Started Saturday Off .....................

by having breakfast at my brother's house.......my sister-in-law was gracious enough to whip up some biscuits and country gravy for me....Becky and I both gained about 3 pounds from the breakfast. I wanted to stop at the Sac and Fox Museum in Reserve, KS and we realized that it would be closed for Labor Day so Auntie Sue made a phone call to see if it was open today.......it was so "B" and I hopped in the car to make the 90 mile run to my old home town and surrounding area. I printed out some geocaches to find since we had not cached in Nebraska yet and we took them along. First stop was the museum where Becky took a bunch of pictures. In the middle picture, which was taken in 1939, was the Tribal Council, my Grandfather is the man seated on the extreme left. Next picture was the Tribal Council at a later date, my Mother is the lady seated on the left. Sixth picture shows the area of Illinois (orange colored section) that was once owned by the Sac and Fox Tribe. Not a bad hunk of property huh? I faintly remember receiving a check back in the early 70s for about $3,000.00. This was my share of the payment that old Uncle Sugar finally awarded my tribe for lands that were taken. At that time tribal enrollment numbered about 300. That means the government paid us $300,000.00 for about half of the state of Illinois. It was probably more but that was the approximate amount left after the lawyers got their share. (I guess that was a better deal then the pay off for Manhatten Island!)

A short ways away we found our first Nebraska Cache. Some more pics of our day follow.

After Leaving The Sac and Fox Museum................

in Reserve, KS we headed back to Falls City. Found the old homestead, found a geocache attached to a tank, toured main street and then headed east to Rulo, NE where a virtual cache and a micro cache were located within a few feet of each other. We then headed to the Iowa Indian Casino 'cause the sign said "Whitecloud Casino" and the last time I had been in that area all that existed was a bingo hall. Also, there was a virtual cache called Point of Beginning that was close to the casino. Last two pictures marked the starting point for the cache..........but not the actual cache location. It wasn't that easy.

After We Left Rulo, NE...................

where we picked up two more caches, we headed for the Iowa Indian Casino near Whitecloud. This used to be just a Bingo hall where my Mom and Dad spent considerable time. About 8 or 9 years ago they also added a small casino with slot machines. We couldn't resist so checked it out. For a change we actually left the casino with some of their money. We then went in search of a geocache that was the point of beginning of the public land surveys of the sixth principal meridan (I don't what the hell that means but it sounds good). Anyway the cache was a cast iron monument placed high on a bluff near the Missouri River. This point controlled the system of public land surveys in Nebraska, Kansas, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. First picture shows the bluff where the monument is located, the picture doesn't do it justice, it was almost straight up from the roadway below. We eventually made it to the top, too pooped to do anything except catch our breath and take a couple of pictures. If you look real hard you can see the Suzuki in the middle of the fourth picture. This ended our day and we stopped at the Trails End Restaurant in Rockport, MO on our way back to Glenwood.

Not Much Going On Today...........

and we still had a bit of rain left over from last night so didn't get started very early. We started to drive down to my old home town which is about 85 miles away but ended up looking for our first geocaches in Iowa. We found 4 and passed on two others that each required over a 2 mile hike. Wish they would tell us this in the description before we started looking for them. Found a little BBQ joint for lunch......they served some pretty good pork BBQ.......and then we headed for the barn. The poor old motorhome hasn't been washed since we left in mid June so I tackled that chore in the afternoon. Naturally the sun popped out as soon as I got started. At least it looks better than it did. Gonna meet my brother and sister-in-law for breakfast tomorrow morning and then (?). Here's a couple of pictures of the geocaches we found today. Later. W&B

Publishing Some Pics.............

the "official photographer" took during our jaunt from Rapid City, SD to where we presently are in Glenwood, Iowa. Raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock and lightening flashes all around.......keep losing my MTV and internet signal so am trying to post this between signal losses. Weather report ses things to improve tomorrow and sun back out on Thursday.

Everyone Traveling I-90 Has..............

to stop at Wall Drug........probably because of all the billboards and the 5 cent coffee. We asked the guy where the 5 cent coffee was and he told us and asked if I was a Vet.....yeah I say and he tells me Vets get FREE coffee. Becky bought some stuff, we took some pictures here and there. The Dino in the middle erupts with lights flashing and growls every 12 minutes. I was just sitting there when he went off and some little toddler passing by almost crapped his pants when the roars started. He'll probably be scarred for life as it took his mother some time to calm him down. Becky spent 10 minutes trying to pick up a cowboy and finally gave up. Steer wrestlers outta try buffalo wrestling some time! They got big jack rabbits here and friendly saloon ladies.

Left Wall Drug and Headed South..........

for the Badlands. It was cloudy so pictures didn't show all the colors that we normally see in a sunny day. What more can you say for the badlands???

