After yesterdays 92 degree temps we were happy to awaken to a cool 58 degrees this morning. In this part of the country, the temperatures can vary dramatically depending upon the time of day and the elevation. Buffalo where we had stayed last night is at an elevation of 4285 feet. We decided to buy some new windshield wipers before we set off into the mountains and were hoping to find an auto parts store or a Walmart. Today is Labour Day and everything is closed. Evidently a population of 3900 is not big enough for something like Walmart or K [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today’s date Friday, July 31, 2009 Bighorn National Forest to Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming) Fast facts: Hours in truck: 6 Places visited: Bighorn National Forest, Medicine Wheel, Cody, and Yellowstone National Park Days since shower (although, remember, Sophie the dog and I swan twice): 6. Where I am right now: in the tent at Grant campground, Yellowstone, time: 11 p.m. Yesterday started with leaving the Black Hills National Forest and traveling through Lead, Deadwood, and Sturgis Harley Rally. Leaving Sturgis, Sophie and I hit t [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day Five: July 30, 2009 Black Hills National Forest (South Dakota) to Bighorn National Forest (Wyoming) Day four started in the Black Hills National Park about 40 miles north of Devils Tower. In all the Northern Unit of the Black Hills, located in Wyoming, are somewhat boring, offering little spectacular views (the range is not as tall as the S.D. sections. The rain continued straight through the night, with some brief stoppages in the morning. I awoke about 8 a.m., and, knowing that I needed a break, leisurely lounged in the tent, taking time to talk sweet to Sophie (and co [View Full Entry]

---

---

Thursday morning Dad and I got up early from Gardiner, MT and went into Yellowstone for the day. We drove all through the park stopping at all the neat little places to see. We saw more hot springs, mud pits, Old Faithful, and all sorts of wildlife. We went down one road for a while where there was a herd of at least 200 bison (I counted 80 in just one little area) and we got some great close up photos. We spent most of the morning and afternoon driving south through the park and into Grand Teton National Park. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

From Red Lodge, WY. I spent the morning catching up the blog in the hotel. Sarah had a case of the travel grumpys and just needed some space. A call to Sig and Nas cheered her up though. Last night Theo went to town and partied with the locals. After breakfast at Hank's Place we did laundry. Lots of Harleys in increasing numbers. Sturgis is Aug 4-10th so they are all rolling in. as we headed out of town on route 308 to Belfry we saw that a forest fire had started across from Red Lodge Ski Resort. Talked to a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Buffalo Bills Dam We came across the dam in the early evening. Alas, it was too late for the tour of the visitors centre. After a quick look around we headed onwards to pastures new, in the hopes of finding somewhere to stay for the night. Unfortunately we couldn't find anywhere and had to pull into the side of the road. Our trusty sleeping bags came in handy, yet again!!! Next morning, we headed off to Big Horn..... Big Horn A place of many indian battles. We throughly enjoyed our day travelling through this canyon. There was so m [View Full Entry]

---

---

July 12th - Left Sheridan WY and continued to Five Springs and Medicine Wheel. The scenery quite beautiful through the mountains. To reach Medicine Wheel is a 3 mile round trip up a mountain path. Beautiful alpine flowers on the way and snow in the shaded sections of the dirt road. The 'wheel' is a North American Indian equivalent of Stonehenge (probably a celestial calendar). On the walk back down we saw a brown bear some distance away (thankfully) in a clearing near the forest edge. Night stop at Buffalo Bill's Hunting Lodge just outside Yellowstone Park. Pam and George [View Full Entry]

---

---

What a day! We left Al's Oasis in South Dakota on the Missouri River early (while the kids were sleeping). There was too much goose poop in the above ground pool for the kids to swim anyways! The landscape has changed so much from state to state and it has been very interesting. We stopped at an overlook to view the Badlands and the kids were playing in a field. Caroline asked me to come over to see a cactus and 2 feet behind the cactus was a rattlesnake! We watched it go down into its and we took off. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

I want to start by saying that the phone and internet service in these hills up here is terrible so you'll have to bare with me on the blogs. It takes me about 2 hours just to do one blog because I get kicked off about every 10 minutes or so. Also, Jason (the son) told me yesterday how to re-size my pictures so that it won't take me 30 minutes to download 2 pictures so you should be seeing more pictures soon. Thanks Jason !! I'll do my best to keep ya'll updated. Our sixth day of travels brought us [View Full Entry]

---

---

I was kind of sad to leave the Three Bear Lodge in Yellowstone. Finding total solitude can be a refreshing feeling. As I made my way through the west entrance all the way across the park to the east entrance, I saw more of what I had seen the last few days. Elk, bald eagles, buffalo, even a coyote. Truly a wonderful experience in Yellowstone, one that I will be revisiting. The backroads of Wyoming were fun to take. The scenery was beautiful and I got to go through some tiny little towns... "Middle America." The Bighorn mountains were truly amazing [View Full Entry]

---

---