Well, it rained most of the night. We woke up, and the RV started right up. Joe let the engine idle a little to warm up and revved it some, then as soon as it slowed down, it died. We could not start it again. There was a nice, 1.3 mile hike just across the highway from the road we were down, so we walked up there and went for a nice hike. We went back to the RV and had a heck of a time starting it up. It finally started and we worked our way up the hill and back to the highway. Fortunately not getting stuck.
We stopped at a rest area/overlook not far away and could not get the RV started yet again. It got to the point where Joe pulled off the engine cover, found what he believes to be the problem and got it started again.
We have decided that this will be the last trip for this RV. We're not going to dink around as much on our way back as planned either. We're heading to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, then we'll probably head straight home.
-Miranda
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We decided not to go all the way to Dinosaur National Monument. We stopped at a small spot off the side of Hwy 40 right before Steamboat Springs. The view was amazing. There was a fire pit there also, so we had a fire for s'mores. Sadly, the only marshmallows we had were minis... It definitely made for interesting roasting. I'll post some pics tomorrow hopefully.
We then left there, and checked out the Dinosaur National Monument. The main visitor center that has the dino quarry in it is closed though, so we just did a short hike that went by a couple neat areas. One by the side of a mountain filled with dino bones. Joe could pick an area of the rock randomly and start looking for bones. He was able to fine a few everytime.
We then headed towards Salt Lake City and stayed at the last National Forest before Jenny's place. We were up near 9000 ft, so there was snow, but it really wasn't cold. It was the perfect temp and a gorgeous area.
We are now in Salt Lake City and have dropped off Jenny. We are staying at her place for the night and will decide our next move tomorrow.
-Miranda
EDIT: Here are some pics.
This is the view from the site near the highway where we roasted mini marshmallows.
The Colorado side of Dinosaur National Park. I thought the clouds looked so neat.
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Wind Cave was very neat. Once we were done with the tour, we drove straight through Wyoming, stayed at a rest stop off I-25 and then got to Fa's on Sat. morning. We stayed there until Monday morning, working and hanging out. On Monday, we left and headed through Rocky Mountain National Park. We can now say we have been on the highest paved road in the US. The RV was being a little troublesome, but we still made it. It was rainy/snowy and foggy, but it was still gorgeous.
We left the park and found a spot in the closest national forest. It was still rainy and the area was pretty mucky, so we just stayed in and watched movies since there was no internet. We are now working our way towards Utah and planning on checking out the Dinosaur National Monument.
Lots of pictures, but we have seen some neat things since the last update. I'll include some pictures from the caves as well as Rocky Mountain.
-Miranda
A drapery formation in Jewel Cave.
A photo of Joe and Jenny in Jewel Cave. It was really hard to focus the camera in there since there was very little light, so it's out of focus, but I thought their impressions were just too funny to not include.
A boxwork formation in Wind Cave.
A baby bison in Wind Cave National Park. There were tons of Bison and Prairie Dogs.
Fa, Jenny, Joe and I with Katrina and Ellegra in the background.
The snow on side of the road during our snowy drive up the crazy high road.
The highest point of the road is at 12,158 feet, but this was a short hike up a hillside near a visitor center just after the highest point.
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We left our wonderful parking spot in the grasslands and headed for Mt. Rushmore. The internet was awesome there and that was the only thing we were doing that day (plus we had to pay $10 for parking) so we decided to hang out and work some before walking around the park. I got some great closeups with the zoom lens of each president. I won't post them here though since I already have a lot of other photos. I'll post them on facebook eventually.
After leaving Mt. Rushmore, we found a place to park in the Black Hills. We stopped at the headquarters in Custer for the National Forest and got a map that shows all the land and forest roads, please shows where the private land. We will definitely be trying to get a map like this for any National Forest we plan to spend some time in. It has been invaluable. During our drive down the road, we came upon some horses that were not fenced in. They came up on the road and even surrounded the RV. I got tons of photos and Jenny had a blast petting them.
We found a place and parked. Jenny went out stargazing when it was dark (there was a large meadow close to where we were parked). Not long after she left we heard a couple wolf howls. One was really close by, so Joe yelled out the door and Jenny came back to the RV a bit freaked out.
We left there this morning and headed to Jewel Cave National Park. We went on a guided tour that was very neat. I'll try posting a pic from the cave tour at the next entry. Apparently that is the 2nd largest cave in the US. Mammath Cave being the largest. There is about 170-some or more (now I can't remember exactly) miles of explored cave and by measuring wind volume, they think that is only about 2-10% of the actual cave.
We are now parked in a different part of the Black Hills National Forest and will be heading to the Wind Cave National Park tomorrow.
Phew! Long update.
-Miranda
Our spot in the National Grassland outside of the Badlands.
Mt. Rushmore
The horses.
Our parking spot that night.
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We left the campground and drove the loop. There were lots of neat pull offs where there were gorgeous views. There was one short, but tough hike. It was only a quarter mile, but it was completely up the side of one of the buttes. There was another trail that kept going up to the very top of one of the peaks, so Joe and I went up there. Very neat view.
We then left the park and decided to find a place in the nearby National Grassland. One road we went down looked like an old railroad grade. It had random prairie dog holes in the middle of the road. We got down the road a ways and there was a huge hole in the middle where the road had caved in. Not deep, but definitely not something to get a tire stuck in. We were debating on crossing only to notice a truck coming up behind us (this was a very one lane road, short but steep slopes on either side). We backed up to the guy and got off to the side enough to let him pass. He had a bunch of bee boxes on the back of his truck that he needed to set up, and they were escaping. . . So, he went past and we went back to the previous rode we were driving on. We eventually found a road to drive down and are now parked in the prairie with a beautiful view. I'll post pics of the view and the RV later. These pics are from the Badlands.
-Miranda
CLICK on any of the photos to make them larger.
;)
The first view of the Badlands when we entered the park.
;)
The high top that Joe and I went to the top of. The second photo is a view from the top down to where the RV was parked.
;)
A very neat area. The rocks were yellow and a magenta color.
;)
Some wildlife we saw during our drive in the Grassland. The left is an American Avocet, the right are Pronghorn Antelope.
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