Stopped at Mitchell, SD And You Can.............

leave it up to the Midwest to have the World's Only Corn Palace. We had to stop for Becky......she doesn't even have anything like this in Indiana! What can I say......what you see are ears of corn nailed to the wall. The outside is renewed every year, except last year when weather conditions messed them up, the inside murals remain the same and are renewed every few years, (10 or 12 I think but don't quote me). We arrived the same time a tourist bus did so joined their group and picked up a little info from the guide. A lady from the group looked at me and said "I saw you, you were driving the big motorhome". I thought she was hitting on me but Becky didn't think so. End of tour.

Arrived Glenwood..........

early this afternoon. First sighting of Omaha as we went past. Our parking spot for the next several days. My brother took us to the new Horseshoe Casino for dinner. Lottsa good food, naturally we overate and then paid our dues to the casino. Never did pay for our RV site.......whadda suppose the guy will say when I tell him I lost his RV site money at the casino?? In the lobby was a chopper made by the American Chopper crew for the grand opening of the Horseshoe Casino. It started raining while we were at the casino and Becky is digging the lightening flashes. We're parked on grass/mud.....hope we don't get stuck here. More later when something interesting happens. W & B

Glenwood, Iowa Is Where We Be............

and it's hotter than hell. We sitting in a nice little park called Glenwood Lake, no shade trees but that's OK 'cause I got both satellite dishes up and running without too much effort. We got 30A hookup so have the A/C blasting away and water. There's a dump station around here someplace but haven't looked for it yet. We won't need it until we leave in a few days. $12.00 a day for this site......not bad at all. From $58.00 a day at Jackson to $12.00 here. Called my brother and we'll go out to his house later this evening. He'll probably spring for dinner at one of the casinos near Council Bluff. Biggest problem I've found so far is the Dish satellite..........it's still on Pacific time and we're on Central so that might make me alter my schedule. Bummer. Will try to post some pics of Badlands this evening. More later. W&B

It's About 2115 And...............

here we sit at a Flying "J" in Sioux Falls, SD. Got the rig gassed up, our bellies full so guess we'll get some shuteye here before moseying down the road. Got about 210 miles to go to reach Glenwood, IA, where my brother lives. Will probably spend 3 or 4 days there and then leave for Branson via my old home town of Falls City, NE and the Sac and Fox Casino in Kansas.

Left Rapid City about 0930 this morning and stopped at the fabulous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. Becky was so thrilled!!!! She said she could have spent hours and many $$$$s there; however, I pointed out that all we have are the "hours" so off we go to take a side trip through the Bad Lands. Really disappointing this time.....it was cloudy, wind was gusting and the true colors of the Badlands probably didn't come out in the pictures "B" took. Everything looked washed out and dull..........or do I just remember it otherwise. Talked to my sister-in-law, who is on a bus tour with a bunch of Old Folks, yesterday and she said she'd be back to Glenwood on Wednesday. Told her where we were and she said her tour bus even stopped in Mitchell, SD for a tour of the Corn Palace. She suggested that I take Becky and I told her I wouldn't have to if I didn't tell her. After phone call ended Becky asked "tell me what?" Funny how she has this selective hearing. I finally told her about the Corn Palace and she looked it up on the internet so naturally we stopped when we arrived in Mitchell. Been there before and it's nothing to write home about. Well, guess I'll post this while I still have a wifi hookup. I thought I was going to have to pay to use the Flying J wifi but found an open signal instead. Been lucky with that this trip. Later when we get settled in a park in Glenwood. Wayne & Becky

Got Up Early...........

well it was kinda early for us anyways. Had breakfast at the Base Dining Hall again (this time it cost $6.25 for the two of us!) and then we loaded up and made our way to the Crazy Horse Memorial. This is the first sighting we had of CR. We toured the grounds and museums and I think Becky was going to try and take a picture of everything in it. I was kinda bored and impatient......even after checking out the neat Chopper in the entryway. Tons of Indian artifacts, old photos, demonstrations of Indian craftmanship and lots of stuff to separate you from your hard earned cash. The model of the finished project is scaled to 1" = 1 ft on the mountain. Lottsa work left that Korczak's family has to do. Maybe my great grandchilder will see it at its completion. When we left CR I suggested that maybe we could get some better pictures of Mt. Rushmore since the sun was at a different angle. We were still too late to get the best sunlight. Oh well, maybe we'll return someday.

Getting ready to leave in the morning so "B" is at the laundry and after I finish this post I'll get busy cleaning up the inside of the M/H. Later. W&B

Here's A Little Known Fact....................

that I discovered while browsing around Crazy Horse. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was commissioned to create the Crazy Horse Memorial back in 1947. We attended an introductory film about Korczak and how he became the man to start the Crazy Horse project. The film indicated that he had worked under Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who created the president's faces on Mt. Rushmore. I figured that was the reason he was commissioned to start the CR project. Well, check out this letter.........geezzz, the guy was fired by the famous Borglum!! At least that's the way I interpret this letter.

