Road Trip!! Wall Drug and the Badlands!

What should six people do when the wind is blowing at over 20 mph. Not ride their bikes, that’s for sure! What do the bikes do? Hibernate! 

Bikes are all stowed in Leslie & Paula’s rig. Kim brought back lovely pastries from a local bakery which we thoroughly enjoyed while we planned our Wall Drug and Badlands driving tour.

The drive to Wall Drug allowed us all to tease each other. Kim & Barb had given us a walkie talkie so we could tease between the two cars also. Wall Drug hadn’t changed much since Leslie & Paula had been here over 26 years ago. We found a “sprizy” (surprise present) for Nicki & Kim which will be fun to have them see when we return. After a lunch, we headed out to the Badlands.

Once we arrived there, we enjoyed the scenery and took lots of photos. The wind howled, but since we weren’t bicycling, we coped just fine. We drove the Badlands Scenic Byway, then played with some dirt roads to get us back on track to return to our campground. We saw bison, prairie dogs, and a magpie. Just grand! It was a long day, but beautiful.

Check out our photos of Wall Drug and the Badlands:

Day 1 on the Mickelson Trail: Deadwood to Rochford

What a lovely day!!! We drove to Deadwood to let off three of us: Kim, Deb, and Leslie. Then the next three drove down to Rochford to ride towards us.

Kim, Deb, and Leslie rode all the hill climbing turns to arrive at each false summit to continue rolling on. The scenery was delightful with ponderosa pines, aspens, green fields, wild flowers, red wing black birds, and even a white tailed doe that jumped across the trail in front of Kim.

We met Tam, Barb and Paula when we were about 8 miles from our endpoint. We shared a lunch and hints on what to look for as we each continued in the direction we were heading.

Gillette, Wy to Hill City, South Dakota

Well yesterday morning arrived to a major wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. We tried to depart only to have a sign on I90 read that RVs under 20,000 lbs should EXIT the freeway. Since we weigh 11,000 we returned to the campground.

Deb, Tam and we played a couple rounds of Rummycube while watching the weather and WYDOT. 90 minutes later it had calmed down and we started again. This time we started on state route 51, which is a two lane road that parallel’s I90. We figured it wasn’t at the top of the plains, so would get less wind. We were right.

We rolled into Hill City around 1:30, followed by Tam & Deb. Then, not a half an hour later Kim & Barb arrived from Colorado. We are now six! Great fun. After catching up and discussing our bike riding we headed out to dinner at a steak place. Yummy dinner!!

Today we do our first bicycling on the Mickelson Trail. More soon…

Billings, Montana to Gillette, Wyoming

 240 miles today across rolling green hills filled with cattle and pronghorn.

We had planned to stay at a Mead/Brewery in Gillette, but the parking was a bit tight. So we went over to the High Plains RV Resort. Not a bad price, and a pull thru space for Tam & Deb. They unhooked their Jeep, and we all headed into town to explore. First stop was ice cream — yummy! Our shopping attempts were thwarted because it’s a Monday so most of the shops were closed. Next we went over to the Big Lost Meadery which is where we had hoped to stay as Harvest Host guests. Tam, Paula & I had a beer, which Deb enjoyed her Mountain Dew.

While we had been on the street, we asked a local where the best Mexican food was. She directed us to Freda’s House. Everything was delicious! We even had sopapillas for dessert. A first time for Tam & Deb — two new converts!

Here are some photos we took in town:

 

Food Coma!!

Three Forks, Montana to Billings, Montana

Today’s route was only 172 miles, but unfortunately it felt longer. Paula and I determined that our RV will only charge the coach lithium batteries when we’re plugged into shore power. When we’re driving or when the generator is running, the batteries are not being charged. We suspect a relay/solenoid has failed from the chassis to the coach batteries, but we’re a bit stumped. Tomorrow we’ll try one more thing, and then put a call into Thor.

We arrived at our Harvest Host overnight site, Canyon Creek Brewing, that we realized we had stayed at in 2018 on our cross country trip. Then we decided that we should go to the local KOA so that we could have shore power to recharge. Darn! Not money we wanted to spend.

Thankfully Tam & Deb had unhooked their Jeep from the motorhome, so they came to the KOA to get us so we could all enjoy a brew and an exciting round of Five Crowns. Of course I lost famously, earning over 100 points more than the closest other competitor; low score wins. Ah well, they got all the wild cards!

On their way to pick us up, we all watched the skies get darker and darker. Just after they picked us up, the heavens opened up for a short hail storm. This was a first for Tam & Deb. Not one they would prefer to repeat. 

So far on our trip we have traveled from Sequim to Vantage, Wa to Cataldo, Id to Three Forks, Mt to Billings, Mt. Here’s the map… Tomorrow it’s on to Gillette, Wyoming.

Cataldo, Id to Three Forks, Montana

314 miles today over multiple passes, through several one-lane construction zones to a reward at Bridger Brewing in Three Forks. The adage that there are only two seasons in this area — Winter and Road Construction —was definitely in evidence. Once we arrived at the brewery, the beer was good, and the dinner delicious.

Our departure from Cataldo was uneventful, and we climbed up to Mile 0 where the Hiawatha trail starts. We’re doing this trail when we four are joined by Kim and Barb, Diane, and Ann and Sandy after our Mickelson Trail adventure.

Not many photos today — will try for more tomorrow…