Road Trippin' Across America's Heartland

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My Supper Photo - South Dakota, United States

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Living in Wisconsin provides a wonderful opportunity to really explore the Great Midwest. This rather last minute impromptu eight day road trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming took me across Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming . . . all rather large states to traverse resulting in long distances and a lot of windshield time within each.The beginning (out of Milwaukee) and the end (through rural Wyoming) provided opportunity to see some small towns along the way. In between, however, it was a long slog across I90 through the four states. Experiencing a July heat wave that saw temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees, the drive was in relatively nice weather.My dr...Read More

Living in Wisconsin provides a wonderful opportunity to really explore the Great Midwest. This rather last minute impromptu eight day road trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming took me across Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming . . . all rather large states to traverse resulting in long distances and a lot of windshield time within each.

The beginning (out of Milwaukee) and the end (through rural Wyoming) provided opportunity to see some small towns along the way. In between, however, it was a long slog across I90 through the four states. Experiencing a July heat wave that saw temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees, the drive was in relatively nice weather.
My drive out to Yellowstone took three days, mostly because I spent the better part of a full day exploring the Badlands of South Dakota as well as Custer State Park and the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. All of these tourist destinations are in relatively close proximity to one another, making them an interesting way to spend the day getting from point A to point B.

On the return drive home, I spent much less time seeing the sights along the way, making it home in what was roughly 21 hours drive time for the 1,400 +/- miles over a day and a half. When it was over, I was glad to be home in my own bed by midnight after two long days of driving.

A bit more about "the plan". We have a Pontiac Montana van which I used as my sleeping accommodations for much of the trip (five of the seven nights). Originally my plan was to only utilize campgrounds in Yellowstone National Park, opting to sleep on the road in rest areas or perhaps Walmart parking lots where "boondocking" is widely practiced in the RV community.

Once on the road, however, I realized that sleeping in areas not designated for over-nighting was probably not a good idea, so I did stay in campgrounds throughout my adventure. Fortunately, on my westbound trip I made it all the way to Badlands National Park by a reasonable hour and was able to get a campsite in their one campground at Cedar Pass. My second night west, plus my one night returning eastbound was spent at the KOA in Buffalo, Wyoming.

Sleeping in the van was pretty comfortable. David made a wonderful sleeping area for me using several old comforters and packing blankets. With a fitted sheet to hold it all together, I had a makeshift mattress. Topped with a sheet and blanket, I was set. On a couple of the nights in Yellowstone, however, I did need to use my sleeping bag as a comforter as the nighttime temps dropped into the mid 30's.

For meals, I had packed a lot of food that did not require refrigeration or cooking. I did have a small cooler with perishables for the first couple of days since I could start the trip with ice packs to keep things cold. I enjoyed hard boiled eggs along with tuna fish or chicken for lunch and dinner my first day on the road. By midday on day two, however, the ice was gone and I was to the packaged dry food items and fresh fruit. It was very convenient to travel and eat this way, making sure that I did stop to take a break from the driving every few hours.

I started my journey on Sunday July 8th after breakfast. I logged 792 miles over 12 hours, arriving at Badlands National Park around 9:30pm MDT. I was able to get a campsite at the Cedar Pass Visitor Center, which was perfect!
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Enjoying My Day in South Dakota

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Badlands Flowers Photo - Badlands National Park, South Dakota

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Monday July 9thIt was fortunate that I was able to make it all the way to the Badlands National Park and able to find a camping spot in their Cedar Creek Campground near the main visitor center. I was in bed and asleep by 10:00pm MDT and up before sunrise the next morning. My plan was to find a scenic location to catch the sunrise for what I hoped would be lovely photos. From my pre-trip research, Norbeck Pass seemed to fit the bill, so that was my first destination on my drive of the park. With a 5:15am sunrise, I was ready with time to spare since it would take some time for the sun to clear the craggy peaks located along the Fossil Trail. In the meantime, I spotted my first wildlif...Read More