We started Saturday Off.........

in search of South Dakota geocaches. We had to add a new state to our list and find our 900th cache. We found a little park near down town that had a portion of the Berlin Wall with numerous informational signs contining history of the Berlin Wall. It was quite interesting and the wall was a virtual cache. After that we drove to an alley that contained a cache. The entire alley was filled with "artwork" although I prefer to call it graffiti. Lottsa wall art there.....some nice some nasty....I could have spent more time there but we had other places to go. Some old guy rode up on a bicycle and pointed out some of his artwork. He was kinda interesting to talk and he gave us some info on the alley. Before we left he hit me up for some money........I asked if he was going to buy beer and he explained that he needed some money as he was doing his laundry. That was one I hadn't heard before so I gave him some change I had in my pocket.

More Geocaching...........

we were still after our 900th cache, Becky is one cache ahead of me, and we found her #900 in a little park near downtown Rapid City. First picture shows me holding her #900, we must have been asleep because we never took "B"'s picture with her 900! A short distance away I found my #900. We thought we'd find one more cache just to make sure we had the numbers so off we went to Dino Park. We could see this giant dinosaur on top of a hill overlooking Rapid City so all we had to do was find the road to the top. We hunted and hunted for the cache but couldn't find it. However we did see a deer, a bench mark and then we walked over to visit Dino. On the way back we looked for the cache again and while I standing there a tree fell over! No cache.

Finished Caching So..........

headed for Sturgis, "Biker Capitol of The World" and then to Deadwood. The highway leading to Sturgis is plastered with billboards. We finally ended up arriving at the "historic" (according to the signs) main street in Sturgis. Pretty empty after Biker Week which was held earlier this month. Becky hunted and hunter from some appropriate attire and finally ended up with a sweatshirt for which she only paid half price. She was thrilled, now she has a sweatshirt to go with her "official" Harley Davidson overalls. We ended up eating lunch at the Loud American Roadhouse on main street. Not a bad lunch.

Main Street And..............................

some more pictures of Sturgis. We left Sturgis and headed to Deadwood to get a gambling fix. Big mistake, at Deadwood they were holding a Classic Car Show and auction. We couldn't even find a place to park unless we wanted to hoof it a half-mile back to the center of town. (At least it seemed like it would be a half-mile to me). We made a trip to the south end of Deadwood and then left the way we drove in. I think it took about 35 minutes to make this little drive with all the car traffic and people crossing the street in traffic. Shouldn't ran over some of them. We then headed for Mt. Rushmore, took some pictures and then waited for the evening program to start at 2000. A Ranger came out at the ampitheater, did his little spiel, we watched the movie and then a lighting ceremony was held. After the lighting all veterans and families were invisted to the stage to take part in a flag lowering ceremony. It was a nice program. Things have really changed here, a parking lot has been built and the Flag Avenue is completely changed since I was here last. Really nice, it now costs $8.00 to park but no fees to visit.

Pics Of The Presidents..........

Problem is the sun is going down behind the hills so pictures don't come out to well. Of course, if we had visited in the morning the sun would have been at our backs and then we would have missed the Honors Ceremony. You can't win!

Lighting Ceremony..............

was held after the program and then all active duty military, veterans and their families were invited down to the stage for a flag ceremony. There appeared to be over a hundred steps down to the stage so we didn't participate in hauling down the flag. Left Mt. Rushmore and I asked "B" if she wanted to go back to Deadwood and get a "gambling fix"...........naturally she said "why not" so back to Deadwood we go. We contributed and didn't get home until about midnight. I think we put over 240 miles on the "Suzie" yesterday. Moving slowly today and all we have on our list is a visit to Crazy Horse Monument. Some pics of Crazy Horse later.

OK, Here Are Some.............

pictures that Becky took after we left Yellowstone until we arrived at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City. We'll be here until Monday, and may possible stay another day. Lots to see around Rapid City. Enjoy the pics, I've tried to explain what your looking at.......

On the Way from Yellowstone to Cody............

we had to wait for a pilot car. Here is where we talked to the bikers who saw the bear as they were leaving Yellowstone. Outside the East Entrance we found a geocache, a real one this time. Picked up a travel bug which we will take to Branson. Arrived in Cody and stopped at the Buffalo Bill Museum for several hours. These were statues outside the building......workers were refurbishing the statue of Buffalo Bill at the entrance.

First Area We .............

visited was the weapons display section. Over 1500 weapons were on display, when you came to the end of the display there was a sign that indicated there were 1200 more weapons on display in another area. The hand gun "Hoss" Cartwright wore and the one Gene Berry used in his TV series were also on display. A whole bunch of stuffed animals could be found here and there; although one room held most of the stuffed animals.

