6-30 Bighorn National Forest and Mountain

Another gorgeous day out here in the west my friends! It was actuallly too hot to drive with the top down, if you can believe that. 98 degrees is actually above my MOTDO (maximum outdoor temperature to have top down). So we kept the top up, cranked up the air and experienced by far the prettiest, and most exciting roads of the trip so far. Woo Hoo! Went through a couple passes around 9,000 feet and really winding with some harrowing drop offs. But well worth it. And Mike is a very good mountain driver. I was never nervous. (ok, for those of you who know me, you know that was a lie. i was maybe a little nervous... just kidding) He says the car handles like a dream. Almost like it was on rails going though the mountain passes through the switchbacks.

This was the view of the snow capped mountains as we were driving west on 90 toward Sheridan.

We are entering Bighorn National Forest where the roads were "wild and crazy". But absolutely breathtaking. There are formations in here dating back over 1 BILLION years!

They were not exaggerating when they declared this a scenic byway.

We spotted some wildlife today! These are mule deer. They were just out munching on grass.

All along the roads we saw lots of Lupine.

And the most exciting part of my day was we got to see three moose! They were just standing along the side of the road in a little stream munching on the brush. The moose you are looking at toward the back of the first picture kept kicking at the water. I don't know if he was kicking up stuff from the bottom or just playing. This was one of the two small ones. The one in front was larger and just looked up at us every now and then. We were on the other side of a gully so I was pretty sure she wasn't going to bother us.

The moose in the next picture was the other small one. We stood and watched for a bit and then left. They never even stopped munching. That was VERY cool.

These are the Shell Falls. They are on the, yep you guessed it, the Shell River. They are absolutely magnificent! This picture can not do it justice. The sound of the water running through the cavern was a roar. To think that water can cut it's way through rock like that is amazing.

We followed the Shell River all the way as it wound itself back down the other side of the mountain.

We watched a spectacular lightning storm as we drove across to Cody. Lots and lots of lightning. Got rained on for a bit and then it stopped by the time we hit Cody.

Today was a tremendous day. Breathtaking scenery and wildlife. And to think, yesterday I was wondering if it could get any better...

6-29 Sturgis, Deadwood and the Spearfish Canyon

Another day of 90 degree weather and not a cloud in the sky.



Our first stop of the day was Sturgis. Not many motorcycles but LOTS of bars. All boasting they are the biggest motorcyle bar in the world. We went out to Bear Butte. Mike dropped the "e" and calls it Bare Butt. Lots and lots of campgrounds out there. Actually they're just big open fields that will be filled with tents and motorcycles in August.


We went through Deadwood and Lead. Deadwood reminded me of Idaho Springs, CO and Beau Jo's pizza parlor. It's an old wild west town. We took the Spearfish Canyon Drive. More spectactular views.


I could take and post hundreds of pictures, but none of the photos do justice. This is just one incredible place.




The roads were winding and some quite steep. At one point there was a 10% grade. The logging trucks were out in force today. The air smelled like fresh cut pine.


The road twisted through the canyon and followed the river. We got out a couple times to stretch our legs and check out the waterfalls.




Saw some brook trout swimming here. The water was freezing!







And the view in the rearview mirror as we exited the Spearfish Canyon...

Can it get any better?

6-28 Badlands & Mt. Rushmore

Since we stayed on the Mississippi on Saturday night, we had to stay on the Missouri River on Sunday night. I was able to take a run along the Missouri River Monday morning before we headed out. Neat run.Headed to the Badlands National Park. We drove along the Badlands Loop Road. Absolutely awesome! The word awesome gets used way too much anymore. Kind of takes the "awesomeness" away. It is truly spectacular. Got out and walked around a little bit. Not too long and not too far. It was scorching hot and the rattlesnake signs made us a little nervous.




After leaving the Badlands, we stopped at Wall, SD. Lots of people said we needed to stop. We stopped, we saw, we don't feel the need to stop again. Reminded us of Mackinaw Island, except trade the fudge for a Wall Drug 5 cent cup of coffee.

Set sails for our hotel in Rapid City, SD. After a fiasco with our room, we headed out to the Iron Mountain Highway that takes you around Mt. Rushmore. A beautiful and fun drive. There were four "skinny" tunnels, and three "pigtail" bridge switchbacks. At one point we were at 7,000 feet elevation. Saw Mt. Rushmore from 5 miles away and then went to the memorial. Amazing when you think what went into carving the monument and building the roads to get there.

Tomorrow - Sturgis and Deadwood. Peace out...

6/27 Field of Dreams

Stopped at The Field of Dreams today. Neat place. If you've seen the movie, it brings it back in living color. The home and field have been kept in the same shape as when the movie was filmed.

The corn was only chest high. I thought I saw Shoeless Joe coming out of the cornfield, but it was Mike and he had his shoes on.

Captains Log Stardate 6.27.10 Iowa

Ok, we are not on the starship Enterprise, but Riverside, Iowa is the "future birthplace" of Captain James T Kirk. I bet only a select few knew that huh? (Tara?)



m&m hit the road yesterday and set our sights west.



We headed across northern Illinois on Highway 20. It didn't start out as much, but didn't dissapoint us after a bit. The road and scenery is absolutely amazing. Lots of hills and views of beautiful country. We're working our way gradually to the "big hills" and views. We traveled along a ridge for a while. We stopped along the way and took the picture of the beginning of the trip with our red "starship". Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do it justice.





Stopped in Dubuque, Iowa for the night. We walked around downtown Dubuque for a couple hours. Neat town right on the Mississippi. Unfortunately it was 90 degrees with the same humidity... Rode to the top of a hill on an old incline railway. Emphasis on the OLD. It did afford us a great view of the Mighty Mississip, and three states, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. We "visited" the old jail. Danielle, you'll notice I said VISIT. We did not spend any extended time there.