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Driving Wyoming & Arriving at Yellowstone

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Moulton Barn Photo - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

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Tuesday July 10thAfter a good night's sleep, I was up and ready for a nice hot shower in the KOA campground. It's probably been over 25 years since my last KOA stay; this reminded me of just how nice their locations are. This particular campground only recently affiliated with KOA having been an independent for many years operating as Twin Creek Campground.In addition to the great showers and restrooms, they offer a children's playground and decent size swimming pool. Hook-ups are available for RVs and there is complimentary WiFi (which I took advantage of the night before to contact home and post a few photos on Facebook).After showering and getting dressed, I w...Read More

Tuesday July 10th

After a good night's sleep, I was up and ready for a nice hot shower in the KOA campground. It's probably been over 25 years since my last KOA stay; this reminded me of just how nice their locations are. This particular campground only recently affiliated with KOA having been an independent for many years operating as Twin Creek Campground.

In addition to the great showers and restrooms, they offer a children's playground and decent size swimming pool. Hook-ups are available for RVs and there is complimentary WiFi (which I took advantage of the night before to contact home and post a few photos on Facebook).

After showering and getting dressed, I was ready to hit the road at 6:15am. From Buffalo, WY I had two options in terms of routes . . . I90 through to Cody and into the east entrance at Yellowstone . . . or the more scenic route via US20 connecting to US26 that continued on into Grand Teton National Park via the Moran Junction. Road signage encouraged travelers to take the "safer and more scenic route" on US20 so that was what I did.

While there was a lot of beautiful scenery and some wildlife (mostly deer), the road was under construction at several places resulting in significant delays as the two lane road was brought to single lane driving, complete with miles of pilot car escorting over a gravel road. I did stop to watch a small herd of pronghorn sheep along the Wind River between Riverton & Dubois.

I enjoyed my drive through Ten Sleep, WY with their population of 260 and four saloons. Just outside of town was a park with a lovely lake. This photo is actually the pano-merging of six individual frames to make this one image of the full lake. The water was still, so it also provided the reflective image of the hills and trees surrounding it.

I arrived at Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) at 2:00pm, which allowed me a nice leisurely drive through the park, first heading south towards Jackson Hole. My interests in that area were the Antelope Flats Road and Morman Row, given their distance from Yellowstone and my desire to make my trip out of Yellowstone limited to the more northern areas of Grand Teton. Morman Row is a settlement that dates back to 1892 with several of the original buildings still standing. One that is often photographed is the Moultan Barn, which has the nice backdrop of the Teton Mountains behind it.

Antelope Flats is known as a wildlife viewing area. As with my prior day in South Dakota, viewing bison required the binoculars as they were at quite a distance away from the gravel road. The photos I took were unimpressive, requiring 2-4x zoom plus cropping to make out what animal I had photographed. Bah-humbug!

Having researched prices of gasoline prior to leaving home, I knew high prices ($3.999) awaited me in Yellowstone so my plan was to buy at Moran Junction. Unfortunately "Gas Buddy" had a bad reporting for the Phillips 66 station outside the park, so I by-passed them. Now inside GTNP and needing to top off, I was at the mercy of pricing.

Fortunately, the Signal Mountain convenience store was "just" $3.819 so I filled up there. That was good enough to get me through until Thursday when I also had planned for an "out of the park" morning in Gardiner, MT for breakfast at a cafe with free WiFi plus gas fill-up at what was expected to be around $3.699.

While in GTNP, I did make a stop in the visitor center at the south entrance of Moose Junction. Heading back north towards Yellowstone, I saw a cute young male deer in the lake at Moran Junction.

