Head for the Hills 2008

[HiHoAgRV]

This lovely lady and her twins were laying next to the road this morning. With the limited internet access I have no idea when we will get online again. The local cell companies are blocking cell based access so we have to find a hotspot for any chance.

[Whizzo]

Great story. We did a nearly identical trip in 2005. We starting laughing when you mentioned the Rock Springs KOA "hard site." Holy cow, what a rough-edged town, good only for providing an onward-to-the-Tetons waystation. At least they had broadband. Recalling the 40mph cross winds on I-80 still gives me the shakes.

Enjoy the beauty of upstate Wyoming, and mind the moose!

[Stella]

I doubt the HiHos will get this before they get to Yellowstone, but if they decide to linger in Jackson one more day (because the forecast is for rain, rain and more rain) there's free Internet access at the Hard Drive Cafe and the cutest family of foxes has been denning right in town on Snow King Avenue near the rodeo grounds.

HiHos, I'd take you for coffee except work is completely hectic on Mondays, especially tomorrow with printing a graduation special section. On the way into Jellystone, you might see Bear No. 399 and her three three-year-old cubs. Check out Jackson Hole Magazine for a great story on this photogenic bruin (and a coupla little stories by yours truly on a souvenir shop and the remodel of a concert hall).

Word is that you'll need a stepladder to see over the snowbanks on the Continental Divide in Yellowstone. Most of the backcountry trails are still snow-covered. The sun is supposed to come out by Wednesday.

In West Yellowstone, the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center is a pretty neat stop. Closest you can safely get to the wild ones. The Snow Lodge at Old Faithful has decent dining. Cody has a great outdoor outlet-- Sierra Trading Post-- and a huge museum. If you come back through Jackson, holler via PM and I'm happy to provide more ideas.

[barkingdog]

Last year we went from TX to Oregon for a visit and hit Yellowstone on the way. Was it terrific! YES. Woke up on June 1 to snow on the outside of the trailer and flurries! Good trip to ya.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Stella

I doubt the HiHos will get this before they get to Yellowstone...

You guessed right, we just got logged on tonight and most of your post was dead on- snow, snow and more snow.
Thanks for the reply.

[HiHoAgRV]

After 3 days of being incommunicado and it's time to catch up.
Days 10 - 12. Our last morning in the Tetons we awake late and crawl out of the camper to see two moose walking
through the campground. They made themselves comfortable just behind the restroom and bedded down! At the crack of
10:00 we are finally off to Yellowstone at last. On the way into the park we called and found a site at Bridge Bay
for 3 nights, no hookups.
The parks southern entrance was open but the snow was FEET high on each shoulder, Lewis Lake was completey
frozen and we started second guessing our timing. Part of the way around the lake we hit our first Yellowstone
roadblock, a coyote posing for photos. For Southern folks, it was a cold 37 degrees when we arrived at our site.
Most of the sites were plowed but the picknick tables were still burried under snow. Over the next 3 days we did
the complete southern loop, West Yellowstone and most everything we could see that was not snowed in. Sleet, snow,
sun, rain you name it, the weather did it, many times within a two hour period. The snow added a special "wow" to
everything and the crowds were light so I think our timing was perfect. We saw every type of animal that we hoped,
Moose, Elk, Bison with young, bear, wolves, Bald Eagle...
We only had two issues with the camper. The first was minor, it was so cold that our 'lego' leveling blocks
shattered we we pulled the camper onto them an scattered yellow plastic all over the place. The second is something
I don't understand, we kept dropping battery level the longer we stayed. Morning 1 it was at 12.8 volts, then 12.6
, then 12.0 then 11.X...so yesterday I ran the Honda 2000 genset for 12 hours instead of the usual 4 to assure the
batteries were completely topped off. We decided to head east in the morning.

[HiHoAgRV]

Day 13 Yellowstone to Buffalo WY.
After a full 12 hour charge, this morning the batteries were at 10.8 and the heater quit at 5:00 so we pulled up
the covers and waited for the sun to warm the camper. We got underway at 10:00 and headed out the southeast
entrance. That is one high pass! Just outside the park we saw mountian goats for our final big game viewing. Our
route was to take us to Cody and into the flatlands of WY (so we thought). There is this little hill called the Big
Horn Mountians on Hwy 14 and we were completey unprepared for this one. Steep grades, switchbacks, 9600+ pass and
MILES of going down hill in 2nd gear tapping the brakes for the 25mph curves with minimal or no guard rails.
Atleast we saw another moose at the top. Tonight we are in Buffalo WY at a nice facility called The Indian
Campground with full hookups and WiFi. Now we will breakout the maps and see if we can avoid the 'scenic' route as
we head into South Dakota in the morning.

[HiHoAgRV]

Day 14 (?)
Buffalo WY to somewhere south of Badlands SD...
A long day on the road today. We stopped for asprin at a place called Wall Drug today. Never found the asprin but got some free ice water, bought 2 belts and got a free bumper sticker .
We went south and had to pay $15 to a nice lady to drive into 'The Badlands'. I supposed it was a nice area until someone plowed up a big garden on a hill and left the sprinkler on too long. The erosion is pretty bad .
Tonight we are at the nicest KOA but have no cell coverage. The do have a great dog area with an agility course that Mac enjoyed. We continue south tomorrow since Epiphany needs to get home for a bath.

