A Wild West Adventurer - Trip to the Homestead Day 2 and 3

     Day two started out with a bit of wind.  Did I say a bit?  What an understatement!  Fought the wind throughout the remainder of Utah and through much of Wyoming.  Sadly, our planned stop at Independence Rock was spoiled by wind gusts of over fifty miles per hour.  You can imagine what this did for our fuel economy..... next few tankfuls were just over ten miles per gallon.  We very much want to go back to Independence rock and actually get to see the anmes carved into it.  Story goes like this.  If the early settlers left Missouri in time to get to Independence Rock by the Fourth of July, for the most part they were assured that they would get to California or Oregon before the snow would fall.  Since this is basically the only rock outcropping on this vast plains, they would carve their names into the rock to indicate they had been there. 

     But our goal for the day was to get to  Devils Tower which we managed after twelve long hours on the road.  You crest a hill and you see this magnificant piece of geology ahead.  A winding route to the park itself and we got what I consider the best site in the house.  From our folding chairs we could look right up past Prairie Dog Town to the Tower itself.  The weather did not cooperate for us to take photos at night, but it was still a great photo opportunity.  While planning this adventure, we decided that having a bike would be a great asset.  The bike adventure would begin the very next day.



     We awoke on day three and we decided that we would ride our new bikes to the Visitors Center.  We got there all right, but ended up walking about half of the way as it was so steep.  We did get quite a few comments from folks... "you guys rode up here from the campground?"  We hiked around the Tower and then rode back to the campsite.  But I must say, the ride back was great.  We also rode the bikes to the store at the entrance to the Monument. 

     Small side note:  this is the first National Monument in the National Park System.  If you do not already own a yearly pass (for those under 62) I suggest you invest in one. Contact the National Park Service to inquire about purchasing one.  Another great service they have at the parks is a nightly talk froma ranger.  Our first night there the talk was about climbing Devils Tower ... which is not allowed in June out of respect to the Native Americans.  Our second night the talk was about bats in the Monument and it was very informative.  It was off to bed for us for an early start in the morning.

JP and Laurie

The Cruisin Campers