Second Stop At The Buffalo Bill............

Museum (I still call it a museum) was the area about Old Buffalo Bill himself. There were displays of Buffalo Bill's coats (one made of buffalo hide), and Old Sheepherd wagon, possible the forerunner of today's RVs. It contained a bed, stove and all the comforts of home. I believe there was even a special area for the herder's favorite sheep. The sign said "Don't Touch"......I couldn't resist.

Last Area We Visited.............

were displays of the Plains Indian life way back when. I even think I found some photos of my long-lost brothers..........or would that be grand and greatgrand brothers (?). The craftsmanship in the Indian attire was amazing. I didn't think the Indians used saddles; however, the 7th picture is an Indian saddle.

Scenic By Way Pics...........

taken east of Cody WY.

Found Some OLD Rocks............

on the Scenic Byway east of Cody. If you can't read the signs they indicate that some rocks were in the 300 + million years old. Another sign indicated that the rock formations were 2.5 Billion years old.

On The Way To Devil's Tower..........

we found a creek that was named after Becky. Our first glimpse of DT. Becky took a bunch of DT pics.........I think she filled up her l gig chip again. Fortunately you don't have to suffer through them (I had to suffer through to find the pics I'm posting). We saw some deer in front of one of the ranger buildings on the drive to the visitor's center. After arrival we noticed a lots of cloth somethings hanging in the trees. We found a sign that explained that about June the Indians hang prayer symbols in the trees as they consider Devil's Tower to be sacred. The rangers cooperate by not allowing climbing during June.

We continued along the trail...........

searching for the spot where the geocache was. Found the half-way mark and the cache spot was about 100 yards further down, or I should say, up the trail. We kept seeing where bark was chewed off a lot of the trees. We found a Ranger with a group of people on a tour and joined him in time to hear his spiel about the people who first climbed Devils Tower. A couple of guys named Ripley and Rogers wanted to be the first to ascend the tower and set about devising ways to getting to the top. They first came up with the idea of a huge kits carrying a man to the top. They actually tried to build one but naturally it didn't work. Then one of the men came up with the idea of finding a crack that extended all the way to the top and building a ladder. They fashioned stakes from oak and set about making their ladder. The would pound the oak stakes into cracks and actually fashioned a ladder. Ripley was left-handed and the way the ladder was built only a left-handed man could pound the stakes into the crevices. Because of this Ripley became the first man to reach the top. The Ranger pointed out where the ladder was built.....I couldn't see it, "B" couldn't see it and I don't think anyone else could either. The group went one way and we went the other. I did ask the Ranger about the chewed bark and he told me that porkpines were the culprits.

There is Where The Ladder................

was built up the side of DT. After leaving the Ranger's talk we continued on and found this area where they had some "sighting" devices set up so we could look directly at the spot where the ladder still remains. Enlarge the pic and you can see the ladder near the center of the last three pictures. These guys were nuts!!

After Hearing The Ranger..........

talk about scaling DT, and reading about the "real men" who had done it, I decided to register and then scale the mountain. The ranger provided the necessary gear and I decided to do my ascent on the steepest side.....no pussy footing around for me! Becky took a picture of me near the top.....can you see me, look closely.

Made It To Ellsworth AFB........

near Rapid City about 1500 this afternoon. On the way down from Devils Tower we came across "Roda and the boys" rummaging along the roadside. A little further on we found prairie dog village.

1500, Friday Afternoon.............

and we've arrived and are set up at the Family Camp, Ellsworth AFB, just outside of Rapid City. Paid up for three days so we'll leave here on Monday.........unless the scenery is so great that we decide to stay longer. After Jackson ($58) and Yellowstone ($38) the campsite is cheap......$20.00 per night with full hookups, water, sewer, elec. and we got FREE WiFi AND it only took a few minutes to get my MTV going. I'm close to the office so am getting a pretty good WIFI signal.

Stopped at Devil's Tower this morning, a geocache was placed on the opposite side of the visitor's center so we had to hike back to find it. It was about 100 yards from the half-way marker so we continued all the way around. "B" probably filled up her 1 Gig chip on pictures of the tower from all sides, plus we saw some wild turkeys, deer, prairie dogs and I don't know what else. Will probably post some pictures tonight. Or, we might have to make a trip to Deadwood and give the casinos some of our business. Decisions, decisions. Later W&B

Thursday And We're In................

