Saturday May 27, 2023 - Pultneyville NY to Charlotte VT

We had a light breakfast at Ginny's and said our goodbyes. First stop was to visit an old school friend of Deb’s, Laurie Pfund-Byron, who we had seen a few years back at Deb’s campus school reunion. She has a lovely spot near Deb’s old home in Oswego and she showed us her plan book for her trip later this year travelling down RT 1 on the east coast. Very organized. Sadly we realized that we'd forgotten to take selfies of either us with Ginny or Laurie... another item to add to our checklist! Then we did a quick drive by of Deb’s childhood home and it looked pretty much the same. Someone bought it to use as a summer lakeside home last year and it was good to see it in such good shape.

Then a fuel stop just east of Mexico, NY, and the trip through the back roads of upstate New York that we have been taking for the past 35 years visiting Deb’s home from Vermont. Lots of memories on this road. We made a stop in Speculator and they were setting up for the fire department chicken barbecue. Seems everyone in New York was having a yard sale today, a good Memorial day tradition we suppose.

Then we crossed the bridge into Vermont where soft ice cream becomes creemees and the greenery seems a bit more green and the houses a bit more tidy.

Tonight we stay at our old friends Dave and Deb in Charlotte. It was so good to see them, and we ordered pizza out and talked all night. A quick Ted Lasso episode so we were all caught up and then off to bed. We made it all the way to Vermont from Arizona!!

Odo 10,550

53 nights

Friday May 26, 2023 - Avon OH to Pultneyville NY

Good night at Cabela's except for the street light in front of the van. Actually very quiet, even the geese slept well.

We stopped for coffee (McD’s) and tea (Starbucks) and drove a couple of hours before stopping for breakfast at a pulloff. Crazy traffic near Cleveland, but we then opted to wiggle through the lonelier back roads of western New York for the second half of the drive, which brought the bright green everything out in force. This is the time of year when all the new growth is abundant with the light greens. Also a pretty clear day compared to what we have had with all the smoke.

We got to Aunt Ginny's around 2:30 or so. We had not seen her in quite awhile so it was wonderful to re-connect. 

We had nice hot showers and then she gave us the tour around town where we got to see where she grew up, where the Lott family cottage was, and where Uncle Bob grew up and taught high school.

Ginny had made a reservation at the Copper Ale House, and being Friday it was fish fry night. So delicious fish fry all around. We went back to Ginniy's and then off to bed.

odo = 10268

Thursday May 25, 2023 - Battle Creek MI to Henry Ford Museum to Dover OH

Well the heater stopped working last night so it got a little cool. The overnight in the restaurant parking lot was fine. Nobody bothered us, a little light from the street lamps but the Harvest Host thing works great. 

Today we go to Detroit and visit the Henry Ford Museum of Innovation. We heard about it from someone early in our trip. It was 1.5 hours up there and they open at 9:30, so a leisurely morning. The traffic is a little stressful because there are so many people up here all coming and going on top of the fact that the roads were all being worked on, so lots of rough road with no shoulders and traffic cones all over. Very stressful for us country bumpkins.

We got there and discovered that a lot of schools have class trips here so there was a line of cars and school busses waiting to park. They ran out of parking so we ended up stuffing the van a ways away on the grass beside the road. It was actually nice to walk since we did none the day before.

There are three parts to this place. The Museum of Innovation itself, Greenfield Village (an outdoor town) and the factory tour. We opted for just the museum. Fortunately most of the kids were going to Greenfield Village so the museum was not too crazy busy. It’s a huge walk around museum so no waiting in line anywhere.

The theme of course is automobiles, but they also pushed the last 150 years of innovations that contributed to all the stuff we have around us. We forget that cloth used to be made by hand and that machines were not mass produced with interchangeable parts.  It was a great shout out to all those nerds coming in to work everyday with some new idea.

There was also a nice balance of things to see for the non-nerds. They had an exhibit about Julia Child and her life story. A lot about how women and minorities were really limited by old racial and sexist barriers of 100 years ago. There were also several exhibits that were nostalgic (think VW microbus campers, 8 tracks, rotary phones). A lot of this “old stuff” hits pretty close to home when you are in your 60’s!

