Tag: #roadtrip

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20250618 – Minuteman Museum and the drive north

I started out the day helping Riley with some yard maintenance; mowing the lawn, edging the front sidewalks, and raking the leaves. We ended up filling his garbage bin with yard waste. Kathy packed up the truck, I took a quick shower, and we headed off to find some Bagels. There are two Einstein Bagel places in Tapid City but one was closed for the summer and the other was closed due to lack of staff. We gave up and headed to Riley and Lizzy’s place. She had a cool little place that is constructed for gardening and small farm animals. Thy have planted a huge number of crops in the containers and boxes around the home. They even have 6 chickens. It’s a really cool place and this will be their first full summer with the gardens.

Since we didn’t get breakfast, we had lunch with them at a local Irish restaurant. Another great visit and good food. We said our goodbyes and headed out of town toward the minuteman middle monument. It is about 1 hour east of Rapid City, just past Ellsworth AFB and we were amazed at how many missiles the world still has. A different time than when our parents grew up.

We turned Howie northward and spent the next 3 hours crossing the vast grasslands of central and eastern South Dakota. We did pass the 45th parallel are are officially halfway between the equator and the top of the earth. Again, the lack of public lands makes it hard to find camping so we drove until about 7PM and got a rather expensive spot at a Shadehill State park, which charges out of staters more for the same campsite. It’s beautiful, and a nice lady helped us reserve a spot with her app. $40 for the night, although it does have an electrical hookup and showers.

Chicken and rice for dinner and we finally settled down about 11:30.

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20250617 – Badlands NP and Rapid City, SD

The night was cool and a nice thunderstorm rolled through about midnight. The Trick Camper rocked around a bit but the wind map only showed 10-20mph gusts. It felt like more, but nothing to worry about.

We had a shorter drive today ( 165 miles by the end of the day) that started first with a scenic drive through Badlands National Park. We stopped by the visitors center to look at the exhibits and grab stamps and postcards. Just after the visitors center we stopped for a photo of the view and Kathy spotted a momma deer and her baby. We watched the die and fawn ad they wandered around the edge of a bluff. Last night the coyotes were howling pretty good so I’m sure the doe was glad for the peaceful morning.

The drive took us through the Badlands and again Kathy spotted wildlife, our first buffalo sighting. A lone beast sitting in one of the canyons. Further up, and upon just exiting the park, a small herd posed alongside the road.

Our Friends in Greeley noted that we should stop by Wall Drug, in Wall SD, so we did just that. The business had been consistently open for 90+ years and is a sight to see. It takes up a whole city block and contains a cafe with 5 cent coffee, trinkets, a chapel, a historic pharmacy, and just about everything else. We putted around for about an hour, walked the pups, and then headed into Rapid City to meet my son, Riley and his girlfriend Lizzy for lunch.

Lunch was ended by a thunderstorm so we ran some errands, mailed packages, fueled up, and headed towards Mt. Rushmore to complete a long quest Kathy had at Horsethief reservoir. We stopped in Keystone, a small western mountain town and walked in the cool rain and browsed the shops and displays. It’s interesting how just 20 minutes from Rapid City the Black Hills are cool with an alpine feel at only 4600 feet. I’ve always liked this area. We headed back down to the city and finished the night parked at my son’s house.

here are some photos for the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250617-badlands-np

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20250616 – CO, WY, NE, SD

Today was a pretty long drive. The tracker said 331 miles and 8:28 hours. It was long, but finding camping in this part of the country is difficult. No BLM or forest service land, plus an Indian Reservation. We ended up at a pay campground just outside of Badlands NP around 8 PM.

We left Greeley, CO a bit late (11AM) and headed north. We first crossed into Wyoming south of Cheyenne, and then headed northeastward into Nebraska. We made it to Scott’s Bluff National Monument around 1:30 and took in the sites. It was 87 degrees and hot out for the pups. There was a drive to the top of the bluff but there was a limit of 11ft 7in for vehicles. I pulled out the tape measure and measured 11’ 5” for the truck. Two inches to spare. The sides were only 10’4” with the AC adding about 12”. Needless to say we took the drive.

After leaving the monument we managed to find the grave of Rebecca Winters, a Mormon settler that caught cholera and was buried along the trail. Her burial was unique in that someone scribed her name and tribute on a wagon wheel iron tread and left it with her. Most were buried in the road with little memorial.

After Scott’s Bluff we continued north and east until we needed to stop for diesel. Diesel was found in Alliance, NE, and just after filling up we ran across a roadside attraction called Carhenge. Apparently a gentleman named Jim Reinders has some time on his hands and a few spare junk cars and he recreated Stonehenge with cars on a hill in Nebraska. It was an interesting find and a tribute to people with time and creativity in their toolboxes.

We continued northward and east a bit and tried to find a place to camp. Unfortunately in this part of the country all land is private, a sad state, and we could not find a pullout to camp. We crossed into the Lakota Sioux reservation and drove another hour into South Dakota and took the Badlands. We did get to see the Battle of Wounded Knee memorial site along the way.

It was a long day of driving through miles and miles of beautiful green grasslands (and happy cows). Tomorrow will be a visit to the Badlands NP and then on to visit Riley in Rapid City.

here is a link to some more photos.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250616-scotts-bluff-np-to-badlands

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North Rim Grand Canyon and Pipe Springs Nat’l PK

We got up early this morning and took the dogs for the walk. We ended up driving up Forest Road 205 for about an hour and then linked up with the road out of Jacobs Lake that heads to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The drive along this route is absolutely breathtaking. There are amazingly gorgeous meadows, seas of Aspen, and the occasional deer and elk.

We walked around the North Rim Visitor Center, the beautiful lodge, and all the cabins, and took in the views from the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The place was nice, not very crowded, and plenty of parking. All of the campgrounds were booked up, which is common for national parks in the summer. But right outside the park there’s like 50 miles of open area that is for camping, which is where we spent the previous night. We are headed off the rim, and on toward Zion tonight.

Along the way we found another national monument called Pipe Springs National Monument. It was a settlement from the 1800s with the natural springs in the area allowed them to raise cattle, sheep, orchards, and fields of vegetables and grains. The fort was actually pretty cool and was well maintained.

We crossed over into Utah outside of Colorado city, Arizona. We got the obligatory photograph and then headed down the road another 30 minutes and found a camp in VLM land up on gooseberry Ridge outside of Apple Valley. It was really windy in the valley today, but it’s calmed down nicely this evening.

We’re making some beef stew and bread for dinner, and watching the sunset. Tomorrow at Zion national Park.

Link to the day’s photos.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250606-north-rim-grand-canyon

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Approach – Day 0

Stayed with Moose’s uncle outside of Atlanta. Interesting man, great conversation. Now off to pick up the last guy and head to Amicalola falls.

Definitely a nice place for coffee
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Still driving. We are somewhere in Arkansas.

We’ve been on the road for 24 hours already, tag teaming the driving to keep momentum. The original map estimate said 26 hours. It looks like it’ll be closer to 34. Dropping the trailer tonight, picking up another hiker, getting a few zzzz’s and we should be at Amicalola Falls in the afternoon tomorrow. Hiking starts Friday. It’s raining now and forecasted to stop Saturday as we follow the storm east.