I arrived at Grant Campground around 6:30pm, where I had a reservation for the night. It was pretty cool to be welcomed at the entrance to Grant Village by an elk and her young calf. My campsite was well shaded and near the bathrooms, so I was very happy with the location.
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Yellowstone - Day 1 (part 1)

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My First Sunrise in Yellowstone Photo - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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Wednesday July 11thI went to bed last night shortly after 9:00pm and woke up cold a couple of times during the night. The first time, I put on warmer clothes and the second time, I broke out the "zero degree" sleeping bag and used it as a comforter. I woke up for the day at 5:50am to 48F outside.Since I had a shower to start the day Tuesday, I opted to by-pass using my shower pass at Grant Village in order to head out and get a early start on wildlife viewing and my planned drive around the lower loop of the Yellowstone Park Road. For those who are not familiar with Yellowstone, you can drive the entire park road in your personal vehicle. There are limitations o...Read More

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Yellowstone - Day 1 (part 2)

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Firehole Spring Photo - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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Wednesday July 11th (con't)Heading out of the Norris Junction area I found a small picnic area along the Gibbon River where I fixed a sandwich and enjoyed my lunch. There were children playing in the water and a fly fisherman upstream who looked to only be in ankle deep. Several minutes later, a large bull elk was seen grazing.Mobs of people stopped and went river-side to photograph the beautiful animal. As with the other elk I had seen in the park, he appeared to be healthy.Back on the loop still heading counterclockwise, my next diversion was the Firehole Lake Drive, home to what is touted as one of the most spectacular geysers in the park - The Great Fountain ...Read More

Wednesday July 11th (con't)

Heading out of the Norris Junction area I found a small picnic area along the Gibbon River where I fixed a sandwich and enjoyed my lunch. There were children playing in the water and a fly fisherman upstream who looked to only be in ankle deep. Several minutes later, a large bull elk was seen grazing.

Mobs of people stopped and went river-side to photograph the beautiful animal. As with the other elk I had seen in the park, he appeared to be healthy.

Back on the loop still heading counterclockwise, my next diversion was the Firehole Lake Drive, home to what is touted as one of the most spectacular geysers in the park - The Great Fountain Geyser. Unfortunately for me, while the posted eruption schedule had it down as a 10:30am to 2:50pm prediction, I arrived at around 1:00pm and waited with many others (some who had been there since noon) . . . only to learn when the ranger came through at 3:00pm that it had already gone off around 11:30 that morning. Being on an approximate 12 hour cycle, it would not be expected until sometime around midnight, give or take two hours.

While in the area, however, I did get to see (and photograph) the White Dome Geyser which seemed to be a regular twice an hour sort of event, with its brief (under three minute) eruptions that blasted around 20 or 30 feet in the air. I also stopped at the Firehole Spring which could be seen bubbling continuously. A note about the Firehole Lake Drive, RVs and vehicles towing are not permitted as the road is narrow and one-way, with lots of congestion especially around the Great Fountain Geyser and the Firehole Lake.

There is another one-way side road trip in this area worth mentioning - the Firehole Canyon Drive. The short (less than 30 minute) ride meanders along the river with a nice lookout below the Firehole Falls. Again, no RVs or towed vehicles.

My last stop along this major stretch of geyser locations was the world famous Old Faithful area. Having been more than 15 years since I was last here, I was surprised at the amount of development and traffic. The visitor center and adjacent parking lots all appeared to be built since my last visit back in 1996. My timing was such that I did get to take a bench seat and wait for Old Faithful's scheduled 4:19pm blast. Pretty much right on schedule, she blew and blew and blew. The children sitting in front of me kept encouraging it to go higher and faster.

After the eruption of Old Faithful, many left the area heading for their cars. I took the time to call home since this was a known area of decent cell phone reception. Even with my crummy SPRINT service, I was able to have a nice phone conversation with David. The traffic jam out of the area was reminiscent of leaving Disney World at closing time. It was miserable!

Heading back towards Canyon Village, it still seemed too early to go into my campground so I continued up towards the Tower area which had been a known black bear sighting area. I once again got caught in a bison jam in Hayden Valley; spent some time watching one large bull cross the river. The water was so deep, at one point all I could see was the top of his head and two horns. Once on shore, he shook the water off, much like a dog would after a swim.

