008 More driving across country

September 30, 2008 – Tuesday – (1 Week)

Augusta, MT

After biking around Yellowstone for a couple of days, we had to move on.  I could have spent another week there, I’m sure, and not have seen everything.  But, between this trip and the last one when I was there, I am gradually combing the park and its features.  We broke down camp and headed out around 9am, going out the West Yellowstone entrance.  A couple of buffalo had to get in the lane of traffic as we drove, so we got slightly delayed here and there, but it was a gorgeous day and a very enjoyable drive.

The next stop on my list was Missoula, MT but considering how much time I’m off already, I had to skip over it and go straight to Glacier.  Tonight, we found a room in a motel in Augusta, MT.  Taking the road less traveled is usually more of an adventure and this time is no exception.  Instead of just taking I-15 to Great Falls, we took the smaller 287.  It was gorgeous and mountainous.  We got a little nervous about finding a hotel at one point because the towns were so small.  In Augusta, however, we saw the wonderful sign, “Motel” and stopped by.  It did say open, but there was nobody there; if I hadn’t looked closely enough, I wouldn’t have noticed the sign that said, “If nobody is here, call [insert phone number]”.  So, we used the pay phone (no phone signal here) and called the number where a woman said, “Be right down!”  We got a room and jumped at the chance to shower.  

I washed everything twice.  As we were getting moved into our room, a couple of people showed up and got a room two down from ours (Bridgette & Jake).  Bridgette & Jake said that they had been living in a camper without any water, heat or electricity for a while; and that at night it got into the low 20’s in the area.  They were quite happy to have a shower & soft bed for the night as we were.  We chatted with them for a bit, they had been working construction in the area so they needed the showers worse than we did.  I had thought about going down to have a drink with them when they went to the bar, but I also just wanted to chill and write and go through photos after showering.  So, I flipped a coin; heads I go out, tails I stay in.  Tails came up, so I’m comfortable, clean and in.

It was great waking up to the sound of horses in the fields right outside, and the mountains so close by.  Today was mostly just driving through beautiful countryside, so enjoy the photos that I have from that.  Tomorrow, we head into Glacier but I don’t think that we’re going to do any camping since they’re already closing lots of roads due to snow.  I’m so excited, though, to see a new part of the country!

Now I have to eat up some more dinner and copy some more photos from cameras while I settle down and we put a movie in before falling asleep…  Until tomorrow!

007 A spectacular day in the park.

September 29, 2008 – Monday

Yellowstone Park, WY

Today was quite a wonderful day.  I was able to sleep in a little bit, not that time matters too much to me right now.  Coffee was the first thing that helped to get me up, but I did sit in my hammock and just swing for a while as I watched stuff happen around camp.  

Eventually, I climbed out and helped with some morning camp projects.  We decided that we wanted to see Old Faithful and try for some internet and phone access to call some people and do some things.  Even though we were already behind schedule, I do like tossing the schedule out the window, so we decided to stay in Yellowstone for two nights.

  

I packed up my computer and a few other things in my backpack and we headed to Old Faithful where we had lunch at a little snack bar and I had full phone signal for the first time in days which also meant that I had some chance of connecting to the internet as well.  Yay!  I wasn’t really able to email anything or even put up one of my blogs, but I was able to do some other important things; also, make a few phone calls to people who had been leaving me messages (even though all I did was leave messages back to them!).  Sorry to all of you who needed or wanted something from me while I was disconnected for a while.  I would say that it won’t happen again, but to the contrary, it probably and hopefully will. 

Anyway, we hung out at Old Faithful until it blew its stack, erupted, brought the house down, um, whatever you want to call it…  Then we took off for some more biking.  It was a gorgeous day though it started out quite sunny and cold, with my chaps it was quite a bit warmer.  We saw the Firehole Falls and some geysers and the Fountain Paint Pot and other stuff like buffalo, 

moose, coyotes, etc.  (Click here for more photos!) Before it got too late, however, we did want to get back to camp to make some dinner and build a fire.  I stopped alongside the Continental Divide at 8000-or-so feet and collected some firewood that I strapped to my bike to bring back to burn.  Nowhere in the campground is there wood to collect and burn; everyone else has combed the area.  

Speaking of burning wood, the exciting challenge for tonight was to burn this huge log, from our campsite, in half.  It probably took a good two hours or so and constant picking and reworking of the fire to get it there, but I made it!  And now that my parents have gone to bed, I have the fire and three huge logs to burn, all to myself…  It’s warm, at least!