We left the museum, walked back to the van, and called Dave & Matt Vans about the heater not working. They called right back and we solved the problem by cycling the power on the heater. It all works again. I guess this is not an unusual issue with Wabasto heaters and next time I know what to do. Great customer support!!

Tonight we are “camping” in a Cabela’s parking lot which they allow. We walked next door and got some groceries and then bed.

 odo = 9934

Wednesday May 24, 2023 - Backbone State Park Iowa to Battle Creek MI

Travel day today so not much to report unless you want to hear about road construction, semis, and rude drivers.

We did all the fluids this morning and trash at this great park. Not many people were here last night so this is an easy stop. Let’s see after Memorial Day.

All day on secondary roads which are 4 lane roads around here so it’s like our own private interstate.

We are staying at a Harvest Host place tonight. These are businesses that let campers stay in their business parking areas. This one is Moonraker's Restaurant in Battle Creek which kills two birds with one stone. The woman at the restaurant says it's a no brainer for them. We know where we are having dinner and we get a free spot to park for the night. We are 1.5 hrs from the Henry Ford Innovation Museum so we will do the quick jaunt up there in the morning.

Tuesday May 23, 2023 - Yankton SD to Backbone State Park IA

First big travel day so no big exciting pictures. We stopped in Yankton to get breakfast at the Fryn’ Pan diner. The waitress, Amy, was perfect (except she did not call us “darlin” or “hon”, but other than that it was eggs, bacon, pancakes, coffee.

We stopped at the Sergeant Floyd River Museum Visitor Center because Deb is addicted to road maps. Floyd was the only person on the Lewis & Clark expedition to die, and they think it was appendicitis, and he died in this location. Back in 1804, they could do nothing about appendicitis. The boat is all fixed up as a museum and they did a pretty good job. Three floors of history. Good stop.

Then it was pretty much driving the rest of the day. Deb is on a quest to stay at state parks, and she found Backbone State Park in Iowa that was on our route, so here we are tonight away from the corn fields, tucked into a rolling little geological place called the Backbone with a CCC built reservoir and stone buildings. We walked a good ways around the lake and back. A tree fell over just as we were walking by it, pretty weird. Saw some geese, chipmunks, wildflowers, and all kinds of new green growth. Everything is that pretty light green. The campground host was pretty informative (unlike the really young guy driving around in the pickup). The bugs were out and it was pretty warm and a little humid.

Dinner in the van (rice, steak strips, broccoli). Coconut cream pie (Amy talked me into a piece to go) then we left all the screened windows (2 sides and the MaxAirs) open since it was a bit warm. We have a small rechargeable fan (thanks to Hannah for the idea) which kept a little air moving. It was 76 degrees inside the van when we went to bed and 65 when we woke up.

Odo = 9226

Monday May 22, 2023 - Badlands SD to Yankton SD

 

Another National Park day. Sage Creek campground was a good spot last night. No buffalo sleeping in the campground but the prairie dogs were up and at it. A group of 4 pulled in next to us at 3:30 this morning. They were sleeping away in their tent this morning so I can only assume a cross country road trip. A few people were already up and gone but most were still here.

Yesterday we snuck in a back entrance of the park on dirt roads just north of the park. So today we continue on the dirt road which is on top of the plateau. Pretty good washboard road so it gave the van a good break in (all those fasteners). Nothing is coming loose by the way so kudos to Dave & Matt Vans for the good build.

Finally we hit the paved park road and started to see the Badlands vistas as well as more buffalo and prairie dogs. Another situation where the first 20 photos you take are amazing and then you reach sensory overload. There was some brilliant green grass growing between the eroded mud which added to the red layers, making for some pretty nice views. The skies are still smoky from the Alberta fires. Every day we keep thinking about a camera with a good zoom lens…

Stopped at the visitor center and they had a great display there. The prairie dogs are a huge piece of the park ecosystem since they are food for the hawks, ferrets, and coyotes. Everything got out of balance when the cattle grazers tried to eradicate them (broken cow legs down the holes I suspect) but they have things in balance now.  The ferrets are on their way to being restored since they found some up in Wyoming  that they’d thought were extinct.

