Day 50 – Buffalo, WY

We took the back roads out the Interstate 90 and only had to travel one exit before getting off and heading to the Devil’s Tower (Postpile).  I’ve always wanted to see this, especially since viewing Encounters of the Third Kind many years ago.  The ride in was nice and just before we got there, there was a rest area that gave a great view of the tower and surrounding area.  From there we headed to park (it’s the first National Monument in the nation).  Pretty busy as more and more motorcycles riders were showing up for Sturgis.  We went through the ticket booth and headed up to the parking lot near the base of the tower.  When we first got up there, there wasn’t any RV parking available so I figured we would be out of luck.  Fortunately after going completely around the parking lot circle and heading out, an RV pulled out right on the end, which was perfect as parallel parking the rig is not an easy task!  We then took a hike around the base of the tower, which was pretty cool.  We also had the opportunity to briefly watch a couple of technical mountain climbers scale the tower.  Fun to watch.

From there we headed back to interstate 90 and headed west towards Buffalo, WY.   Not a very interesting ride, but we make decent time.  We got there around 4:00pm and the boys promptly headed to the pool. I decided to take care of a few issues inside the trailer and clean up the inside as well.  I also had enough of the inside windows of the truck so I cleaned them as well.

After dinner, we decided to walk towards the center of town, or so we thought.  We were also trying to find the miniature golf store.  Along the way we saw a poster telling us about the county fair that was going on.  We checked to see where it was and decided we could walk, so off we went.  We got there and learned a couple of things.  County fairs in WY are way different from those on either coast.  None of this carnival stuff, just animals.  There was a cow and lamb auction going on when we arrived.  Let’s just say, we stood out from everyone else there.  Here we were in shorts and t-shirts while everyone else is in jeans, boots, and nice cowboy shirts.  Can you say city meets country? J  We didn’t stay long and headed back to our campground.  Along the way, a yahoo (I’ll be nice) decided he’d have some fun with his Dodge diesel (at our expense) and floored it next to us showering us with black soot.  Jerk.  At that point I was a little worried given it was a Saturday night and it was getting dark.  Not sure what else, or who else, we’d encounter so I hurried our little party along.

When we were just about back to our campground, we saw the miniature golf place right across the street.  Guess we didn’t have our eyes open when we originally left.  We went across and tried to get in a quick game before they closed.  Unfortunately there was a group of 5, including a toddler way past his bedtime, which were in front of us and needless to say they were not moving very quickly.  We ended up just playing 9-holes and calling it an evening.  We headed back to the campground and put the boys to bed.  There was another thunder storm way off in the distance and it was fun to watch the lightning reflect off the clouds and sky. 

Tomorrow we head to Livingston, MT.  The ride will entirely be on interstate 90, but at least we’ll cover some distance.

Not liking the fact that our trip is almost over.  Pretty amazing that we’ve been on the road for just over 7-weeks so far.

Boys at Devils Tower

View along the highway