Warning: I wrote a lot of this with the screen turned off in the car while Kyle drove at night. If I looked at the screen I got carsick. There may or may not be a lot of typo's, it should be an adventure, I didn't proofread. Enjoy
(I will proofread and repost when I get back to st. louis)
UPDATE: I decided against proofreading because the typos entertained me when I read through it. (And I really didn't want to fix everything)
Day 14
After waking up in Ely, we make our way towards Las VBegas. On the way we stop at Great Basin NationalPark, something we weren’t too thrilled at bisually, don’t get me wrong it was beautiful, but we had just come from the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, and before that Beartooth Pass. We decided to take the cave tourt here and as little as the caves are advertised, we found out that the caves were really why the park was named a national park, they were beautiful. Incredible draperies of minerals the water had depositedin the vaves dripping over millions of years. They were my favorite caves I’d visited so far on the trip and I really
Something we did learn about the vac about the park while in the ccaves weasw that the oldest tree in the world had exidted in the park, I believe the tree was Prometheus, bristlecone pear ws the name of the species. It was 5000 years old… it got cut down by a guy that wanted to bore the tree to lean about it.. he got his bore stuck and asked if he could cut the tree down to receive it, they let him, only to find out the tree was the oldest living tree. They still have bristlecone pines there that are over 3000 years old, but none as old as promethius at5000 ears.
We left and went to vegas, which is a story of its own.. we get there, not knowing where to go, so I see a free parking sign and take it, not knowing it was 3 miles from the mainstrip. Well we walk and walk and get to the strip… we got there at 8 and it was now 9:30 we’re at the strop. We wandered going in and out of casinos, stopping to watch little fire shows aand see peole on ships dancing and as we did this and wandered the odds at the casino, debating whether a casino could make money even if the odds were against them, si in things like roulette, simply because people tend to camble till ehy have no money left.
We explored the Luxor and the other famours casinos and were offered many free drinks as we wandered through. We eventually, at about decided we should head back, the casinos were closing down the restaurants and people were heading up to their rooms… so we started the walk back… a walk I though was going to be a mile or two tops. We got to the car at 4:30. At the car I was so tired I could think of nothing but calculating the exact distance that caused my exaustion and psined my feet. … so I did, driving to the Luxor. In the course of the night we had wandered six and a half miles away from the car straight down las vegas bullevord as measured by the car’s odometer. We slept for a couple hours and,,,
Day 15
Decided to take the day off. We relaxed till 11 and then headed toward the stip again. I called my parents to see if they could help us locate some good vegas bbuffets. They did. We found one at the Palace Station and stayed there for 5 hours, eatind, reading, usimg internet, and recovering from the night before.
That night we took off towards the National Parks in Utah, stopping in Georgetown. We found a nice hotel with an outdoor pool and hot tub, which were easily accessible to the public, Kyle got in and I changed. When I got back Kyle had chatted up a local who had been using the pools for the past 4 months without conflict. Unfortunately before I could get in, they heard lightening and came and kicked us out. The local told us we could go to the hotel next door because it was owned by the same guy and say we were staying at the first hotel, and use their indoor pool and hot tub. We did. We were confronted by there management who harassed us about our staying at the hotel, we said we were staying at the one across the way. For something that seemed like a very small deal, they were becoming very upset and started calling the other hotel. When we agreed to leave, we found out that the police had called not 5 minutes before we had showed up warning them of two escaped convicts on the loose. The guy took our license plate number and we left.
Day 16
Started off the day with Zion National park, an incrediblely beautiful place and well worth the $25 to get in that we didn’t pay because we bought a national park pass. We did the scenic bus tour and did little hikes off the tour stops, one to seeping rock, my favorte place in the park. Aside from it being incredible that water just flowed out of the sandstone allowing ferns to grow in really strange positions, the view was incredible, it looked like a prehistoric landscape to me, untouched, tropical, yet still resembling that of an arid place merely because of the huge sandstone bluffs that acted as the backdrop for the river trees and small incredible rcok formations.
We then went up to a point that was an old fire watch point and, from there we were promised we could look over the entire park. We could, and we did, meeting a ranger who was communicating the most recent visual on the two fires spreading across the park. The night before, they had more than 200 lightening strikes in the park and two fires had been started, one near the tourist area, one outside it. We watched planes and helicopters drop different chemicals and water to estinguish it with little effect, to what we could see, but it was interesting. We learned that we bring all of the huge forrest fires upon ourselves. When small forest fires start, the natural ones that burn the brush away, but are too weak to take the trees, we stop them. By doing this we force the buildup of brush, eventually leading to a fire with significantly more fuel, enough to kill and light the trees as it moves. Although never explained to us, we figurered they decided they needed to control the fires because of ignorant liberals protesting in favor of eliminating forest fires, and because people would build their houses in and near forests. In the later case, if they were to let the fire spread, even a small brush fire, it could endanger the people and their houses.
We ate near the lookout and I checked up on the fire periodically. As we left, three more fire patrol rangers had made it to the point and were discussing the fire. I hope everything turned out well.
Day 17
Today we briefly toured Bryce Canyon, making it to the famous Susnet point. Even in the morning light it was spectacular. In our short time there I talked with a man who was doing three dimensional photraphy there, both film and digital. I could tell he was in heaven when he walked up, his eyes lit up and a huge smile broke across his face. It was a perfect place to do 3d photraphy, there were hundreds of monuments (interesting rock formations) sprawled along the canyon.
From there we went to Capital Reef national park. This park is a great place because you can drive down the canyons and watch the walls close in on you. There was a huge storm going on nearby, so when we saw the “Warning: Do not enter canyon drive if storm visible. Flash floods are frequent,” we rushed into the canyon drive. We hiked around and after some time found ourselves really high up, but close to our car, without a trail. We decided we would rather climb down than walk the mile or so back around and hope to find the trail, and we did, with little difficulty, but a lot of strange looks.
Pictures will be up in the next few days. Thanks for reading.
Eric
Monday, July 23, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Oops. Day 8 and a couple other days...