More tomorrow....

[HiHoAgRV]

Day 15.
We left the Badlands of South Dakota and headed south into the rolling green hills of Nebraska and on into Kansas. 470+ miles all on 2 lane state roads for a long (for us) day. We just pulled into the WaKeeney KOA, walked to the Subway samich shop and enjoyed a top shelf supper (that means we didn't have to cook).
MPG at 60-65 mph has been helped by a tail wind and is running 16+ per gallon. That helps bring the $/gallon down by 20% below what we planned, ofsetting the $4.70+ we didn't plan on. No new photos but we did see lots of Praire Dogs and Turkeys. Epiphany is doing great with the new axles, even w/o shocks. I didn't see any airstreams today, usually we spot 2-4 even on the rural routes. Tomorrow we will see where we head next, probably peel off towards Hot Springs AR.
I still have to figure out why we had issues with battery capacity when we had no hookups, I'm suspecting the old Univolt didn't care for the Hondas output.

[slowmover]

"Epiphany is doing great with the new axles, even w/o shocks. "

(Been waiting to hear this).

I sweated through my shirt three times yesterday doing some light yard work. Those cool mornings I could probably bear . . . a little. Nebraska is a place lovelier than most realize as one nears the 98th parallel.

[HiHoAgRV]

Today took us forther south on the 2 lane roads, though Kansas with a stop in Dodge city and on into Oklahoma. We blindly selected Red Rock Canyon state park and although the entrance is quite intimidating, we are now camped at the bottom of a narrow slice in the red Oklahoma earth. The route today was so straight and isolated that it was possible to stop in the road, retreive a Coke from the 'stream and continue without obstructing traffic. The wildlife sightings included some very vocal songbirds at the many road side picknic tables and an occasional pheasant in the fields.Our friendly tailwind switched to our nose and dropped the mpg to 14 at 65mph, 10 mph below the posted speed limit. I tried to post with some photos but my PDA tossed its cookies so hopefully photos will come tomorrow.on edit... I see throught the mystery of microsoft CE my photo made it!

[HiHoAgRV]

For our final night on the road we pushed on to Texarkana TX and one of our fav types of campgrounds, Corps of Engineers. Although I overheard the hosts fussing about the poor state of the facilities it was one of the nicest ones I've been in. We listened to books on tape all day so we were tired and sorta brain numbed by the time we got setup but we did walk to the shore and watch a sunset. We realized it was also setting on our big adventure.

Later we watched deer play in the field and a skunk waddle around for 1/2 an hour, we almost had the place to ourselves.

Sleeping in late, we pulled out at 10:00 and continued our 2 lane hwy selection by crossing into Arkansas then down through Monroe LA before hitting I-20 and on home in Mississippi.

As we weed through the 600+ photos, I'll post any that seem approprate. The receint Software update seems to have left me unable to add photos.

Some stats on the trip:
Miles traveled- 4,822
Days - 18
Miles per day - 268 avg
Route repeated - less than 150 miles
Fuel cost - $1,493
Average MPG - 14.6
Highest fuel cost - $4.80 (West Yellowstone, MT)
Cheapest fuel cost - $4.20 (Sherman TX)
Number of states- 10
Total cost? Dunno, it has been priceless

[slowmover]

Nice numbers in all ways. When the rig is stable and a pleasure to pull, well, the fuel cost seems not to hurt so much. This is a trip I'd like to make, and will enjoy seeing and hearing more.

[Luckyducks]

Thanks for sharing your adventure. Great pics. We've made a couple of similar treks from Florida in the past and will again when I have more time in a few years (retirement!). Hope to see you again at the Canopener Rally in January.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by REDNAX

Nice numbers in all ways. When the rig is stable and a pleasure to pull, well, the fuel cost seems not to hurt so much. This is a trip I'd like to make, and will enjoy seeing and hearing more.

This is the first time we didn't worry about fuel cost. When I hit 1/2 tank we stopped at the next station and filled up. When I looked at the totals today, I was $100 under our estimate on fuel and $100 over on the campsites! I estimated 13mpg and $4.40 fuel and several nights at cheap boondocking (that never happened). What I didn't plan on was a new laptop and the great shopping in Santa Fe...
I missed the States count, it was 12 total.
Tonight I discovered that my dead laptop is still under warranty.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Luckyducks

... Hope to see you again at the Canopener Rally in January.

We are getting a serious itch for some beach time, may not wait until January!

[Overlander & Sea]

Thanks for sharing this great trip. I really liked the no reservations, no route repeated, and back roads. Very nice pictures and what a way to try out the new axles! Sure is getting hot here in Mississippi....................

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Overlander & Sea

... Sure is getting hot here in Mississippi....................

Yesterday I jumped in the pool to cool off...yuck, 86 degrees already. This is gonna be a hot summer.

That snow last week doesn't seem too bad now.