Day 6 - July 24, 2014 - Mt. Rushmore to Yellowstone West, Montana
I should start off with a disclaimer. This is not going to be a fun, happy post. I'm in a royally foul mood after today even though the mood is due to my own misjudgement and planning. What I researched as a 7 1/2 hour long drive day turned in to a 12 1/2 hour drive day with hardly any stops. So if you don't want to read a pissy Erin who possibly uses the language of my people (Marines and Irishmen and women), skip this day.
Overnight I woke up at 1245 because of thunder overhead. PANIC, I didn't bring a tarp on the trip. Oh please don't rain please don't rain. Check radar, check radar. Ok I think it will pass. Phew it did. Only up for a few hours during the middle of the night.
So I opted for a bit of a late start in order to wait for a homemade cinnamon roll from Spokane Creek and also having a nice chat with Darrell and Christy, the owners. Darrell was telling me all about Iron Mountain Road and how not many people know about it. I told him about social media and hash tagging and instagram and to start it up, get the word out there! I called it the Dragon of the West, he said he wouldn't say that or else get himself in trouble. Ha! But I'm saying it so go ahead, yell at me. So before setting out I made Darrell take a selfie with me.
So I set out headed towards Crazy Horse for a quick stop to take some pictures. Little did I know that all my gps systems would fail me and I would be sitting in the middle of the Black Hills Forest wondering which way to go. So I winged it. What's our motto? Head West!! So, I eventually found where I was going stopped to take some pictures and quickly hopped back in the car to make my way on what I thought was going to be an easy drive to Yellowstone. WRONG.
First I got myself so turned around that I completely forgot what Darrell and Cristy told me, which was to not go towards Newcastle because of the road construction. What was once a four lane highway turned in to this with no notice or warning.
Normally this wouldn't bother me, but usually I'm in the lead. Alright, no harm no foul, so I lose 45 minutes. No big deal. So continue out Rt. 16 into Wyoming, a single lane road, until I find I-90 again. Well, finally my gps systems start working again. I type in my destination in West Yellowstone, oh hey, it's not a 7 1/2 hour drive like google maps had stated. Its a 12 1/2 hour drive. Oh F...
Hell On Wheels anyone?
So I take off my stop at the Smith Mansion, I bypass the most awesome abandoned truck stop, and I haul ass doing just a few mph over the posted 80mph through Wyoming. I meet up with these two great bikers who are doing their best to leave me in the dust. Things are looking up, these guys are great! I'll hang with you! So I do this until they pull off to grab some lunch. I continue on my merry drive from hell only to what? You guessed it, get caught in a speed trap.
Apparently that posted 80 mph doesn't extend to the suburbs of Worland, Wy. Here is me, cruising right along just looking at the sites not even paying attention and bang, oh hey there Mr. State Trooper. Yep, 77 in a 65. Thankfully the ticket prices out here are not as bad as back east. 75 buckaroos. Here is the test on if my husband is reading my blog or not. How long will it take for me to get a phone call after this is published? ERRRINNNNNNN...
So yay, I still have a 7 1/2 hour drive ahead of me. Lovely. I'm starting to think this whole Yellowstone stop was a very bad idea. Skip 5 hours, I arrive at the East Gate of Yellowstone. At this point I am so pissed, disgusted with myself and tired I just want to go to sleep. But oh hey, I have to drive 100 miles ACROSS the park to get to my campsite. That's right 100 miles through Yellowstone at 35 mph at the fastest. Can this day get any better? Oh yes, my unborn daughter has been kicking me square in the hooha all day as well. For those of you who know, you know what I mean. For those of you that don't, it fucking hurts. I digress, so I pay my 25 dollars to get in to the park. At this point, I don't give a shit about Yellowstone, I don't care about a stupid freaking geyser, or stinking buffalo. This place looks like a lake surrounded by dead trees to me. I'm chalking this damned entry ticket up as a glorified, very expensive toll road. Here are the stinking pictures I took through my window to prove I was here.
Standard smoke coming from the ground, and a lake and your freaking buffalo. There you have it. Yellowstone. Oh and I know, I shouldn't be this pissy. But I am. On my drive I saw Old Faithful spewing herself above the tree line as I was driving by, I saw the black sands smoking, I saw it all, just from the window of Tycoon doing 35mph. So finally I make the turn to exit from the West Gate only to be stuck in a traffic jam for the last 17 miles of the trip... going 6 mph. Holy Mary Mother...I'm going to lose it.
Thank the lord that the kid checking me in at the KOA made me laugh "Oh and please make sure you don't tie anything or anyone to the trees". I about died. And that Scott and Katya made me a kick ass BBQ chicken breast for dinner. Both of these drastically raised my spirits, enough so that I bought some caramel salted fudge for desert.
This as a whole has probably been what kept me from murdering my tent and cabin neighbors here at the good ol KOA. Since quiet time is at 10 and they seem to want to scream, holler, yell and consistently walk through my tent site tonight.
Don't expect anything besides a route update tomorrow. I'm driving straight to the campsite and taking some tlc.
Goodnight. Bahhumbug.
As I sit here eating my fudge...
