From Togwotee Back to Shenandoah

We left Togwotee Wyoming on September 21, 1997. It snowed the day we left, even having a snowball fight right beside the road about 5 minutes after leaving. At Togwotee the elevation is 8,600 feet! It snowed on July 12 - in the middle of the summer, it even stuck to the ground! On that day Mary went for a horseback riding with a family from Florida. There was a boy about 12 years old in the family who had never seen snow in his life ever, well until Togwotee deposited a bit of it's "unpredictable elevation" weather on us.

We both enjoyed riding the horses, I remember the last time we rode the horses at Togwotee. Cowboy Village employed a naturalist at the resort. The naturalist job was probably the easiest job available. He dressed in a uniform similar to a rangers uniform. A typical day for a naturalist consisted of leading 2 hikes, each consisting of one to two hours long, one kid hike for an hour, guiding one horseback ride for an hour, and feeding the fish in the stocked trout pond. Also three times a week he told stories around the campfire cookout. Not a bad job, and all it takes to be a naturalist is a three hour class!!! The pay of $6.00/hour isn't too bad for doing fun work. Pretty stress free!

Well at the end of the season, it came to the naturalists' last day of work. Mary and I wanted to go on a horseback ride with him before he left, so he gave us a personal ride (just us three). What was supposed to be a one hour ride turned into a 3 or 4 hour ride. We went off the trails, down extremely steep inclines down the Rockies (right next to the Tetons), jumping over fallen logs in bushwhacking style, and trotting and galloping! We were on a trek to find "Lost Lake" and got lost a few times before discovering the lake. Excellent outing!!

The day we left we drove for probably about 10 hours. On September 22 we drove on a route that was incredibly steep, the steepest drive we had ever been on! Not to mention the fog was thick as molasses!! We were traveling in first gear at about 5 miles per hour!! Driving on nothing but switchbacks for mile after mile!! I was scared that someone would come up behind us and smash through us we were going so slow and the fog was so thick. It was so thick that even if someone had come up behind us, and didn't go through us, they would have had to join us at 5 miles per hour because I was afraid that if I pulled over the truck wouldn't move again; something about inertia.

The incredible thing is, is that no one did come up behind us on a stretch of about 50 miles of the steepest stuff I'd ever driven. Luck like this is rare and extremely blessed.

Or maybe they were just flying off the road behind me trying to avoid going through us!!

The fog was so thick that it was near impossible to read any road signs. The Micro-Mini creeped up the mountain, with Mary and I chanting "I think I can, I think I can." While patting the dashboard in a loving manner. I was watching my odometer closely looking for the turnoff which was nearing, nearing, then past it. We kept going, knowing that my estimates are rough guesses, and we kept going. At one point though it was known by us both that we may have passed the Medicine Wheel. We also knew that there was no turning around, the road was a mean pull on our Micro-Mini, and she might not make it any further on that hill. At one point I spotted a county road worker in a public truck beside the road in a pulloff. I stopped to ask him which way to the Medicine Wheel knowing for sure he was going to point down the mountain. I asked and he turned and pointed to a sign and a road about 150 feet ahead of me! I was ecstatic!! We had made it!

This wasn't the end though. As we pulled to the drive we read a sign that said something like "narrow, dirt road, no shoulder, extreme caution / Medicine Wheel 2 miles."

The road was about the width of our truck, with some blind turns in it, and the worst was on our left side it just dropped off. The dropoff was about a 55 degree slant sloping down a mountain.

We made it to the end with no incident except the grip marks in the steering wheel and Mary having to go to the bathroom.

We parked the Micro-Mini for a much needed rest and walked one-and-half miles to the Medicine Wheel.

It was about 40 degree out and the wind was blowing about 15 miles per hour, it was damn cold! We bundled up and headed up the mountain. The fog was so thick that we knew there was spectacular views all around us but we could not see 150 feet in front of us.

At last we reached it. The Medicine Wheel is made up of rocks. It's a circle about 125 feet in diameter with different patterns of spokes within it. Even the most ancient historical Indians have no idea what it was used for.

Around the rocks is a fence that protects the area. Only Native Americans with permits or researchers are allowed inside the perimeter. The surrounding fence is lined with thousands of spiritual offerings from visitors. Everything from dream catchers, herbs in cloth, personal artifacts, prayers, letters, and other various objects.

Mary and I had decided before we went that we would leave a tuft of buffalo fur on the fence. We had found the fur in Yellowstone National Park. We left this offering because the buffalo was sacred to the Indians and there aren't many wild buffalo left anymore in America. It was a shame but the fur was from a live buffalo that had shed some of it's winter coat, so we thought it was a pleasant offering to these grounds.

We didn't take any pictures or videos of the grounds, and we descended the hill on foot in the cold.

At the bottom of the hill there was a little shack where a national forest ranger (a girl of about 25) let us in and warmed our bodies with the space heater, and gave us coffee, and pleasant conversation. She also told us that we were pretty much at the top of the driving mountain, and all driving from here would be downhill! Good for the truck!

We left and drove on for about another 7 hours to the base of Devil's Tower in Wyoming. We arrived late,in thick fog, at the base of Devil's Tower. When we parked for the night I knew the tower was within a half a mile, and usually in plain sight of our present position, but the fog was still thick as molasses. When we awoke in the morning the fog was still thick, but appeared to be lifting. We drove to the entrance to Devil's Tower National Monument, and as we passed through the entrance the fog lifted over the top of the "rock" impressing us both with its awesome magnitude and sheer uniqueness to anything I've ever seen.