We left Badlands National Park thinking we kind of ran out of national parks and we have a long way to get back to Vermont in 10 days or less, so we’d better think about getting some miles in. Our next goal is the Henry Ford Museum of Innovation near Detroit so we told Google Maps to get us there (in 3 or 4 days) and ended up on RT 44 across South Dakota. Lost an hour due to the time zone somewhere in central South Dakota. Deb found a great campsite at Lewis and Clark State Park near Yankton. This is a beautiful state park right on a reservoir on the Missouri River, complete with hot showers. So sitting watching the birds zing back and forth skimming the water while the sun disappears through the haze (still smoke?). Leftovers for dinner, a walk, then bed.

odo = 8885

Sunday May 21, 2023 - Deadwood SD to Badlands SD

This morning we took another hot shower and stuffed our nice clean bodies into nice clean clothes, packed up all our other nice clean clothes and sheets and pillow cases and towels and loaded up the van. The motel (not a high end one) had a sad breakfast offering with coffee that tasted like last night’s dish water (I swear it was grey) and to distract you from that they offered either blue milk (aka skim) or those powdered creamer packets. They did have a waffle machine so not a total loss. No yogurt either. Oh well, quit your bitchin’!

First stop was groceries and real coffee in Spearfish. Chatted with a school group from New Jersey travelling cross country in 4 vehicles. I’d love to be a fly on that wall, what fun!!

Next we drove through Spearfish Canyon which winded its way through a deep canyon and ended near the town of Lead (pronounced Leed). Next stop was Sylvan Lake, which was very busy since it was a free park pass day at Custer State Park, free fishing permit weekend, so lots of young and old anglers drowning worms.

Next up was Needles Parkway which some crazy person thought was a good idea. Half the road is 1.5 lanes wide so lots of stopping and waiting for wide spots. There were three or four tunnels that were barely wide enough to fit through (love those electric folding mirrors!), and the posted height signs made us nervous, but it turns out they are actually much higher than posted so the MaxAir fans are still attached to the top of our van.

Next stop was the Custer State Park Visitor Center which looks more like a national park visitor center. They obviously have a big budget because everything in the park is top shelf. We decided that the south west corner of South Dakota is the reason to come to South Dakota. I’m sure there are other pockets but this corner is wonderful.

Next stop was the 18 mile wildlife loop through the park. The first half we saw nothing but rolling grasslands and rocks. We stopped at the Buffalo Research Center and chatted with Don the wildlife guy. Another couple came in and said all the critters were on the other half of the loop (which they were). 

He said they keep the buffalo herd at around 1400, and every fall in September they have a roundup with 60 cowboys and they sort and brand and count and vaccinate as required. They sell the excess herd (400 head or so) and do it all again each year. He said about 30 of the cowboys know what they are doing, as they are park employees, and the other half are interested folks who enter a lottery. The extras are anyone who has a horse and some experience herding animals.

We were not disappointed on the second half of the loop, where we saw a large herd of buffalo, lots of prairie dogs, wild burros (who love to beg for food), and we saw a bonus pronghorn. Later in the day we saw a bald eagle, and this morning we saw two big horn sheep.

The nice visitor center volunteer was a full time RV person, and she told us about a remote campground east of Custer State Park in Badlands National Park. There are 2 campgrounds in the national park, and Deb had read that one is first come/first serve, while the larger one is reservation only. We decided to give Sage Creek Campground (the first come/first serve and mentioned by the visitor center volunteer) a try.

We’re sitting here tonight at the Sage Creek Campground in the North Unit of the Badlands, watching the prairie dogs scamper about in the field in front of us. Two buffalo just showed up and grazed a bit, rolled around in the grass, and then mosied away, and there are coyotes howling in the distance. This is a national park wild campsite (no fee, pit toilets, trash/recycling only) way out on the end of a dirt road in Badlands National Park and it’s great. 

