Wall & Badlands, SD

Sep 15   Chadron, Nebraska - Wall, South Dakota       145 miles   2 hours 45 minutes

We're staying at a campground called Sleepy Hollow Campground in Wall, SD. They have a
Good Sam rate, full hook ups $33.00 per day. We'll stay for 2 nights. This location is perfect for visiting Badlands National Park.

We came through here 5 years ago with Mama Janet & Papa Rudy. Back then we rushed through everything so now we'll take our time and explore the area.

Wall is home to the world famous Wall Drug Store, which is the #1 Roadside Attraction in America. Wall Drug has been entertaining and educating the traveling public since 1931. In 1936, Dorothy Hustead came up with the idea of advertising free ice water on signs along the highway. Since then, Wall Drug has evolved into a 76,000 square foot wonderland of free attractions including a restaurant that seats 520. There is something for everyone at Wall Drug.

Riding a "Jackalope"

Sep 15   Badlands National Park

We spent most of the day at Badland's National Park. We drove the Badland's Loop Road, a state scenic byway. Made a lot of stops along the way, and did some short walks to see the sights.

A mama deer on the hillside 

Then the babies came along

This is a herd of deer.....have to look good

Not a very good picture but it's a prairie dog

Having lunch

Looking for rattlesnakes

One of our short walks

Deer on the mountain

Travelers come to Badland's National Park for many reasons. Some are lured by the unusual rock formations, others come to camp, photograph wildlife, or search for birds or flowers. Many are paleontologists who come to study fossil remains of Badland's ancient life. For all visitors there is much ground to cover, for the park consists of more than 240,000 acres.

Fort Robinson, NE

Sep 11     Scottsbluff - Fort Robinson State Park   120 miles   4 hours

On the way to Fort Robinson, we did a little detour and made a stop at Carhenge in Alliance, NE. It's a replica of Stonehenge, England's ancient alignment of stones that chart the phases of the sun and the moon. Created from vintage automobiles, the dimensions of Carhenge replicate Stonehenge.  The cars are primarily from the 1950's and 1960's. They are planted trunk down and rise 15 to 17 feet. The cars are approximately 7 feet wide, the same size as the standing stones of Stonehenge. There are other artwork around the grounds, everything made out of car parts. We enjoyed our visit. 

Spawning Salmon

Dinosaur

We had lunch in the parking lot and continued our journey to Fort Robinson.

 

Fort Robinson State Park was one of the highlights of this trip but our plans got messed up when our radiator decided to take a crap on us. Our original plan was to stay at Fort Robinson from Sep 1-7th. It's a historical park with lots of activities. Unfortunately for us, most of the activities close down after Labor Day. 

We got some interesting literature about the campground that we're staying in for 2 nights......

"You'll be surrounded by history as you set up camp at Fort Robinson State Park. These very grounds once held the quartermaster corrals and stables, cavalry stables, butcher shop, and lumber stores. In 1876, Moses Milner, General Custer's favorite scout, was shot and killed under the cottonwoods in the center of the campground. One of the most tragic events in the history of Ft Robinson occurred right here...the Cheyenne Outbreak. Forcibly sent to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, a band of Northern Cheyenne, under Dull Knife, escaped and fled across the plains of Kansas and Nebraska, pursued by thousands of soldiers. Captured finally by troops from Ft Robinson the 149 men, women, and children, who had survived the ordeal, were imprisoned in a log barracks on the grounds. Told they would have to return to Indian Territory, Dull Knife said they would rather die here in their old hunting grounds. The Army attempted to starve them into submission, and on the bitter cold night of January 9, 1879, they tried to escape. With the few guns they had managed to hide, the braves opened fire on the guards. As the women and children ran toward the White River, the men fought a running battle with the hastily  awakened garrison. Many Cheyenne fell between the parade ground and the river, where the campground is located today. It was one of the last battles of the Indian War. As you turn in tonight, don't be spooked by unfamiliar sounds. It's only the breeze rustling through the trees or a coyote on a distant butte, or is it?"

Joe fixing the vent on the roof

Nice site

Cooking dinner and enjoying some wine

Sep 12

So much history here at Fort Robinson State Park. We spent the morning walking all over the grounds. We really should buy bicycles, we walked a lot. All the officers houses and soldiers barracks can be rented out. Lots of people have family reunions here because the houses can sleep a lot.

The light poles are still being used

Officers houses

Fire Station

Soldiers Barracks

A woodpecker

A dead snake on the road

Sep 13     Ft. Robinson - Chadron State Park     36 miles      1 hour 30 min

We decided to move a little ways down the road to Chadron State Park.

Just taking it easy for the next couple of days. It's nice here, electric sites for $20, then another $5 for the Nebraska Park pass.


Sep 14

We took a long walk this morning around the campground and office area. Then we washed the Kia, it got hit with some bad stuff on the drive over. We took a drive on the scenic byway around the park, pretty nice. When we got back, 3 motorhomes were pulled in around us. They have a big group coming in this week. Had a nice visit with them.

Joe and his new friends

Scottsbluff, NE

Sep 09  Loveland, CO - Scottsbluff, NE        168 miles   4 hours

Picked up the RV this morning. New radiator is in and everything seems to be working good. Set us back a few bucks but that's just part of owning and maintaining your own motorhome.

Entering Wyoming

This morning we started out in Colorado, drove through part of Wyoming, and ended up in Nebraska.This is the life!

Our site at Riverside Campground

Our first trip to Nebraska, pretty cool. We're staying at the Riverside Campground, it's part of the city park here in Scottsbluff. Rates for full hook ups is $20.00. It's located right next to the Discovery Center, part of which is a zoo. This evening as I was walking around the campground, I heard animals roaring. Made me walk faster!

