Vagabond photographer in an Alto trailer
With my Great Lakes tour done and family time in Wisconsin completed, it was time to point the Ridgeline west to Colorado, via North Dakota, South Dakota, a night in Wyoming, and then on down to the Denver area. Here’s a summary post of my adventures, with links to blog posts that dive deeper into places.
[Read more…] about Five States in 20 Days: MN to CO
One of the least known of the National Parks, Wind Cave is worth the visit for two big reasons: (1) the boxwork formations and (2) it is way cooler inside the cave than outside in August.
[Read more…] about Wind Cave National Park
No, this isn’t one of those touchy-feeling posts about finding MY center. This is all about finding the geographic center of North America and of the USA. And that’s not as cut and dried as you might think. Well, the geographic center of North America actually is. No one is arguing that it’s in Rugby, North Dakota, a place I visited in 2016 on my way to pick up my Alto trailer in Quebec.
[Read more…] about Finding the Center
Started the day like this, at Rocky Point State Park, near Belle Fourche. Yesterday’s stormy weather was nowhere to be seen as I hitched up and headed out.
Lovely blue skies, no headwinds or crosswinds, so happy driving for a while through eastern Wyoming.
I started over Route 16 through Bighorn National Forest and saw amazing vistas.
And then came the bad weather…
But only for a while…
All worth it, to get to Cody, ready for a couple of nights in Yellowstone!
Today’s quotation
Trip stats
Map
South Dakota seems like a normal-sized state until you decide to drive across it. In one day. And with either headwinds or crosswinds tormenting you the entire time. I mostly set the cruise control to 55 mph and watched the scenery go by. And amazing scenery it was. No picture I took really gets across how BIG the sky is here, how far you can see, and how wide open everything is. I’m not saying drive across the state, but at least visit it sometime, it’s got some beautiful landscapes.
And it has the Missouri River. One reason I wanted to cross the state on US-212 was that in January, from a plane flying Seattle to JFK/NYC, I saw this from the air and thought it would be cool to see it on my trip.
South Dakota also has some quirky sights.
This next one is not a trick photo, the cross is bigger than the church. The pickup truck shows the scale of both.
And this is where I ended the day (Rocky Point State Park near Belle Fourche), hard by the western border of the state, ready to jump into WY tomorrow to spend 3 days near/at Yellowstone.
Today’s quotation
Trip stats
Map