And now, just as an add-on to the last blog story, I want to mention our last adventure in Greybull where we really finally rode horses.  Again, to help Art & Kathy, my dad and I each hopped on a horse (mine was Catch ‘em, my dad’s was Super Sweet, Art had Gator) and rode them 6 miles to the new ranch from the old ranch.  It was a pleasure ride, a first real experience riding a non-tame ranch horse ride, and a ride to help them out so that they only had 4 more horses to bring over by trailer later on.  It was about a two hour ride and it was great.  My butt still hurts from that trotting!

I have to close up for the night so that I can tend the fire and burn one down…  as in a log of course…  Chilly again, there will probably be frost on the cars tomorrow as there was this morning.  At least we got our bikes on their trailers and we can head out first thing…  After we have some coffee, of course.

006 For all you doubters...

September 28, 2008 – Sunday

Shoshone National Park, WY

After leaving Greybull, we started looking for campsites so that I could do some camping.  We drove past a bunch of them here and there but I didn’t want to do any camping in towns, or anywhere completely boring.  So, we made it into Shoshone National Park and drove into a campground that we found.  

What luck, it had just closed for the season and we could camp there for free.  We only got slightly anxious about the large post that said something to the extent of “Beware – Active Grizzly’s in the area.” There was no running water and just vault toilets, but I didn’t care!  My mom, however, thought that since the sign said that it was a “dry campground” that we couldn’t have any alcohol…  I quickly corrected her while opening a beer.

  

There were a few other people camping there but it was pretty much wide open.  I found a campsite where I could, in fact, hang up and use my hammock!  What a great feeling that was, though I was pretty nervous about hanging it up correctly and getting the knots right, it went more smoothly than it ever had before.  I think I work well under pressure.  

I made a fire, we ate some light dinner and I had a couple/few beers, then my parents called it a night.  Just before that, I had taken out my computer and started to write about the last couple of days, before I forgot all about the exciting details.  I wrote for a while and (sorry!) ended up writing more than I thought I would, but am satisfied that I have captured my adventures for all times, for your pleasure (I hope) and my treasure.

It was a beautiful campground, really; right in a valley with a river running behind us.  That night, it did get cold.  I’m not sure how cold, exactly, but pretty chilly.  Overall, I was comfortable but my toes got cold and I couldn’t quite figure out the best breathing situation while in my sleeping bag.  Tonight will be better, I believe.  Even though it will also be colder since we’re more out in the open, at about 7300 feet I think.  Cleanup and setup was quite simple since I finally figured out my knots.  It is very quick to clean up in the morning while drinking a cup of coffee from my French press.  Yes, I’m quite happy about bringing my French press.

At first, we had planned to stay at that campground for two nights since we were only about 22 miles from Yellowstone but after talking to a neighbor there, we realized that it would be a good idea to get into Yellowstone and camp instead.  I’m glad we did, it was a longer drive in than I had anticipated and there is so much to see in the park.  Tonight, we’re in Yellowstone at the Lewis Lake campground, site 49B.  Again, there are trees for me to hang my hammock (see that, doubters!).  We’ll be staying here for two nights so that we can do some biking around tomorrow; see old faithful, some hot springs, etc.  We set up camp, did some biking and then came back for some dinner and fire making before it got too dark.  It was nice to finally be able to use my new stove; it works really well, but it is quite loud as Daphne had mentioned at one point.  

Oh well, I’ll have hot food and hot coffee.  A lot of campgrounds in the area have been closed due to a ton of Grizzly’s roaming around.  So, we’re careful not to leave anything around with any scent.  I don’t think we’ll have a problem.  In the morning, we’re hopefully going to have breakfast at some restaurant near Old Faithful and see if there are any showers or internet access available.  It’s been about 3 or 4 days since I’ve showered now, so I probably smell like a lot of things, not that I care too much.  

Anyway, tomorrow is another day and I’m going to burn some logs for a while and try to keep warm for a bit while I listen to my parents watch The Princess Bride on their computer.

005 I could be a cowgirl!

September 27, 2008 – Saturday

Greybull, WY

While visiting Kathy & Art, I realized that life can work many different ways; of course I’ve known this, but it’s always an awakening seeing it up close and personal.  Their life is one of really hard work.  I can’t believe what kind of work those two do all on their own, it felt good to be able to help out a bit while I was there; I only wish I could have done more.  

