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Yellowstone Park and South Dakota Trip 2002 - Journal
It was time
again to hit the road. New Zealand seemed a long time ago. We decided
We left Calgary on Friday June 21, 2002 and headed south on Highway 22, crossed the borders into the Montana USA at the Waterton National Park crossing. Our goal was to make it to Yellowstone Park in Wyoming/Montana and mostly staying off the main interstate. Hoping to find that twisty road. It was an all day riding event of 950km, but we reached West Yellowstone Entrance early evening.
The weather did not look promising for Saturday, we entered the park for free since it was national free park weekend. High season meant we had to battle with loads of tourists and park rangers. It started to rain early on, but we decided to tough it out and looked at all the touristy sites anyway. It is a bit of a disappointed to see the thermal wonderland, since it doesn’t compare to the once in Roturora, New Zealand.
We waited for approx. an hour to see the old Faithful, which as the name applies erupted on time. After spending most of the day wandering around in our rain suits, we were off to find a campground.
We camped in Cody, Wyoming. The landscape surrounding this area reminded me of Wild West Cowboy Movies. After supper we ended up backtracking to the Yellowstone Park to see the scenery again, since the sun finally started to appear.
Day three of our travels took us to Custer, South Dakota. The road there was mostly straight, we had breakfast in a Hillbilly town. We have the best stories to tell from stopping in small towns.
Just before we hit South Dakota I had a little run in with Mr. Sheriff. He clocked me at 95 miles/hr in a 55 mile/hr zone. I was in luck since I was actually traveling at least 115 miles/hr, but my radar detector picked him up and I did shave off some speed. I deserved that US$200 ticket. We set up camp in Custer, South Dakota for two days.
Early Monday we visited the Jewel Caves, than went to see Crazy Horse , which was quite impressive. We stopped at the gates of Mt. Rushmore, took a picture and said screw the $20.00 parking and $20.00 entry fee. Meanwhile we decided to have some fun in the black hills and needles highway. The scenery was breathtaking, lots of twisties and one way tunnels carved out of the mountain, but watch out for the buffalos.
Tuesday morning we knew it was time to head back to Canada, 1500 km of long straight road. We decided to stop in at Deadwood to wonder around Mt. Moriah Cemetery and visit the grave sites of Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny. We expected an old wooden cross, but instead saw a modernist concrete grave. Oh well. Next stop was Devils Tower in Wyoming. It was time to put some miles on if we wanted to make it back to Calgary the next day. We stayed in Sulphur Falls, Montana and the rest of our journey was pretty uneventful. It was time for a tire and oil change. Two days back to work and I was off to Elkford with the Vixens.
This site was last updated 12/27/05 |
