Stoughton to Traverse City

Stoughton is a very nice little town - we liked the downtown area, and the suburbs were great, too. We left at 7:40 a.m. after the usual Comfort Inn continental bagel, and headed for home. Nuvi routed us through Chicago, so off we went.

I think I said before that Wisconsin is a beautiful State - and it certainly is.


Going through Chicago was as nerve-wracking as usual - the traffic is relentless and fast. We stopped at a McDonald's that was right in the median of the road - one of a kind! This scenery was a bit different than we'd seen in the past 10 days:



Entering Michigan was the best sign we've seen yet - but then we started hearing storm warnings on the radio, and we watched the black clouds gather.
In northern Kent County the storm hit - heavy rain, high winds, and hail. We turned on our hazard lights, went slowly along with the other traffic, and drove out of it. The day stayed kind of dark and rainy all the way home, but it doesn't really matter if you're going home:)

Greenery!

We left Sioux Falls around 8 a.m. I had a really good night's sleep, but for some reason, I slept like a baby for an hour and a half in the car anyway. I think it was like a kitty sleeping in the sunshine and purring.

Dick heard on NPR that the safest drivers in the Nation are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota! They have fewer accidents than anyone. You couldn't really prove it by our brief stay there - we ran into a lot of construction and confusion.

Crossing into Minnesota was almost like coming home - the scenery started to include a few trees, and the road had a few bends in it. We filled up at Albert Lea, MN for $3.89/gal. Albert Lea comes after Blue Earth, Welcome, and Frost. I want to share with you this bit of civic pride from Blue Earth:

Blue Earth gets its name from the Blue Earth River that surrounds the town. The river was given the Native American name "Mahkota" (meaning Blue Earth) for the blue-black clay found in the river banks.

Blue Earth is proud to be...

* A sesquicentennial community founded in 1856.
* The birthplace of the ice cream sandwich.
* The center of America's longest highway, Interstate 90.
* The home of Minnesota's first stained-glass window.
* The seat of Faribault County and home to the historic 19th century County Courthouse.
* Home of the world's largest statue of the Jolly Green Giant, overlooking some of America's richest farmland.

We especially got a kick out of its being the center of America's loooooooooooooongest highway! We feel qualified to say "Amen brother"! Although being the home of the ice cream sandwich is no small shakes either.

We drove the width of southern Minnesota and then entered Wisconsin, which is REALLY like coming home. Trees, trees, trees all around, and lakes, and winding roads - heaven! We ate lunch at a nice restaurant in LaCrosse, WI. They have a great statue there of Native Americans playing lacrosse. It was very pleasant.

We have had flawless weather for our entire trip - it has been amazing. There were about 7 raindrops on our windshield one day in Montana, and that's it.

Staying tonight in Stoughton, outside of Madison, WI. We're planning to be home tomorrow night.

Happy July!

Souh Dakota

We left at 7 a.m. with 540 miles to go - from Buffalo, Wyoming to Sioux Falls, South Dakota! That means we drove the entire width of South Dakota (plus a bit of Wyoming).

While we were still in Wyoming, we noticed in one field a big herd of cattle, and in the center of the cow herd was a small group of antelope - maybe 12 or so - all curled up and sleeping in the middle of everything. The two species obviously don't mind being together - we wondered if maybe it makes the antelope feel safer to be in with the cows. Or maybe the cows just wandered over and surrounded them while they were sleeping!

Filled up at Gillette - $3.83/gal.

It's easy to see how wicked the winters must be out west. In four different States now ( N. Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and S. Dakota) we've seen gates to close entrance ramps to the Interstate, gates that would reach across 2 lane highways if they were drifted, and signs on the freeway that say "Road Closed When Flashing - Return to Moorcroft" (or where ever). There's significant huge wooden snow fencing alongside I-90 by Rapid City - they must get world class drifting. Makes our orange plastic snow fencing look very ineffective.

The Subaru's odometer turned over 100,000 miles just outside of Beulah, Wyoming at the Aladdin exit.

It was interesting to notice that when we crossed the Wyoming/S.Dakota State line, things changed. In Wyoming, we saw herds and herds of antelope with lots of antelope babies, and in western South Dakota we saw fields and fields of wild yucca in bloom and no antelope! The yucca starts and the antelope stops - how do they know where the State line is?

In one cattle herd in South Dakota there were a couple of llamas in with the cows curled up around the waterhole, and in another field we saw an honest to God camel (one hump) in the middle of the pasture with the cows! I'm thinking that cattle are very open-minded...or oblivious.