Day 8
We left Dan’s place at around 1 and headed North to Thermopolis. We stopped briefly and spent a half hour in the hotsprings. Before we left, we walked through the Holiday Inn that has the big game museum in it. It had heads of everything from zebra’s to black rhino’s. I asked about the black rhino since I know it’s endangered and I was told about a new “catch and release” method of hunting that the owner of the Holiday Inn aided in starting. He designed the tip to the arrow that would safely knock the animal out for a short time just long enough to take the measurements necessary to create the mounts I had seen on the wall in the hotel.
We made it to Cody around 6 and lounged for a while in a bar that had internet. We left for a grocery store around 7 and then cooked dinner in a park. We came back to the bar at 9 for and hung out for a few hours, playing a Japanese game called Shogi. Kyle killed me, and we went to sleep.
Day 11
Finishing up Yellowstone National Park
Upper and Lower Falls- Artist Point closed
Virginia Cascade
Gibbon Falls
Fountain Paint Pot
Midway Geyser Basin
Black Sand Basin
And end by eating at a picnic table next to a lake by the Teton Mountains.
We slept at a Day’s Inn in Jackson Hole, WY, which had the best night attendant one could ask for. He was a goofy Mexican named Manuel and he let locals come in to the hotel to watch cable tv etc. We were sitting there using the internet in the lobby at 1am and two dripping guys in swimming suits came up to him and asked him to turn up the heat on the pool, he did. The pool had “closed” at 10. He also stationed himself in the lobby rather than at the desk so he could use the free computers and play chess online. Kyle played a few with him, giving him tips on moves etc. And I woke up early (6:30) to talk to him again before he left and get the free continental breakfast the Day’s Inn so generously provided to it’s customers who paid up to $290 off season for a room.
Day 12
Spent a couple hours exploring Jackson Hole and I talked to a lady in a camera shop who helped explain some settings on my Cannon S1IS. Jackson Hole was pretty grosely built up, and the park in the center of the town had four huge archways made out of hundreds of sets of antlers each. Each was probably 20 feet high and the entire arch , a bent cylinder, was easily 5 feet in diameter.
We drove North for a few miles to grab some shots of the Teatons in the mid morning light, then headed across the Teaton Pass to Idaho Falls, where we stayed for the night at Dad’s, a renowned truckstop, unfortunately lacking internet while they changed providers.
Day 13
Went West to Craters of the Moon, drove around the park and toured two of the four caves there. The caves were created when the surface of the lava flow cooled, while the hot lava flowed underneath. The lava flowing underneath released gasses which I presume created the hollowed caverns. I could of course be wrong, I only read half the sign.
From there we headed South and got lost. We realized this when we realized we were going North. We turned around and went South again. Apparently I had missed a turn… and then asked directions 15 miles later, and got wrong directions, and got an additional 15 miles lost.
We came to a resting area with a stream and talked to a couple families, grilled some burgers, Kyle swam, and watched a beaver build his dam. I explained that this was our way of bathing to the dad driving North with his daughter to see family in Montana in his ’76 car that had a pickup back. (He told me the name of the kind of car, but I forgot). The conversation went as follows:
Me: We rinse off every other day or so, this is a pretty good spot to do it.
Him: You should bring some soap in there to really wash off
Me: Yeah, get some Irish Spring, really freshen up the place (the park was nice, but grungy)
Him: Yeah, you’d get the beaver nice and clean too…. Nothing better than a nice clean beaver.
We stayed and talked for a while and then left.
The first town we came to, Wells, did not have a truck stop or hotel with free internet. The only place we found advertising free internet was Donna’s Ranch, a Nevada style Gentleman’s Club that was nicely outfitted with a hot tubs and other things I wouldn’t want to use after what might have happened in them previously.
I sat in the car there to see if I could get internet and a sign in page came up that said “Please cum inside for access ;)”
We passed.
We finally stopped in Ely, pronounced Ellie, as I was corrected by a gas station attendant when asking for the location of a truck stop. We found it and went to sleep, too tired to bother finding internet.
Keep readin,
Eric
We left Dan’s place at around 1 and headed North to Thermopolis. We stopped briefly and spent a half hour in the hotsprings. Before we left, we walked through the Holiday Inn that has the big game museum in it. It had heads of everything from zebra’s to black rhino’s. I asked about the black rhino since I know it’s endangered and I was told about a new “catch and release” method of hunting that the owner of the Holiday Inn aided in starting. He designed the tip to the arrow that would safely knock the animal out for a short time just long enough to take the measurements necessary to create the mounts I had seen on the wall in the hotel.
We made it to Cody around 6 and lounged for a while in a bar that had internet. We left for a grocery store around 7 and then cooked dinner in a park. We came back to the bar at 9 for and hung out for a few hours, playing a Japanese game called Shogi. Kyle killed me, and we went to sleep.
Day 11
Finishing up Yellowstone National Park
Upper and Lower Falls- Artist Point closed
Virginia Cascade
Gibbon Falls
Fountain Paint Pot
Midway Geyser Basin
Black Sand Basin
And end by eating at a picnic table next to a lake by the Teton Mountains.
We slept at a Day’s Inn in Jackson Hole, WY, which had the best night attendant one could ask for. He was a goofy Mexican named Manuel and he let locals come in to the hotel to watch cable tv etc. We were sitting there using the internet in the lobby at 1am and two dripping guys in swimming suits came up to him and asked him to turn up the heat on the pool, he did. The pool had “closed” at 10. He also stationed himself in the lobby rather than at the desk so he could use the free computers and play chess online. Kyle played a few with him, giving him tips on moves etc. And I woke up early (6:30) to talk to him again before he left and get the free continental breakfast the Day’s Inn so generously provided to it’s customers who paid up to $290 off season for a room.
Day 12
Spent a couple hours exploring Jackson Hole and I talked to a lady in a camera shop who helped explain some settings on my Cannon S1IS. Jackson Hole was pretty grosely built up, and the park in the center of the town had four huge archways made out of hundreds of sets of antlers each. Each was probably 20 feet high and the entire arch , a bent cylinder, was easily 5 feet in diameter.