Gillette, WY, Wally World parking lot. I turned on the computer and a hot spot showed up so will use it. Left old YS about 0930, found a geocache outside the east gate and then tooled on down the road. We came to a construction area and had to wait for the pilot truck. While we were waiting we talked to a couple in front of us on a Harley. They were from Seattle and heading (?), forgot to ask them. Anyways, they asked us if we saw the bear on the way out of Yellowstone this morning. Naturally we didn't so the lady was gracious enough to show us the bear on her digital camera. Guess you gotta keep your eyes wide open; or, snooze and you lose! We stopped in Cody and visited the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. I think it just used to be the Buffalo Bill Museum; but, it has now greatly expanded. We visited the gun collection first.........one could spend days there, there are 1,500 weapons displayed on the main floor and we saw a sign that if you wanted more there were another 1,200 in a different area. We then checked out the Buffalo Bill sections, then the American Indian section and after about 2 hours we decided we should be on our way. Had to stop at their snack bar first 'cause "B" wanted a Buffalo Burger......I did too. When we ordered the kid told us he only had one buffalo burger left.....naturally I didn't get it and had to settle for a cow burger. Actually they looked the same to me. I wouldn't know about the taste because someone else ate the entire buffalo burger! I kept telling Becky that somewhere in a canyon there were signs showing the age of the rocks, 350 million and more years old. I couldn't remember where they were and we finally found them east of Greybull. Some of the signs said the rocks were 2.5 billion years old. I think Becky got some pictures of the signs as we went speeding past and will try to post them later. We arrived in Gillette about 2030, gassed up at the Flying J, was going to stay in their parking lot but too many trucks. Found WalMart a short distance away so here we sit with about 10 other rigs. Tomorrow we head for Devils Tower and then to Rapid City. Will try to get a place on the Air Force Base, if we do then we'll probably stay for three days. If not (?????) don't know what we'll do. I keep losing the wifi connection I have so will try to post then and then hit the old hay.........been a long day. W&B

End of Day On Wednesday.........

Been working for hours trying to update the blog for the last two days. We wore ourselves out yesterday hiking in places where we had no business to be so didn't post anything yesterday. Over the last two days we've found 22 virtual caches in Yellowstone..some of them easy to find and others that caused us much grief to get to. BUT, we certainly visited places which we ordinarily would not have found.

Leaving here tomorrow morning and will probably drive to Gillette, WY for the night so don't know when we'll get on line again.......unless we find a "free" hotspot.

Pictures and narration of our yesterday and today follow. There are about 10 or 11 posts in all. Hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as we did in taking them.

Wayne & Becky

We Started Tuesday Off............

by getting up kinda early, 0630, in the hopes of finding some wildlife in the area. We drove north from the Fishing Bridge campground to the Hayden Valley area and also took along our list of geocaches that we wanted to find. Not much in the way of wildlife but we found geocaches at easy location, some consisted of galvanized nails with a number on them. Took a little walking to find them but they were pretty easy. Other caches took us to sulphur springs and mud volcanos. Never did find much wildlife expect for the mangy bison who took up the roadway as if they owned it......on second thought, perhaps they do. With easy caches out of the way we headed for one that we knew would be a bit more difficult. Little did we know.

After Finding Some Easy Caches..........

we headed toward the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone area for another cache. The road to Artist Point was under repair but the cache was still accessible. It started at a parking lot on the east side of the Yellowstone river and we had to follow Uncle Tom's trail. The trail immediately took us almost straight down from the parking lot. I kept telling Becky that we had to climb back out of here......like talking to a brick wall. We got to the lower part of the trail and it forked. Trees all over so GPSr not much help. We took the wrong trail, climbed almost all the way back up to where we started and discovered our error. Back down again, found the right trail and began an ascent again to the correct viewpoint we were looking for. Becky found a friend on the way. Found the viewpoint, took some pictures to prove we had been there. The pictures are of the south fall area. Saw some elk and deer while we were driving to Uncle Tom trail. Last two pictures are part of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. After this little excursion we were ready to go home for breakfast........unfortunately we had missed breakfast and it was almost time for lunch. It doesn't pay to start the day at 0630.

After Leaving The Grand Canyon Area...........

we headed for Old Faithful. Stopped at the Continental Divide where we found two virtual caches. Arrived at OF. GPSr ses the first virtual cache in the area was .39 miles north. You gotta remember that the GPSr computes everything in a straight line, it doesn't take into account that we have to follow trails, nor does it indicate the elevation changes. This cache took us half-way up the side of the mountain north of OF. Of course we didn't bring our hiking sticks with us.....at least the sticks kinda give us morale support. I found an old broken branch that was better then nothing. At least we had some steps in the steeper parts of the trail. I about threw in the towel on the way up when three little greyhaired grannie ladies passed me and said "Better hurry up Sonny, the Old Geezer is going to erupt in about 10 minutes" and then they were gone. I didn't know if they had some old fart staked out at the top or what when they mentioned "Old Geezer". Never saw them again to check if they had ear to ear grins on their faces. Anyway, we made it and watched Old Faithful errupt from an entirely different prospective. The view was well worth the climb. Probably not too many people see OF from this angle. We started back down the mountain for our next cache. We shoulda spent 50 cents for a brochure of the area (or else just stole one); but, we didn't. Big mistake.