We are adding up days and we think we better start paying attention to how long it takes to get back to Vermont. Stay tuned

Odo = 8574

Saturday May 20, 2023 - South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park to Deadwood SD

Another sunny clear blue sky morning here at the campground. More people came in last night but I don’t think it is full this morning. Our site is right on the Little Missouri River. No buffalo in site this morning (but there were two waving goodbye at the campground entrance on our way out).

Cereal for breakfast, coffee, tea. Today we continue south and enter the Badlands of South Dakota. We saw the HBO series Deadwood this last year and the actual Deadwood is south of us, and we are about due for showers and clean laundry again so Deb found a motel in Deadwood for tonight. Maybe even dinner out!

The camp cooking has been pretty easy. The induction cooktop has worked really well as long as you only cook one pot meals, which we have. And the electric tea kettle gets worked hard. We never seem to expend more than 20% of the battery between an evening of cooking, gas heater (it uses gasoline but also electricity to run the fan, etc) and morning coffee. So we think we sized the solar and battery about right.

So we left the park and did rubbish and recycling on the way out. Back on RT 85 (Theodore Roosevelt Expressway) headed south. We had to go on I-90 for a bit and then south on RT-85. This stretch of RT 85 is only two lanes and is not being improved like the section we did yesterday. We are guessing that the oil boom up in Williston is behind improving yesterday;s road so they have a better connection to I-94 and the outside world.

Today's RT 85 will take us all the way to Deadwood. The southern part of North Dakota is kind of flat and featureless with some grassland (grazing) and some wheat fields. Once we crossed into South Dakota it started to roll a bit more and soon the Black Hills began to show itself with even more rolling hills.

We stopped in Spearfish, SD for coffee and wifi. This is a pretty slicked up town but not too big. Deadwood is just below Spearfish and as we pulled into Deadwood we were surprised at how prosperous it looked. It is definitely a tourist town, and gold mining was active here until 2002. What we gleaned was that gambling really put money in the town pockets starting in 1989. And Wild Bill Hickok (who was only here for 6 weeks and got shot in a saloon) is the town theme. Much like Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.

We parked the van in the visitor center parking lot and walked through the historic downtown. Every other business had slot machines of some kind. Lots of tourist oriented business (t-shirt shops, posters, stickers, Harley stuff, the works.

We got coffee and ice cream and listened to a talk on the history of pistols in a side alley given by the town re-enactors. I think they do a gun battle later in the afternoon.

We hit the Adams Museum which was wonderful. The older lady at the front door (she was born here) filled us in on the town history. The museum is very well run and very well organized. And they have a two headed calf!!

Next stop was a walk up to the graveyard to see Wild Bill’s grave as well as Calamity Jane’s grave right next to Bill.  

Then off to the motel just outside of town and we walked down the street to a restaurant for a couple of good old burgers. The nice motel clerk offered to do our laundry for us in the motel machines, which we accepted. We tried to pay her something but she refused. Wow!

Another great day!

Odo = 8234

46 nights in the van

Friday, May 19, 2023 - North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park to South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Deb here. I don’t know how many times today I’ve said it, but I LOVE this national park! What a gem. Not heavily used, so much wildlife, and a very relaxing experience. If you haven’t been here, put this park on your list!

After we checked out of our campground this morning we decided to travel the North Unit Scenic Drive, going all the way to the end of the road. It was a beautiful day, and we stopped at several overlooks along the way. So many bison in the fields and near the road. We opted to travel the whole road, and then return to a trailhead to do some hiking.

I’d been in touch with a high school friend, Anne Nesbitt Babcock, who loves this park and has spent a lot of time here. She said that the Caprock Coulee Trail was her favorite in the park, a 4+ mile loop trail that covered some scenic terrain. So after our driving explore we parked at a spot where we could pick up the loop trail, but it was also a scenic viewpoint with a CCC pavilion if Milo decided he didn’t want to go all the way on the trail. We started out together, but after a bit we parted ways, Milo to head back and me to continue on the loop. Anne was right, and it was a gorgeously laid out trail. Along the ridege, down into the canyon, back up, and along another ridge. I’d tweaked my knee in New Zealand and haven’t done much real hiking lately, and it felt so good to be back out there on a trail today.