We drove North for a few miles to grab some shots of the Teatons in the mid morning light, then headed across the Teaton Pass to Idaho Falls, where we stayed for the night at Dad’s, a renowned truckstop, unfortunately lacking internet while they changed providers.
Day 13
Went West to Craters of the Moon, drove around the park and toured two of the four caves there. The caves were created when the surface of the lava flow cooled, while the hot lava flowed underneath. The lava flowing underneath released gasses which I presume created the hollowed caverns. I could of course be wrong, I only read half the sign.
From there we headed South and got lost. We realized this when we realized we were going North. We turned around and went South again. Apparently I had missed a turn… and then asked directions 15 miles later, and got wrong directions, and got an additional 15 miles lost.
We came to a resting area with a stream and talked to a couple families, grilled some burgers, Kyle swam, and watched a beaver build his dam. I explained that this was our way of bathing to the dad driving North with his daughter to see family in Montana in his ’76 car that had a pickup back. (He told me the name of the kind of car, but I forgot). The conversation went as follows:
Me: We rinse off every other day or so, this is a pretty good spot to do it.
Him: You should bring some soap in there to really wash off
Me: Yeah, get some Irish Spring, really freshen up the place (the park was nice, but grungy)
Him: Yeah, you’d get the beaver nice and clean too…. Nothing better than a nice clean beaver.
We stayed and talked for a while and then left.
The first town we came to, Wells, did not have a truck stop or hotel with free internet. The only place we found advertising free internet was Donna’s Ranch, a Nevada style Gentleman’s Club that was nicely outfitted with a hot tubs and other things I wouldn’t want to use after what might have happened in them previously.
I sat in the car there to see if I could get internet and a sign in page came up that said “Please cum inside for access ;)”
We passed.
We finally stopped in Ely, pronounced Ellie, as I was corrected by a gas station attendant when asking for the location of a truck stop. We found it and went to sleep, too tired to bother finding internet.
Keep readin,
Eric
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Day's 9 and 10 (july 9th and 10th) "The Spot"
New Photo's http://www.flickr.com/photos/88287340@N00/
Day 9
We left there in the morning taking bear tooth pass up to Red Lodge. The drive was incredible, and what should have been an hour and a half drive took 5 on the way there because we would stop every 500 feet and take pictures. We turned around at Red Lodge and then headed back.
We had “lunch” at around 3 at Beartooth Lake, and were going to eat there again on the way back. We stopped, Kyle got out and went swimming for some time in the freezing snowmelt lake and I took some pictures. There were too many mosquitoes there so we decided to make it to Yellowstone and eat there. We did, and ended up in Gardiner for the night.
Day 10
We woke up in Gardiner and went back into the Northern entrance. We stopped to take pictures of Mammoth Hot Springs and stopped for gas. The guy in the gas station told us about a place to bathe in the hot springs just past the 45 latitude marker 2 miles North of Mammoth Hot Springs. We drove past the entrance to the place a few times, looking for a building with hot springs inside, like the one we went in at Thermopolis. What we eventually found was a small parking lot and a half-mile trail up the Gardiner River. They called it the boiling river because at the end of the trail was an area where underground hot springs flowed into the river. The hot springs were too hot to get in themselves, but the mixture of ice water and the hot springs made for a perfect place to relax. If you got too hot, you’d move toward the river, if you got too cold, you’d move toward the springs. This easily made my top 3 spots of the trip so far.
After we bathed for an hour and a half we got out and I chatted up a park ranger named Sean. He was testing the water for chlorides if I remember correctly. I asked him what he did for the park, whether he was a typical park ranger or something special. He worked for the head geologist and was himself a hydrologist. I asked a few questions about the attractions in Yellowstone and he recommended the Black Sand Basin as a great place to visit. We had planned on visiting the petrified tree that day so we asked about it. He told us that it was a Redwood and that it was by far the larger than any tree currently growing in the park. It formed from silica being absorbed shortly after the tree died, protecting it from rot and bugs. He mentioned a whole forest of petrified trees a mile and a half hike from the road and after we expressed interest in it, told us to go to the information center back at Mammoth Hot Springs to get a map and more information. We did. I went in and heard great things from the woman working there in a special office for hikers. She said she’d heard awesome things and she almost made it up but had to turn back due to a lightening storm. So we left to find the trailhead.
It was virtually unmarked, with no reference to the petrified trees, just a sign that said trailhead. We started up with 6 apples, our cameras, and 7 bottles of water. To make a very long and painful story short, the hike was marked “Extremely Strenuous” for a reason.
I went ahead of kyle with the water and apples and took a wrong path almost immediately, getting lost, and on the wrong trail, leaving a water bottle for Kyle. He didn’t get it. The whole thing was up about a 20% grade and for non-hikers, we were not prepared for that much cardio. I, after wandering through a huge field of densely packed sage, climbed a large hill and spotted a dot of a person on a path getting to the path sometime later, about halfway up the hike. Kyle met up with me at that point about a half hour later. He was dying of thirst.
Oh, and we never found the petrified trees.
After four hours of this, we could think of nothing better than that hot spring we found in the morning. We got there and spent a full 3 and a half hours soaking, accidentally leaving a half-hour after it closed. We went back to Gardiner, went to a restaurant next to a hotel so I could use Internet and Kyle could eat. Kyle ate and left to go to sleep and I chatted up a local girl working there, and she generously let me stay till she locked up, about an hour after it closed.
Day 9
We left there in the morning taking bear tooth pass up to Red Lodge. The drive was incredible, and what should have been an hour and a half drive took 5 on the way there because we would stop every 500 feet and take pictures. We turned around at Red Lodge and then headed back.
We had “lunch” at around 3 at Beartooth Lake, and were going to eat there again on the way back. We stopped, Kyle got out and went swimming for some time in the freezing snowmelt lake and I took some pictures. There were too many mosquitoes there so we decided to make it to Yellowstone and eat there. We did, and ended up in Gardiner for the night.
