Rolling Along With The Reynolds

Jim and Cindy's Adventure Blog traveling all over the USA

Travel Blog

Gillette

We stayed over post-rally at the CAM-PLEX grounds for a few days to let the dust settle on the roads, regroup and reorganize, and explore the town and surrounding area a bit.

  • Being Jim’s Birthday this week, and mine coming up next week, we had a nice steak dinner the “The Prime Rib” restaurant.

 

  • Eagle Butte Coal Mine Tour in Gillette Wyoming. Tonka Toys on a massive scale! We actually got to ride down into the pit and see the fascinating operations close up. The mine never stops and the process is surprisingly simple; shovel and dump into truck (the tires themselves are THIRTEEN feet tall!), haul to the hopper, crush, conveyed to silos, train rolls under silo at a constant speed to load each car. It was very impressive to see not only just the mining process itself, but how the entire infrastructure and land/wildlife is managed. It was all so very interesting

* Took a scenic drive loop north of town, happened to somehow miss the eastward turn to stay and the loop and managed to find ourselves up into the state of Montana. Biddle Montana, home the cutest little general store with T-Shirts touting that very thing “out in the middle of nowhere”.  

 

Gillette pics and Eagle Butte Mine (2023-47)

 

 

 

 

FMCA Rally pictures (Album 2023-46)

RV Rally

FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) holds two large rallies per year on the “international” scale (meaning all of North America). Smaller regional rallies take place all over the USA in between. This was the first time we participated in the big one. What Fun!

It was held in Gillette Wyoming at the CAM-PLEX, a very large exhibit property designed primarily for outdoor rodeos and cattle auctions. Good thing we had our e-bikes with us to traverse the grounds; close to a half-mile from the campgrounds to the arenas!

Expo Hall, Seminars, and entertainment did not disappoint. We met lots of new friends, and even celebrated Jim’s birthday on Friday night (was serenaded by the awesome acapella group called “Kazual”.) ‘Celebrating 60’ was the theme, coincidentally falling in line with my big birthday coming up next week.

  • Joined the Elks Club while there, as well as the Veterans Chapter and the Full-Timers Chapter. Looking forward to many more outings with these new groups.

 

 

Sip and Walk Tour

 

We landed in Sundance Wyoming this afternoon…
Did a very fun and educational “Sip and Walk” tour of the town and learned lots of interesting history of the hard and Wild West.
Where else can you get a glass (er, make that a tin cup!) of Merlot poured straight from the Sheriff, lol!?

Ended the day with a delicious meal at Longhorn Saloon.

Sundance area pics (Album 2023-44)

 

 

 Devils Tower National Monument

“On the edge of Northeast Wyoming’s Bear Lodge Mountains, it soars 1,200 feet above the Belle Fourche (pronounced Bell Foosh) River. The igneous formation has drawn human admiration for centuries.”
And of course, while here one must watch the 1977 Steven Spielberg movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

 

Devils Tower Pics (Album 2023-45)

 

 

Our last day in Sundance was an adventurous drive…
* visited the bustling town of Aladdin (population 15!).
* saw the fascinating Aladdin Tipple (site of a coal mine. Tipple was used to load the coal into trains).
* returned to Devils Tower to stop off at the Trading Post for ice cream and beer (guess who got what, lol) and admire the imposing landmark.
* took the road less traveled back to the Campground via Forest Service Road 847 through the Black Hills National Forest. (We really really need a high clearance 4×4 vehicle!). Very rewarding to see many free range cattle, deer, and even odd birds that we later identified as wild turkeys.
* Passed sooo very close to the Warren Peak Lookout Tower; the last mile was steep and rough, and with the sun going down we decided not to risk it.
Epic day indeed. Tomorrow we’re off to Gillette WY to attend an FMCA Rally.

 

 

 

Surreal

The sunniest day yet in the Black Hills (and our last day in the area)  called us back to Sylvan Lake and Needles Hwy. This is one of our all-time favorite places, hands down.

So beautiful!

Surely Sylvan Lake and the Needles were inspiration behind the  90’s virtual reality puzzle games “Myst” and “Riven”.

Sylvan and the Needles Hwy (Album 2023-43)

 

 

Hit the Loop!

8/8 and 8/9  
The Black Hills are stunning.
* Sylvan Lake – my favorite Myst/Riven setting
* Needles Highway, and several one lane tunnels (my favorite highway. To do it in a Miata or motorcycle would be great fun).
* Burros!
* Bison traffic jam
* drove around Mt. Rushmore
* Custer State Park, Wildlife Loop – bison, burros, antelope, prairie dogs

 

 

 

Southern Hills  

 

8/9   
Scenic drive today through the Southern Black Hills;
* Bison Center
* Hot Springs, Pringle, Custer
* beautiful sunny day!

 

 

 

All Aboard the 1880 Steam Train

 

8/10
Train Day!
————-
🚂 From Keystone to Hill City and back, aboard the 1880 steam locomotive on the original route of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
Engine # 110 is one of two 2-6-62T Mallets in service in the world. 🚂
* 🦧🐻 Dahls Chainsaw Art has workshops all over the many Black Hills towns including Bigfoot in Keystone and Smokey the Bear in Hill City. 🦧🐻
* 🏍️ Just as in Hot Springs and Custer yesterday, both Keystone and Hill City were overtaken by Sturgis cycles. Most Main streets are blocked off to cars, limiting the streets to cycle parking along each side as well as the middle line. Excellent people and cycle watching! 🏍️
* 🍻 Grab a beer, sit a spell and enjoy the show – why yessir we did indeed at the Tin City Saloon across from the Harley Davidson store in Hill City, and at the red-velvet-wallpapered Ruby Rose Saloon upper balcony in Keystone

 

 

 

 

Lead, Neutrinos, and sky

 

8/12
Today’s theme was the awesomeness of Earth and Sky….
* Traveling the Northern Black Hills towards the town of Lead, we experienced an intense 15 minute hailstorm. It came out of nowhere, so we just pulled over and kept our fingers crossed that the windshield wouldn’t crack (fortunately it didn’t).
* In the town of Lead, we were amazed at the Open Cut Deep Hole that is the site of the Homestake Gold Mine. Over 300 miles of tunnels going 2 miles deep!!! No longer mining gold since the early 2000s, it has found a super cool second life as a cutting edge neutrino science research center. It’s a fascinating place; James Bond kinda stuff!
* The heavens just kept on and on revealing jaw-dropping majesty all day long;
– meandering the hilly highways in the midst of rolling clouds
– a full rainbow, right over the Pactola Lake!
– a dramatic sunset closed out the day just as we arrived back at camp.

 

 

 

More of Sylvan Lake and Needles Hwy

The sunniest day yet in the Black Hills was calling us back to Sylvan Lake and Needles Hwy.
Picture album is on the way….