I can’t jump straight into that, however, I need to tell you a few other things first.  First of all, I have a new name; Lil’ One.  It was natural to come up with something other than just Sherrise because that’s just not personal enough, so Art quickly and endearingly started calling me Lil’ One.  I like it; and it’s caught on, my parents have taken to it as well.  I quickly started answering to it because otherwise I would have missed out on a lot of stuff like helping round up some horses and ride one of them bareback for a bit.  

After we rounded up the horses into the corral, we headed to the other ranch where we had a lot of work to do.  Yes, I said “we”.  My parents went out for some scootering around the area and I could have gone with, but who could pass up the opportunity to work on a real ranch?!  Not me, anyway!  So, I stayed back with Kathy & Art and helped them with some projects around the place.  

Mainly, we worked on laying pipe for the waterline at the new ranch so that when the horses & cows were brought down there they would have something to drink.  We got it almost completely complete.  We dragged the palette and some pipe behind the four wheeler, put the pump on the back with some other stuff and the three of us hung on for dear life as we brought it all down by the river and the corral.  We did have to make a few trips back and forth, to solve any problems that came up.  

Anyway, since we brought the chainsaw down one of the times, we used that to clear out some of the brush and trees that we otherwise had to climb and crawl over and under to get the pipe laid right; it was much easier after that.  Of course, we waited to do that until we had most of the work done already…  I’m just glad I brought my cowboy hat with me; I don’t know what I would have done without it while I was going head first into the shrubbery (especially those damn Russian Olive trees)!  I ended up with scratches all over, but luckily no trees growing out of me.  Well, we finally ended up getting as much done as we could for the day which wasn’t nearly enough since we had wanted to bring the horses over that night and we wanted to pick up some of the 2000 or so bails of hay.  

However, we found out earlier I the day that we had a flat tire on the horse trailer, so we brought the flat tire to the shop and most the horses and we just ran out of daylight for the bails.  All things considered, I’m pretty sure Kathy & Art appreciated my help.  I can’t believe that they do all everything they do alone.  There’s a possibility that I might come out again to help out some more and go up to Art’s hunting lodge which is something like 5500 elevation, above the clouds where you can see about 40 miles away.  Hunting season opens in a couple/few weeks.  That would be fun.

My mom was a little concerned about me while I was out in the woods tramping around since we had run into a rattle snake earlier in the day on our way to the ranch.  When I say ran into, I mean that literally.  Luckily, Art ran over just a bit of it in the road with the car on the way there so it was slightly injured when he got out of the car to kill it.  Gosh, those things are frightening, and this was just a little baby!  This little guy took quite a beating and still was striking out a good foot or more trying to snag Art, until he managed to kill him with rocks and a hammer.  I have learned a lot in the past few days, but one thing that I learned was about how right now is a really scary time for rattlers since they don’t actually make a sound right after they shed.  Their skin is too new and the rattles at the end haven’t dried up yet, so nobody will hear them coming.  Glad we got that one.  Art got bitten by a rattler once and was able to hobble home but ended up in the hospital for a while.  I found it quite interesting that while he was in the hospital with the snake poison in his system, his hearing was extremely acute.  He could hear a pin drop four rooms down; it sounded like metal crashing..  Did you know that Rattle snake poison is counter acted by Copperhead snake poison?  Copperhead poison gets injected and the two poisons fight in the system.  Also, if a Rattle Snake got a taste of his own poison, he would die.  Crazy.

I suppose, I should close up for the night.  I’m sitting around a campfire right now, getting some of these thoughts down while they’re still fresh.  For all of you doubters, I set up my hammock tonight between a couple of trees and it went better than any time before.  I’m pretty sure that I work well under pressure.  I didn’t feel like sleeping with my parents in their tent…

Thanks, though, to all of you who helped me get everything together for this trip.  I feel horribly prepared and it’s wonderful.  Abby & Erik, especially, I don’t know how I would have done it all without you.  

Sorry to all/any who have been trying to get ahold of me.  If reading the above hasn’t explained much, then I don’t know what will.  It’s funny and wonderful, though, the more I’m without my phone the more I want to be without my phone.  Just to get away, that’s what I’ve been waiting for.

004 Another kind of life…

September 26, 2008 – Friday
Greybull, WY

There has been a lot of excitement in my adventures lately! After our time in Rapid City, we spent the next two nights with some relatives on a ranch in Greybull, Wyoming. I haven’t written about it yet since I really didn’t have time or internet or phone access… Ok, so I turned my phone off completely; it’s been off for a few days now. I did, however, take a lot of notes about my time there so that I wouldn’t forget the exciting and juicy details!