Day 10
We woke up in Gardiner and went back into the Northern entrance. We stopped to take pictures of Mammoth Hot Springs and stopped for gas. The guy in the gas station told us about a place to bathe in the hot springs just past the 45 latitude marker 2 miles North of Mammoth Hot Springs. We drove past the entrance to the place a few times, looking for a building with hot springs inside, like the one we went in at Thermopolis. What we eventually found was a small parking lot and a half-mile trail up the Gardiner River. They called it the boiling river because at the end of the trail was an area where underground hot springs flowed into the river. The hot springs were too hot to get in themselves, but the mixture of ice water and the hot springs made for a perfect place to relax. If you got too hot, you’d move toward the river, if you got too cold, you’d move toward the springs. This easily made my top 3 spots of the trip so far.
After we bathed for an hour and a half we got out and I chatted up a park ranger named Sean. He was testing the water for chlorides if I remember correctly. I asked him what he did for the park, whether he was a typical park ranger or something special. He worked for the head geologist and was himself a hydrologist. I asked a few questions about the attractions in Yellowstone and he recommended the Black Sand Basin as a great place to visit. We had planned on visiting the petrified tree that day so we asked about it. He told us that it was a Redwood and that it was by far the larger than any tree currently growing in the park. It formed from silica being absorbed shortly after the tree died, protecting it from rot and bugs. He mentioned a whole forest of petrified trees a mile and a half hike from the road and after we expressed interest in it, told us to go to the information center back at Mammoth Hot Springs to get a map and more information. We did. I went in and heard great things from the woman working there in a special office for hikers. She said she’d heard awesome things and she almost made it up but had to turn back due to a lightening storm. So we left to find the trailhead.
It was virtually unmarked, with no reference to the petrified trees, just a sign that said trailhead. We started up with 6 apples, our cameras, and 7 bottles of water. To make a very long and painful story short, the hike was marked “Extremely Strenuous” for a reason.
I went ahead of kyle with the water and apples and took a wrong path almost immediately, getting lost, and on the wrong trail, leaving a water bottle for Kyle. He didn’t get it. The whole thing was up about a 20% grade and for non-hikers, we were not prepared for that much cardio. I, after wandering through a huge field of densely packed sage, climbed a large hill and spotted a dot of a person on a path getting to the path sometime later, about halfway up the hike. Kyle met up with me at that point about a half hour later. He was dying of thirst.
Oh, and we never found the petrified trees.
After four hours of this, we could think of nothing better than that hot spring we found in the morning. We got there and spent a full 3 and a half hours soaking, accidentally leaving a half-hour after it closed. We went back to Gardiner, went to a restaurant next to a hotel so I could use Internet and Kyle could eat. Kyle ate and left to go to sleep and I chatted up a local girl working there, and she generously let me stay till she locked up, about an hour after it closed.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Black Thunder and Neelon
Day 6 (July 6th)
Devil’s tower: We woke up in the trunk of the bright blue Ford Focus and looked up to see Devil’s Tower glowing in the morning sun. It was awesome. We cleaned up and drove into the national monument finding a free campground inside. Once there we registered as climbers and signed things that said if we died we wouldn’t sue. We climbed up as high as we could go without ropes and enjoyed the view.
Black Thunder: After that we drove to Newcastle, WY so we could go west on 450 through the Powder River Basin, to pass the largest open pit coalmine in the world. I, not knowing there were many coalmines, had us pull off to the first one we saw, Jake’s Ranch Coal, part of Rio Tinto. We pulled up and I talked to the guard. I asked if we could get a tour and they somewhat rudely said no, tours were only for special people and personal friends of the employees. So we left. Driving down the road we saw another mine, Black Thunder, and although we didn’t expect to get a tour, we parked and I walked up to the security booth. I asked about tours and he made an unsuccessful phone call and sent us to talk to Bonnie, the woman in charge of tours, at the administrative office. As we walked in a middle aged woman with curly hair crossed our path and I asked for Bonnie, she was Bonnie and I inquired about a tour. We couldn’t have gotten luckier, two other people had just asked for a tour and Bonnie was setting one up. We waited less than 2 minutes and a girl our age came out and introduced herself as Amanda, our tour guide. She asked where we were from and we said Missouri, this led us through a lot of questions and answers to which she responded, “Oh wow, really?” and led to finding out that her and Kyle were in the same year at University of Rolla, in Missouri. She was interning out there for around $20 an hour, driving the huge dump trucks, giving tours, and recording data for the Mine.
We toured around in a white minivan seeing the largest active dragline crane in the world. It cost 50 million dollars, was built on site taking 3 years, and moves by waddling like a duck, very slowly at 7-9 feet per step.
Picture descriptions (I hope to include these at some point....)
She also told us that there was a new employee a couple days ago that was driving one of their 78 huge dump trucks and accidentally backed up over a school bus (used to take workers to their jobsite). He destroyed it. Here’s a picture of the dump truck next to one of the workers’ school busses.
After that we drove through a lot of oil fields, eventually arriving at Kyle’s Dad’s place in Riverton. He cooked us some really good NY strip steaks and we talked about sea shanty’s. We slept on his temperpedic bed, slightly more comfortable than the back of the Focus.
Day 7
The night before, Dan, Kyle’s dad, told us that Dusty, a friend of his that ran the truck shop for his company, would be in the shop and he could show us how to break 18 wheeler’s tires. I thought this would be cool, but Dan ended up not being able to get in contact with Dusty.
So, we saw the shop and continued on passed the place that makes the sulfuric acid that Dan transports and headed through an Indian reservation, stopping at a store there that has a famous tanner. In the store I found a cool lamp that was entirely made out of wood, including the shade.
After that we drove to Dan’s friend Neelon’s house. They were in the Peace Corps together and both used that experience to start careers in photography. As we drove over the hill a huge wind turbine appeared marking his house. He had recently put it up as a display unit (that ran his house) for a dealership he opened selling wind power units.
He introduced us to his wife, Susan, who taught psychology at a 2-year program on the reservation. When she heard I had animal allergies she persisted that the house should be vacuumed (they had 2 dogs and at least 2 cats and I was thankful she did that because I would’ve been dead after dinner if she hadn’t). I said that it wasn’t necessary and Neelon said “Don’t say anything to discourage Susan from cleaning the house.”
