Day 4 ~ Big Horn County

Tuesday ~ June 21, 2011

Hello, friends!

We have been up in Wapiti Wyoming with no cell or internet visiting the beautiful Yellowstone National Park ~ did you miss us? We have had a couple of adventurous days but let go back a bit...

We left off with our tale as we drove thru Wyoming. Things were going really good for our Road Rash team. Dave took the wheel and we headed up. Literally. We start off on the road at 11:30 am to our destination~
We had beautiful landscapes and views to feast our eyes on!

Our Nikon D 40 just does not capture the depth of it all~ This shot almost looks like water out there, doesn't it? It's not~

We drove into some SNOW. Just look at the mound of it "over Jim's head" in this shot!

Crazy. None of us expected to see so much snow left on the mountains. Wait till we share about that later on... sun melts snow~ water runs down to river~ You'll see. Once we left the National Forest we had to stop... ROAD CLOSED AHEAD WHEN FLASHING! 15 feet of snow still covered Route 14 and we had to turn back, only a few hundred feet, to take the alternate route.
Woo wheeeeeeee.....

Kathy gets some reading done. We are on our way to Cody. Through some mountains!

Low gear for about 12 miles. Tedious driving. Roads Closed~ Take alternate Route 14....

Take a look...

We were all happy to see this sign....

And Dave was happy to see this one too!

We make it to Lovell!

Boy, what a fun ride it was!

Some nice flat land and beautiful lake...
But, look out...

Nearly to Cody!

We decide to change our plans and stay outside the park, on advice of our tour guide owner, Bob. No campfires allowed in Fishing Bridge. What fun would that be? So Bob suggests Wapiti campground and we head there to check things out!

We travel through beautiful Cody, Wyoming, home of Buffalo Bill.

Here he is now...

So much to see and do in Cody!



And in case you didn't know...

Awesome! The Pagoda, a private home built in 1960. Want to live here?

Shoshone River.



"The Goose".... many of the rock structures all have names!

Home sweet home for the next three nights. This campground is "first come, first serve". Envelopes provided and you put your money in and seal it, keep top piece to clip onto campsite post, then deposit envelope into a locked box! It took us a while to figure all this out!! HA!

Diana discovers she loves beer! Just sitting at the camp site waiting for Jim and Kathy to get back since they had to travel back towards Cody to use a cell phone to let Bob know where to pick us up in the am for Yellowstone!

We hear sheep bleating and trek into the woods to find them! We found them on the Absaroka mountain behind our campsite!
Momma and her two babies...
They follow her across the steep terrain.

Dave standing in the Shoshone River!

Jim and Kathy make it back in time to see the sheep! Behind them about 60 feet was our campsite~

While in Beef country we enjoyed a Buffalo steak dinner~ Jim is an excellent chef! Yum!

Look close... BATS at camp!
Dave is still the guest who won't leave...

He often stays out after we all give in and go to bed! Bless his heart, he just wants the party to go on and on and on....

Day 3.... Dream on Dave and Jim!

Monday ~ June 20, 2011

Rain, Rain and more rain. We left a day early from Horsethief campground to find the SUN! We hit the road around 11:45 am~

Our drive took us thru Deadwood South Dakota. Still raining here...

We had a destination in mind. The men had a destination in mind, we should say. Sturgis, South Dakota. World famous for their annual Sturgis Bike Week!

We found it....

Now, we knew the bike week wasn't happening while we were traveling thru, but we still wanted to say we stopped in!

Dave hopes to make it to bike week one of these years!
We drove past The Knuckle Saloon. It was still pouring!
We found this sign and boy, did we want some shirts!! We stopped and parked and sent Jim in to a shop to ask where the main drag was...
Well, he had some fun just trying to tell us how the couple inside just looked at him and laughed when he asked them!
"That ain't happening now", they told him. Well....duh! "We knew that", Jim said. "We just want to have lunch and buy a few things!"
"Well the place to go is The Knuckle Saloon", they said. So we did!
It is full of signs and memorabilia from the good old days! We stopped and ran through a down pour to get some shirts, shot glasses and other goodies! Then we went to the Knuckle Saloon for lunch!

Some signs inside...

This is a fun bar, complete with a stage~ one which holds talented and gifted musicians who of play on the weekends.

LOOK, here's one now...

Jim is one of the best bass guitarists in Cleveland, just ask anyone.

Dave makes friends where ever he goes... just saying.

Jim looks like a natural~

A real rough rider!

This is a proud little town. Even Mc Donalds shows off the name.

We stopped to buy some "grass feed" beef, thank you so much Debbie, for Kathy! We didn't find it here but we were on a mission and we did find it later in the day!

Finally, the sun made it debut for the day~

In Wyoming!
Beautiful, beautiful landscape ahead!
Wide open spaces!
God's country.

It can take your breath away!
See...

We arrived in Sheridan, South Dakota at seven p.m. We were glad to have not only have found the sun, but to have shortened our 8 hour drive into Yellowstone by half, for tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

Yes, its true... we are MEMBERS of KOA! Believe it!

Camp is set... start the coals! Let's get dinner going!
We are having the best time together~ laughter being the number one ingredient!

Day is done. Kathy is enjoying sitting in the sunset!

Tuesday morning brings sun~ and a delicious breakfast!

Kathy and Diana have a serious card dual going on and they play every chance they get!
Kathy asked to proof this picture.... Just to look at Di's hand. What a low down dirty cheater she is!
A little housekeeping ... Good times at the laundromat!
We hit the road at noon today!

Just wait till you see the splendor we have driven through today~ Tuesday! We are nearly to Yellowstone and will lose all cell phone and internet abilities ~ We know you are so excited to see what we have seen but you will have to wait a few days!!

Love to our families and friends~