October 1, 2004:
Motel 6, Rapid City, South Dakota.  

We've been on the road for over a week.  Lots of driving (at least at first) and some wonderful visits
with friends and family along the way.   After a stop to visit Bill's Dad in Sacramento, we headed
to Smith Rock State Park in Oregon.  After spending 2 days driving with Gus emitting these killer 
farts, (wonder what he ate!)  We spent a wonderful day doing a bit of climbing, hiking and
napping under a big cedar tree by the Crooked River.  We needed that!  We camped at a 
Forest service campground called Skull Hollow.  Cool name huh?  The only amenities here 
are a couple of pit toilets and a picnic table - but it's free.  We met another couple from 
the Boulder Colorado area that have been traveling around for about 3 months.  They
have a similar "rig" to ours and we got lots of pointers from them on traveling and not going 
crazy...
 
  We headed north to Portland and met up with Ali and Dsh, spending the evening there before
caravaning with them to Coeur d' Alene where we all met up with Adriane and Larry and Donna
and Paul.  Adriane and Larry are retired and traveling the country in a motorhome.  Donna and Paul live in 
Coeur d'  Alene and we were meeting up to do the Race for the Cure with Donna who is a breast cancer survivor.  
All of us women used to play on the same soccer team in Scripps Ranch.  

  We had a wonderful weekend spending time with friends and relaxing, talking and having some absolutely 
yummy meals.  It was hard to say goodbye - but we headed out Sunday afternoon and ended up in
Logan State Park in Montana, just outside of Libby.  I think we were the only folks 
camped there - except for the camphosts, Del and Bev Graves - who by the way live in Libby and 
know Larry Sverdrup's family.  It's a small world - ain't it?    

  We woke up and spent some time checking out the lake and watching geese, then hit the road and 
headed toward Whitefish, Montana where we had lunch with a business associate of Bill's.  Whitefish
is a funky little artsy town with a ski resort (Big Mountain) just up the hill from it.  We saw a Tibetan
monk walking down the main street of this town, complete with the traditional robes and not so traditional
hiking boots.   We're headed for Devil's Tower so armed with directions to the most scenic route we hit
the road again and drove through some very pretty country - the Flathead river valley.  Absolutely gorgeous!

  We stopped along the way at "3-dog down"  (a down comforter store) and got a discount because we sang 
the national anthem.  Evidently we were the first of the day - I guess we have a good sense of humor - even if
we can't stay on tune.   Then we had Gus sing a little too.   We ended the day at Flint Creek campground, Montana (somewhere between Missoula and Anaconda).  Yet another free forest service campground, on a beautiful
little creek.  Fall is in the air and all around us - bright blue skies, yellow and orange splashes of foliage among
the green pines.  

  The next day found us on continuing toward Devils Tower, we passed a turnoff toward Wisdom and 
just a bit down the road was the town of Opportunity.   So, if you were looking for those, they are 
somewhere between Missoula and Butte.  :-)   We stopped for hike at Indian Ridge trailhead - just off
of 191, south of Bozeman in the Gallatin National Forest.   Just what we needed to break up the drive
for a couple of hours, fresh air and views of the cliffs of the river valley.  Back on the road toward 
Yellowstone, where we stopped for a shower and some dinner.  As we left, clouds were rolling in.  
We drove though the park watching the full moon rising up through the clouds on one side and the sky
being lit up as lightning flashed through the clouds - our view accompanied by a soundtrack of Van 
Morrison's "Moondance".    It was a perfect combination - as we headed toward our destination of the 
Super Walmart parking lot in Cody, Wyoming.  :-)  

  Walmart parking lots are another option for times when you just want to pull over and stop.  Since they are 
open 24 hours a day, you have access to a restroom and you can pick up what you need at the store.
Seems that it's a popular place as there were about 10 RV's parked in Cody when we got there. 

  Leaving Cody we continued toward Devils Tower where we were meeting with Joe Hettinger so he and 
Bill could climb to the top.  From Cody we drove on 14 east through Bighorn National Forest.  This is 
a very interesting place for folks interested in geology.  There are many different layers of rock making
up rugged formations that reminded me of the southwest US.  

  We finally arrived at Devils Tower in the late afternoon and met up with Joe at the local KOA.  Again we 
were one of the few folks camped there.  We went to bed with clouds rolling in and a prediction of rain and
woke up to an awesome sunrise.  The weather didn't look good for climbing, so we had breakfast and 
waited a bit and then the guys decided to at least do the first pitch and see what happened from there.
The weather didn't get much better, but it didn't get any worse either so they were able to complete
the climb.  See Bill's climbing report for details.   While they climbed, I hiked around and took pictures.
Devils Tower is a sacred spot of many Indian tribes and it does have a certain energy about it.  Very 
calm and spiritual.  

  After completing the climb we headed out to Rapid City where Joe was to fly out this morning. For
some reason Joe seemed to be a "person of interest" to a couple members of the  local law enforcement.
He had 2 different guys tail him and ride close to him as we rode down the freeway.  Must have been 
the rental car he was driving...
 Had a great Italian dinner to celebrate Joe's 45th birthday and headed back to our Walmart campsite. :-)
I was amazed that here in Rapid City folks really shop 24 hours a day!  So our night was not as quiet 
as in Cody.  Also, a cold front was blowing in - with really strong winds - so the truck was being pummelled
all night.  At one point in the night I was asking Bill if he thought we could be having a tornado - he said we'd
hear sirens if that was the case.  I had dreams of being in the Wizard of Oz - and woke to MUCH cooler
weather.  It had gotten below freezing - and was in the low 30's this morning.  Colder than the part of a witch's
body that would be exposed if she had a wardrobe malfunction. 

  So, although Rapid City isn't the most scenic of places, this room in the Motel 6 is warm and it's given us
a chance to catch up and get re-organized.   We plan to explore the area around Mt. Rushmore, Custer State
Park, the Badlands etc. before we head toward Nebraska.  

  Thanks for your emails, it's nice to hear from folks while we are away from home. 

Diane and Bill