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 Leaving Custer, our mission was to get home as efficiently as possible but we did take time to pause in Mitchell, South Dakota to see the world’s only Corn Palace. The Corn Palace was built over 100 years ago to prove to the world South Dakota had an agricultural presence worth taking note of. The Palace is decorated with naturally colored corn and other grains and natural grasses. A different theme is chosen every year. The mural designs are created by local University students and are truly a-maizeing!

From South Dakota, we put in some long driving days through Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Kentucky, thankful for shady campsites and our camper’s hard working air conditioner. The Tennessee welcome center was a welcome sight after traveling 14,700 miles through 19 states, for 7 and 1/2 months. We’ve loved the adventure but “what a long strange trip it has been.”

Where the Wild Things Are

 

Home is calling but we had to stop for the week at Custer State Park in South Dakota. We visited this area eight years ago and put it on our list of epic places we want to revisit. When we were here before, we stayed in the northern part of the park with close access to Mount Rushmore and Sylvan Lake. Our goal this visit was to go where the wild things are, so we opted for Game Lodge Campground. Staying in this area almost guarantees you’ll see bison, pronghorn and bighorn sheep. In fact, the female bighorn might show up for a picnic at your campground shelter. We’ve loved this last opportunity to drive, bike and hike among wildlife at the state park and adjoining Wind Cave National Park.

The true push for home begins tomorrow. We’ll be racing to stay ahead of the looming heat dome in the Midwest. I’m not very confident it’s a race we’re going to win.

Fast Things

 

We said goodbye to Yellowstone and began our trek across the Cowboy State. We stopped in Cody for a few nights, at Buffalo Bill State Park, then made our way to Casper, passing vast expanses of sagebrush-grassland. At first glance, you might conclude the passing landscape is a wasteland but then you notice the pronghorn. Pronghorn are one of North America’s most impressive mammals. They have the longest land migration in the continental US and are also the fastest land animal in North America. They are the second fastest land mammal in the world! (Cheetahs are the fastest) Pronghorn can run 60 mph and are found only in America.

Another noteworthy sighting, as we traveled through the sagebrush-grassland….lots and lots of motorcycles. I think most were connected to the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis. I’m not as interested in motorcycles as I am pronghorn but I have to admit I was enamored with the Indian Motorcycle we saw at a rest area.

Yellowstone

 We traded our campsite on the shores of Henry’s Lake for one near Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone Lake is the largest high elevation lake in North America. I can’t believe this is our first time seeing it. This is our fourth visit to Yellowstone so instead of trying to see the typical sights we’ve visited before, we chose to stay in a quiet corner of the park near Fishing Bridge. This gave us access not only to the lake but also to hiking trails in the Pelican Valley. This area is where Mollies Wolfpack have been spotted numerous times. Mollies are one of the oldest wolf packs in Yellowstone.

Once settled, we armed ourselves with bear spray and completed three different hikes around the lake and in the valley hoping to see a wolf. We had all three trails completely to ourselves. We saw “bison, moose and elk, oh my!”  but alas, no wolves. Of course, the best things usually happen unexpectedly. While hiking at daybreak, I startled a great horned owl and as she flew, four owlets followed behind her. Of course that’s the one animal sighting I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo of!

Life Goes On

 

Mark and I have appreciated being at Henry’s Lake State Park all week as we try to come to terms with our dogs death and adjust to travels without Starbaby. This is a peaceful park with abundant bird life, wildflowers and wildlife. We also love the location because it has allowed us to visit Mark’s sister’s family. A visit with Jan, Greg, and their daughter Emily’s precious family (plus their lively dog Ash) helped lighten our mood while providing a much needed distraction from our sadness.

I know that what Ralph Waldo Emerson said was true; “Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn.” But I think the wisdom of Maya Angelou is most encouraging to me right now. “ I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”

Starbaby

 

When Mark was a little boy, his parents took him to the theatre to see the Disney movie “Old Yeller.” When it dawned on him, near the end of the movie, that the dog was going to die, he tearfully pled with his mom to change the channel. We lost Starbaby today. It may sound silly to anyone who has never loved an animal before but she really was my best friend. I wish I could change the channel.

Peaks to Craters

 

We hated saying goodbye to the Sawtooth Mountains but thought it fitting that the road we traveled this morning is called the Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway. This byway took us to a national monument we wanted to visit called Craters of the Moon. Craters of the Moon is a vast expanse of lava flows and cinder cones. There are also a number of small volcanoes, in the park, but most of the exposed lava issued thousands of years ago from a series of fissures referred to as the Great Rift. In 1918, President Calvin Coolidge described the area as “a weird and scenic landscape, peculiar to itself.” In 1969, Apollo Astronauts learned basic volcanic geology here as they prepared for their moon mission. We enjoyed climbing a mountain of ash and checking out the unusual volcanic features on the 7-mile loop road that goes through the park.

Our home for the night is a KOA in Arco, Idaho. Sometimes referred to as Atomic City, Arco was the first community in the world to be lit by electricity generated solely by nuclear power. This occurred for about an hour, on July 17, 1955, and was powered by Argonne National Laboratory. We didn’t choose to visit Argo solely because of its atomic history fame. This happens to be where Mark’s dad worked (for Argonne National Laboratory) right before he died.

