Oh the tragedy of it all.....

We are safe and have arrived at our final Western destination.... the Flagg Ranch in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons...but not without incident.

Mom started out the morning a nervous wreck. She was on the phone with her mechanic, discussing mountain driving. "Keep it in low gear and not too much on the brakes. If you stall you will lose all power, including brakes and steering." She was in tears and shaking. We decided to go as far as we could and if the mountains were too much we would stop wherever we could closest to the park, park the RV and head into the park with our tents and the car. I offered to drive. "I don't want something to happen to you," she said..."but I don't want to die either!" More tears. I told her to relax and enjoy the ride; besides we had a good 150 miles to go before we would hit any serious mountain driving.

We cleaned up our campsite and said goodbye to our new friends from Colorado, the Vernon's. We met during a killer basketball dunk contest in the pool, myself and Adam, the father, hooking the kids up with ollie oop passes. They were super cool people. We exchanged info and promised to visit one another in the near future. We then packed up our vehicles and followed the dirt path out to the main highway.

When my mother made her move to pull out of the parking lot my brother and I witnessed something neither of us were prepared for. Out from under the RV came a tiny gray and white striped kitten not more than 6 weeks old. It sputtered and crawled for a about 5 feet in front of us before sprawling out on its back and crying to high heaven. It had holed itself up in the RV overnight and fell out and was partially run over by the rear tires. We jumped out of the car and ran to it. Mom had no idea that it had happened and drove straight into town a few miles before she pulled over to call us and see why we weren't following. The poor kitty had the throes of death in its eyes and was crying in immense pain trying to catch its breath. I picked it up, barely fitting in one hand, and considered just snapping its neck to put it out of its misery, but a group of young kids and a grandmother had witnessed it too and came running over. It was an awful scene. The grandmother wrapped it up in her shirt and took it away, which I was thankful for, because she seemed like she knew exactly what was happening. I thanked her graciously and got back in the car. When I caught up to my mom and relayed the story, we were all pretty much sick to our stomachs. "It can only get better from here!" I said as we mustered our heads back together and made for the highway. I tried to explained to my little brother that sometimes things just happen that way. He seemed to understand completely. We put the music on and got our brains focused on the road ahead.

50 miles down the road at a cruising speed of 65 or 70 mph, another kitten came whipping out from under the RV.... HOLY SHIT! We just missed hitting it, as it made its way to the side of the road. It had been spared the tires somehow and was alive. Thank God. I flagged my mom down and made her pull over. John and I scoured the under-carriage of the RV to look for more kittens. We didn't find any.... and luckily no more came out of the back while we were driving. I don't think we could have handled the carnage.

My mom did a great job in the mountains and we made it to the Flagg Ranch! It is so beautiful here and the ride was surreal. We have no internet or phone coverage in the park so it may be a few days or even a week before I post again. Right now I am sitting in a coffee shop with a bunch of yuppie white people and their Macs in Jackson Wyoming. The douchebag next to me is loudly over-explaining where he gets his "brain freeze" when he drinks cold drinks. His girlfriend who "just totally stepped out of an LL Bean catalogue", is doing the same. I think you know the type. I'm gonna get out of here before I start complaining about bio engineered food or some shit.... ha ha. Hope you are all well!

The Black Hills... my kinda place!

My mom and brother opted to stay back at the campsite for the day and relax. They would spend the day at the pool and playing board games in the RV. I grabbed the car keys and a map early in the morning and did not return until dark! I hopped back on 90 and went west and north into Sturgis where I was overwhelmed by the cheesy billboards that were begging bikers to buy every possible good or service on the planet. The infamous rally is coming up next month and it is the biggest money maker for this whole area of South Dakota with an average of 400,000 to 800,000 bikers participating. I like motorcycles, but I'm just not into the whole "Look at me... I'm a bad ass, because my mustache matches the handlebars on my Harley!" It seems so pretentious to me. I guess there was a time when being a biker meant something, but now every yuppie with an extra $30,000 has a Fatboy and a Peter Fonda starter kit.... and they are everywhere. Relax Easy Rider!! I can't deny that all the hub bub is good for Harley Davidson stock though.

From Sturgis I made my way to Deadwood. I like this town. It's a bit gritty still, despite the fact that they really play hard on the Old Wild West themes. I parked the car and roamed around Main St. which resembles what it looked like back in the 1880's. The gaming houses, some of them original, are impressive in architecture and quaintness and a few of them still have live poker rooms. I tried my luck on a $1 slot and came out $20 ahead. I turned around and spent it at the steakhouse in the casino on a beer and a nice meal. I was feeling fine.