Our family really enjoyed Wall Drug on our Western Tour in 1975. We were going to stop again this time just for old times sake, but we had a long day of driving and Wall Drug has expanded to a tourist empire - the town of Wall was wall to wall cars and campers, and there was no place to park. Took the picture to prove we were there, and kept on going.

South Dakota is mostly just miles and miles of miles and miles. What a bleak, bleak landscape! At one point today (we were keeping track) there was 400 miles between McDonalds. We like to stop and get coffee and iced tea, but in South Dakota you need a thermos or bottled water. Luckily, the resourceful Richard had a cooler with bottled water.

Out west, if your thresher is out of commission. you park it by the fence along the roadway and just let it sit. Sometimes you put an advertising sign on it. We saw old rusty threshers in Minn, N.Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. I guess in Wyoming, there's nothing to thresh!

Spending tonight in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Yellowstone

We were in the Park before 7 a.m. at the Western Gate from West Yellowstone. We entered the State of Wyoming soon after entering Yellowstone. I didn't get a picture of the sign - too bad, so sad. Such great scenery, you don't know where to look first - snow-capped mountains, rushing mountain streams, blue, blue lakes and on and on.

At our first turn off, we met an accidental elk.This is one of the virtual cache sites we visited - Dick needs to upload this picture with his log for the find:
We saw lots of burned areas left over from the fires of 1988. The geysers show up well - you can see all of the steam from the Middle Basin while you're driving past.





Virtual caches are the only ones that are allowed in a National Park - we found 7 of them - 2 of them were in the same place! One was at Indian Pond, where new signs were stapled to the post saying Danger - Bears Frequent This Area. One of the virtuals was at the Fishing Bridge. We remembered from our last Yellowstone trip how funny it is that there's no fishing allowed at the Fishing Bridge! This time we wanted photographic evidence:


There is still a lot of snow in the woods - in some places it's right alongside the road - how strange when it's almost July! It's deep, deep snow, too, not just a little bit. We met a couple from Elk Rapids who had camped last night in front of a seven foot deep pile of snow!

I seem to be adversely affected by the altitude - yesterday and today I've had trouble filling my lungs and have to take deep breaths. It's a scary feeling, but I feel much better now that Dick figured out what it is!

The Continental Divide crisscrosses the park road - I took a picture of the one at Elevation 8640.

We left by way of the Eastern Entrance Road. This road is steep and full of curves, sheer drops, switchbacks and hairpin turns - it requires the driver to pay strict attention to the road and the traffic. What a view! Around every turn, you are saying "Wow!"
This is an avalanche cannon - to start an avalanche on purpose!


After we left the Park, we had a picnic at Sleeping Giant in the Shoshone National Forest on the banks of the North Fork of the Shoshone River.

The fantastic scenery continues after you leave Yellowstone - it is indescribable! I'll post my pictures when I get home, because, you know, a picture is worth 10,000 words!


We drove through Cody, Wyoming - where they have a rodeo every night at 8 p.m.! We drove through the Big Horn Mountains, which is a remarkable experience in itself. The road is very steep - a 7% grade - the scenery is breathtaking. They have massive snow fences - huge wooden things in row after row to keep the snow off the road.


Filled up in Greybull, MT - $3.99/gal. = 26.6 mpg.

Near the Buffalo Bill State Park I-90 goes through three tunnels - one long and two short. The first tunnel is quite a long one, with interior lighting and the whole bit. The other two are only about as long as the average highway bridge.

We saw cowboys rounding up cattle and driving them across the road - well actually, there was a tunnel under the road for the cows! The men were wearing Western hats and chaps and they certainly looked like authentic cowboys on their horses - except for the one who was riding a dirt bike!

Staying tonight in Buffalo, Wyoming - a really nice little town. We found 4 caches right here in town. One of them was in a very cool birdhouse in a front yard on a residential street - I loved it, and named it The War Dam Eagle Birdhouse, a name stolen from an Auburn Univ. cheer. We enjoyed talking to the man who lived there - his daughter is the cache owner and now lives in Minneapolis.

Magnificent Montana Plus Idaho

We left the yucky Econolodge in Kalispell this morning and drove for 3 hours looking for breakfast!! The 4B's Restaurant in Deer Lodge saved our bacon, so to speak. We had some breakfast bars in the car but we weren't that desperate. On our three hour drive we saw a crane, some deer, and fresh water pelicans, a real surprise.