Wyoming had some strange (to me) and beautiful land. I admit, I was quite enthralled by it, especially when the mountains started showing up in the distance. Hardly noticeable at first, the looming blue shapes looked a bit like clouds and a lot like mountains far away… Which of course, they were. Unfortunately, again, we got to Bighorn National Park as it was getting dark. This was especially unfortunate this time because the roads were ridiculously gorgeous, steep and windy on our way up, and even more so on the way down into Greybull. Goodness, was it beautiful, though. I did almost hit one big white jackrabbit as it was hopping/running/flying in front of me, and one cow… Yes, a cow. It was a good thing that I didn’t hit the cow since it was free range area and I would have then bought the cow. But in the end, the cow decided to wait for me to go past him before crossing. Those cows were everywhere along the roadsides!

After passing through a town called Shell which had a population of 50 (I didn’t get the elevation but it must have been somewhere around 4500), we entered Greybull which was just beyond the foot of the mountain. I then met our relatives (my dad’s cousin Kathleen and her husband Art) who ended up being absolutely wonderfully interesting and welcoming people. I got to sleep in a bunk bed while I was there (like the princess and the pea, I slept on a shotgun… but didn’t notice it… guess I’m not a princess…) and we woke up bright and early both mornings, around 7:30am so that we could get started on some work on the ranch. As some of you know, I’m not the best “rise & shiner” but what can a person do when a real cowboy comes knocking on your door saying “rise & shine!” with a huge bacon, egg & pancake breakfast cooking in the kitchen. When a person doesn’t know when they’re going to eat next, you better start the day off right. My first step to waking up after changing clothes? Grabbing a cup of coffee. What else is new?

The first morning, we went out to the “old” ranch which was where they had been ranching for the past 6 years or so. They’re currently in the process of moving everything from their old ranch to their new one which is going to be simply amazing eventually! We met some of the horses and saw the little shack that they had lived in for about 3 years at one point. I think I could live there for a while… Be a ranch hand… They had no regular electricity there, so they rigged up a generator that stored wind energy in a battery. No running water, they trucked water in monthly or whenever they needed it. For lights, they used car lights to save on power; very simple, very basic, very much life. The cabin/shack was built so that it could all be taken apart wall by wall and moved anywhere they needed it to go (like the new ranch). They may be leaving it behind, however, while they build an A-Frame cabin on the new property.

I have heard so many stories now, from Art & Kathy, about living the ranch life, being a cowboy, hunting and rounding up horses & cows… I wish I could share a few, but maybe you should just visit there sometime with me, instead. Highlights, you ask? Well, one time, Art ended up with a Russian Olive tree growing out of his head… Really. The roots ended up being about a quarter inch long. Another time, he took Sammy Davis & Paul Newman elk hunting when he had his company, DiamondA Outfitters. For a while, he would take people out hunting in the mountains, providing a guide, horses & a cook for their overnights (amongst other stuff of course). I heard tons of stories and I couldn’t possibly repeat even a small portion of them.

With the eagles flying around the mountains, the mountain lion dens and all of the other mountain & ranch life, there was non-stop gorgeousness. Now, the sort of entertainment my mom provided us was a little different, it was called stepping backwards into a cowpie. Yup, cow pie. Yummy… Gotta watch where you step on a ranch!

Anyway, it was quite entertaining, enlightening & educational. How’s that for triple e’s? We went to bed early so that we had plenty of time for ranching the next day. What have I learned? I’ve learned that I could learn a lot here.

Speaking of ranching...

003 The Journey Begins!

Yesterday was my last day in Minnesota for quite some time.  Abby was helpful (as she was the last time I left) by taking a photo (at the right) of me and my rig, before leaving - Thanks for the photo & packing help, Abby!  I left Minneapolis around 9:30 in the AM and started driving to Rapid City, SD.  It wasn't until about 10pm that I entered the city.  At least I have my TomTom to help guide me this time!  Much easier to find my way around.

By the way, I believe I forgot to mention another part of this adventure...  My parents heard that I was going to go West, and stay with my relatives in Oregon for a while.  My grandpa lives about 30 min. from my aunt & uncle out there; well, he's not getting any younger, so they want to see him, too.  Basically, I'm caravaning with my parents for a little while (left, with Rushmore in the background).

  

This means we're staying with family, friends, and relatives along the way quite a bit because they don't want to camp as much as I do.  The photo to the right is my parents driving in front of me, trailering their scooter, driving into Chamberlain, SD.  It was gorgeous, for at least a minute...