Old Faithful Area..........

after about killing ourselves climbing up the mountain to reach a cache area and take pics of Old Faithful erupting (first picture), we still had some more caches to find. We climbed down the mountain, came to a fork in the trail that indicated that Solitary Geyser was about .35 miles away. It looked like it was taking us away from where we wanted to go so retraced our steps to find Bee Hive Geyser. Then the GPS led up back up the hill. Our next cache was Solitary Geyser! We had been only .35 miles from it when we took the wrong trail. By the time we got to it we must have walked an additional mile and a half. We watched Old Faithful erupt for the second time from a different viewpoint. Taking the boardwalk back to the parking area we discovered some moose poop. Naturally Becky had to take a picture of the poop.

More Geocaching............

after leaving the Old Faithful area. We drove north toward the Madison geyser area where another virtual cache was located. It turned out to be a humongous, steaming pool which I thought was really neat. I even allowed my picture to be taken with it. We then found a historic marker about captured tourists. Seems a stagecoach was attacked by either bad guys or indians......anyway a couple of people were killed so the sign gave a bit of history about the event. Drove up the road a little further and another cache was a grave site whose owner met his demis at the tender age of 30. The spot was actually a picnic area complete with several benches and even a vault potty. You'd never find these places even though it was less than 1/4 mile off the main highway unless for geocaching. Up the road again and Becky found some more wild animals to photograph. She seems to get a lot of rear end shots.....I don't know why (?). Last cache of the day was a waterfall/canyon area. We even got a bench mark bonus here. Have to remember to log it, couldn't get a very good picture of it unless you climbed over the wall and stretched out into the canyon for a better picture. Opted not to do that.

Toward The End Of The Day.......................

on Tuesday. We had left the Madison area and were going home, making a big circle to go through Norris and Canyon Village. It was getting late and we still hadn't seen a moose. We rounded a bend and I yelled "moose", then the trees got in the way. Drove a little further and saw some cars at a pull out. We were't very close but it was a moose, Becky took some pictures but he was way far away.

We drove a few more miles and a traffic jam appeared. Another moose by the side of the road, these idiots were getting within 10 or 15 yards of him to take pictures. Look at Becky's close-up........she wasn't even using her tele-photo lens! We then saw another Mr. Bison as we continued down the road.

Start of Day on August 22...........

had us going down to the historic Yellowstone Hotel for breakfast. Had a so so buffet that was filling. Becky wanted somthing exotic like buffalo steak and eggs but they don't serve anything like that until dinner time. They've converted/restored some old 1937 Whites which they use for bus tours. Becky took some pictures of the interior of the hotel but I'm not posting any of them.......just a bunch of old furniture to me. We then drove about 7 miles toward the east gate to discover a geocache on top of a small mountain......fortunately we could drive all the way to it or it would have remained undiscovered. My legs and knees are still sore from yesterday. Nice view of Butte lake from here. We were then on our way to the northeast part of Yellowstone. On the way we continued to have meetings with our old buffalo friends.....some of them are like women who think they can take their share of the roadway out of the middle! Found a little side road that took us up a dirt road to the top of a mountain (can't remember its name). Nice view from up there, Becky chose to hike another 200 or so yards up the side and took some more pics from there. We then drove through the Tower Fall area and the last picture is one she took after arrival at Tower Falls.

Tower Fall Area, Northeast Part of Yellowstone.......

was our next destination as there was a Geocache located in the Pebble Creek area. On our way there we saw the ever present buffalo and some more antelope (at least they looked like antelope to me). We rounded a corner and there was a parking lot in the middle and along side the road. We slowed down and asked "What's up?" A lady told us there was a wolf pack in the meadow below. It was a long way and the ones who could see the wolves explained where they were. I couldn't find them in my binoculars; but, someone had a spotting scope set up and he let people take a peek. There were 4 or 5 wolves, I could find 3 of them after peeking through his scope. The second picture, magnified 12x with Becky's camera, was the best I could do. You might be able to see a small white dot if you enlarge the collage, that was a wolf and there were some others to the left of the dot. We then drove through Tower Falls, another sort of Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We arrived at the cache and lo 'n behold, we saw another wolf........up close this time. Becky snapped his pic. We then head to Mammoth Falls, the last two pictures were taken from the highway as we neared Mammoth. The best thing about Mammoth Falls was we had lunch there.......and that wasn't too good but not too many choices if you're hungry.