Impressions of Montana:

1. No matter where you go in Montana you're never underdressed.

2. Montana has magnificent, wonderful scenery, and not much else.

3. Deer in Montana like to stand in the road.

4. Driving on the two lane highways, you are usually by yourself.

5. Lucky Lil has a Casino at every crossroad.

Checked into the Comfort Inn at West Yellowstone, and then slipped over to Idaho to add another State to our caching list. Finally we got to do some back-woodsing in the area of Big Spring, ID. Huge mosquitoes live in the back woods of Idaho! Luckily we had some Deep Woods Off wipes that saved us. Dick found 5 caches in Idaho, and one more here in West Yellowstone. Idaho looks a lot like Montana.

Gas prices in West Yellowstone - $4.25/4.26 - Holy Moly! But then, Tom tells me that he hasn't seen prices under $4.50 for months.

Glacier National Park

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Gasoline summary:
Filled at Shelby - $4.09/gal average 23.25 mpg
Dick has figured these statistics:
Speed 75 mph - mileage=21 mpg
Speed 65 mph - mileage=22/23 mpg
Speed 55 mph - mileage=28 mpg

Montana wildlife seen on the way to Glacier National Park - well, not that much. Dick really wanted to see a coyote, and we saw one alongside the road. He was just standing still, watching the road. He looked quite healthy. We also saw a small herd of buffalo - not nearly as many as in T.C. These buffalo were running, though - don't know why, but they were all galloping along the fence line. Our hometown buffalo just stand around or plop down.
Too many pictures of Montana? Maybe - I have 20 more that I didn't publish - I just couldn't get over the beautiful scenery! We don't see many snow-covered mountains on River Road.







We were disappointed in Glacier Nat'l Park because Logan Pass was closed, and so we couldn't drive the whole Going to the Sun road. We did see spectacular views, though, and we even saw some snow still hanging in there along the road. The views are super - really different for lowlanders like we are.





Wildflowers were everywhere in the park - we saw so many different kinds! Alpine Sunflower (Old Man of the Mountain), larkspur, Indian paintbrush, bear grass, flea bane, and on and on.

I still can't believe the kind of road signs that we saw: Avalanche Area, Earthquake Area, Falling Rock, Fallen Rock, Wildlife in Road - that's how we know we're not in Michigan anymore.


After we drove as far as we could from the Eastern entrance, we backtracked, and followed the road along the Flathead River. We had a great picnic at the Izaak Walton picnic area, found a cache at Paolo Creek, saw snowsheds on the mountainside along the railroad tracks, and saw whitewater rafters on the river. It was a glorious drive.


We went in the Western entrance and drove as far as we could. This end is not as scenic at the other side - didn't get many pictures BUT! We had some real excitement when a bear crossed the road in front of us, and began grazing only about 20 feet from the road. I got a great picture! It was the highlight of the day!



We're staying tonight in Kalispell. This town is a little down at heel - with horrible traffic. We could live in Great Falls - we couldn't live in Kalispell.

Montana, Montana

Filled up at Dickinson, N.Dak.- super unleaded with 10% ethanol for 3.99/gal. We averaged 21 mpg going 75 mph through North Dakota yesterday. They also sell something called Red Dyed Diesel, which I found out on the radio is only used in Off Road Vehicles.

Here's a unique North Dakota MacLand service:

Sometime today we switched to Mountain Time - not sure when.

Have you ever heard of Theodore Roosevelt National Park? Neither had we. After driving though flat, flat flat North Dakota at 75 miles per hour, all of a sudden, we were in canyonlands - the Badlands of N.D. It's a huge geological formation - very impressive and awesome out here in Western North Dakota, which is referred to as Rough Rider Country. Who Knew??





Entering Montana, our Nuvi told us to leave the freeway and take a Montana Highway toward Great Falls. This was a 2 lane highway, with two way traffic, and the speed limit is 70! We found out why, though. Most of it is as straight as an arrow, and there's no traffic. Dick counted 10 cars in 30 miles!

For some reason, railroad cars are stored on the tracks alongside the highway - there were hundreds of them - no kidding - and they weren't boxcars or tankers or anything normal - they were called All Purpose Spine Cars. Google tells me that those cars are used to carry trailers or containers. Montana is ready!