“Where’s the Park?”

 

Idaho is the only western state without a national park. Bills to establish a national park, in the Sawtooth Mountains, were introduced in 1913, 1916, 1935, 1960 and 1963 but none were enacted. A joint report on the area, published in 1965, recommended it become either a national park or national recreation area. The national recreation area was a compromise allowing logging, hunting and grazing to continue in the area but it was also a quicker path to protecting more than 750,000 acres of the Sawtooth, Boulder and White Cloud mountains and the valley between. Congress passed legislation for a national recreation area in 1972. Since then, two thirds of the area has been designated wilderness. In many ways that might be even better than becoming a national park. The goal of a wilderness area is to preserve an area in its natural condition; wildlife are left wild and free and natural processes unfold without intervention. Today, the area is often referred to as “the heart of Idaho.” Not a bad place to hike, bike and recreate for the week!

Idaho

 

Six months ago, Mark and I packed up and headed west. We’ve now officially begun our journey home. We will take our time making our way east. The plan is to arrive back in Chattanooga the first week of September. After a couple of long driving days, and a short stay in Montana, we’ve landed in Idaho for a few weeks. It feels strange being on Mountain Standard Time again. The months we spent on Pacific Standard Time will perhaps be the only time in my life I consistently stayed up later at night than my grown children.

Idaho is undoubtedly one of our favorite places to visit. One reason is the important role this area played in Mark’s life when his family moved to Idaho in 1977. This is where Mark graduated high school and began college. It’s where he learned to ski and got interested in biking. It’s where his father unexpectedly died when Mark was 19. After Mark and I married, my very first plane ride was to the state of Idaho to visit family there. Thank goodness we still have family in the state so there’s always a reason to revisit.

On this trip our first stop has been Salmon, Idaho; a scenic mountain-town located on the banks of the Salmon River. This river is one of the few un-dammed waterways left in America. We loved our hike to a high desert hot springs called Goldbug. It’s on National Forest Land, nestled in rugged backcountry and is a true geothermal gem.

The TV Generation

 

Baby Boomers, also known as the TV Generation, were born between 1946 and 1964. As a group they were the wealthiest and the first generation to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time. Mark and I are Baby Boomers. We are generally optimistic and we love television.

In my last post I focused on our admiration for the 1990 show Northern Exposure. That same year another show (Twin Peaks) premiered and was also filmed in Washington state. Whether you are a fan or not, Twin Peaks and its competitor/cousin, Northern Exposure, forever altered the landscape of network television.

Twin Peaks is a murder mystery set in an idyllic Northern Pacific small town where darkness lurks beneath white picket fences and well maintained lawns. The drama follows the FBI investigation of the murder of a small town’s homecoming queen. Special Agent Dale Cooper is sent to solve the murder in Twin Peaks and though he is completely serious about solving the case he also develops an affinity for the unusually good coffee and cherry pie at the local Double R Diner.

Realizing we couldn’t walk down memory lane with one show and not the other, we took another day trip to North Bend, WA, and Snoqualmie Falls, where the show was filmed. We found the Double R Diner, now known as Tweed’s Cafe. According to Special Agent Cooper “This is where pies go when they die and you can get a damn fine cup of coffee!”

Almost Alaska

 

Thirty-three years ago an offbeat, quirky television series, called Northern Exposure, premiered with a young moose ambling through the opening credits. The series was about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town called Cicely, Alaska. Turns out the show was actually filmed in Roslyn, WA, just a few miles from where we are camping. Mark and I love the series so we planned a day to visit and hoped  to see some of the places that might be familiar after watching five seasons of the show. Roslyn’s weather-worn architecture, from the 1900’s, and the fact that Washington’s oldest continually-operating bar (The Brick) is located there, help to explain why this town was chosen to play the part of a remote Alaskan village. It snows a lot in the winter, too.

We loved having lunch at The Brick, expecting any moment to see bar keep Holling Vincouer or waitress Shelly Tambo asking what we’d like to order. Alas, we had to settle for each other’s company instead. But I swear, in the background noise at the bar, I could hear Chris Stevens, from KBHR (K-Bear) radio’s “Chris in the Morning” show sharing a bit of his philosophical perspective…. “Be open to your dreams, people. Embrace that distant shore. Our mortal journey is over all too soon.”

Beautiful, Gorgeous, Heartbreaking

 

Starbaby goes by lots of names. Mark gave her the nickname FOMO when she was a puppy because she’s always had a “Fear Of Missing Out”. One reason we choose to travel, within the United States in a camper, opposed to any other sort of travel, is because Starbaby can go too. When we began this trip in January, we knew our little dog was ill. I won’t go into the particulars of her illness but a result of her condition, over time, is the development of cataracts that eventually cause blindness. This week we’ve tried to come to terms with the fact that Starbaby has lost all or most of her sight. This latest trial hasn’t changed the fact that she still wants to go wherever we go and do whatever we do. I’ve been so thankful that the eastern side of the North Cascades National Park complex have had an abundance of epic dog friendly hiking trails for our little FOMO. Even though I have to carry her most of the way, she’s not missing out and can still hear, smell and feel all the wildness around her.