Mammoth Hot Springs.........

was our next stop in reaching all areas of Yellowstone. Boy this place is almost dead! Very little water flowing, not much steam and not very impressive. I've been here years ago and it was awesome then. Guess earthquakes have changed the "plumbing system" of the area. Unfortunately, not for the better. We hiked part way up the stairs and browsed around for awhile, met a Ranger and I remarked to him that everything seems to have died. He gave his standard spiel and suggested we visit Canary Pool which is just "magnificent". Since we could drive up to the top we did. Canary Pool, viewed from a hundred or so yards away, didn't look like it was worth the walk to get closer. Took some pictures from the top of the little village below and then we found this thingy at the top, called Orange Mound (I think). It had a little trickle of water running out of it. Becky liked it. We then headed down the road to Norris Geyser Basin.

Finishing Up Day On August 22............

After leaving Mammoth Hot Springs we headed south to our last virtual cache, number 22 for Yellowstone! This cache took us to Sheepeater Cliff where an unusual rock formation resided. Also, there was some history about a bunch of old Indians who used sheep for food, horns and bones for making tools and they became know as the "Sheepeaters"......not to flattering but this area was dedicated to them, members of the Shoshone Tribe. We learned earlier that "Steamboat" was the largest geyser in the world, with eruptions as high as 400 feet. It's not on any kind of schedule like Old Faithful and others in the lower basin. The last major eruption was May 23, 2005. Major eruptions can occur anywhere from 4 to 40 years. We watched a few small eruptions, perhaps as high as 20 feet. We were on our way home but had to stop at the Norris Geyser Area just so we could see Steamboat.

Getting underway tomorrow to continue our journey eastward.

Here We Be...........

Just click on this link. Will leave here on August 23 to head for the Rapid City area.

http://map.datastormusers.com/user2.cfm?user=3467

Wow, Blogger has done it to me again.....used to be all I had to do was type in the url and it automatically became a link. Until I figure out how to make a link you'll just have to cut and paste the url if you're interested in finding where were are.

Arrived At Yellowstone..........

about 1100 today. Came in through the Grand Tetons but hazy weather detracted from the overall view..........also the Tetons are much more impressive when they are snow capped. Oh well, you can't have everything, we're just lucky to be here. Saw some more mangy buffalo and a small herd of antelope as we left Gros Ventre. Had to make a stop at a pull out so we could log a "virtual" geocache. I was playing with the computer yesterday and discovered that there are a bunch of virtual caches in Yellowstone. We hope to find a bunch of them. Our first stop was Bridge Bay where there was a virtual cache, a nail pounded into the railing with the number "8" on it. A boat was leaving about 1300 for a trip onto the Lake so we signed up for it, had lunch and then floated around the lake for about an hour. Here's some pictures taken from the boat, the old hulk was a steamboat that's been in the lake for over 70 years. When we drove into the campground I saw people with their internet satellites and TV dishes pointed skyward. I was lucky in finding holes in the trees and had both dishes up and running in about 15 minutes. Right now we're just kicking back and will start our adventures early (?) tomorrow morning. I'd like to drive toward the NE entrance and hopefully we can spy some bears. About the only animals we've seen so far are buffalo.....if we can see some moose, elk and bears then this trip will be an outstanding trip. Posting some miscellaneous pictures. More later. Becky & Wayne

Went Geocaching............

today and found two caches. One was a virtual, Gros Ventre Slide, and another one that was part of the Cache Across America Series. Our first CAMS, we now only have 49 more states to go! Found a buffalo herd on the way to the caches. Weather got crummy again so couldn't get any good pictures of the Tetons. Hope it improves tomorrow. There's a very small wide spot in the road with a store and a post office, we had to take a picture of the post office. Bet Tag doesn't have a post mark from this one. It's getting late so we might take another drive around the area in the hopes of seeing some moose or elk.......they're supposed to be plentiful around here. Later. W&B

Sunday, And Here We Be................

at the Gros Ventre (pronounched "Gro Vont"...must be French) Campground located about 13 miles NE of Jackson. We're presently in the Grand Teton National Park. Shoulda came here when we first arrived in Jackson!!!! Only cost $8.50 per day, there's a dump station and water but nothing else. We're parked near the old ampi-theatre and found that we can run a generator 24 hours a day. Nice and flat, paved parking lot and no trees to interfere with my MTV or Becky's Internet dish. Found a benchmark near the defunct theatre. Might have a good chance of seeing some deer this evening....I've been walking around and found signs of them all over. Might be a good night to listen for coyotes too. Am having some problems with my TV satellite and can only pick up one satellite......have enough TV to keep me occupied and Becky hasn't left her computer since I got the internet dish up and running. I even had to prepare my own lunch! Tomorrow we head for Yellowstone for three days. The recent rain sure helped us out as the fire near the East Entrance has been controlled, or maybe out. Anyway the entrance is open again, just hope it stays that way until we depart.

