I will start this section at the 23rd hour of the 6th day. We arrived at the eastern entrance of Yellowstone at 11:05pm, totally gassed and ready for bed. Five minutes earlier, driving 50 mph, in the pitch black, a deer strolled across my front bumper. My heart beat was on ludicrous speed. We had just counted our 13th dead deer on the side of the road, and I was not going to make 14 my personal accomplishment. I pulled into the park in front of Meg and Jim’s van. After pulling through the dark, unattended “welcome” lane, I looked at the huge board alerting the visitor as to the vacancies and mileage to one’s cabin. Ours was ‘non-vacant’, 43 miles. The drive was one level below white knuckle. I popped a 16 oz Mt Dew and started the drive. A fox skirted by the car at mile 23. My hands were at 11 and 1, my eyes were glued to the dark road. The new moon offered no support. The moment that freaked me out was when I looked to the left in a grassy section and saw a hallow red eyeball 12 inches from the road and the ground. Jen jumped because I took my eyes off the road and pushed the truck towards a tree. Samantha shrieked and covered her eyes. We made it past him, but it startled us. By 1 am, we arrived at the cabin and got right to sleep.
Now the rest of the day was just driving! We broke camp at 9:45 am, but before that, we suffered a tremendous challenge. At 12:02 am, we heard a tremendous crash of metal. Sharp screeches, loud bangs, and other horrible sounds made up the hookups of the box cars just 200 yards from our heads. Every person woke up in our tent, but William. Every person in the entire camp woke up, but William. This is how we started the longest day in the car of our roadtrip. The day before, we opted to not do Rushmore and Crazy Horse, the choice was the right one at that time because of our fatigue, but would pain us very late in the day.
We had some starts and stops leaving Wall. The first turn alone was left and should have been right. We made it to Rushmore in ok time, but our instincts told us to take a photo from the road and head out fast. We did not. We paid the $11 for ‘parking’ and proceeded to see the carvings. My friend Andy said to drive to the west and take a shot for the silhouette of Washington. Yup, that was the right call for a group of people needed to get to Yellowstone quickly. We spent almost 2 hours there and paid for it. It was great to see this National Monument, but we could have done it faster and cheaper. Oh well. We then did a quick drive-by of Crazy Horse and then moved to Yellowstone. This drive was tough. We drove over 500 miles in one day, and it included: a mountain pa
ss, rodeo in Cody, 2 botched store runs and several miles of the most beautiful vistas our country has to offer. We are blessed to live in such an amazing country.
We left Cody in the dark around 8pm, and this was a mistake. Our only regret thus far in the trip is that we did not enter Yellowstone in the light!
Even though it was a tough day, it was great to get to Yellowstone on the 7th wedding anniversary of Meg and Jim. Meg and Jim, thanks for all your contributions and leadership to this amazing adventure.
Now the rest of the day was just driving! We broke camp at 9:45 am, but before that, we suffered a tremendous challenge. At 12:02 am, we heard a tremendous crash of metal. Sharp screeches, loud bangs, and other horrible sounds made up the hookups of the box cars just 200 yards from our heads. Every person woke up in our tent, but William. Every person in the entire camp woke up, but William. This is how we started the longest day in the car of our roadtrip. The day before, we opted to not do Rushmore and Crazy Horse, the choice was the right one at that time because of our fatigue, but would pain us very late in the day.
We had some starts and stops leaving Wall. The first turn alone was left and should have been right. We made it to Rushmore in ok time, but our instincts told us to take a photo from the road and head out fast. We did not. We paid the $11 for ‘parking’ and proceeded to see the carvings. My friend Andy said to drive to the west and take a shot for the silhouette of Washington. Yup, that was the right call for a group of people needed to get to Yellowstone quickly. We spent almost 2 hours there and paid for it. It was great to see this National Monument, but we could have done it faster and cheaper. Oh well. We then did a quick drive-by of Crazy Horse and then moved to Yellowstone. This drive was tough. We drove over 500 miles in one day, and it included: a mountain pa
ss, rodeo in Cody, 2 botched store runs and several miles of the most beautiful vistas our country has to offer. We are blessed to live in such an amazing country.We left Cody in the dark around 8pm, and this was a mistake. Our only regret thus far in the trip is that we did not enter Yellowstone in the light!
Even though it was a tough day, it was great to get to Yellowstone on the 7th wedding anniversary of Meg and Jim. Meg and Jim, thanks for all your contributions and leadership to this amazing adventure.
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