It was unfortunate that we drove through the badlands after the sun went down last night, but to make up for it, today was a really great day of biking around the black hills area.  Before leaving around 1:30 (we're now in Mountain time which is an hour earlier than MN) this afternoon I planned out a route which is at the right.  Riding time without any stops was something like 2 hours 2 minutes.  Perfect.

The first stop was at the Pactola Resovoir which was pretty.  

It wasn't too big of a deal to me, but I do like this self-portrait that I took while there...  I like self-portraits.  

Next, it had been a long time since I had last seen Crazy Horse, so I was quite interested in seeing what kind of progress had been made.  There was a 20 minute introduction-ish film, though I wasn't at first excited to watch, it ended up being really interesting.  

The Crazy Horse monument and its story are awesome.  If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend going.  The people building it (mostly a family carrying on their father's project) refuse to use government money which means that it's completely supported only by people who are interested in it and they remain in complete control.   So, that was the first stop.  After that, I wanted to cut through Custer State Park which went straight into the Black Hills National Park and led to Rushmore next (didn't stop there but saw it from other locations anyway)...  Simply incredible overall. 

 

In the Black Hills National Park, there were some curves that were practically doubling-back on themselves, they were so tight, 15 mph.  I guess they were called the Pigtail Bridges (left and right photos).  There was another section of road called the Needles Highway which would have been cool to see, but there is only so much time in one day of biking an area.  It was exhilarating, really, quite spectacular to be so close to everything on my motorcycle.  

What a way to see the country up close and personal;  I know, a bicycle or something would be even closer, but we all know how unathletic I am!  Anyway, there was one buffalo right next to the road (I didn't slow down too much for him), tons of deer everywhere, a herd of goats at one point, and tons of other wildlife.  Did I say exhilarating?  Exhilarating.

The parks were beautiful.  I can't wait for more along the way.  It did get a little bit chilly, so I'll probably be sporting my chaps in the near future...  Sweet...

Anyway, I'm finishing up my day with this little blog bit and a bit of work as well.  I hope you have enjoyed my adventures as much as I have, here's one last photo for you to enjoy from today!

002 Almost all packed & dreaming...

Today I leave Pelican for Minneapolis, with all of my stuff (photo of my packed trunk to the left).  I have spent the last few days preparing everything that I have so that I can "move" with it.  Finally I have finished creating my first aid kit, dry food tub, fun drawer with hacky sack, journals, mushroom playing cards, art supplies & more, and of course packing away the clothes that I have allowed myself to carry with for all sorts of weather...  Camping supplies, day bags, picnic bag (kitchen utensils and spices), and a bunch of other stuff, but not too much...  I think.

Last night, I had a wonderful dream.  As my dreams have gone lately, they haven't been all that pleasant but this one was entertaining!  I think that maybe it's come about because I know I'm about to begin a journey and I have many different emotions hiding inside that peek their heads out for a second; I dreamt of friends, mainly.  Friends from long ago, friends from other places, friends from now - all in the same fantasy land that I created.  It was wonderful seeing you all, I can't name all names but a few who were prominent were Shannon, Isaac & Leif.  As the dream fades away from this morning, I lose the details of the other faces.  There were so many throughout; I believe it was a dream reminding me of my travels beginning again and how many new & old faces I'll meet along my way.  Besides the faces, though, I saw amazing shows & places as well.  Across from the balcony that I was on was a "club" of sorts (I think it was an old-style gentlemen's club - just guys playing poker and drinking scotch) that had the most incredible hidden passageways.  One entrance that I watched someone open moved an entire corner wall of the castle-like facade to reveal the entrance at the bottom but which also revealed the men in the club (which is how I knew what it was).  It was incredible.  If anyone knows how much I like secret passageways, you'll understand.  I believe that I spent the next little while trying to sneak in with a couple of friends to see more of it inside.  Sometime later in the building that I was in, there was a show along the lines of Pilobolus, but this time they weren't shadows; the people themselves seemed to multiply.  One person would turn into three people doing acrobatics, three would turn into one.  It was spectacular and I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

Anyway, my dream was exciting and fun and I woke up with many emotions thinking about poking their heads out, but overall I know that I just need to get out of my robe for the day and finish getting everything into my car.

I am so looking forward to all of the adventures that I'll be having in the future, and all the friends that I'll get to see in person all over the place.  Thanks to everyone for being with me last night, it was comforting.