Here's some pics we took last night and today. The dinner and show at the Bar J Ranch was pretty good, at least the show was. Dinner was OK, we both had BBQ pork ribs. We watched the steaks being cooked and figured you'd get what you'd get, no way to order them the way you wanted as they were preparing over 250 steaks. The cook said that was about normal for the night. They serve 750 people a night, seven days a week from end of May to end of September. Guess they gotta make hay while the sun shines. Pictures from last night and our present campground. Will probably be off line until we leave Yellowstone. Might have some interesting pictures to post then. Later. W&B

Wyoming..........

……Jackson Hole, WY about 1030 this morning (Friday) and stopped at a campground that catered to “First Come, First Served”, they had one opening that we would fit in so I told ‘em that we would take it for two days. Surprise, surprise……….I almost crapped when the lady said “That’ll be $116.00 for the two days”. Oh well, guess we’ve had enough “freebies” and “cheap stops” along the way so this isn’t too bad. Got electricity, cable TV, water and sewer so we be living large for at least two days. No WiFi though but we’ve found the library. Found one geo-cache and another one is across the street from us at the Visitor’s Center. Will check that one out later. At least we’ve added two more states to our geocaching list the last two days. Traffic around here is worse then Seattle at rush hour…….we’re only 4 blocks from downtown so that’s kinda nice and we can hoof it back if we need to, or should I say if “B“ has another shopping attack. We had a down pour a few minutes ago, complete with thunder and lightening and now the sun is out and we have the A/C running (gotta get my monies worth for the spot).

Tried to get a reservation for a Cowboy dinner and show for tonight (Friday) but they were all booked up when Becky called them for today and tomorrow. They said we could stand in line at 5:30 and maybe we could get in. I called them later and they magically had two reservations available for tomorrow…….go figure……..anyway we gonna take in the dinner and show tomorrow.

Gotta make a run to Teton Village and take the Tram to the top of the mountain and will probably do that tomorrow also.

Got some pictures of the town square complete with Elk antlers. One corner of the square has a very “new looking” arch so I asked the Old Cowboy who operates the stagecoach ride “Why?” He said the arches haven’t been touched in 57 years and the one arch was rebuilt this year. Guess it takes that long to accumulate the antlers. .

Later……….we went down to the town square to watch the evening “Gun Fight” show. Got there a little early and some old fart was dressed up in his sheriff outfit. Traded a few quips with him and then Becky wanted her picture taken……..he told her it would cost a dollar. I took the picture and naturally “B” didn’t have a dollar! I paid up. We got home in time for another downpour. Now gonna settle back with my MTV…

Saturday….got up to rain and clouds and didn’t think we would be able to take the Tram ride at Teton Village. Found a cache across the street, ate a cowboy breakfast at a little dump next to the park, did some laundry and by the time we were done with that the sun had started to creep out. Becky took this one picture to see if you could tell which one is the Wooden Indian! Soooooooo……off we go to Teton Village. Bummer…..the Old Tram that used to take you all the way to the top was closed down in Oct 2006 and is being refurbished. Won’t reopen until late 2008 or 2009. We did take a Gondola ride up the mountain; but, it stopped 1500 feet short of the top and is a tourist trap with a restaurant. I didn’t even bother to check the prices on the menu. We saw two guys and a gal get off the gondola carrying humongous packs with them. A little later we saw what they were doing…….they were para-sailing. Kinda interesting watching them, I wouldn’t do that for a million bucks! We went back the place where we’re going to dinner tonight so “B” had to take a picture of the entrance. At the library, so will post this and continue our adventure.

Crater Of The Moon...............

National Monument. Here's some pictures the Official Photographer took yesterday afternoon.

Idaho Falls, Idaho...................

is where we be right now. Found a little park in the NE part of town where we parked the M/H. It's good for one night of "Free" parking and is on the way to Jackson, WY. We be headed there tomorrow.

Stopped at a neat, little Oregon State Park near Ontario, OR on Tuesday evening...Farwell State Park (or something like that). Spent over a hour trying to get my MTV but the trees whipped me. Wednesday we drove to Crater of the Moon National Monument and they have a little no-frills campground, no hookups, no showers and practically no nothing.....AND it cost us $5.00!!! But the area is really neat. The collage, if it gets posted, are pictures "B" took in our tour of the area. Was here a looong time ago......nothing has changed. Yesterday it was HOT so we didn't do a lot of walking. Figured we'd get up early today and make the grand tour again and get pictures with the sun at a different angle. Not to happen, it was raining when we woke up, lightening was striking all over the place and no sunshine. We were going to hike out about a half-mile to some lava tubes where three caves are open for the more adventuresome. When we got there they had closed the hiking path for rapairs!! Double bummer.

Still having problems trying to post pictures so if this one turns out then I'll try to post some more.