A beautiful dry blue sky day. We dried all of our soggy clothes, and even washed a few smelly ones, recharged the solar, ate breakfast and hiked up to the tower from our campground (Belle Fourche National Campground at the base of Devil’s Tower). We walked the perimeter trail around the tower and admired the rock climbers on the shear columns way above our heads (crazy dudes, and we rock climb!).
Back at camp a large group of Lakota (Sioux) had arrived during their annual Sacred Hoop Run. We were told that various members and children of the tribe cover 500 miles over 8 days via relays visiting traditionally sacred sites along the way to keep the younger tribe members engaged with their history. What a great addition to the campground for the night.
After recovering from our 3 hour hike, we grilled chicken over the fire with a few neighbors at the campground under the looming Devils Tower, as the Lakota drummed a bit into the evening! Magical!
What chance is there waaaaay out here in WY of meeting up with family and friends. Well, not quite as slim as you think.
Our first meet-up was with Darrin’s younger(?) brother, Paul, and his lovely companion, Virginia (and of course Trouble, aka Beastie Boy, and Harley). They were travelling all the way up here from FL and we happened to land at the same campground. That’s our story and we are sticking with it!
Darrin’s younger brother Paul…where’s my walker?
Then we met-up with the Conways from NH at Devil’s Tower! We had a great reunion, catch-up, chow down and soggy hike around Devil’s Tower. Thanks for swinging by guys! Safe travels!
Our friends from back east!
We have had a great, if soggy, week in the WY Black Hills and Devil’s Tower area. We stayed at a great little campground in the national forest, Reuters. Randy, the amazing host took great care of us. Thanks Randy…hi to Boo and Shadow!
The whole motley crew…Paul, Virginia, Randy and well you know the guy on the end😎WY Black Hills. Camping in the clouds, 40s and 50s and raining.
They say the sun is supposed to shine tomorrow, but we are not holding our breath. Remember how we were complaining about the heat? Well, be careful what you wish for. It is in the 50s and soggy, but what a view! We’ll take it! Although I can’t figure out why Darrin keeps piling up his mash potatoes?
Thanks Jenny and Scott for the inspiration for the blog title and the sage. I think I’m feeling a little batty now😋 Hope you had a safe trip back to Laramie!
So we took off full of pent up energy after being waylaid in Newcastle. We were ready to get back into the woods after our time in the hotel.
We headed up in the Wyoming Black Hills to find a dispersed place to camp. While Heading up the fire road we checked the weather…hmmm….severe thunderstorms and a slight chance of a tornado! No ridgetop with a view for us. We needed a secure place to set up before the storms hit in a few hours.
Looking, looking, looking, hmm there’s a spot just down that little slot canyon. It looks like a 4 wheeler may have left a trail just our size. Dropped the rover into 4 wheel low range and down we went into the little canyon. No problems dropping down to the site, but it wasn’t as flat as it looked from above. Surprise, surprise!
So, it’s hot down in this little canyon and when we went to jockey the Rover around the vapor lock reared it’s head for the first time since installing the famous Peach Can Vapor Lock Reduction Device (PCCVLRD) and the rover quit (PCCVLRD 2.0 is in the research and design phase, production to start shortly).
At least we were in a place safe from the approaching storm, but we wanted a secure place to set up and camp, not just ride out the storm.
Out comes the winch and 45 minutes later we had winched ourselves back out of the little canyon into a semi secure spot in a glade of ponderosa pines.
While using the winch to shift around bit I tried the starter and the Rover sprang to life
We jumped in and made a beeline down to the security of the little national park outside Sundance, WY.
Where we met some wonderful people.
We were given a pile of dry wood for out little woodstove.
Given a ride into town for groceries.
Given a nice lunch at the community center.
Lesson learned!
Free dispersed camping is great, but not when you are in a rush and racing a storm.
We would have missed out on a nice spot and great people!
If you have been following our blog, you know that space in the Rover is very tight, so buying souvenirs is not high on our list, and well we aren’t really shoppers anyway. But, during our stay in Newcastle, we befriended a team of Archeologists who were doing surveys in the area. Every night we would ask what they had found and they would ask how the Rover was coming along and we would chat for a while. The night before they left, the team leader, Hillary, gave us a brachipod fossil.
If I have my facts right, which I may not so feel free to correct me, during the Paleozoic period (something like 450 million years ago)Wyoming was covered by a shallow sea, hard to believe since we are in the middle of a huge landmass. It left behind all kinds of marine fossils, like our brachipod, in layers of sandstone, shale and limestone.
