Festiva in the Park: Day 14

THURSDAY JUNE 14th, 2012

Here we are with a long overdue post. We've already been home for a week... where does the time go?!?

We had a great visit with Jeff, K and family. Thank you for your hospitality!

Jeff, K, B, I, E and me before we hit the road for the day.

Approaching Cody WY

The morning of day 14 finds us driving west and north from Worland to Cody WY. Our target for the day is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.  

B, E and I at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

What an awesome place to visit! Admission covers two days and it is easy to see how you could spend that amount of time there. We tried to make the best of our short visit. The center consists of five separate museums: The Buffalo Bill Museum, one focusing on the natural history of Yellowstone, the Plains Indians Museum, a Western Art Museum, and the Firearms Museum. This last one was the favorite for most of us. It contains the most comprehensive collection of firearms in North America. It traces the history of firearms from the simple flintlocks to modern day machine guns. 

Getting ready for the Calgary Stampede.

E won't be outdone!

B enjoying the Firearms Museum

This a place that would be well worth the trip on its own. You could easily spend two full days and still probably not see it all!

I printing a bookmark on a period press.

It's him... it's really him!!!

Following our visit to Buffalo Bill we hit the highway to Helena MT. Our first impression of Montana's roads was not a favorable one. We hit a stretch that, rather than repair/replace one side of the road then the other, they ripped up the entire width. We traversed this construction site for about ten or fifteen miles before hitting real pavement again.

First impression of Montana highways!

Lots of trains.

One thing we've noticed in both Wyoming and Montana is a large number of trains.

We reached Helena, out last overnight stop of this trip, in good time. We had chosen a bit of a higher rated hotel for this last night and it wasn't a disappointment. Not only was it nicer than most of the places we've stayed in so far, we also earned 1000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points!


Day 15 is the last leg of this road trip. One more "touristy" stop along the way and then home!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 15

Festiva Madness trip... day 12. Ian goes for a ride in a police car!

When we were first planning the trip our intended route was straight north from St Joseph on I-29 to Sioux Falls Iowa and then straight west from there on I-90 across South Dakota to Rapid City. Earlier in the summer the Missouri River had flooded which resulted in some damage to I-29. Portions of that Interstate where still closed and others under repair so we decided to change our route.

We left St Joseph and headed directly west across to Belleville, Kansas then north to York, Nebraska. From York we heading west on I-80 to North Platte. We then headed north again to join I-90 at Murdo, South Dakota. From Murdo we made the run into Rapid City, arriving just before 10:00pm.

Kansas was pretty much as expected... flat. Stopped in Marysville which had some very nice old buildings and from there on to Belleville.

Entering Kansas

Kansas vista.

Into Nebraska

Our first stop in Nebraska was York where we had our lunch.

Colorful water tower

I think it's that way.

Still smiling after twelve days on the road.

The drive from York to North Platte took us on I-80 west across the state. This was by far the busiest stretch of highway we experienced with most of the extra traffic being semis. To make things even more "interesting" it was very hot, around 88°F (31°C), and there was a very strong cross wind coming from the south. Before reaching North Platte we stopped in Gothenburg to stretch our legs and visit one of the Pony Express stations that had been preserved.

E, B and I at the station

Visited a couple of spots in North Platte. The first was the Buffalo Bill Cody museum.

E and I joining in the conversation.

We had just enough time to head over to the Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center. If you are a train enthusiast then this is a must see! It's the largest yard of it's kind with over 300 miles of track and over 15,000 train cars being move around.

The visitor center

Train cars everywhere

The Festiva in the Golden Spike parking lot.

We filled up the gas tank in North Platte and headed north. There was a very large grass fire burning west of the highway that made things a little interesting. We were fortunate in that our trip wasn't interrupted at all. We did see a lot of fire fighters making their way to help.

The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. Hit I-90 just after dark and made our way to Rapid City. Traffic on this stretch of Interstate was much lighter than on I-80 but we still had the cross wind though not as strong.

As mentioned earlier we filled up in North Platte... 10 US gallon tank getting about 34 miles per US gallon which gives us a range of 340 miles. However the distance to the gas station in Rapid City was 340.2 miles. Yes, we, or should I say I, ran out of gas on the off-ramp. Fortunately a State Trooper stopped behind us and offered me a ride to the gas station and back. He stayed with us and made sure we got started and on our way. A big thank you goes out to State Trooper Jake of the Rapid City SD detachment!

Off to Mount Rushmore and Wyoming tomorrow!!!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO DAY 13!