Eastern Montana is flat, flat, flat. We saw some antelope and deer, and lots of cattle and horses and sheep. We filled up at Circle, MT just because we could tell from the map that it might be the last chance for a long, long time - nobody lives here! We only needed a quarter of a tank, but Dick didn't want to take any chances. Dick asked the gas station man about a good place to eat and he mentioned one that was 140 miles down the road!

We stayed at the Quality Inn in downtown Great Falls. We went looking for caches and found seven of them right around town in the usual places - fire hall, Boy Scouts, neighborhood parks, etc. One was unique - it was near the Mercy helicopter at the local hospital. While we were searching for the cache, the helicopter took off and flew away! It was quite an experience. It was a fun afternoon of caching.

The Missouri River flows through Great Falls - I actually never expected to find the Missouri River in Montana. So much for my geography expertise! The Falls are not that Great.

We liked Great Falls.

North Dakota - Land of Strange Scapes

Lots and lots of miles and miles today - from St. Cloud, MN to Dickinson, North Dakota.

Minnesota is agriculture, agriculture, agriculture - ag, ag, ag. Huge, big storage silos by every farm. The farms are all beautiful and lush looking. It's amazing to see. It makes Michigan farming look a little hard-scrabble.

North Dakota is different - bigger farms - probably owned by corporations, fewer trees, less livestock, and strange, strange terrain. Some of it is flat, some is rolling hills, and then all of a sudden you see pyramid shaped rock formations!

There's an old movie called Sea of Grass, and we saw some of that today. The grass along the fence rows is sometimes higher than the fence. When it blows in the breeze it really does look like waves. I-94 runs pretty much straight through the center of North Dakota from Fargo to Bismarck to Dickinson and beyond. It seems ironic to me, since we spent 1957-1991 never living more than 3 miles from I-94 - it always has been our main artery.

We filled up in Jamestown, N.D. - unleaded with ethanol - $3.99/gal. When the speed limit is 55, we are getting 28 mpg. Speed limit of 70 - only 22 mpg. In N.D. the speed limit is often 75! It'll be interesting to see what effect the ethanol has on the higher speed limit.


Staying in Dickinson, N.D. tonight - nice place. For some reason, all of the local motels are filled up and so we were glad we had reservations! Can't imagine what the occasion is for so many people to be in Dickinson - maybe it's because towns along I-94 are few and far between in these parts!

Dick found 4 geocaches, and we visited the "Enchanted Highway". Check it out at www.enchantedhighway.net and scroll down to see the pictures - it's unbelievable!

If you look closely, you can see Dick at the base of the sculpture waving his arms to provide some scale:


We have seen farm equipment so humungous that it belongs on a set for Star Wars. At many of the exits, there's a single sign that says No Services.

Wisconsin is a Beautiful State!

Today we drove across Wisconsin from Marinette to the Saint Croix River boundary with Minnesota. Lush green forest, beautiful big farms with many silos and outbuildings, dairy herds, herds of sheep, parks, rivers, rolling hills, outcroppings - I thought it was really enjoyable. The little villages we stopped by were in such good repair and well-maintained - it was a real pleasure to see them. We had a picnic in Stanley, and filled up with gas in New Richmond ($3.97/gal.) Wisconsin has a town named Menominie, too, but they spell their's with an i - e.

We entered Minnesota at Stillwater - what a fun town that looks like! It's touristy - full of shops and outdoor cafes - it was active and busy today. We could see where the St. Croix River was flooding a little bit - not too badly - but a big part of the river walk was under water.

The rest of today's drive was almost all on the Interstate or Minnesota divided-highways all the way to St. Cloud. This is where we're spending the night. Dick found three caches in Minnesota. Tonight we have a free night at the Comfort Inn. Yaay

Westward Ho

We're not exactly pioneers in a covered wagon, we're just two old fogys in a Subaru. We're heading off to Glacier National Park to do some geocaching and some sightseeing. This is part of our quest to find a cache in every State of the Union! I think we'll add at least five States to our total on this trip.

We started out today by filling up with gas at $4.04/gallon in T.C., going across the bridge and through the U.P. The Upper is one of our favorite road trips.


We always see something unusual. Today it was humorous road signs. My personal favorite was the yard ornament store called Birdbath and Beyond! Dick's was "Honest Injun's Tourist Trap", and we both liked "Just 40 miles to Carwash"!

We had a picnic at Fox Beach Park, paid $3.89/gallon in Menominee, and spend the night in Marinette, Wisconsin.

This is a statue along the Menominee River in Marinette's Stephenson Island Park.
Dick found three caches in Wisconsin.