So this little critter remnant is really, really old. What a great keepsake.
The Wyoming state tree is the Plains Cottonwood, a member of the willow family. They are called cotton trees because of the cotton like substance that surrounds the seeds. One person told me you could spin the cottony fluff, I’m not sure if they were pulling my leg.
Cottonwood tree in the Newcastle park.The cotton like fluffy stuff.
Have you ever flown somewhere, had a long layover followed by a delayed departure or a cancelled flight? Wait, walk the terminal, read, walk again, eat over priced fast food, read, stare at people, make up stories about people, maybe actually talk to some people, walk again…and repeat.
You alternate between relaxed, hey it’s a mini vacation might as well enjoy it, frustrated, don’t they know I have places to go, trapped, the terminal is only so big and there are only so many times you can walk around it…and repeat.
Last week the wee Rover sputtered out a complaint and refused to go. A few calls later and Darrell, the amazingly wonderful tow truck driver from Kregel Towing & Recovery, came to our rescue. He put the wee Rover on his very large flat bed and drove us to Outlaw Motors in Newcastle, WY where Jason, our night in shining armor, pretending to be a mechanic, was nice enough to squeeze us into to his schedule the following Monday.
Waiting for the tow truck, might as well enjoy our coffee!The poor wee Rover😣Darrell not only towed us in, but came back in his own vehicle to give us a lift to our motel. Thanks Darrell!
Newcastle, WY, the gateway to the Black Hills (from the west), the wild west train hub town, a small town trying to survive, like every other small town in America, a town one would normally just pass through. We were in a holding pattern.
Was this a delay? A layover? A cancelled flight?
Small Rover issue? Catastrophic? End of trip?
We walked every road in town, we visited the local museum, we walked every road again, we ate fast food, watched TV, walked some more, played cribbage …and repeat. We felt relaxed, hey what could we do, we felt trapped, there are only so many roads to walk, and surprisingly we felt lucky…
A town we normally would have just passed through taught us about the local coal industry, it’s proud history and team spirit (Go Dogies), fed us pancakes at a community breakfast followed by a parade for the weekend mud bog, and quite simply reminded us what small town America is all about…people.
People raising their kids, trying to keep their community alive, helping each other through the latest bust while hoping for the next boom. People who offered us rides and use of their cars, people who waved at us when we walked by for the tenth time, and stopped what they were doing to chat, and the wonderful ladies at our motel who were amazingly kind.
And we met people like us who were here for just a while. A team of archeologists who were working on federal land who offered to share their dinner and stories, a couple of motorcyclists on their yearly ride, and a civil engineer here for 6 weeks working on a water project.
All this we would have missed, yet there is still the feeling of being trapped. Ok relax, read, walk, eat junk food…and repeat.
Oh, and the wee Rover is just fine. Some small plastic thingee broke. The new parts are in and Jason will have us back on the road again tomorrow!
Newcastle from one of our favorite spots, the Greenwood Cemetary.The tombstones in the Greenwood Cemetary were lovingly maintained with flowers and historic placks that told the stories of some notable people.One of the many statues around town depicting their proud history.The mud bog parade!Thanks Karen and Stacey!
Can you imagine a town where a train goes right through the center of it every 6 minutes? How do they get any sleep?
Newcastle, WY is, well was, such a town. I had no idea that Wyoming was coal country, and oil country, but that is a different story.
In 1887, the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad stretching its way across the continental US reached Nebraska and realized it was too expensive to bring the coal needed to run their engines from the east. If they were going to continue west, they needed a new source.
Coal had been reported in eastern Wyoming. The railroad investigated and the Cambria mine, and town, was founded. The railroad stretched its line west running a spur up to the mine. The junction of the main line and the spur came to be the town of Newcastle, WY.
For the next 40 years the coal from the Cambria Mine flowed down the tracks and through Newcastle. In 1928, the mine finally petered out, but not the coal industry. To the west large resources of coal were found right near the surface. These mines are the largest producers of coal in the US. This coal is still transported via train right through Newcastle.
Today, I am sitting on the hill above Newcastle, which happens to be the town cemetery and a beautiful spot to write, watching a coal train snake through town like a mythical monster from a Viking saga, Darrin counts 135 cars full of coal.
The trains don’t run every 6 minutes anymore, but they do run back and forth almost every 15 minutes or so, day and night.
Now that’s a lot of coal!
The head of the fire breathing snake.And it just keeps coming, 135 coal cars.Car after car…one way full of coal and the otherway empty going back for a refill.
