silversand
Montreal
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Joined: 09/12/2004
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Morning!
You guys are very lucky, no tornadoes nor storms near you today!
Lucky you aren't south and east this week/today! It's an absolute hell-hole of tornadoes and storms stretching across the US from:
Kansas to Missouri, to Illinois, to Indiana, and all of Ohio (75% of Ohio is in tornado watch alert now! Edit: now 45%), to West Virginia (90% of West Virginia is in tornado watch now! Edit: now 60%), to Virginia (95% of Virginia is in tornado watch now! Edit: now 60%), and Maryland (90% of Maryland is in tornado watch now! Edit: now 35% in alert)...lots of action right up to the Atlantic coast vis tornado watches!
Have fun out there in your relatively calm area 
Cheers,
Silver-
* This post was
edited 06/04/08 04:41am by silversand *
Silver
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500HD 4x4 6.0L Ext/LB Tow Package 4L80E Michelin AT2s| Outfitter Caribou
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TwoMaineiacs
Near Freeport, Maine
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Joined: 04/08/2006
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No tornados but big thunderstorms most every night. we keep the weather radio charged and on at all times. Just got through taking a 1-1/2 mile hike around Devil's Tower in WY. VERY impressive.
Headed to Thermopolis, WY for an overnight and to see several dinosauer digs. Here's yesterday:
June 3
Today was animal day both current and prehistoric. Bright and sunny day again and we headed off with the truck free of the TC. A couple from Nebraska is camped behind us and enjoyed the show of us taking the camper off last night. He's a corn farmer and said we could come drive a combine anytime. We said no thanks. Headed off from our camp at Game Lodge to drive the Wildlife Loop inside Custer State Park. We were getting pretty discouraged at not seeing any wildlife since we are still on Eastern Time bodywise and were out early. No other verhicles in sight anywhere just endless rolling fields of grass and pine forests on the hills. Then we saw a flash of white and a herd of pronghorn antelope raced by. Around the bend and there was a herd of buffalo standing in and on both sides of the road. They could have cared less we were there so we just shut off the truck and watched them for a long time.
The calves were jumping like kids and racing each other in circles.
Old bulls just lay in the road and chewed. They finally ambled away.
By the end of the day we had seen hundreds of buffalo both right in
front of us and scattered over the fields. A ranger told us later that
we must have been on the loop early as the eight elk we saw walking in
a line were a pretty rare sight. Never did see any mountain goats but
did spot just about everything else in the park except mountain lion
and bear which are an almost never sight.
Continued on down to Hot Springs, SD and visited the National Park Grasslands Center. We're hoping to boondock in a grasslands in WY so picked up info. Across the road is the Mammoth Site building. We were going to skip this since so much of the "tourist" sites are so horribly commercial. This building was so pretty we took a chance and very glad we did. The building is built overtop of a sinkhole with over 56 (so far) mammoth skeletons plus other animals from rehistoric
time. $10 very, very well spent walking through with a guide who explained the sink hole and how the skeletons were being excavated. I would recommend this attraction as a must see if you are interested in
geology and paleontology.
From Hot Springs we drove up through Pringle, Custer and Hill City where we found a high power truck wash and finally got rid of our Badlands mud - well most of it. The purpose of going to Hill City was
to get on the Needles Highway at the beginning. This road has several tunnels carved through rock, one of which is only 8'4" wide. The Nebraska man behind us had taken his dually through the day before so we knew we could. This road is corkscrew, spectacular scenery and not for the faint hearted if you don't like heights. Tall needles of rock remain from eons of erosion.
We hiked up one of the paths into the "needles". Silence except for
mountain jays, chipmunks, and wind in the pines. At 5,000 feet and
being used to sea level, our endurance wasn't exactly outstanding but
we enjoyed the hike.
Talked by cell to Sue and Paul (ThinBlueSmoke) today. We were probably
20 miles apart as the crow flies but at least an hour by driving.
Later in the day it is quite possible we saw them passing by in their
BigFoot in Hill City. We turned around to try to find them but
couldn't. There are a LOT of TCs out here in the west. We've seen most
every brand including a lot of popups.
TC is now back on the truck, cleaned the best we could, dump and water
fill done. Only problem and it isn't a real problem is the black water
is always reading 2/3 more than we know it is. We're ready to roll
tomorrow AM for Devil's Tower in Wyoming and then down to Thermopolis
for some more dinosaur digs.
2008 Host Rainier 9'6" dual slide on a 2005 Ford F-350 Diesel DRW
On the Road Again from Rural Maine
Our travel blog with photos
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silversand
Montreal
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Joined: 09/12/2004
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All your timely reports are posted in TR.
Tornado/severe weather activity for tonight:
Some major severe weather/tornadic activity is predicted for South Dakota, Nebraska and a bit of eastern Wyoming tonight. Keep alert!
