Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park.. has been on my list for years!! 

But first a little lead in to it.. Traveling west from South Dakota,  I stopped for the night outside the park in Cody Wyoming.  Named after the all too famous William "Buffalo Bill" Cody.

A bit like Elvis, could swear I actually saw the guy alive and well walking down the street back in Custer, South Dakota!  Could Micheal be nearby??

Found some hot springs further along the road that remind me a bit of Pammukkale Turkey!  Pammukkale was really dramatic having never seen a landscape like it before.  I remember thinking while there that I wonder if any other place on the planet would have such calcium mineral formations, and here it is!  (granted, not as nice as Pamukkale..)  In a place called Thermopolis, Wyoming.. interesting name!  Being that Pammukkale was at a place in Turkey called Heiropolis!!  On the other side of the planet!

Now on to Old Trail Town Wyoming.. laid out by Bill Cody in 1895..  Most of these western states have plenty of history, wagon wheels, and buffalo grazing in the field.  But this old town drew me in because it has many of the original cabins.

This is where I have always thought I'm meant to be.. a pioneer woman in the wild west..   However, in this daydream I've often had (instigated by all the best western movies I watched as a kid on Sunday mornings with my Dad), I imagined I would be rescued by a long black hair native man on a pinto horse with lots of feathers and beads of color and ride off into the sunset!!   I probably shouldn't admit my dreams in writing, should I!!

Oh dear.. back to Old Town..

Still taking the long way around, I go up to Red Lodge and carry over to Yellowstone via the Beartooth Highway. (which weaves in and out of Montana and Wyoming borders) Highly recommended by many as then most beautiful road in America!  After coming across the midwest flatlands of corn and soybeans, I won't argue with this claim..

Even at this elevation I get one of my biggest bug splats ever!

Now for a bit of Yellowstone.. Finally!!

What is one of the biggest attractions to aim for here??  Old Faithful, of coarse!  By the looks of the crowd here, "biggest" was the key word!

 

This is what we've all been looking at for the last 45 minutes..

And then.. pressure..!!! I've met a few people, let alone Mother Nature, who do exactly this!! ;-)

Oops, felt the need to pop my head up.. to ruin a perfectly good photo! ;-)

 

Remnants of a forest fire.. 1980's?










Heading on down the road, as we ALL do!!

Close call!!

Plenty of buffalo in the road, and from what I can tell, it's their preferred track as well.

Kiss My Ass, comes to mind...!!

Made my way to camp..  lots of warnings about bears, not many campsites available.. not much food in my pack, I go to a little community called Fort Yellowsotne built by the US Army in 1886 as a base to control the Sioux Native people.  Now it's "tourist central"..as you might imagine and I find these elk also prefer the freedom of this very public land.

U.S. Post Office.. and the local loitering elk!

The next morning, I scrape the frost off my bike's seat and make my way out for an early morning ride.. hoping to see a grizzly bear!!  It's on my list.. as well as the wolves I've been listening to, but not seeing.  Anyway, I found a dirt track.. yay!!  After all the civilized paved highways to get here, and even within here, this is a real treat..

 

I made it to the east side of the park where I knew some people saw a grizzly yesterday. I hope with my zoom you can see Mr. Grizzly.. this is my first one to see and I'm happy to keep my distance.

Bear crosses river and has a one on one face off with a lone buffalo..  Having the time to watch for a while, when I knew where the bear was heading,  I was so ready to see it fly.. and then hide my eyes.  But nope!  After the stand off, the bear walked on.. and ate grass!!  Fascinating!

Aw well, Grizzly bear I was glad to see, even at such a distance.. better than nothing!

On a rush back to camp to beat the sunset , Indian Creek camp to be exact at the Northwest side of the park, I loved the moon...  was just such a pretty dusk, why rush...

Couldn't decide which one I like the best so I show you both.. hope you can see the elk, lovely lucky place to be on this night in the world..

Moon included it was about 5 AM when I was listening to the gorgeous sound of many howling wolves from my little tent.. they were far enough away, but close enough I could make out either a little one, or something smaller within the howling group.. do coyotes howl?

Wisconsin to South Dakota

Straight after visiting Indiana, I make my way up to Wisconsin.  I found a place online that has my favorite tires, and lucky that they specialize in custom design KTM parts!

I just went there for my tires as they are not available in Indiana. You know I've always had issues with my side stand, and Craig from CJ Designs http://www.cjdesignsllc.com/LC8parts.html has created an adjustable side stand for his 950 that might just do the trick for mine too.

 

 Good looking, isn't it?

Craig thought I should give his KTM 950 Adventure a try, it's so BIG and heavy!! Noooooo.. I feel better not to destroy his creation today..and stick to my little one. ;-)

A most interesting day, where I managed that night to spill the slightest amount of beer on my new laptop.  It spazzed out and died, that quick. I bought it in Indiana, but I took it to the shop in Wisconsin to see what I can do to fix it.  They immediately tell me that liquid spillage is not covered under warranty or insurance.  I totally understand, but I still need to get it fixed regardless.  The guys goes out the back room and returns and says they are going to send it away and fix it for free..!  What?  I can't believe it, but the guy looks at me and says, "this computer is only 7 days old".. I know. I was gutted and embarrassed, but so lucky to meet this guy.

So, bigger longer story short, I went back down to Indiana only a few hours away, got my old computer to travel with while the new one is sent away for a couple weeks.  And then make a b-line to South Dakota to try to get back on schedule.

I was totally diggin' that cloud! I watched it for the remainder of the day.. seems so out of place! Never really moved, just stretched.  I must study meteorology, have always wanted to..

First most interesting stop was the Badlands..  I had no idea there was a place in America with that name.  What's the story, why that name? Is it safe to go there??

This is what I eventually learn from Wikipedia:

A badlands (also badland) is a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It can resemble malpaís, a terrain of volcanic rock. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands. They are often difficult to navigate by foot. Badlands often have a spectacular color display that alternates from dark black/blue coal stria to bright clays to red scoria.

I'm in the land of the prairie dog!!  Local residents..rodents..I want to shake their little hands!

Nobody around, I spot another local..

He seems friendly enough, but still chooses to make a little more distance between us.. don't jump!

My Badlands National Park campsite and my continuously failing Nemo Morpho tent!

 

From the Badlands I move on to a camp outside Custer State Park.. where along the way,  I spot this!

Mt. Rushmore

I just realized George Washington and I could be related... we have the same nose! ;-)









I heard a rumor that Sturgis is on this weekend, right up the road from my camp. Didn't plan to be here for that, but since it's happening, might as well check out one of the largest bike meetings on the planet!

I met this fun couple at the wolf camp I was staying, Killer and Dee, who invited me to come and tour around the event with them.

Excuse me, Ma'am.. what is that you're ridin'?

I had to stare at that sign for a while.. was thinking, no colors?  Does that mean you can only wear black in this bar?   Until somebody explains to me that colors is slang for "gang" wear, which seems to cause trouble, shooting and killings at past Sturgis events... okey dokey then!

He calls himself "Snuff Man"... here from Germany

There's a BMW here! 

Here's the board in a bar so you can mark where you came from.. Adelaide was looking pretty healthy, I was surprised!

So, tell us how you really feel...!!

My favorite side stand..

My bike is down there if you can spot it.

These guys did.. who seem to have known a bit about my trip..and gave me a huge congratulations once I got to the bike, I was embarrassed and surprised ;-)

After riding around a large part of this planet, I finally find where I belong!!!

I'm home!