Neelon showed us around his property, there was a beautiful stream called Bull Creak running by his house, making it possible for plants other than sage and brown grass to grow in his front yard. We then toured around back to see unfinished (and untouched in a year) sauna and his Stonehenge like garden that he made using a very large truck (I think he said it was a backhoe). Some of the stones are 30,000 lbs.
I then went and took pictures of a bird that had nested in their backyard. It was a large bird that fished in their stream and the ponds nearby. I have pictures, but can’t remember the name of it, maybe one of you could help me name it. Susan told me about how she saved one that was caught in some fishing line high up on a tree a year or so back.
We relaxed on their back porch and watched the very rare rainstorm sprinkle much needed water along the Wyoming hillside for a few hours. Neelon eventually brought me out a book called Tools of Vision that he put together with pictures and page-long writings by various scientists, including a Nobel prize winning physicist, Leon Lederman, that ran Fermilab (the huge particle accelerator), and a goof friend of Neelon’s.
Neelon cooked us some delicious burgers, and Susan made red beans and rice and salad. The beef was great, and came from a ranch whose owner they knew personally. Very good meal.
Before we left, Neelon gave Kyle a copy of his book and invited us to go along with him to Mr. Lederman’s 85th birthday party in a week. Unfortunately, we decided, we wouldn’t have time to spend a week in the area, and we declined the offer.
If you guys have thoughts or comments about likes or dislikes, please comment.
Thanks for reading,
Eric
Devil’s tower: We woke up in the trunk of the bright blue Ford Focus and looked up to see Devil’s Tower glowing in the morning sun. It was awesome. We cleaned up and drove into the national monument finding a free campground inside. Once there we registered as climbers and signed things that said if we died we wouldn’t sue. We climbed up as high as we could go without ropes and enjoyed the view.
Black Thunder: After that we drove to Newcastle, WY so we could go west on 450 through the Powder River Basin, to pass the largest open pit coalmine in the world. I, not knowing there were many coalmines, had us pull off to the first one we saw, Jake’s Ranch Coal, part of Rio Tinto. We pulled up and I talked to the guard. I asked if we could get a tour and they somewhat rudely said no, tours were only for special people and personal friends of the employees. So we left. Driving down the road we saw another mine, Black Thunder, and although we didn’t expect to get a tour, we parked and I walked up to the security booth. I asked about tours and he made an unsuccessful phone call and sent us to talk to Bonnie, the woman in charge of tours, at the administrative office. As we walked in a middle aged woman with curly hair crossed our path and I asked for Bonnie, she was Bonnie and I inquired about a tour. We couldn’t have gotten luckier, two other people had just asked for a tour and Bonnie was setting one up. We waited less than 2 minutes and a girl our age came out and introduced herself as Amanda, our tour guide. She asked where we were from and we said Missouri, this led us through a lot of questions and answers to which she responded, “Oh wow, really?” and led to finding out that her and Kyle were in the same year at University of Rolla, in Missouri. She was interning out there for around $20 an hour, driving the huge dump trucks, giving tours, and recording data for the Mine.
We toured around in a white minivan seeing the largest active dragline crane in the world. It cost 50 million dollars, was built on site taking 3 years, and moves by waddling like a duck, very slowly at 7-9 feet per step.
Picture descriptions (I hope to include these at some point....)
She also told us that there was a new employee a couple days ago that was driving one of their 78 huge dump trucks and accidentally backed up over a school bus (used to take workers to their jobsite). He destroyed it. Here’s a picture of the dump truck next to one of the workers’ school busses.
After that we drove through a lot of oil fields, eventually arriving at Kyle’s Dad’s place in Riverton. He cooked us some really good NY strip steaks and we talked about sea shanty’s. We slept on his temperpedic bed, slightly more comfortable than the back of the Focus.
Day 7
The night before, Dan, Kyle’s dad, told us that Dusty, a friend of his that ran the truck shop for his company, would be in the shop and he could show us how to break 18 wheeler’s tires. I thought this would be cool, but Dan ended up not being able to get in contact with Dusty.
So, we saw the shop and continued on passed the place that makes the sulfuric acid that Dan transports and headed through an Indian reservation, stopping at a store there that has a famous tanner. In the store I found a cool lamp that was entirely made out of wood, including the shade.
After that we drove to Dan’s friend Neelon’s house. They were in the Peace Corps together and both used that experience to start careers in photography. As we drove over the hill a huge wind turbine appeared marking his house. He had recently put it up as a display unit (that ran his house) for a dealership he opened selling wind power units.
He introduced us to his wife, Susan, who taught psychology at a 2-year program on the reservation. When she heard I had animal allergies she persisted that the house should be vacuumed (they had 2 dogs and at least 2 cats and I was thankful she did that because I would’ve been dead after dinner if she hadn’t). I said that it wasn’t necessary and Neelon said “Don’t say anything to discourage Susan from cleaning the house.”
Neelon showed us around his property, there was a beautiful stream called Bull Creak running by his house, making it possible for plants other than sage and brown grass to grow in his front yard. We then toured around back to see unfinished (and untouched in a year) sauna and his Stonehenge like garden that he made using a very large truck (I think he said it was a backhoe). Some of the stones are 30,000 lbs.
I then went and took pictures of a bird that had nested in their backyard. It was a large bird that fished in their stream and the ponds nearby. I have pictures, but can’t remember the name of it, maybe one of you could help me name it. Susan told me about how she saved one that was caught in some fishing line high up on a tree a year or so back.
We relaxed on their back porch and watched the very rare rainstorm sprinkle much needed water along the Wyoming hillside for a few hours. Neelon eventually brought me out a book called Tools of Vision that he put together with pictures and page-long writings by various scientists, including a Nobel prize winning physicist, Leon Lederman, that ran Fermilab (the huge particle accelerator), and a goof friend of Neelon’s.
Neelon cooked us some delicious burgers, and Susan made red beans and rice and salad. The beef was great, and came from a ranch whose owner they knew personally. Very good meal.
Before we left, Neelon gave Kyle a copy of his book and invited us to go along with him to Mr. Lederman’s 85th birthday party in a week. Unfortunately, we decided, we wouldn’t have time to spend a week in the area, and we declined the offer.