I completed the loop and found that John had also covered the last bit on the ridge, which he thoroughly enjoyed. A good time was had by all.

After this, we headed to the park’s South Unit. Interestingly enough, both parts of the park are separated by about 55 miles of driving, so we were back out on Rt. 85 once again. Before reaching the South Unit Entrance we stopped at the Painted Canyon overlook and visitor’s center. Then on to the South Entrance and a stop at the visitor’s center there. We also visited Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross Cabin, right behind the visitor’s center, which had been Teddy’s first cabin when he decided to establish a ranch here in the late 1800’s. Lots of interesting history.

We headed into the South Unit and our first goal was landing a campsite at Cottonwood Campground. We’d thought that this area might be busier than the north end and we were right, although there were plenty of available campsites once again. $7/night, a spot on the Little Missouri River, dump station, and bathrooms. A pretty sweet deal.

After claiming our spot we drove the scenic road in this end of the park. The theme yesterday and this morning was bison. This afternoon the theme was prairie dogs and wild horses! So much to see and so fun to see the wildlife once again. Did I already mention that I love this park?!

After a full day of exploring and hiking we returned to our campsite for a happy hour overlooking the river, then dinner of ravioli and veggies. All in all a perfect day.

Bison roaming the campsite again tonight!!

Odo = 8117

Thursday May 18, 2023 - Malta MT to Theodore Roosevelt National Park

This Malta city park worked out great. This morning there was us, another van and a pickup with a camper parked here. Flush toilets and running water. Pretty good for $5. Deb said a couple of pickups drove through last night (I was asleep) but overall pretty quiet. 

Cold cereal for breakfast then north to touch the Canadian border. RT 191 took us the last 56 miles north through open rolling green hills. A few wheat fields (last year’s stubble) and not much else. The border crossing is only manned from 9am to 5pm Monday thru Friday and we got there at 8:15 so we took a celebratory picture and turned around.

Our goal today is Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This means driving half way across Montana and then almost into Williston, ND, then RT 85 south to the park.

As we headed east we saw what appears to be wheat fields being prepared for seeding. It feels late but they are pretty far north. It was still smoky this morning but the smoke cleared as we went east and by the time we got to Williston, it was just normal grey sky, not so much smoke.

As soon as we crossed into North Dakota all of the oil and gas activity began. Lots of drill rigs, oil pumps and tanks, and gas lines. More activity since the last time I came through a couple of years ago on the motorcycle.

RT 2 is the northernmost road for the most part across the top of the U.S. It was called the Roosevelt Highway after Teddy Roosevelt died, and it was a patchwork of roads from Portland ME to Portland OR. In the late 1920’s they paved it and called it RT 2.

RT 85 cuts south just before Williston and it’s called the Roosevelt Expressway. It’s very new and 4 lanes for a good long while. There were lots of drainage projects almost as if they were going to continue it south beyond the park. Maybe Williston has thoughts on becoming a big city somehow and wants to be connected to the rest of the country.

We pulled into the park (north unit) and the visitor center was closed until May 30. It is normally $30 but we have the geezer pass so no charge. We found the Juniper campground with 50 sites of which maybe 10 were taken so we had our pick. We saw a buffalo herd driving in as well as what looked like wild longhorn cattle. The site was $14 but only $7 with the senior pass.

A walk was in order so we headed back toward the entrance but the buffalo intercepted us on the road and we had to cut through a back way to avoid them. We found the Buckthorn trail and did a short hike. We returned to the campground and tried hiking the nature trail but had to turn back as the cattle had commandeered the trail. We met two young French guys (Paris) who were travelling for a year in their van (they shipped it here) all over the US and Canada.

We walked back to our campsite and the buffalo decided to take a stroll through the campground. They left and then came back later for a second look around for nice green grass. Nothing more than the evil eye from them, but everyone kept their distance.