Devil's Tower is created from a ancient volcano that died down. The actual tower is dried magma rock from the core of the volcano. This rock is harder than all surrounding rocks, it is least effected by the elements of water and wind. So as the surrounding rocks blew away, it left this vertical mass of rock. The rock was crystallized which left a feature of symmetrical-grooved sides.

An old Indian myth of the rock tells of years ago three girls were running from a bear. They ran to a tree stump and prayed for help. The tree stump grew into the massive structure it is today. The bear then tried to claw his way up, but couldn't get the girls. The grooved sides are the bear claw marks.

We went for a walk around the whole tower. At one point we saw climbers ascending the tower. The tower is located on a mountain and there a also nice views of the surrounding valleys. It was nice to see it from all sides.

On our way out there is a prairie dog village inside the borders of the monument park area. Prairie dogs are the western ....... They live in big groups that have a whole bunch of "watchers" just outside their holes looking around for any sign of danger. If one sees danger they give out a peep and all repeat the peep while retreating to their underground holes. They greet each other with "kisses" touching each others noses.

They were very entertaining to watch, they are endangered now with only a few "villages" in the whole country.

It's a shame when I'm so awed with creatures that I should be accustomed to but are so rare nowadays that you can only see them in isolated remote areas of our country. We kill off little creatures like this one, not for survival, not for food, just because we don't want them eating any of our harvest, or just because we consider them a "pest."

When we drove off we could see Devil's Tower for miles upon miles of it. It was beautiful to watch. I could imagine what travelers of the past thought when the first laid eyes upon this formation, it sure impressed me!

We then crossed the Wyoming border into South Dakota. Our first stop was at the Crazy Horse monument. At the present time only the head is near completed. This statue of the Indian legend, Crazy Horse, on top of a horse pointing with an arm outstretched. It was constructed as an Indian response to Mount Rushmore. They are both located about 30 miles apart in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Black Hills were taken from the Native American Indians, breaking a contract with the president and the Indians. Just to give a perspective on how big this monument will be; all four of the presidents in Mount Rushmore could fit in just Crazy Horse's head. The figure on horseback is shaped as Crazy Horse was when a white man asked him, "so where are your lands now?" And Crazy Horse points and says, "my land is where my people are buried."

We have a rock from this mountain.

From there we drove to Mount Rushmore. The place in front of us charged $5.00 to park, and we refused and drove down the road to the public parking. On the way to the parking space we saw two mountain goats right beside the road. We got pictures and lots of video. It was the first time I'd ever seen a mountain goat! They seemed quite docile. Then we saw Mount Rushmore.

From there in the Black Hills, we drove through the Badlands, and Badlands National Park, the sun just dropping as we made our way out of desert type lowlands, strange shapes as shadows looming beside the road in our headlights.

The next morning we drove on and out of South Dakota, cutting clear across the state, following the shore of the Missouri River, turning south along South Dakota's eastern border with Missouri, then trekking along the borders of Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. We passed miles, upon hours, of endless corn fields and farms. We passed into each state, making stops in each: we visited a ship museum at a Iowa's welcome center. We stopped in to a farmers market in a small farming town center and bought some vegetables in Nebraska, and we had dinner and made love in Kansas. That same night we entered Missouri. This was being in our fifth state of the day and we took rest for the night.

The following day we drove through Kansas City, then cut across Missouri towards St. Louis where we slept that night out side the city of St. Louis. The next morning we drove into St. Louis, and out of St. Louis (by mistake), then found our way back into the city (I hate hate hate city driving), found a reasonable motel, and headed out to the city on foot.

We walked along the shore of the Mississippi where the Missouri River, which we have been following the past 900 miles, reaches the Mississippi. We saw the arch, and visited the museum below the arch, then walked around the arch. We went out to eat at a fancy restaurant, and filled ourselves with new or exotic foods, until we waddled out onto the streets, stomach fatter and wallet thinner. The Saint Louis Cardinals major league baseball team were playing a home game that night and we got 2 tickets for $10.00 from a scalper and enjoyed a 15 inning game, each extra inning scored us seats closer to the edge as people left for the night, we had no commitments or restraints on time so we could stay and enjoy it to the end.

The next day we drove through southern Illinois, and a touch of Indiana, into north west Kentucky to Justin and Devina's house. Another great time with the new relatives. We went bass fishing, and all caught fish, and had a great time. We also had a fish roast, which I prepared the food for, over a bonfire. We all had a great time talking, eating, drinking, telling stories, and Mary and I bought a whole bunch of fireworks in some prior state and we watched and made a spectacular fireworks show.

The morning we were to leave we had brunch at one of Devina relatives house. There gather each Sunday about 40 family relatives for this meal. The lady who hosts must be at least 80 years old and is like the Grandma of this huge family. Young and old sit on the front porch with the basset hound talking while the kids run around the house playing games and getting in trouble. Grandma comes out with an endless supply of candies, the kids fill themselves whole bags of goodies, and the adults pass the main bags around and stuff sweets into mouths that feed stomaches already stuffed beyond belief.

We left, always before being grown tired of, and flew across Kentucky and across the border into West Virginia and slept for the night.

The next day was a slow day of climbing the hills of the Appalachians, crossing into Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains. We soon saw familiar scenery of the Shenandoah Valley, and Shenandoah National Park, and the deer.