Before reaching Tower, I did come to a small bear jam of cars with people out trying to get a glimpse of the momma bear and her cub. The cub could be seen high up in a tree, but the sow was up on the hillside really out of sight for most of the time. One car stopped and the driver asked what we were looking at. He proceeded to get out of the car and climb up the small hillside to get a look for himself. He scrambled down quickly, reporting that "she was right there!" Dumb @$$! Because it was nearing dusk and the forest was dense, the lighting was not conducive to taking photos . . . not that they were really close or visible enough to get a clear, in focus photo.

After the excitement of seeing my first bears, I figured it was about time to head back to camp. When I got to Canyon Village, I realized I had not eaten since around noontime and I was pretty hungry. With darkness coming, I didn't much feel like fumbling around to make a sandwich so I stopped in at the Canyon Soda Fountain for a burger. I have to say, it was not bad. Actually it was very good and reasonably priced ($8.05 for a burger & fries). Where they would get you, however, was on the $4.95 (16oz) milk shake. I kept it cheap with just the burger. I was lucky that I arrived right at 8:30pm, their last seating time at the counter.

Feeling full, I headed on over to my campsite as it started to rain. I spent the next 30 minutes off-loading photos from my three cameras and taking a glimpse at what I had captured from my day. With a quick run to the restrooms, I was ready for bed by 10:15pm. Read Less

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Yellowstone - Day 2 (part 1)

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Walking the Balance Beam Photo - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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Thursday July 12thToday was a great "bear day" with lots of sightings throughout the park!It started at 5:50am with a frigid wake-up of just 36F after overnight thunder-boomers that rocked my van between 10:00pm and roughly midnight. The entire Canyon Village area was socked in with dense fog; even the bison around the junction were difficult to see.My plan for the day was to do the upper loop, again heading counterclockwise, with an added detour out the North Entrance to Gardiner, MT. Gardiner was on the agenda for two purposes: 1) to have breakfast at the Tumbleweed Bookstore and Cafe, and 2) to buy "cheap" gas outside of the park.This part of the p...Read More

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Yellowstone - Day 2 (part 2)

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Cubs Following Mom Photo - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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Thursday July 12th (con't)From the Norris Junction, I head back towards Canyon Village so as to continue my counterclockwise loop that would eventually land me back at Roosevelt Lodge and my cabin for the night. When I arrived in the area, it was really too early to check-in and go to the cabin so I figured I'd head up towards to NE Entrance at Silver Gate. Since the Lamar Valley is one of the better known wildlife viewing areas and there had been a black bear with two cubs seen in the area, it seemed like a decent way to spend a couple of hours.I wasn't five miles from the Roosevelt Junction when I came upon a large back-up of cars complete with a couple of park ranger vehic...Read More

Thursday July 12th (con't)

From the Norris Junction, I head back towards Canyon Village so as to continue my counterclockwise loop that would eventually land me back at Roosevelt Lodge and my cabin for the night. When I arrived in the area, it was really too early to check-in and go to the cabin so I figured I'd head up towards to NE Entrance at Silver Gate. Since the Lamar Valley is one of the better known wildlife viewing areas and there had been a black bear with two cubs seen in the area, it seemed like a decent way to spend a couple of hours.

I wasn't five miles from the Roosevelt Junction when I came upon a large back-up of cars complete with a couple of park ranger vehicles. I knew immediately the black bear momma and cubs were in the area. Unfortunately, it was next to impossible to find a safe pullout spot especially since the rangers were strictly enforcing the "100 yards" rule for being near bears. I continued further down the road and found a second turnout with space enough to pull in. I was far enough away from the action, however, that watching the bears munch on the sagebrush required the binoculars. The good news was that they were moving in my direction. The bad news would be that once within the 100 yards, I would be chased out of the turnout.

