Hardy shows up. After that, check out the area including Custer State Park, Badlands, and maybe Devil’s Tower on the way to Jackson.

The picture is one of many abandoned little farm houses out here in South Dakota…they’re kind of neat to see…kind of eerie as well. Keeping with the Kevin Costner theme that has apparently overtaken the early part of our roadtrip (see Field of Dreams), we’re in the same areas used for Dances with Wolves. Of course, SD is also home to Little House on the Prairie!

Goodbye Iowa, Hello South Dakota (via Minnesota)

Day 2 of the road trip. I don’t think that it’s really set in for me yet though. Tom says he feels like he’s on vacation but I don’t really. My theory is that it’s because I didn’t fly anywhere and everyone speaks my language so it still kind of feels like at home. Plus, we’re in Iowa which is pretty much like northern to mid-Michigan (think West Branch with more farms, more cows, and less towns).

We camped outside of Waterloo, IA last night at a little campground. We got there kind of late because after Field of Dreams (more on that in a second) we stopped in Dyersville to have dinner. We brought steaks to celebrate our first night on the road in style. We were at this little city park…which had a basketball hoop…with 3 guys shooting around. So Tom figures, hey, they need a fourth! After one game of pick-up ball we were back on the road to see how far we could get and then find a campsite.

The Field of Dreams was neat, but for reasons that I can’t really explain. I mean, AuGres basically has a Field of Dreams if you just go by the criteria of a ball diamond in a corn field, but this was different. The setting is very picturesque and it’s a little surreal to remember the movie and be standing in the same spot. But now it is on to our next adventure. We’re going to head north out of Iowa (they have free wi-fi spots at their rest areas!) and pick up I-90 in Minnesota. From there we’re going west to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Of course, first we’re going to stop at Wall Drug.

I thought I’d leave you with a Field of Dreams quote (as Shoeless Joe comes out of the corn onto the field as it is shrouded in fog):
“Is this heaven?”
“No, it’s Iowa.”

On the Road!!

We just crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa so I thought I'd take a moment to say "hi" from the road. We plan to make it to Dyersville, IA to see the Field of Dreams and then see how far we can drive. Internet connection may be spotty on the way, but at the latest you should hear from us as we leave Yellowstone and head to Glacier. Bon Voyage!!

On another note...

Hey all, I got the job at South Arbor Academy in Ypsi so I will be gainfully employed when I return from my trip. I'll be teaching Geography and History to the squirrelly little creatures known as 7th/8th graders. Today's my last day of confirmed internet connection but hopefully you'll all hear from me soon.

....Go!

Ok, not quite yet, but I did want to give you all one more chance to check this out before we leave. This is also an opportunity to influence and shape our trip. Take a look at our itinerary and let me know if you have any suggestions or memories from any of these places. Also, this is another opportunity to subscribe to the posts (or just make a mental note to check back OFTEN!)

This itinerary is pretty set, but it is slightly flexible:
June 28-July 3: Field of Dreams (it's on the way!), Badlands, Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore (Fireworks!!)
July 4-7: Grand Tetons, Camp Davis, Jackson Hole
July 7-10: Yellowstone
July 11-13: Glacier
July 14-17: Seattle, Olympic
July 18-21: Crater Lake, Redwood, California Coast, San Francisco
July 22-24: Yosemite
July 25-26: Arches
July 26-28: Leave Arches, Denver, Drive home

On your mark, get set........

Ok, so it's almost time to leave on this wonderful journey and it's just now starting to set in. I thought I'd throw a post online now (in part so I could use it to add the picture to the Profile) since I plan on sending this link out to you guys fairly soon. I chose the wedding picture because this month-long trip is just another leg in our journey together ... and it will be a test of those wedding vows since we'll be spending all day-everyday together ... and there are a lot of steep cliffs tempting me to push Tom over. I'm just kidding of course, I think this is going to be a great trip and I'm unbelievably lucky to have someone that I can enjoy spending 30 days with doing things we both enjoy.

So what can you expect from this site? Well, I'll try to keep it updated as often as possible (those long stretches of road leave me plenty of time to post) but I'll only be able to get it online when we hit a wi-fi connection. In the event this whole plan goes downhill and this is the only thing that ever gets posted...sorry.

Alrighty, that's all for now, but be sure to check back! You can comment on pictures (I'm going to try and add some as we go) or comment on my posts or comment on other people's comments. As you can see, there's a lot of commenting expected of you. Ok, not really, but if you want to, that's great. Check back often, leave your thoughts, set up an alert to get new messages :-)

Let the journey begin.