Day 377: Rocky Mountain National Park

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Ben

We left the Walmart of Fort Collins pretty early this morning and drove West towards Rocky Mountain National Park. As we rounded a corner, we found a rock transport truck had just rolled over. Its tires were still spinning, and the one car that was ahead of us had pulled over and its driver was running to the truck. I jumped out and grabbed the RV’s fire extinguisher and ran towards the truck. Despite spilling diesel all over the road, the truck didn’t catch fire. After it was clear we could do nothing else to help, we continued on our way:

Our first stop was the visitor center, where Trish tested one of the provided rocking chairs:

The kids worked through their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

The kids also handed in the Junior Ranger astronomy workbooks we picked up a few days ago and received their Junior Ranger Night Explorer patches:

The visitor center was very well done:

View from the visitor center:

Next we drove up towards the Alpine visitor center, the highest visitor center in the US at over 11,000 feet, along the highest continuously paved road in North America. About halfway there we pulled over to photograph a Bighorn Sheep along the side of the road:

Not a bad place to hang out:

The mountains aren’t half bad either:

Looking back towards the road we drove down:

A bit farther up the road, we passed a herd of elk:

At last we arrived at the visitor center, which at 11,796 feet above sea level feels like it’s on top of the world. At this altitude, we were in the alpine tundra biome, with no trees or vegetation more than a foot high:

Views from the back porch:

We stopped during a rainstorm on the way down to photograph the rugged terrain:

Our last stop was Bear Lake. We hiked the easy one mile hike around the lake, admiring the peaks towering above:

After dumping and filling at a campground in the park, we exited the park to the Southwest via highway 36. Tonight we’re overnighting at the Walmart of Longmont, Colorado. See the trip map for driving details and our current location.

Day 376: Scotts Bluff National Monument

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Ben

This morning, we stopped at Home depot to buy a couple fans for the RV. With temperatures around here in the high 80s at sunset, we need some relief. M used the yarmulke test to confirm the fan’s suitability:

Leaving the Walmart of Scottsbluff, we drove just a few miles to Scotts Bluff National Monument:

Scotts Bluff was a significant landmark for settlers traveling Westward on the Oregon Trail:

After watching the official video and touring the visitor center, the kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks:

The ranger brought out a variety of animal hides for us to feel:

The kids also handed in their Junior Paleontologist workbooks they picked up at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument yesterday to receive their Junior Paleontologist badge:

Leaving Scottsbluff, we drove West and South into Wyoming and then into Colorado to overnight at the Walmart of Fort Collins, Colorado. See the trip map for driving details.

Day 375: Amber Waves of Grain

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Ben

Shabbos was quite hot but restful. It’s another beautiful day at Toadstool Geologic Park:

I thought it would be fun to fly over the badlands, so we drove just out of the campground and set up:

Unfortunately, I got started too late, so by the time I was ready to take off the winds had really picked up and it was three hours after sunrise, the point at which thermals start to be dangerous, so I decided to not fly. Since all the gear was out, I taught Trish how to kite the wing:

Meanwhile, the kids were up in the badlands hiking around. We had GPRS radio contact with them, so they could roam a bit:

Trish kiting in the background:

After we stowed the PPG gear, I took the kids on an interpretive hike in the badlands:

Fossilized bird tracks from the Oligocene Era:

This is a portion of a 3/4 mile trackway of fossilized Oligocene-Era rhino and giant pig tracks, the longest trackway of its kind in North America:

Adjacent to the campground was a replica sod homesteader’s cabin, built in 1984 to replace the original cabin built on this spot in the 1930s:

We drove South and West to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, where a waterhole preserved the remains of hundreds of early-Miocene-Era mammals:

The visitor center was very well done:

The kids worked through the Junior Ranger program and received their badges, as well as a Junior Ranger patch:

On our way out the park, we hiked a trail that led to a preserved Daemonelix, the fossilized burrow of the Palaeocastor:

Along the way we found a baby Horned Lizard:

The Daemonelix:

Another horned lizard:

The plains go on forever:

We continued South to overnight at the Walmart of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. See the trip map for details.

Day 373: Touring our New Home

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Ben

We arrived in Rapid City DMV this morning expecting a 6-hour ordeal like we suffered when getting our New York driver’s licenses, but were wonderfully surprised when the entire process took only 15 minutes or so. Did I mention that when you call the DMV on the phone, they actually answer? It’s amazing how responsive government can be in a state with less than 850,000 residents. South Dakota is so sparsely populated that the Rapid City DMV is one of the few DMV locations in the state that’s open more than one day a week.

Heading South with our newfound identities, we stopped at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota’s Black Hills, one of the longest known cave systems in the world with over 140 miles of explored passageways. Jewel Cave is also the densest cave system in the world, with more passages per volume of ground than anywhere else. On previous trips we had visited Jewel Cave and Mount Rushmore in this area, but had skipped Wind Cave.

We signed up for a cave tour, which began with a 200+ foot descent via elevator into the depths below. The initial passage is quite narrow:

Wind Cave is best known for it’s boxwork. Most of the boxwork in the world is found here in Wind Cave:

Popcorn formation:

More boxwork:

Not a bad looking bunch of cave explorers:

The map shows just how labyrinthine Wind Cave is:

The kids worked on their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

Continuing South, we crossed into Nebraska and arrived at the Forest Service campground at Toadstool Geologic Park in the Oglala National Grassland. Today hit 90 degrees, hopefully tomorrow won’t be so bad.

Good Shabbos from Toadstool Geologic Park! See the trip map for driving details.

Day 372: Welcome to South Dakota

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Ben

Getting off to a late start, we continued East into South Dakota. The route we’ve taken since leaving Alaska was designed to specifically get us to South Dakota. Since we no longer have a permanent domicile, we decided to transition our state of residency to South Dakota, with its lack of state income tax and its low 3% tax on vehicle purchases. We initiated this transition before buying the truck and 5th wheel, but we did have to physically be in South Dakota to get our new drivers licenses.

South Dakota law requires that we reside in South Dakota for one night before giving residency status, so we stayed at a small private campground behind an RV dealership near Sturgis, South Dakota:

The $17 fee doesn’t get us working WiFi, but we do get full hookups and, more importantly, a receipt we can use to show our one night of “living” in South Dakota. See the trip map for driving details.