I should start off with a disclaimer. This is not going to be a fun, happy post. I'm in a royally foul mood after today even though the mood is due to my own misjudgement and planning. What I researched as a 7 1/2 hour long drive day turned in to a 12 1/2 hour drive day with hardly any stops. So if you don't want to read a pissy Erin who possibly uses the language of my people (Marines and Irishmen and women), skip this day.
Overnight I woke up at 1245 because of thunder overhead. PANIC, I didn't bring a tarp on the trip. Oh please don't rain please don't rain. Check radar, check radar. Ok I think it will pass. Phew it did. Only up for a few hours during the middle of the night.
So I opted for a bit of a late start in order to wait for a homemade cinnamon roll from Spokane Creek and also having a nice chat with Darrell and Christy, the owners. Darrell was telling me all about Iron Mountain Road and how not many people know about it. I told him about social media and hash tagging and instagram and to start it up, get the word out there! I called it the Dragon of the West, he said he wouldn't say that or else get himself in trouble. Ha! But I'm saying it so go ahead, yell at me. So before setting out I made Darrell take a selfie with me.
So I set out headed towards Crazy Horse for a quick stop to take some pictures. Little did I know that all my gps systems would fail me and I would be sitting in the middle of the Black Hills Forest wondering which way to go. So I winged it. What's our motto? Head West!! So, I eventually found where I was going stopped to take some pictures and quickly hopped back in the car to make my way on what I thought was going to be an easy drive to Yellowstone. WRONG.
First I got myself so turned around that I completely forgot what Darrell and Cristy told me, which was to not go towards Newcastle because of the road construction. What was once a four lane highway turned in to this with no notice or warning.
Normally this wouldn't bother me, but usually I'm in the lead. Alright, no harm no foul, so I lose 45 minutes. No big deal. So continue out Rt. 16 into Wyoming, a single lane road, until I find I-90 again. Well, finally my gps systems start working again. I type in my destination in West Yellowstone, oh hey, it's not a 7 1/2 hour drive like google maps had stated. Its a 12 1/2 hour drive. Oh F...
Hell On Wheels anyone?
So I take off my stop at the Smith Mansion, I bypass the most awesome abandoned truck stop, and I haul ass doing just a few mph over the posted 80mph through Wyoming. I meet up with these two great bikers who are doing their best to leave me in the dust. Things are looking up, these guys are great! I'll hang with you! So I do this until they pull off to grab some lunch. I continue on my merry drive from hell only to what? You guessed it, get caught in a speed trap.
Apparently that posted 80 mph doesn't extend to the suburbs of Worland, Wy. Here is me, cruising right along just looking at the sites not even paying attention and bang, oh hey there Mr. State Trooper. Yep, 77 in a 65. Thankfully the ticket prices out here are not as bad as back east. 75 buckaroos. Here is the test on if my husband is reading my blog or not. How long will it take for me to get a phone call after this is published? ERRRINNNNNNN...
So yay, I still have a 7 1/2 hour drive ahead of me. Lovely. I'm starting to think this whole Yellowstone stop was a very bad idea. Skip 5 hours, I arrive at the East Gate of Yellowstone. At this point I am so pissed, disgusted with myself and tired I just want to go to sleep. But oh hey, I have to drive 100 miles ACROSS the park to get to my campsite. That's right 100 miles through Yellowstone at 35 mph at the fastest. Can this day get any better? Oh yes, my unborn daughter has been kicking me square in the hooha all day as well. For those of you who know, you know what I mean. For those of you that don't, it fucking hurts. I digress, so I pay my 25 dollars to get in to the park. At this point, I don't give a shit about Yellowstone, I don't care about a stupid freaking geyser, or stinking buffalo. This place looks like a lake surrounded by dead trees to me. I'm chalking this damned entry ticket up as a glorified, very expensive toll road. Here are the stinking pictures I took through my window to prove I was here.
Standard smoke coming from the ground, and a lake and your freaking buffalo. There you have it. Yellowstone. Oh and I know, I shouldn't be this pissy. But I am. On my drive I saw Old Faithful spewing herself above the tree line as I was driving by, I saw the black sands smoking, I saw it all, just from the window of Tycoon doing 35mph. So finally I make the turn to exit from the West Gate only to be stuck in a traffic jam for the last 17 miles of the trip... going 6 mph. Holy Mary Mother...I'm going to lose it.
Thank the lord that the kid checking me in at the KOA made me laugh "Oh and please make sure you don't tie anything or anyone to the trees". I about died. And that Scott and Katya made me a kick ass BBQ chicken breast for dinner. Both of these drastically raised my spirits, enough so that I bought some caramel salted fudge for desert.
This as a whole has probably been what kept me from murdering my tent and cabin neighbors here at the good ol KOA. Since quiet time is at 10 and they seem to want to scream, holler, yell and consistently walk through my tent site tonight.
Don't expect anything besides a route update tomorrow. I'm driving straight to the campsite and taking some tlc.
Goodnight. Bahhumbug.
As I sit here eating my fudge...
"..and your freaking buffalo." Baahahaha! I'm sorry you had such a tough day, but hopefully that's the only one. Good thing you got it out of the way before MTTS officially begins. Fingers and toes crossed for a better day Day 7!
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