Sep 10   Scotts Bluff National Monument

Drove out to the Scotts Bluff National Monument
this morning.

View of Scotts Bluff

We rode the shuttle to the top and hiked down the Saddle Rock Trail. The trail gradually descends the steep slopes of Scotts Bluff. Eroding layers of sandstone, siltstone, and volcanic ash are exposed along the way. Took us about an hour.

Hiking along the edge

The only pedestrian tunnel in Nebraska

View from the tunnel

Halfway down the trail

Beautiful

Finally......level ground

As we were getting ready to leave Riverside Campground, I noticed this nice view of Scotts Bluff in the background.

Loveland, CO

Sep 01   Thornton - Loveland, CO     58 miles

What a long, depressing day. It looks like the radiator is leaking. Joe called Ford and got a referral for Ford in Longmont. We went 1 day early and was going to drop off the RV for an early Wednesday appointment. When we got there, they told us they don't fix motorhomes. The guy that Joe talked to (3 times) was a new person and didn't know any better. What a big mess up! Joe got on the phone and called several different places. Finally got this guy named Eddie at Stan's Auto located in Loveland. He can do the job but not until next week. We drove farther north to Loveland and found Stan's Auto. We talked to Eddie and made arrangements for hopefully, next Tuesday. Meanwhile, we can camp behind their garage. Not the best site but free.

Can't grumble...it's free

Sep 02

So looks like we're stuck in Loveland, CO for a while. We went to camping world and got some stuff to fix little things in the RV, like my drawer that always come out when we're driving. Also got some brackets so Joe could fix our dining bench that was loose.

When we got back, Eddie told us he checked our radiator and found the problem. The bad news is it's going to cost over $2000 and he can't work on it til next Tuesday because Monday is Labor Day.

Sep 03  Rocky Mountain National Park

I guess if we're going to get stuck, Loveland is not a bad place to be. Rocky Mountain National Park is about 30 miles away but it's a real winding road through the mountains so it takes about 45 minutes to get there.

Elk in the pasture

Bear Lake

 Lots of elk and squirrels. We did a couple of hikes. A short one around Bear Lake, really nice. Then went on another hike that was uphill about 1/2 mile to Nymph Lake, then continued uphill another 1/2 mile more to Dream Lake. Was worth it, so gorgeous. There was another lake we could hike to but the weather was pretty bad with dark clouds and thunder also got pretty cold. Joe was anxious to get down the mountain before we got drenched. When we got in the car the temperature was 52 degrees.

The uphill trail

Joe pointing to the black clouds

Dream Lake

Nymph Lake

Sep 04

We slept in this morning. I think we were both exhausted from our hike yesterday. We went out for a late breakfast and ran some errands. We went to the visitors center and got a lot of good info on things to do in Loveland.

Sep 05   Rocky Mountain National Park

We're still camping out behind the garage at Stan's Auto. I feel like to freakin junkyard dog.

Driving the Trail Ridge Road

We took a ride out to RMNP and drove the Trail Ridge Road. This is America's highest, continuous paved road. While most mountain highways are built through valleys and canyons, Trail Ridge Road follows an old Ute Indian trail along the mountaintops. Trail Ridge Road is well maintained but contains many curves and switchbacks and is often narrow with no guardrails or shoulders.

No guardrails...a long way down

Big horn sheep on the side of the road

Joe acting like he's not cold

We went as far as Alpine Visitors Center. I wanted to go on the Alpine Ridge Trail, a steep climb that reaches more than 12,000 ft but when we got there it was 46 degrees! We weren't prepared for that so no hiking.

Beautiful views on Trail Ridge Road

Sprague Lake

Then we drove to Sprague Lake and hiked around the lake. Only about 1 mile but felt good to stretch our legs after the long ride up Trail Ridge Road. The temperature was better, about 65 degrees.





After leaving RMNP, I wanted to walk around Estes Park but it was so crowded. It's Labor Day weekend and it seems like everyone's out here. Back in Loveland, it was about 90 degrees. Big difference from the top of the mountain.

Sep 06

I gave the RV a good cleaning this morning. Then after lunch we moved to La Quinta Inn & Suites. We'll be staying here for 3 nights. The RV is supposed to get fixed on Tuesday. Hopefully, we can move on to Nebraska on Wednesday morning.

After we checked in I did 4 batches of laundry. Only had 1 washer and 1 dryer but the washer was free and the dryer was $1.00, pretty good deal.

Sep 07

We went to the Outlets at Loveland today. I thought would have lots of sales because it is Labor Day weekend but was junk. We did manage to buy a few things.

 We had a late lunch at Cracker Barrel. This was a first for us. I don't know why we never went to a Cracker Barrel, this restaurant is awesome! Joe had the french dip and I had pot roast....so ono. The dessert menu looked so good we had to try some. I had the pumpkin/custard with ginger snaps dessert and Joe had the Coca cola chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream. Wow....we were in heaven.


When we got back to La Quinta we went swimming in the indoor pool to work off some of our lunch. Was real nice because nobody else was there. We spent over an hour in the pool and hot tub.

Sep 08

We spent the morning at the Benson Sculpture Garden. It provides a beautiful and unique outdoor setting for showcasing sculpture since 1985. Currently there are 148 pieces of beautiful bronze sculpture on permanent display, each telling a unique story. We spent a lot of time here and walked over 2 miles.

After all that walking we worked up an appetite, so off we went to Cracker Barrel. Meatloaf was the lunch special today so we both tried it....so good!

Relaxing after lunch in front of Cracker Barrel

So appropriate

Eddie from the garage called late this afternoon. The RV should be done by mid day tomorrow.

At last, we can start rolling again.