I got back on the road after a bit and headed south on route 85 which skirts into Wyoming along the border of South Dakota. This is beautiful country... and full of the ghosts of the native people who made this place their home. The big valleys between mountains were the camping grounds of some of the greatest Sioux tribes that ever existed. Luther Standing Bear played in these parts as a youth, along with Black Elk and many other legendary native figures. There's was a life of enjoyment and travel...living off the land and following the game it provided. I stopped at an out cropping looking over a valley and imagined in my mind's eye the young scouts that would perch themselves on such rocks looking for animals below. It was quiet and serene.

I cut back into South Dakota via route 16 and snaked my way through the Black Hills National Forest. I stopped at Custer, Jewel Cavern, and finally at a small lake entrapped between granite peaks and pines where I blew up the raft and paddled out for a look. It was a beautiful little spring fed lake with a number of people fishing on the shore. I watched a little guy pull a big rainbow trout in, much to the delight of his grandfather. I would paddle to the windward side of the lake and then let the current drift me back while lying on my back and staring into the mountains. I did this for about 3 hours and got out of the water extremely relaxed and calm. I passed through Mt. Rushmore again and I swear those dead presidents were smiling at me!

On the way back to camp I stopped in Rapid City at a Border's book store. Anyone who knows anything about me at all will tell you.... I LOVE BORDERS. I practically live there in the winter when I'm home. I grabbed some books on the native history of the area and plopped my butt down for a few hours of quality reading time. It was about as perfect a day as one could have...

Day 5 June 26, 2010 Keystone SD to Livingston Montana

We saw so many great sights this day that we felt it was like three days wrapped into one. I'll give the highlights and then let the pictures do the talking! We started out wandering around the old wooden boardwalks of Keystone where we bought tourist junk and a bag of salt water taffy for the road. Next stop was Mt. Rushmore. Those presidents have big heads! Then we drove through the Black Hills National Forest, which was considered the center of the universe to many native tribes. It was a slow drive through one lane bridges, tunnels cut in the mountains, and big old pine trees. We kept looking for bears, but unfortunately didn't see any this day. We ventured on making stops in Custer, Crazy Horse, and Deadwood. We made a pit stop in Deadwood at the local VFW post and had a couple beers to celebrate Sarah's birthday. She is a big fan of the HBO series that was created about this old western outpost, so she told me much of the plot line and characters over our frosty brews. We roamed the old haunts of Wild Bill Hicock, Calamity Jane and the like. Sarah insisted we eat Buffalo Burgers at an old Saloon. This was a great call, and the lean Buffalo meat was delicious, especially smothered in mushrooms and swiss cheese! We heard gunshots and followed the noise down the street to a cowboy show. The day was turning out to be a fantastic adventure.

After our stop, we got on the interstate for a few hundred miles and then on to some country roads that were just fantastic. Every once in a while we would pass an old western homestead that was abandoned. The road was so beautiful and the sky so pretty that I stopped to snap a few pics. No cars and only the sounds of the light breeze blowing in the grass for miles. It gave me the chills. We were close to another gem of a sight, Devil's Tower, Wyoming, and the detour was made to see that as well.

The plains unfolded into the Grand Tetons and the base of Yellowstone National Park by sunset as we rolled further west into the evening. As the sun tucked itself behind the big mountains, Sarah screamed out, "Oh my God!!" and turned to grab the camera out of the back of the car. Behind us, the moon was rising like an orange fireball in sky. It almost looked like the sun coming up again in the east. It had to be after 10 pm by the time we saw this and it had an ethereal quality due to the fact that there was still sunlight in the sky. The further north we go, the longer the days have become and the more beautiful the skyline. It couldn't get any better.

We finally stopped for gas in Little Big Horn Montana after a few failed attempts at other exits. In this area of the world, if you don't get gas before the station closes, you are out of luck. At Little Big Horn there was some kind of celebration going on at the reservation right next to the gas station. We heard drums and chanting and singing, then we got to see a great fireworks display over the wild Montana sky. They must have planned it for Sarah's birthday! Icing on the cake.

Finding a room to crash at.... not so much! We decided to stop in Billings, the closest resemblance to a city on our route. It was getting very late and we were very tired. We had put on some hard miles this day. We saw the beckoning lights of a Holiday Inn and I promptly pulled off the exit only to make the wrong left hand turn onto the opposite on ramp heading East. Shit! There was no way we were driving another 80 miles to turn around, so I did the Puerto Rico thing and backed it up the ramp. No Vacancy.... every place we stopped in Billings was packed to the gills. It was midnight and they were hosting the Antiques Road Show in the morning. We would have to go at least 35 miles to the next exit with motels. There was a caravan of us, including a guy who had mattresses strapped to his roof speeding exit to exit trying to find a bed. It was getting crazy. We finally got a break from a sweet lady running a Super 8. She called around to RV parks, cabins and small motels in the next town and got us a room at a little mom 'n pop joint. We passed out hard for the night around 2am. Sarah was up and showered at 6:30 thinking it was 9:30 instead......oops!