Homeward Bound

According to the odometers, we've put 9,602 miles on the motor home and 3,842 miles on the Jeep since July 10 for a total of 13,444 miles through 28 states and 2 Canadian Provinces. We're 108 miles from home and we'll have had 88 days away. A record for us. This will be the last blog for this trip. Thanks, everyone for tuning in and for your comments along the way.

We left South Dakota on Hwy 16 into Wyoming where we picked up Hwy 85 South to I-25 and on toward Fort Collins, Colorado. Nice highways with lots of color.

Stopped at a KOA in Wellington just short of Ft. Collins and got a load of wash done. Imagine settling into a nice camp area and finding out later that next door was a feed lot for cattle. You know the ones...you pass them on the highway and quickly roll up your windows before the stench can fill your car. WELL, there wasn't a feed lot, but just after opening the windows in the RV to let in some cool evening air, it hit us. A blast of the most putrid air filled the park and we couldn't close the windows fast enough! It smelled like a cross between a feedlot and a pig sty full of animal urine! According to the park manager, the farmer next to the park decided to chop up the silage at his farm that evening and the smell came in a dust cloud over the park. There was almost no place to get away from the smell. Luckily, for me, the bedroom had the least smell and I closed myself in for the evening. I don't know how Bruce could stand it...maybe the football game on TV distracted him from it. Fortunately the smell was gone by morning and we didn't need the AC over night as that would have just brought more of it inside.

We left that park and headed toward Denver and then west through Boulder, to Hwy 70, Vail, and Avon to Grand Junction. This is the most beautiful time of year to drive this part of Hwy 70 and it appears that we were driving this same route (in reverse) three years ago in October on our trip out to DC.  The canyons are quite steep with elevations up to 14,000 ft along the White River and eventually the Colorado River. Beautiful homes and ski slopes fill the hillsides among the fall colors of Aspen and Evergreens.

This house looked like a space ship.

This highway is very steep...low gear all the way down.

The highway through Glenwood Canyon.

Grand Junction RV park.

This is the eastern edge of the San Rafael Reef in Southern Utah.

Beautiful formations like in Monument Valley.

Our next stop was just before Nevada in the town of Delta, Utah. Not much to this town and the RV park wasn't anything to write home about. We decided to drive on through Nevada to Sparks and spend a couple of days winding down before the last short leg home.

A shoe tree along the highway. These are always interesting. This one was just west of the town of Hinckley, UT.

The long, long road across Southern Utah and...

...into Nevada and the Pacific Standard Time Zone

Surprisingly, we saw several cross-country bicyclists, some solo. Granted there's not much traffic out here, but it's a long way between any kind of services.

'The Loneliest Road in America'.

Today we plan on doing some shopping at Costco to restock the homefront and having a nice dinner out. Started out with the Jeep battery going south on us so had to take time to replace it. Guess, considering all the places we've been on this trip, it could have happened at a less convenient place and time.

South Dakota Redux

Welcome to South Dakota

We were stationed in South Dakota at Ellsworth AFB from 1976-1978 but the things we have seen here in the last week were totally new for us. We visited Mt. Rushmore then, but at that time there was just a patio area to view the mountain, no flags or amphitheater, no ceremonies. I don't remember visiting Custer City before and in those days Minuteman Missile Launch Facilities were definitely off limits. Now you can visit a museum and a missile silo that has been decommissioned since the end of the Cold War. Would never have believed it would be possible back in the day. Rapid City has grown, of course, and there are wineries and breweries here now! Bonus!

Before we got to the Badlands, there was this new sculpture of Sacajawea at the Chamberlain (SD) Rest Area on I-90. I'll bet she's beautiful at night when the lights are on.

The Minuteman Missile Site Museum...sorry about the spots; our windshield was definitely in need of a wash!

Significantly warmer weather here, but I quickly changed into cooler clothes. The Badlands National Park is awesome.

Even Willis was enjoying the view.

There's a prairie dog town here too.

We stayed at the Beaver Lake Campground and RV Park just outside Custer City. The spot we got used to have a mobile home so there was a little yard, which the dogs loved. And there were bunnies running around everywhere that the owner says stay all year. He feeds them a little in winter, but for the most part they are wild and free.

We drove up the Needles Highway in Custer State Park to Sylvan Lake. There are 3 tunnels on this route that would not have allowed our motorhome to go through.

Some wicked turns too!

This one was especially tight.

The Needle Eye

Sylvan Lake

Supposed to be an easy walk around the lake, but parts were a little tricky.

Thursday night we went to Mt Rushmore to see a lighting ceremony and tribute to our military. They showed a movie about the mountain and the presidents represented there and how they contributed to our National Park system. Then lights were shown on the faces followed by an invitation to all active duty and veterans to come to the stage to lower the flag and be introduced.

I counted 11 Air Force vets along with Army, Navy, Marines, & Coast Guard.

Unfortunately the flags were all wrapped around the poles so we couldn't get a good photo but it's an awesome display with the faces behind. I hope you are clicking on the pictures to get the full effects of them.

Friday we got up at 4:15 AM for the Buffalo Roundup. We were told the parking lot opened at 6:15 and people start lining up at 4:30. There were two viewing areas and we scoped them out the day before so we'd know where to go. We opted for the South viewing area and headed out at about 5:15...didn't want to be too early. The roundup didn't start until 9:30. But they offered a pancake and sausage breakfast between 6 and 9 so we went for it.

Pancake and sausage breakfast kept us going until the running of the bison.

We were at the South Viewing area looking across to the North. The animals would be rounded up between us.

Cowboys waiting for the roundup.

The 'Four' Presidents were in attendance.

As the morning advanced, so did the crowds shown here in the North Viewing area.

This group was reportedly part of the Governor's entourage who got a view from a higher area.

And here they come....

The herd here consists of around 1,200 head.  Very imperessive!

Into the corrals

This one was exempt.

Buffalo, of course, are a big attraction here and these guys were too. Painted with scenes of the area, and scattered around the town, they are auctioned off in the Fall as a fund raiser.

This pig wanted in on the act. It was outside the Purple Pie Place.

Tomorrow we head toward Denver then through one of the most beautiful stretches of highway, I-70 from Denver over to connect with US 50. We're getting near the end of this adventure.  Part of us wants to be home and part of us doesn't want it to end.  So we're looking for places to delay the inevitable.