Cheers,
Silver-
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fuelhauler
Southern Oregon
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Joined: 07/25/2006
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Joe throw a half a bag of crushed ice down the toilet while the black water tank is empty. It will scour the sensor clean & should read accurately again. I have done this on my 5vr & my Tc & works.
* This post was
edited 06/04/08 06:48pm by fuelhauler *
2005 Dodge q/c 4x4 dually six speed pac brake
2006 bigfoot 10.6
2003 Everest 32' 5vr
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petekerwien
Camano Island, WA
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Joined: 06/28/2007
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Keep on trucking.We liked the photos and yes we used the ice trick and it worked well.
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TwoMaineiacs
Near Freeport, Maine
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Joined: 04/08/2006
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June 4th - Custer State Park to Buffalo, Wyoming
We left Custer State Park early this morning headed west - of course. Early morning is a great time to see the wildlife and we counted many more buffalo and pronghorn antelope as we drove along. Leaving the mark at Custer, SD, we crossed into Wyoming near Newcastle on Route 16. In the east we can see the western forest fires and sort of understand the destruction but you cannot imagine how vast the areas are that burn. Mountain after mountain had huge patches of trees gone, black spars and broken trunks. However, in some areas there was already new growth and timber companies are now allowed to harvest many of the trees.
The country really begins to open up into vast horizons and we stayed amazed at how far you could see. The ranches are very far apart and we kept thinking how many hours a day children must spend riding school buses. We also don't understand why there is so little livestock on those huge expanses.
We reached Devil's Tower, Wyoming about noon on a cool day with part sun. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is one of my favorite science fiction movies and the tower was well represented in the movie. It rises up out of a relatively flat plain and has many colors and layers in the rock. An Indian legend says the deep scar
like columns down the tower are bear claw marks trying to reach Indian maidens on the top of the tower. We walked the 1-1/2 mile perimeter path and the tower has different faces depending on how it faces the weather. Once again our old codger pass as Joe calls it (National Park Senior Pass) got us in free. We parked beside yet another pop up truck camper but never saw the people. A quick lunch in the camper, a change out of wet clothing from the walk and off we went.
Moorcroft, WY was an interesting small town and did not have the hype of a tourist trap like so much of what we have seen. I know small towns have a limited time/way of capturing tourist dollars but some sure do it better than others!
We hopped on I-90 to start over to Thermopolis, WY, our next destination. Finally in the distance we could see a BIG mountain range. Bighorn National Forest is just the other side of Buffalo, WY. A pretty cold rain started as we were approaching Buffalo and we decided to stop for the night, get a dinner out, catch up on internet
mail and not push it. A delightful older lady at the town tourist information center told us where to go to dinner to get good beef. She was right! We are hoping that the rain at this 4,500 feet doesn't translate into snow on the mountain passes at 9,500 feet. We'll see tomorrow!
* This post was
edited 06/04/08 09:04pm by TwoMaineiacs *
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FarcticOx
Rural NH
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Joined: 03/25/2007
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Oh boy, I am reliving our trips through your wonderful posts and pictures. I'm so glad to see you guys finally making that trip. It's an amazing country out there isn't it? Don't forget, that "Old Codger Pass" gets you half price camping at National Forest and BLM Campgrounds as well as National Parks. Keep safe, have fun.
Ted
FarcticOx
Run Silent, Run Deep
2003 F350 Diesel DRW.
2005 Arctic Fox B1150 solar powered dry camper.
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TwoMaineiacs
Near Freeport, Maine
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Joined: 04/08/2006
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6AM here but my brain is still on east coast time. Heavy rain all night. Going to stop at a truck stop this morning and talk to the truckers as there is a strong possibility that there was 6" of snow in the mountain pass we want to take this morning. If so, we'll be rethinking today's route. SNOW!!!
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whazoo
Arizona
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Joined: 10/12/2007
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Great pictures and commentary. Thanks for keeping us up to date. Feel like I'm there with you! If you are headed for the Tetons there is some great camping across the valley on Shadow Mountain, looking down on Mormon Row. Great spot for pictures. Continued success with your trip.
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Francis
Rockland, Maine
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Joined: 05/01/2001
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We are from mid-coast Maine and are salivating over your trip. We hope to strike out in May 2009 for Alaska and are beginning our research into all aspects. With the cost of diesel, we are working to save $$ to feed our Chevy Duramax 3/4 ton, which will carry the 1978 NuWa 11-ft TC we are upgrading. We JUST completed tearing off the old aluminum roof and put on new rubber to stop leaks. We will take pix of our pride & joy soon to join as a member. On reading down this thread, we see many kind TC folks who offer a parking space, and we think that is just wonderful. What great exchanges are possible between those who love their travel lifestyle. GOOD LUCK and we will check in often.
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