No Rush, but I made it to Mount Rushmore

Current mileage: 3200 miles

Current location: At a Denny's in Great Falls, Montana
Day # 13 of the no expectation vacation

 I dropped Wayne off at the airport on Thursday afternoon and headed towards Mount Rushmore. It was cold and rainy in Bismark, but I still decided to take back roads into South Dakota. There is always beauty, when you least expect it. When I say that I took back roads, I mean that there were periods of time, that I did not see one single person on the road for hours. The house's that I did see, I wondered what the families did for a living, or how long it took them to get to town. It was actually a quite peaceful drive with lots of beautiful scenery!

 

 

I was told by many people that I need to stop by the Badlands in South Dakota, so I decided to head that way as I was heading to Mount Rushmore. The Badlands are breathtaking, after all, I had seen  mostly  corn fields, and wheat fields thus far on my trip. It was even more beautiful because I captured the pictures with a storm in the background. I am so glad that people told me to drive by them. They were something worth seeing!

 

                       I finally arrived at Mount Rushmore late Thursday night. I arrived at the KOA campground right at closing time but Sharon from NY ( who lives in her RV full time with her husband and travels around the US) was nice enough to check me in and be patient, since of course I had no reservation! I ended up sleeping in my jeep that night and froze! I woke up with frost on my jeep and my nose cold. I thought to myself...oh boy, it's going to be really cold in my tent. I woke up the next morning and made a breakfast of champions. It is amazing what a flight attendant can do with hot water!!

That morning I went to Mount Rushmore, and it was a beautiful day to experience the beauty of the mountain

I spent most of the morning at Mount Rushmore, and than went into town to buy some groceries. I made it back to the campground to relax. I was not going to put up my tent since I was only staying for one more night but decided I would since it was such a beautiful day outside. it was time to test my tent skills all by myself!

      

After setting up the tent, relaxing for a few, and chatting with some of my campground neighbors I went back to Mount Rushmore to see the lighting of the Presidents. The first encounter I had was with this White Mountain Goat. I had seen them earlier in the day and assumed they were tame since they had collars on them and they were roaming freely around people. Well don't ever assume, just as I was getting close enough to take a picture he/she started coming after me. I wish I had that on video, because I am sure it was hilarious!  But back to the lighting of Mount Rushmore. It is something I highly recommend (during off season) to see once in your life. It is hard not to feel patriotic especially under a clear sky and a full moon as I had that evening!



All U.S. Service men/women on stage at the lighting of Mount Rushmore



                                                        After the lighting I went back to the campground and made my own lighting. I made my very first fire all by myself (besides the one from toasted coconut that almost burned down my loft a few months ago) This and putting up my tent can now be checked off my list of things I need to know how to do in my life! Pat on the back for me!  The rest of the night was  spent around the campfire with my neighbors and a newly found friend named Brandon from Chicago who was also traveling alone. Sometimes campfire chats are the BEST! 

The next morning I had to check out, and I have to admit I was a little sad. I had made my very first on the road friends and it was mixed emotion to get on the road all by myself again. I took my time getting ready, took a nice long shower, said my good byes to my camping neighbors, and of course stopped to thank Sharon in KOA office for being so nice! (even filled out a compliment card) And after that I was headed towards Glacier.

                                                    

Dan and Ely my camping buddies from OH

After talking to Sharon in the front office she recommended that I take the scenic byway Alt 14 thru Deadwood and to Spearfish, SD. Since my atlas had it as a "red ribbon" scenic road I decided to take Sharon's advice, and my oh my it was beautiful!

After a long drive on Alt 14 because of all the people I finally made it to Wyoming a couple of hours later. This day in particular was a hard day. I was just not in the mood to drive, so when I saw a sign for a Starbucks (in Gillette, WY) I decided that maybe I just needed to get a coffee and relax and pretend that I was in my hometown and not 2500 miles away. I ended up spending almost three hours in this Starbucks and actually closed it down.

After I left the Starbucks, I drove on I-90W. Here are some things that I know now about Wyoming:

~the deer population is much bigger the human population. When there are sign that say watch for wildlife, they are not kidding. As much as a expert deer spotter that I think that I am, on numerous times I almost came home with a rack that all of my ex-boyfriends would be jealous of. Not because I was hunting, but on the account of the deer running straight into my jeep. I called my sister and told her I now know an excellent hunting spot for her husband Fig. Right on I-90 in WY!
~Next, rest areas.. Hummm is all I can say about that, because they were non-existent! I thought for sure there would be a rest area, a gas station or some place that I could pull over and rest but nope....zero, so I had to keep driving!

As I kept driving I noticed that there were gates that could shut down the road for winter. This should have been my sign that the road was probably going to get pretty high, but do you think that I realized this? Nope, not til I was way far in. If I thought I-90 was bad I then got onto 14 which ended up taking me thru Big Horn National forest. Ok, once again I did not get the memo, that I would be the only person on this road and that I  would be seeing animals that I would be frightened of during the day, let alone at 10pm. Since this road led to Yellowstone I assumed that it would be populated, I thought wrong! I can only say that I know this would be a beautiful drive in the day, but from experience, DO NOT do it at night. As if the deer had not stressed me out enough I was now driving on a cliff, with me being the only car on the road....Ahhhh that was a long night! I finally made it off the mountain, by this time I was just plain tired, and was trying to make it to the next big city (Cody, WY) to sleep for the night. I was zooming thru small towns desperate for a place to sleep, no problem though, cause just when I couldn't get any more stressed out I saw a SUV turn around, and next thing I knew there were flashing lights behind me....Crap, maybe he was not after me, maybe there was a break-in and he was on his way to catch the robber. I decided since there were no other cars, and no houses around, that yes, he probably was after me. Well looks like I am getting pulled over for the first time on my road trip! Not only was I getting pulled over, but I knew my chances on getting out of this ticket were going to to be slim to none. If ever my looks could help, tonight was not the night. I had no make-up on, had been in the car close to 8 hours at this point, my jeep looks like a crazy mess, all odds were against me. As soon as the "sheriff" approached me I used the really good manners." Hello sir, I am sorry sir, I am not from here sir, I am looking for a place to rest sir, I am traveling by myself sir" He explained that he clocked me going 58 in a 35. I explained that I had seen a 65mph sign "sir". Crap, he still took my license and insurance...I am getting a ticket....crap..crap..crap! To my surprise he came back, and said to slow down, there were lots of "elk, deer, and other wildlife" what I wanted to say was "no s*** sir, but what I said instead was "yes sir, I am sorry, and by the way, do you now where the closest rest area is?" This is the best part of the story, he turned around and pointed directly behind me about 200 feet. Apparently during my police chase I had missed the sign to the rest area! Funny, so not only did the "sheriff" NOT give me a ticket, he also informed me of the location to the closest rest area (which was directly behind me) After this long day, I decided to turn around and sleep at a place that WY  calls a "rest area." Thank you to the "sheriff" from Grey Bull, WY. He made my night!