West Trip 2019 #23 Travel to South Dakota
Sept. 12-15th
We continue our travels north towards South Dakota byway of Colorado and Wyoming. Today's travels will be about 236 miles to Grand Junction Colorado. On the way we stopped at Canyonlands National Park to eat some lunch.
We reached Grand Junction Co. in late afternoon and headed for a OHV BLM area at end of 25 rd to spend the night. It was a very dusty area and many of the sites with fire rings had tons of broken glass so needed to be careful for Kira's sake and tires. There were a few off roaders , but the view was awesome and very peaceful once it was dark.
The next day we packed up and and headed for the high mountain passes on our way to the Black hills. I-70 is a beautiful drive for most of this day but Fred (our truck) was struggling over Vail pass and Johnson tunnel. We had the emergency flashers on more than not with speeds on I-70 down to 20 mph (that's all Fred could muster). We nearly was caught in a shutdown coming down the mountain. We stopped at Georgetown to fuel up. When we got back on I-70 an 18 wheeler was on the side of the road with its rear trailer tires on fire. Come to find out the whole trailer was engulfed in flames and smoke shutdown both sides of I-70 for hours. Truckers let those brakes cool down.
We made it as far as Wheatland Wyoming and stayed at Lewis park. This is a free camping city park with water and electric with a dump station!! Its been a long day 415 miles traveled.
Up early-ish and headed for Devil's tower. This is where the movie Close encounters of the 3rd kind was based. It was pretty cool but we just did a drive through as no camping was available. We needed to make it to Deadwood SD today.
It's getting late in the season and many campgrounds are shutting down. We drove through Deadwood south to Robaix lake. The campground host left the weekend before we arrived and camping was free but no facilities. It was nice wooded area with a small lake and still many people around.
Today we are heading into Deadwood to explore. The original town burned down and the current town is mostly a re-creation for tourist (like us) but there is much history here. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried here on a hill overlooking the town. Several saloons and casinos along with the normal tourist junk stores. Along with some interesting museums and a decent visitor center.
Back to camp for some dinner and a good nights rest. Tomorrow we head for Custer SD for more exploration.
See Ya Then,
Tom, Pat and Kira
We continue our travels north towards South Dakota byway of Colorado and Wyoming. Today's travels will be about 236 miles to Grand Junction Colorado. On the way we stopped at Canyonlands National Park to eat some lunch.
We reached Grand Junction Co. in late afternoon and headed for a OHV BLM area at end of 25 rd to spend the night. It was a very dusty area and many of the sites with fire rings had tons of broken glass so needed to be careful for Kira's sake and tires. There were a few off roaders , but the view was awesome and very peaceful once it was dark.
The next day we packed up and and headed for the high mountain passes on our way to the Black hills. I-70 is a beautiful drive for most of this day but Fred (our truck) was struggling over Vail pass and Johnson tunnel. We had the emergency flashers on more than not with speeds on I-70 down to 20 mph (that's all Fred could muster). We nearly was caught in a shutdown coming down the mountain. We stopped at Georgetown to fuel up. When we got back on I-70 an 18 wheeler was on the side of the road with its rear trailer tires on fire. Come to find out the whole trailer was engulfed in flames and smoke shutdown both sides of I-70 for hours. Truckers let those brakes cool down.
We made it as far as Wheatland Wyoming and stayed at Lewis park. This is a free camping city park with water and electric with a dump station!! Its been a long day 415 miles traveled.
Up early-ish and headed for Devil's tower. This is where the movie Close encounters of the 3rd kind was based. It was pretty cool but we just did a drive through as no camping was available. We needed to make it to Deadwood SD today.
Today we are heading into Deadwood to explore. The original town burned down and the current town is mostly a re-creation for tourist (like us) but there is much history here. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried here on a hill overlooking the town. Several saloons and casinos along with the normal tourist junk stores. Along with some interesting museums and a decent visitor center.
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| Cool Old Indian |
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| Gold!! |
Back to camp for some dinner and a good nights rest. Tomorrow we head for Custer SD for more exploration.
See Ya Then,
Tom, Pat and Kira
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