If you guys have thoughts or comments about likes or dislikes, please comment.
Thanks for reading,
Eric
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Day 5,
Day 5
Wind Cave National Park. The 7th national park to be created, Wind Cave has over 124 miles of caves (4th longest gave system in the world) all compressed within 1 square mile of land, no more than 500 fee deep. It’s pretty impressive, and they think they’ve only explored 5% of it. On the 3rd of July, they actually found a new room that they didn’t cross to continue exploration because the ground was covered with rare crystal formations.
Something the wind cave is known for are its boxwork formations. They have 95% of the world’s boxwork formations which are actually older than the cave itself. Here’s a picture and some more information on it, like how it’s formed.
Before heading to Mount Rushmore, Kyle decides to pick up another pair of sunglasses.
Buffalo: Both on the way to Wind Cave and leaving it, we saw herds of buffalo, hundreds of prairie dogs, deer, and prong horned antelope. The buffalo liked to cross the street at a very leisurely pace, and in doing so held up traffic a little. This was what we though was the reason for a huge line of cars leaving Wind Cave, however, we eventually found that it was a donkey on the side of the road that, like a homeless person, begged for food from every car. We saw someone feed it half a bag of strawberry Twizlers, yum.
Mount Rushmore: The biggest disappointment on the trip so far short of not seeing a rattlesnake. (Kyle does not share this opinion, he doesn’t want to see a rattlesnake). We expected a few picnic tables, and a large field with trees in front of a majestic cliff with huge faces blasted into the side. What we found was a four story parking garage with an $8 parking fee, 3 gift stores (excluding 2 more that called themselves “bookstores”), a full food court, and a very small, hidden, museum. I suppose it’s a true symbol of America, but I’d rather have Devil’s tower be that image in my mind.
After leaving Mount Rushmore, we headed straight for Devil’s Tower, stopping once to cook and eat all our remaining food (6 hotdogs, 2 hamburgers, 10 eggs, and 3 kiwi’s). It was delicious.
We then made it to Devil’s tower just in time for sunset and climbed some barbed wire and went up this huge hill for a good view. We stayed there for awhile and as it got dark, Kyle said he heard a noise, a growl. I was farther away and said all I could hear was traffic, then started giving him trouble about it. I walked over to where he was to take some pictures and it happened again. It was distinct, short, deep, and loud. We decided it couldn’t be a large cat, and ended up concluding that it could only be one thing: a bear. Well, we ignored it for awhile taking pictures, still hearing it every minute or so, then right as I was taking a picture, and standing on a cliff, the noise came from right behind me (or so it sounded). I jumped, but thankfully not off the cliff. I turned to see a bird fly by, and no bear. We never actually saw the bear, but we don’t think it could have been the bird… could it?
We drove to a campsite, a KOA. They wanted $26 for us to stay. So we left and went toward the nearest town (10 miles away). It’s about 11PM now and I went into all of the motel’s asking for prices. On the last motel, after hearing it was still over $50 a night, I asked where I could park, and explained the situation. No help. We ended up parking in a gas station that looked like it could be a truck stop, but some dickhead called the 5-oh on us and I had to explain the situation. He was very helpful after he realized we weren’t trying to rob the place and after a lot of thinking, he suggested we sleep on the side of the road close to the KOA back by Devil’s Tower. So we did.
I'll have more updates soon!
Eric
Wind Cave National Park. The 7th national park to be created, Wind Cave has over 124 miles of caves (4th longest gave system in the world) all compressed within 1 square mile of land, no more than 500 fee deep. It’s pretty impressive, and they think they’ve only explored 5% of it. On the 3rd of July, they actually found a new room that they didn’t cross to continue exploration because the ground was covered with rare crystal formations.
Something the wind cave is known for are its boxwork formations. They have 95% of the world’s boxwork formations which are actually older than the cave itself. Here’s a picture and some more information on it, like how it’s formed.
Before heading to Mount Rushmore, Kyle decides to pick up another pair of sunglasses.
Buffalo: Both on the way to Wind Cave and leaving it, we saw herds of buffalo, hundreds of prairie dogs, deer, and prong horned antelope. The buffalo liked to cross the street at a very leisurely pace, and in doing so held up traffic a little. This was what we though was the reason for a huge line of cars leaving Wind Cave, however, we eventually found that it was a donkey on the side of the road that, like a homeless person, begged for food from every car. We saw someone feed it half a bag of strawberry Twizlers, yum.
Mount Rushmore: The biggest disappointment on the trip so far short of not seeing a rattlesnake. (Kyle does not share this opinion, he doesn’t want to see a rattlesnake). We expected a few picnic tables, and a large field with trees in front of a majestic cliff with huge faces blasted into the side. What we found was a four story parking garage with an $8 parking fee, 3 gift stores (excluding 2 more that called themselves “bookstores”), a full food court, and a very small, hidden, museum. I suppose it’s a true symbol of America, but I’d rather have Devil’s tower be that image in my mind.
After leaving Mount Rushmore, we headed straight for Devil’s Tower, stopping once to cook and eat all our remaining food (6 hotdogs, 2 hamburgers, 10 eggs, and 3 kiwi’s). It was delicious.
We then made it to Devil’s tower just in time for sunset and climbed some barbed wire and went up this huge hill for a good view. We stayed there for awhile and as it got dark, Kyle said he heard a noise, a growl. I was farther away and said all I could hear was traffic, then started giving him trouble about it. I walked over to where he was to take some pictures and it happened again. It was distinct, short, deep, and loud. We decided it couldn’t be a large cat, and ended up concluding that it could only be one thing: a bear. Well, we ignored it for awhile taking pictures, still hearing it every minute or so, then right as I was taking a picture, and standing on a cliff, the noise came from right behind me (or so it sounded). I jumped, but thankfully not off the cliff. I turned to see a bird fly by, and no bear. We never actually saw the bear, but we don’t think it could have been the bird… could it?