They continued to feed, often in areas not visible due to the thick brush or large rocks. At one point, it appeared as though they would be making a turn back away from where I was parked but then she stopped and reversed again. She did come within the distance that the rangers were concerned about those of us in the turnout, so they came down and had us move. Ironically, by having me move out, it required that I drive towards the bear activity. Better yet, it seemed momma wanted to cross the road, requiring that all traffic stop to give her right away.

Once she was across the road, her two cubs followed her, between the cars and everything. It was amazing that none of the bear family seemed too concerned with the throng of vehicles and people surrounding them. I was fortunate in that I had a great vantage point to snap several photos during their movement across the road. It was very exciting, especially since the first year cubs were still pretty small.

After all of that excitement I continued on up to the NE Entrance Area. I did see a small group of pronghorn just before getting to Lamar Valley. I stopped in the large parking area overlooking the valley, but didn't see much. Even the wolf watchers reported not seeing anything through their scopes.

I continued on stopping at a small turnout alongside a rushing creek to fix a sandwich. In this area, the bugs (mosquitoes and biting flies) were pretty bad so for the first time I had to spray OFF on my exposed legs and arms to avoid them.

The drive on up to Silver Creek was uneventful so once through the gates I continued into the small town and turned around. At the park entrance I asked about bear sightings that day and he said there had been a grizzly seen in the area but no further reports for several hours. I kept my eyes open, scanning for the illusive grizzly, but to no avail.

The time from the NE Entrance back to Roosevelt Junction was about 75 minutes. Since it was close to 6:00pm I figured I may as well check-in. In the parking lot, I was met by my TA friend and roommate for the next two nights. I've "known" Nanc from the Alaska Forums on Trip Advisor, so meeting her in person and spending some time with her in Yellowstone was especially exciting!

Once settled into our Roughriders Cabin, I took a shower. At 6:30pm we decided to head back out to Lamar in hopes of seeing more wildlife, especially the resident wolf pack. Nanc had camped the night before at Pebble Creek CG and said that there had been a grizzly bear on the hillside just outside of the camp. She drove first to that area and sure enough, there he was! It was my first grizzly viewing (and photo). It was a great experience, even if it was too far away to get a really good photo. I saw him with my own two eyes and did get this photo, which has been zoomed and cropped in order to see him.

Other than a bison jam and more pronghorn, there was not much else happening in the Lamar Valley, so we headed back to our cabin and called it a night. It had been a long day, and I was ready for sleep! The cabin was comfortable as we had a triple bed room and was just across from the bathroom and showers. There was also an ice machine with free ice, so I got my little cooler and put some diet cokes on ice overnight. I think we said our good nights and went to sleep around 9:00pm. Read Less

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Yellowstone - Day 3

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Here They Come! Photo - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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Friday July 13th"Unlucky Friday the 13th" . . . HA! What another great day to be in Yellowstone National Park, enjoying nature and the beauty that surrounded me.Overnight we had quite the thunderstorm in the northern area of Yellowstone NP. At one point the crack of thunder was so loud it woke both Nanc and I up, startling us in our unfamiliar surroundings and beds. It was around 3:00am so plenty more sleep to be had. I know I rolled over and fell back asleep pretty easily. Next thing I knew, it was 5:30am and time to get moving.Nanc again offered to drive for our morning wildlife viewing and since the front seat area of my van was filled with stuff, I gladly ...Read More

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Yellowstone & Grand Teton (part 1)

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My Breakfast View Photo - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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Saturday July 14thI woke up early (5:30am) and was ready to hit the road after my good-byes with Nanc. She was actually up before me and ready to get moving first, so it worked out just about perfectly. As I did my last check of our cabin, I pondered what I would do with my day. Originally, my plan was to stay in the parks through the weekend and head home Monday in order to be home Tuesday night.I felt as though I had already had several great days of wildlife viewing, even if I had not seen the illusive wolves in either Hayden or Lamar. I had also not yet seen a moose, but I had what I thought was a good lead on locating them, down in Grand Teton NP which was my initial p...Read More

