If you plan it they will come... day nineteen

Tuesday October 15th

Frosty morning in Buffalo WY

It was quite chilly when we woke up this morning, chilly enough that I had to scrape the windows before we left the campground. Noticed on the way into town for breakfast that it was only 35ºF/+2ºC! Our dining choice for this last day of the road trip was the Busy Bee Diner attached to the Occidental Hotel on Main Street. The Busy Bee has a long history in the town as does the hotel.

If you plan it they will come... day eighteen

Monday October 14th


 

Monday morning moon-rise over the Rocky Mountains.

Part of our original plan for today was to leave the RV at Bass Pro and take a run up Pikes Peak which would have taken about four hours. This has been on my bucket list for quite some time. But.... we learned from Stewart yesterday that due to construction of a new visitor center at the top the road was open only part way up and you had to take a shuttle from that point on. So with that in mind and considering that the car wasn't running that well we decided not to go and came up with a new plan. 

First things first... we went for breakfast at a great little place called C&C Coffee Kitchen not too far from our overnight spot. The place was clean, the staff cheery and helpful and the food was very good; highly recommended!

Our breakfast provider..

Breakfast done, we refuelled the vehicles and headed north to Denver. Our destination, Hammond's Candies. Hammond's started as a small family business about 100 years ago  with a loyal local following, it has now grown into an iconic brand with international distribution. We arrived about ten minutes before one of their scheduled tours which we joined. Learned about the history of the company, watched candy being made, watched it being packaged, then received a sample as we exited the tour into the gift shop! 
 

At Hammond's Candies.

Some of Hammond's Candies....

We continued northward on I-25 stopping in Loveland CO to pick up groceries and gas. Andrew had to slow his pace in the RV a bit because this stretch of highway was very windy.
Our stop at the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Centre just south of Cheyenne WY was a welcome stretch of legs and quick check on e-mail etc. 

Phyllis braving the wind at the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center

We turned off the interstate just north of Cheyenne WY to make our way to the Fort Laramie National Historic Site. The same weather system that brought the cooler temperatures had dumped quite a bit of snow here a few days earlier. It was a bit of surprise to still see some of that snow on the side of the road! 

Snow!

Fort Laramie was originally established as a private fur trading fort in 1834, which evolved into the largest and best known military post on the Northern Plains. It was abandoned in 1890 and nearly succumbed to the ravages of time. In 1938 it became part of the National Park Service and restoration projects have been going on since.

At Fort Laramie

Sharon, Andrew and Phyllis enjoying a windy lunch.

After a picnic lunch we took a walk around the buildings, some of which have been restored, others left mere shells of their original. One building that really portrayed the life of the soldiers that were stationed here was the Cavalry Barracks. Rows of single beds lined the outside walls of the upper floor either side of the central stairwell. There was no privacy and very little space for personal items, just a simple box at the foot of each bed and a couple of hooks to hang coats and guns!

Upper floor of the Cavalry Barracks... not much in the way of privacy.

Cavalry Barracks at Fort Laramie.

We headed west to rejoin the interstate then headed north to our next overnight at the KOA in Buffalo WY. It was still fairly windy so that held Andrew up a bit. The Festiva continues to have a miss but we are still maintaining highway speeds.

Heading north

We arrived at the campground just after dark, made our supper then went over our plans for the next day, which was going to be a long one!

Approximate route for today's drive.

Thanks for following along! Please let us know your favorite things about Wyoming in the comments section below.

Our next road trip is in the planning stages

We are in the process of planning a  road trip for the last week in August. We'll be in the "new" car and are being joined for a portion of the trip by friends on their "new" 2009 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700. They purchased it last fall with only 7800km (4850 miles) on it.

 

Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 1700

We will be meeting up with them in Great Falls MT. From there we'll head to Laurel MT via the Kings Hill Scenic Byway.

From Laurel we'll head to Cody WY over the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. From Cody we'll head across Yellowstone to Ennis MT for one night.

We are still working on the tail end of the trip but do plan to stop at the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. Not sure yet if we are just going to head straight home from Ennis or take another couple of nights and perhaps revisit the Going to the Sun road.

Here's our proposed route...

Preliminary route for our next road trip

 

Watch this space for more details! 

If you have any suggestions regarding things to see or do along the way please share them in the comments section!

Just a little update... we've decided to head home directly from Ennis MT, with a stop at the Lewis and Clark Caverns, saving the Going to the Sun Road for another day. We will be taking the less travelled routes by avoiding the main highways if we can.

Another trip to add to the bucket list

While looking over some more road trip articles I came across another stretch of highway to add to the bucket list that's not too far from home. The Beartooth Highway is a stretch of US Highway 212 that runs from Red Lodge MT through the Absaroka-Beartooth National Wilderness, reaching elevations nearing 3350m (11,000ft), to Cooke City MT and the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Charles Kuralt called this the most beautiful highway in America. It even has its own website which features a 20 minute video.

From the Visit Yellowstone County website

Red Lodge is about nine hours south of our home in Calgary. It would be quite the trip if we first headed directly for the Beartooth and then made our return trip up through the Going To The Sun Highway and southern Alberta's Cowboy Trail both of which I've written about in earlier posts. This makes for a 2300km (1400mile) round trip. 

I'll close this post off with another Charles Kuralt quote:

"Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything."

Here's to backroads and less traveled routes! If you've driven the Beartooth please leave a comment!

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 13

After a hearty breakfast we headed out to Mount Rushmore. On our way out of Rapid City we spotted another Festiva! It was a white GL Sport and of course we waved.

Festiva spotting...

Had a very pleasant drive out to Mount Rushmore not knowing exactly what to expect. What an amazing accomplishment! The photos I'd seen before do not adequately convey the scale of the place... we were all just blown away. We took one of the "Ranger Walks" which took about 30 minutes and our Ranger, Charlie, was very knowledgeable and injected a great sense of humor into his presentation. Took a look at the artist's studio and a very well done video presentation while we there too.

Not too far to go.

Modern version of the wooden bridge. I just thought it was really cool.

Early sighting

We're here!!!

B, E, and I having a look from afar.

The presidents and us. Thanks to the lady who literally got on her knees to take this photo!

I, B and E enjoying a rest at the end of our visit.

After spending the morning with George, Thomas, Teddy and Abe we headed off on the next leg of our trip. Destination... Worland Wyoming to visit Jeff (gottafesty) and his daughter, C. Little did we know that this was going to be quite a drive! Headed out on Highway 16 to Moorcroft WY where we turned on to I-90. Headed west to Buffalo where we left the interstate and back on to Highway 16. This is where the real fun began. We hadn't noticed until this time that our route was to take us over the Powder River Pass which is up at 9666 feet! The Festiva performed admirably but we had to be a little cautious on the way down because of the warped brake rotor we had developed earlier in the trip. If I could summarize the drive across Wyoming in one word I would have to pick spectacular.

Follow the yellow brick road.... wait a minute... it's red!

Entering Buffalo Wyoming

On the uphill side of Powder River Pass

At the top....

... with all of us!

On the way down

Onto the flats and away to Worland.

 We met Jeff in Worland then followed him out to his home. We had a great time and another awesome home cooked meal. Thanks for the hospitality.

C and B hadn't seen each other for a couple of years!

We left Worland just after 7:30pm and headed off to our hotel in Billings Montana. No photos on this stage as it was dark. There was quite a stretch where we couldn't see any lights off to either side, none behind us nor any in front! It felt quite literally that we were in the middle of nowhere. After two hours, forty five minutes and one deer sighting we made it safely to Billings and headed straight to the room and off to bed. Next stop... home!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 14!