Mitchell, SD to Warrenburg, MO

Today (Wednesday) was a long day of travel - it started off overcast and then we had rain and by the time we ended up in Sr, Joseph, MO the sun had come out. We arrived in Warrenburg and as we prepared to park in the RV section - we became mired in the mud! Fortunately (although our tow strap is in the garage in Big Canoe) the tow bars worked. I had to line up the Land Rover directly behing the motorhome for a straight pull so as to not damage the bars, put the transfer case into low gear and gently put her into reverse while Bill put the motorhome in reverse at the same time. It worked! Nothing like 6,000 pounds pulling our 44,000 pounds! This was as cool as pulling the UPS truck our of the ditch and also a TransAm!
Guess they have had a lot of rain in the area since the Missouri is to crest tomorrow night a few inches over flood stage.
We enjoyed beer and all you can eat Toco Night at the Elks Lodge after we had entertained the members. :)

The Corn Palace

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, ND is sorta corny but a very old classic. Each year the murels are changed using corn and other materials. We watched the men hammering half ears of corn for a new murel! Very differend and very cool!

Sunday Pictures

What spectacular views we had and of course a few geocaches!

Cody, Wyoming

We had a great time in Cody - lots to do and a town created for tourism by Buffalo Bill Cody. The Museum was great and Bill spent two days there - one afternoon was enough for me. It was a fun town to end our caravan and then we headed to Rapid Falls after our farewell breakfast. Along the way we purchased a chain saw bear to replace our current bear wo is rotting away after all these years near the front door. The views have been spectacular all along the way. We stayed at the Rapid City Elks Club and they have very nice facilities - including a golf course.

Wednesday - The Grand Tetons

Today was the second time we have been to Grand Tetons National Park - the last time was in April of 1988 and was the Spring of the year of the great Yellowstone fires. There was lots of snow on the ground so it was quite different to see it in early Fall.

A Moose Family

We have been looking all over for moose and although we have seen a cow moose we have not seen a bull moose. Just before lunch today in Moose, Wyoming - we saw this family and there was a moose traffic jam of everyone trying to take pictures. We left the bus and walked back about 1/3 mile to capture these pictures. The dark colored moose is the baby. How exciting!

Yellowstone Canyon - Tuesday

Today we headed to the spectacular Yellowstone Canyon which we find more spectacular than our Grand Canyon. We then traveled to Mammouth Hot Springs and then back to West Yellowstone. Bill went with friends to hike into the canyon.
Today we had more animal sightings and one male elk had a huge set of antlers to carry around! We also sw a black wolf and another moose.
This place can only be called spectacular and there have been more visits to Yellowstone this year than any previous year.

Monday in Yellowstone

We had a great day looking at geysers, mud pots, fumaroles, and hot springs as well as bison, elk, a moose cow, swan, two coyotes, and Canada geese.
We had dinner tonight at the Old Faithful Inn which was built in 1904 and is one of our great park hotels.

This male bison was just walking down the road. The geyser is Old Faithful, and the car was like the one we rode in when visiting Glacier - only this time yellow!

From Butte to W. Yellowstone

Today was absolutely a beautiful day for traveling and the trip from Butte to W. Yellowstone was spectacular! After getting to the KOA we headed to a Wolf and Grizzly Bear Refuge in W. Yellowstone.
Tonight our team cooked dinner and everything worked out just great.
Tomorrow we will be touring Yellowstone.

Friday - learing skies

Friday we headed west to Grant Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site and we had a picnic lunch there provided by part of our group. We then headed to the old Montana Prison which has now become a museum and also a car museum. The drive was beautiful thanks to the higher locations having received snow during all the rain.

Wednesday to Butte, Montana

We had an easy drive to Butte and the campground is adjacent to the visitors center and we headed off on the Butte Trolly for a tour of Butte which is an historic mining town.
Mining has pretty much ended in this town except for one open pit mine. Most of the mines are now filled with water and the old original open mine is now a huge pit.
The rain started while we were cruising around on the Trolly and we had to put the sides down for a while.