Odo = 7983

Wednesday May 17, 2023 - Bozeman MT to Malta MT

This morning we woke to smoky skies. There are fires burning in Alberta and the wind is bringing the smoke down here. My brother and I ran into the same thing a couple of years ago. From talking to David and Kim this morning, this is not unusual. 

Deb and Milo both got showers this morning at D and K’s and then they wanted to take us downtown to their favorite diner. Western Diner, right on Main St in Bozeman was the perfect diner with all the western stuff on the walls, knotty pine everywhere, good diner menu, and since David was a regular the waitress was fun. Any diner where the waitress calls you “hun” or “darling” is a real diner.

We said our goodbyes and many thanks and headed for the food coop in town where they had lots of fresh stuff to restock the van with. Then back on I-90 to the turnoff north on RT 191 again.

We filled the tank as it was cheapest at this I-90 exit (thanks Gas Buddy). This will hold us for the next couple of days as we plunge into the sparse unknown of north east Montana and western North Dakota.

We are now in rolling green hills with a few mountains in the distance. We could catch their outlines here and there as the smoke blocked out the view. As we went north, it got greener and greener with lots of grass for grazing beef cattle on. We saw deer and antelope here and there, and we are starting to see prairie dogs. There was a lot of large pool of standing water which seems to be due to the successful rain this year along with the snow pack. All the streams and rivers were at full height. 

Our first idea was to camp at a National Forest site down in the Missouri Breaks but we got there early enough that we decided to keep going to Malta, where there’s a $5 city campsite. Malta is an old railroad town, about 1800 people, and Amtrak has a stop here. 

We took a walk along a nice city walking path next to the Milk River, and then drove around town until we found the Stockman Bar, sat at the bar and had a cold beverage and dinner. Nice chat with the waitress and fun hearing all the local gossip around us. Good small town talk.

Then mini blizzards at the DQ in town and back to the campground. Tomorrow we hit the Canadian border!!

odo = 7608

tank fillup = 19.4mpg

Tuesday May 16, 2023 - Butte MT to Bozeman MT

 

Clean clothes, hot showers, we are good for another week.

We had the La Quinta breakfast and a walk to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Milo had a mine tour reservation at 10:30 so a leisurely morning. We drove to the mine tour parking lot with the idea we would park here early and do a little walk but we met another couple from Illinois. He's a pilot for American Airlines and they're doing a two week road trip.  We gave them the van tour and basically used up all the walking time chatting. Deb walked downtown and I did the mine tour. 

Butte started with a silver and gold operation and evolved into the copper business. Silver and gold were valuable enough that the operation did not have to be very efficient so the barrier to entry was pretty small. Copper was a lot less valuable so the operation had to be big and efficient to break even. So lots of capital and because of the crude technology, lots of human labor. The copper history is just like back home in Bisbee but 4 times bigger. They mined for 100 years, went through labor strikes during WW1 (and actually pretty much the whole 100 years), and closed in the 1980's. They did leave behind the Berkeley pit and a Superfund site, unlike Bisbee which does not have the pollution.

Downtown Butte has a lot of historic buildings, a lot empty now, but 4 times bigger. They grew to 100,000 people and are now 25,000. Bisbee grew to 25,000 people and now we are 5000.

Next stop was Bozeman to check in with our good friends' son Spencer, his partner Nicki, and their newborn, Emerson. We all went for a walk in the park down the street from their house. It's a quick climb up to a beautiful vantage point looking over the city of Bozeman. This town has a young people vibe to it. It reminds us of Burlington, VT and Butte is much like Barre, VT. It was nice to catch up with them and meet Emerson.

Next stop was our friends David & Kim Kembel who went to grad school just before Deb in the same department. Deb and Kim overlapped in grad school for a year and have kept in touch, along with their mutual friends Kathy and Darcy back east. They have a lovely place overlooking Bozeman and a nice flat driveway where we could park our van. David made a lovely dinner and we got caught up on careers and our kids. We retired to the sleep crib but used their nice hot shower in the morning. 

Wonderful catching up with old friends!

Odo = 7,2999