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Yellowstone & Grand Teton (part 2)

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Saturday July 14th (con't)Earlier in the week, I met a couple from Portage, Wisconsin. In talking about the wildlife we'd seen, I was envious that he had seen moose. He told me that he had been told of a marsh area just beyond Colter Bay down the Pilgrim Creek Road. Sure enough, when I made the left-hand turn, I could see a number of cars pulled to the shoulder, and several people out walking into the willows. There was also a tour company with guests watching. Their driver/guide was explaining to folks about the moose habitat and that the bull moose in this area were getting ready for rut season next month.From the vantage point that I had, I could barely see the moose th...Read More

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Hot, Hot, Hot . . . Home Sweet Home

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Minuteman Missile Silo Photo - Philip, South Dakota

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Sunday July 15thI rested well at the KOA in Buffalo, awaking as the sun rose at 5:15am. I got around, straightening out the inside of the van in preparation for my long drive home to Wisconsin. I was showered and on the road by 6:00am. According to Toots (our Garmin GPS device), my ETA home was 11:15pm. I was pretty shocked to think I might actually be able to get home that evening, so that became my goal as I drove the last couple hundred miles through Wyoming and on into South Dakota. In South Dakota, I did want to stop in Wall to take a look around Wall Drug as well as the Minuteman Missile Silo at the 116 Exit from I90.The drive across the heartland was long, flat and ...Read More

Sunday July 15th

I rested well at the KOA in Buffalo, awaking as the sun rose at 5:15am. I got around, straightening out the inside of the van in preparation for my long drive home to Wisconsin. I was showered and on the road by 6:00am. According to Toots (our Garmin GPS device), my ETA home was 11:15pm. I was pretty shocked to think I might actually be able to get home that evening, so that became my goal as I drove the last couple hundred miles through Wyoming and on into South Dakota. In South Dakota, I did want to stop in Wall to take a look around Wall Drug as well as the Minuteman Missile Silo at the 116 Exit from I90.

The drive across the heartland was long, flat and hot. By 8:15am it was already 85F and when I arrived at Wall Drug at 10:00am it was 94F. It wasn't much longer before it was zooming over 100 degrees! For the rest of the drive until I got to the Minnesota border at 4:00pm, the temperature fluctuated between 100 and 104, with a spike of 106F just before noon. While there were strong winds, they didn't do much to cool things down as they were hot coming from the south. I was so happy to see the sun lower in the sky as I arrived in La Crosse, Wisconsin - our border with Minnesota along the Mississippi River.

There really wasn't much to photograph along the way home. There was a barn quilt that faced I90 that I had seen on my drive the week before, so I did stop on my return through Minnesota to take a photo to send to the Barn Quilt lady who has written a book and is trying to document all of the quilts throughout the United States.

Once in Wisconsin, it seemed real possible to make it home that night. I called David to let him know I was still on schedule to get home by midnight.

The drive through Wisconsin took a little over four hours, and at times I was doubtful that I could stay awake for the entire distance. All that I could think was how it would really suck if I had to stop in Madison (about 90 miles from home) for the night. I did make it, however, thankful to be home to David and Miss Heidi.

For the day, I drove 1095 miles in roughly 16 hours. All totaled, I logged just over 3,800 miles on this most excellent road trip.

I loved Yellowstone National Park and hope to do it again some day. Badlands National Park and Grand Teton National Park were nice additions, but I could do without Custer State Park on any future jaunt across South Dakota. I would also encourage folks to consider the time to stop by the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site near Wall, SD as well.

America is a remarkably diverse country with a variety of landscape, environments and wildlife. This trip reminded me of just how fortunate I am to live here, in such close proximity with the flora and fauna that makes the USA unique to so many other places on the planet.
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