The drive from Sheridan, WY to Gardiner, MT

Today we left Wyoming and drove to Gardiner, Montana.  After driving a few hours through Montana you understand why they call this big sky country.  The mountains and valleys are very impressive to people who come from the flat lands of Indiana.

We drove up to the Rocky Mountain RV Resort at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  On the way they called us to remind us we wouldn't be admitted if we got here after 7:00 pm.  We told them no problem since they called us at noon and we were within two hours or so of arriving.  The rv resort we are staying at is at the base of a mountain and we had to spin the tires a little getting up the gravel road to the park.  The motor home did great today going up and down all of the mountain roads we were on.

The town of Gardiner is very small.  It has about five restaurants and bars, ten motels, and one market where prices are about two to three hundred percent more than your normal grocery store.  For example, bacon is $9.99 per pound and bananas were $1.39 per pound.  Glad we didn't need too much. The main thing Gardiner has going for it is the fact that it is four blocks from the Northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park.  In addition to its proximity to the park the scenery around here is very beautiful. There is a stream/river running through the middle of town.

After getting a bite to eat in Gardiner we came back to the rv resort and got a surprise visit this evening by a few elk that came to the resort to eat grass.  Oh bye the way I had elk for supper. Huli however, did not eat elk or any other wild game meat.

Here are some pictures from today's drive and a few of Gardiner.

A few more pictures of Sheridan, Wy

We had some things we needed to do around the motor home so other than taking a short drive over to the Big Horn Mountains we didn't do a whole lot today.  The town of Sheridan only has just over 17,000 people but the downtown is about eight blocks long.  Stores line both sides of the street.  Here are a few of the pictures we took today.We got everything done we needed to do so we are off to Yellowstone tomorrow.

Rapid CIty, SD to Sheridan, WY

Today we drove between four to five hours to our next stop which was in Sheridan, WY.  It was an easy drive on route 90.  My copilot, Hulio, and Sydney slept for about three hours on our trip today.  The country side was changing and we are starting to see more mountains.  We got fuel in Sheridan which was at a auto filling station.  Had to pull forward a little more than necessary to get the car out of the middle of the street.  I don't like to let the fuel get too low because there aren't that many exits it seems the further west you go.  After getting fuel we went down a couple of exits to the campground.  After setting up Huli pealed potatoes and carrots and is getting the chicken ready to fry.  Tonight we are cooking outside since the weather is absolutely gorgeous here.  We have a Coleman three burner stove that we use for this occasion. 


Sheridan, WY is close to the Battle of Little Bighorn where George Custer and 262 other 7th Calvary soldiers lost their lives to several thousand Sioux and Cheyenne Indians.  This battle occurred on June 25th and 26th of 1876. Sheridan is also known as the home of The Mint Bar which opened in 1907 and is the oldest bar in Sheridan.  The mountain vistas around the town are beautiful.  We tend to be going up and down much more the last couple of days.  We stay here two nights and after we leave here our next stop will be four blocks from the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. 



Went by Sturgis but didn't stop.

You can't tell very well in this picture but our car is just barely off a really busy street.  We had to pull forward past the diesel pump in order to get the car off the street.  Luckily the hose was long enough to still reach the fill location on the motorhome. Also the windshield was clean when we left four hours ago.

Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial

Today was a very easy driving day since we only drove about an hour and one half before stopping in Rapid City, SD.  We originally were going to stay another day in the badlands and then driver over to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial but changed our plans to reduce the badlands by one day and add a day in Rapid City.  We took the back roads to get to Rapid City today rather than getting back on 90 and driving west.  The country side was very beautiful but once you see this it's almost like looking at corn fields in Indiana.  Once you have seen one the others look pretty much the same.  Since we had such a short drive we went to the Walmart in Rapid City with the motorhome before going to the rv park.  Sometimes this can be an adventure in itself but today we were able to get in and out with no issues.  The rv park here is nice.  We have a concrete patio with a table and four chairs.  The only issue is the access in and out of the site.  I think we will be ok but won't know for sure until we leave tomorrow.  They advertise big rig friendly with 80 foot sites which is more than we need but when you actually get to the place you find a much different situation.  We haven't had any real problems yet on this trip other than me having the driver side of the motorhome within 6" of a barbed wired fence and the passenger side within 6" of two big rocks. Oh well that keeps things interesting.

After we got hooked up and settled in to the rv park we headed out to see Mount Rushmore.  It appeared much more commercialized today than it was 20 some years ago.  It is still amazing to think of the work it took to carve these faces into those rock mountains.  After Mount Rushmore we drove another 20 miles or so to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  This has been a work in progress for many years but is still far from being completed.

Here are some pics from today.

 My number one traveling buddy.  We indulged today by having an ice cream cone.

The Crazy Horse Memorial