High Plains Drifters

After our stop at Terry Bison Ranch, we hopped back on I-80 and headed west. Normally, we avoid interstates, preferring 2-lane and 4-lane highways where there's some real America to enjoy. But on this trip, we used I-80 to get through about 2/3 of Southern Wyoming. The plan was to hop on US 191 and head north into the Tetons. Well that was the plan anyway...

If you recall, there was a nationwide heatwave in mid-June. That heatwave was coming from the South, and it was coming with a vengeance. The day we left Cheyenne, it started to get really windy. The other factor about the weather was that the heat-wave was causing overly rapid snow melt on the mountains, which in turn caused the melt-water to surge down into passes and valleys. Low-laying areas were being flooded and some roads were under water or washed out along the Green River, the Wind River, the Snake River, Big Sandy River, and the New Fork  River. These rivers, and their associated valleys, were right in our route! We had no choice but to stay on I-80.

The High Plains

Now, understand that the High Plains are a windy place already, but this was something else entirely.  Stretches of I-80 have permanent informational signs that tell drivers what kinds of winds to expect. The signs indicated winds of 40 MPH with gusts up to 60 MPH! The winds were alternating between hitting us broadside and diagonally at the drivers front corner. We had brought only what we really needed on this trip so our 30-foot sail (the trailer), was pretty light, and easy for the wind to move. 

Sometimes a pass provided a wind shield. Sometimes not...

In spite of having an anti-sway hitch, we white-knuckled our way as best we could. Once, we went through a pass like the one shown above, and the wind was blocked for a while. Coming out we got hit with the wind again, so as usual, I steered towards the left to compensate. As we came to a curve, a mini-van in the left lane began to pass us. When it got next to me, the wind suddenly stopped dead. That caused us to veer left, right at the van. The driver had to steer onto the left shoulder to keep us from ramming him! I headed back to the right lane, but just then we got hit broadside with a gust that was harder than anything I had ever experienced. We got pushed off the road and onto the right shoulder, and it was all I could do to keep from hitting the guardrail. Thank God the shoulder was paved and very wide as there was a pretty severe drop at the edge of the shoulder. Can you say "Pucker Factor"?

It wasn't until we stopped down the road a bit that we found out that the gust was so violent it cause the trailer's stairs to unfold. We stopped for the night pretty early that day.

The weather forecast predicted no end to the wind, so the next day we resumed our drive. Since we couldn't use the route we planned to drive, we were forced to go 250 miles out of our way. We ended up staying on I-80, into Utah, until another interstate allowed us to head north. Of course the cursed wind stayed with us right into and through Idaho. Then it began to rain which added a whole new element of driving excitement.

Raining in Idaho

We decided to end that day early as well....

The next day we headed out again and thankfully the rain has eased up almost entirely. Once we got down the road a bit we saw this sign.

C'mon  admit it  you gotta pull over for something called Devil's Slide

And here it is... Devil's Slide

I have no idea what this thing is. It looks man-made. Who built it; what is it for? There wasn't a plaque or any information for that matter.

After we ooo'd and aaa'd we got back on the interstate and after a few hours we saw blue sky on the horizon.

Nothin' but blue skies, for now on...

We eventually got to our home base, two days late, where we breathed a sigh of relief... and then collapsed!

Hey! Is that snow???

Back in the saddle agin' ...

Our first stop of interest was in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We spent the night in a place called Terry Bison Ranch. Not Terry’s Bison Ranch, or Terry Bison’s Ranch, but Terry Bison Ranch. This place was a hoot! Even though the place was right next to the interstate, we could have spent an additional day, no problem. The property was originally owned by Charles Terry, but was  sold to the first Governor of Wyoming, F.E. Warren in 1885. During their active careers, President Teddy Roosevelt and General John Pershing frequented the ranch.

The ranch now belongs to the Thiel family, and most of its 27,000 plus acres are in Colorado. It is home to about 2500 Bison, along with camels, ostriches, lamas, and all kinds of other animals. You can walk around and above (on a catwalk) the livestock corrals. 

The family runs themed train tours on a DIY railroad built from scraps left over from old army trucks, tractors, and machinery that was laying around. Track from a railroad job in Montana, and some old Burlington Northern railroad ties complete the railroad. 

They also run ATV tours, a trout fishing pond, pony rides, a kids corral, a large restaurant  and banquet facility, a gift shop, rental cabins and bunkhouses and of course, the RV park. These guys have quite an operation.

As if all those things weren't enough, the Thiels have recently begun a Clydesdale and Percheron draft horse breeding program, as well as a foal program to raise horses for their riding stable at the ranch. Last but not least, they’ve opened the Wyoming School of Horseshoeing, to supply horse dependent operations with master class Farriers.

Our day at the ranch was climaxed by a spectacular example of God’s workmanship. Penny’s pictures can only capture some of its wonders. 

 
Judge for yourself.

So Goodbye Yellowstone Road...

Literally.


After deciding a month ago that it would be a good time for a road trip, we decided to head to Yellowstone National Park. We'd always wanted to see it. And since the path to Yellowstone roughly passes some really interesting places, we thought we'd make a 6-week trip out of it. Week 6 will be spent with our BFFs, the Chmura's, in northern Wisconsin at a camp called Fort Wilderness. 

At about half way back from Fort to home, we're stopping to spend some quality time with my (Paul) sister Chris and her Husband Vern. 

The places we want to see in addition to YNP are Devil's Tower National Monument, (doo, doo, doo, BUM..., BUM...!), Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Grand Teton National Park, and of course, The Badlands. 

During the exhaustive routing prep, Penny learned some really important things that would drastically effect our itinerary. The biggest thing was that sane people plan these kinds of trips a year in advance. Big national sites book up quickly, and finding campgrounds with openings is next to impossible. Second, the higher elevations in Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana can still get down into the '30s at night, and early to mid-June is the rainy season. Third, having the Independence Day holiday was going to make finding campgrounds even harder. Well, the kind we like anyway. We prefer campgrounds run by Federal and State agencies. 

Ok, so nobody ever accused we 2 P's of being sane, so we pressed forward with the prep. While Penny spent countless hours finding campgrounds along our proposed route, I was busy trying to fulfill my duties as Minister of Fun and Entertainment, (Penny is Mistress of Finance,).

For two days I tried to find a way to secure our kayaks to the ladder racks on our trusty pickup. We really wanted to have them with us, but as it turned out, it wasn't gonna happen. Our kayak saddles couldn't get a good enough grip on the racks, With the boats strapped down, the saddles slid apart on the racks and all the straps loosened up within a mile. No kayaks for you! 

We ran into a problem with our tow-hitch gear about 10 miles into our journey and had to head home to repair it. That put us a day behind.

The scheduling of the first leg of the trip was crucial as we had to make actual reservations to insure we'd have a place to setup base-camp for our 11 day adventure in Yellowstone. As it was we were staying in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho, about 27 miles from the West Entrance of Yellowstone. The western part of YNP is where the majority of the geothermal features are. 

We had planned to make a bee-line west on I-80 through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. Once in central Wyoming, we planned to exit the Interstate and head northwest on some state freeways and scenic byways through the Grand Teton National Park and mountain range, until we crossed over into Idaho and entered the Caribou-Targhee.

If you ever want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Our plans began to be thwarted once we entered Wyoming.

Til next time...