We drove to a campsite, a KOA. They wanted $26 for us to stay. So we left and went toward the nearest town (10 miles away). It’s about 11PM now and I went into all of the motel’s asking for prices. On the last motel, after hearing it was still over $50 a night, I asked where I could park, and explained the situation. No help. We ended up parking in a gas station that looked like it could be a truck stop, but some dickhead called the 5-oh on us and I had to explain the situation. He was very helpful after he realized we weren’t trying to rob the place and after a lot of thinking, he suggested we sleep on the side of the road close to the KOA back by Devil’s Tower. So we did.
I'll have more updates soon!
Eric
Sunday, July 8, 2007
The Fourth
Day 4
Mammoth site in Hotsprings, SD. There was a sinkhole there that was created when an underground cave collapsed. The collapse opened up an undergroung hotspring which filled the sinkhole. In the winter the hot water would allow grass to grow near the sinkhole’s edge and every 7 years or so, between 1 and 3 mammoth’s would slip on the wet rocks and not be able to get out. So far they’ve found 56 mammoth’s and they estimate they’re about 1/4th done with the excavation.
Fourth of July celebration… We stopped by the community center for some free food and talked to this biker that told us all about the lawn care business he started. His theory on life is work hard and you will succeed. I’m becoming in disagreement with that as I read books like The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale.
Then we went to the rubber duck race down a river…, which we missed, but saw the prizes awarded. The grand prize was a new Jeep, but the odds of winning it were 1 in 2,250,000. You first had to win the duck race, and then had to have your number picked out of the hat of all the duck entrants. There were 1500 entrants.
After that we drove over to the demolition derby. Everyone in the town and every town within 200 miles was there, 400 people. It was like bumper cars but much manlier. The driver’s attacked in reverse to protect their engines. Then they had the powder puff race where women and girls from the stands could come down and drive some of the cars in a recreational heat. 4 of the 6 car’s in the women’s derby were knocked out from the pre-race parallel parking alone. (Actually, we didn’t stay for the powder puff race, but I can only imagine).
Then we went back to the shifty truck stop and used their free internet and electrical plugs. Kyle and I helped the Indian at the cash register (I use this instead of Native American because they don’t call themselves Native Americans) fix his laptop (PC) because it was running really slow. He needed it for a business where he etches high-resolution images on pendants. He is working now because his engraver broke and he needed to make money to pay for the repairs (expensive).
After his shift, an old Vietnam war veteran, Wayne, came in to take his spot and we talked awhile. He was not at all like John Goodman (Walter) in the Big Lebowski. I asked him how well Apocalypse Now represented Vietnam, and he said he hated the movie and it was a terrible representation of the war. He said “It was bad, but not that bad.” After observing him interact with a young kid trying to buy 4 dollars of gasoline with dimes and nickels, I told him he seemed to be an ideal employee, friendly, great with people, and willing to go the extra step for the customer’s, even if it was against company policy, as long as it made sense. An example of this was he would give truck driver’s free shower’s ($5) if they filled up their 100 gallon tanks there. Makes sense. He claimed that he might appear to be an ideal employee because he wanted to work, and he loved people.
We talked some politics and he let me have a free shower and I went to sleep.
Interesting fact: Gas stations make between 6 and 10 cents per gallon of gas they sell you.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88287340@N00/ (updated some pictures, still working on 'em)
Mammoth site in Hotsprings, SD. There was a sinkhole there that was created when an underground cave collapsed. The collapse opened up an undergroung hotspring which filled the sinkhole. In the winter the hot water would allow grass to grow near the sinkhole’s edge and every 7 years or so, between 1 and 3 mammoth’s would slip on the wet rocks and not be able to get out. So far they’ve found 56 mammoth’s and they estimate they’re about 1/4th done with the excavation.
Fourth of July celebration… We stopped by the community center for some free food and talked to this biker that told us all about the lawn care business he started. His theory on life is work hard and you will succeed. I’m becoming in disagreement with that as I read books like The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale.
Then we went to the rubber duck race down a river…, which we missed, but saw the prizes awarded. The grand prize was a new Jeep, but the odds of winning it were 1 in 2,250,000. You first had to win the duck race, and then had to have your number picked out of the hat of all the duck entrants. There were 1500 entrants.
After that we drove over to the demolition derby. Everyone in the town and every town within 200 miles was there, 400 people. It was like bumper cars but much manlier. The driver’s attacked in reverse to protect their engines. Then they had the powder puff race where women and girls from the stands could come down and drive some of the cars in a recreational heat. 4 of the 6 car’s in the women’s derby were knocked out from the pre-race parallel parking alone. (Actually, we didn’t stay for the powder puff race, but I can only imagine).
Then we went back to the shifty truck stop and used their free internet and electrical plugs. Kyle and I helped the Indian at the cash register (I use this instead of Native American because they don’t call themselves Native Americans) fix his laptop (PC) because it was running really slow. He needed it for a business where he etches high-resolution images on pendants. He is working now because his engraver broke and he needed to make money to pay for the repairs (expensive).
After his shift, an old Vietnam war veteran, Wayne, came in to take his spot and we talked awhile. He was not at all like John Goodman (Walter) in the Big Lebowski. I asked him how well Apocalypse Now represented Vietnam, and he said he hated the movie and it was a terrible representation of the war. He said “It was bad, but not that bad.” After observing him interact with a young kid trying to buy 4 dollars of gasoline with dimes and nickels, I told him he seemed to be an ideal employee, friendly, great with people, and willing to go the extra step for the customer’s, even if it was against company policy, as long as it made sense. An example of this was he would give truck driver’s free shower’s ($5) if they filled up their 100 gallon tanks there. Makes sense. He claimed that he might appear to be an ideal employee because he wanted to work, and he loved people.
We talked some politics and he let me have a free shower and I went to sleep.
Interesting fact: Gas stations make between 6 and 10 cents per gallon of gas they sell you.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88287340@N00/ (updated some pictures, still working on 'em)
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
The Western Roadtrip
A brief explination of the trip: My friend Kyle and I are roadtripping to the West (but not the coast) for a few weeks.
We've done a lot in the first three days. We left Sunday morning at about 8:30AM (about 30 minutes after we planned because I couldn't find my wallet).
The rest I will give you in the notes I've taken on the trip so far. They are very breif, but I will accompany them with pictures.
Day 1:
Drive to KC and get BBQ from Arthur Bryantts. I got some delcious pulled pork, Kyle got some good barbaqued beef. We recommend their Rich & Spicy BBQ sauce.
Almost ran out of gas... we were on E, and noticed right as we saw the sign "Exit Now, next exit in 54 miles."
Almost ran out of gas again, we were driving to a campsite, which I figuered was a mile down the road and told kyle "We'll get gas when we leave tomorrow." The campsite was about 38 miles away. Luckily, there was a small Sinclair (one pump) station.
While at the campsite, we decided to cook. I cooked some chicken with cream of mushroom soup by the light of the lantern we borrowed from some college kids from Denver at the site next to us. That wasn't enough food, so we cooked hotdogs on forks.
Kyle slept on the sand on the beach, and I slept in the car.
Day 2:
Saw lighthouse by the lake.
Get gas (from the small Sinclaire mentioned above)
Stop in town to get toothpaste and a couple pairs of sunglasses.
Drive west in Nebraska and take pictures.
Lost my sunglasses while taking pictures.
Found my sunglasses after driving back to the picture spot and searching through the tall grass (lucky!)
Stopped for lunch, I cooked omeletes.
Saw Jailhouse and Courthouse Rocks
Stopped by Chimeny Rock
Hiked Scott's Bluff
Found Lake Minatare to stay which was really nice. We started cooking but the wind picked up and stopped us. I ditched the chicken I was cooking and packed up the cooking stuff... just in time too, we cleaned up just as soon as a huge wind storm hit with winds that were at least 60MPH. There was no sand left on the beach after it was over.
We left there after about 3 hours of watching the storm and helping people get their boats under control and found a restaurant in town, Mi Ranchito.
After that we drove around looking for a truckstop so we could shower and sleep, but didn't find one. We slept in the car behind an America's Inn in Allaince.
Day 3
See Carhenge (guess what that is?)
Run in with the law (no speedlimit posted, Kyle got pulled over going 81 in a, supposidly, 60.
Agate fossil beds
Fort Robinson (for lunch)
Toadstol Geological Park- really awesome, we hiked for a few hours and took lots of pictures.
Shep's Canyon
Gas Station (which I'm in right now typing this up, free wifi) was really slow. Took us over 25 minutes to pump 7 gallons of gas. In fact, in the time we pumped, 2 other cars came, started pumping, and left after they got less than a gallon. To quote one guy "Honey, it's still not at $2 yet," they left.
When ours finished, we knew not because the pump stopped, but because we heard the gasoline pouring down the side of Kyle's car. It wasn't a trickle either, it came out the speed it was going in (which granted it was slow, but it was about a waterhose on medium). Kyle took it out and it was still spewing, but managed to pull the holster down so it stopped without drenching himself or I in gasoline.
I lied, I'm too tired to post pictures. Here are some pictures I posted on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/88287340@N00/
Thanks for reading
Eric
We've done a lot in the first three days. We left Sunday morning at about 8:30AM (about 30 minutes after we planned because I couldn't find my wallet).
The rest I will give you in the notes I've taken on the trip so far. They are very breif, but I will accompany them with pictures.
Day 1:
Drive to KC and get BBQ from Arthur Bryantts. I got some delcious pulled pork, Kyle got some good barbaqued beef. We recommend their Rich & Spicy BBQ sauce.
Almost ran out of gas... we were on E, and noticed right as we saw the sign "Exit Now, next exit in 54 miles."
Almost ran out of gas again, we were driving to a campsite, which I figuered was a mile down the road and told kyle "We'll get gas when we leave tomorrow." The campsite was about 38 miles away. Luckily, there was a small Sinclair (one pump) station.
While at the campsite, we decided to cook. I cooked some chicken with cream of mushroom soup by the light of the lantern we borrowed from some college kids from Denver at the site next to us. That wasn't enough food, so we cooked hotdogs on forks.
Kyle slept on the sand on the beach, and I slept in the car.
Day 2:
Saw lighthouse by the lake.
Get gas (from the small Sinclaire mentioned above)
Stop in town to get toothpaste and a couple pairs of sunglasses.
Drive west in Nebraska and take pictures.
Lost my sunglasses while taking pictures.
Found my sunglasses after driving back to the picture spot and searching through the tall grass (lucky!)
Stopped for lunch, I cooked omeletes.
Saw Jailhouse and Courthouse Rocks
Stopped by Chimeny Rock
Hiked Scott's Bluff
Found Lake Minatare to stay which was really nice. We started cooking but the wind picked up and stopped us. I ditched the chicken I was cooking and packed up the cooking stuff... just in time too, we cleaned up just as soon as a huge wind storm hit with winds that were at least 60MPH. There was no sand left on the beach after it was over.
We left there after about 3 hours of watching the storm and helping people get their boats under control and found a restaurant in town, Mi Ranchito.
After that we drove around looking for a truckstop so we could shower and sleep, but didn't find one. We slept in the car behind an America's Inn in Allaince.
Day 3
See Carhenge (guess what that is?)
Run in with the law (no speedlimit posted, Kyle got pulled over going 81 in a, supposidly, 60.
Agate fossil beds
Fort Robinson (for lunch)
Toadstol Geological Park- really awesome, we hiked for a few hours and took lots of pictures.
Shep's Canyon
Gas Station (which I'm in right now typing this up, free wifi) was really slow. Took us over 25 minutes to pump 7 gallons of gas. In fact, in the time we pumped, 2 other cars came, started pumping, and left after they got less than a gallon. To quote one guy "Honey, it's still not at $2 yet," they left.
When ours finished, we knew not because the pump stopped, but because we heard the gasoline pouring down the side of Kyle's car. It wasn't a trickle either, it came out the speed it was going in (which granted it was slow, but it was about a waterhose on medium). Kyle took it out and it was still spewing, but managed to pull the holster down so it stopped without drenching himself or I in gasoline.
I lied, I'm too tired to post pictures. Here are some pictures I posted on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/88287340@N00/
Thanks for reading
Eric
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)