Day 13 - Drive to Yellowstone NP (Wyoming)

Hey everyone, this is Ryan and Eric blogging from the open road. Today we made the trip from Rapid City South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Ryan and I did not have cell phone service for about half of the trip today. Part of our ride took us along route 212 in western South Dakota. Apparently, they are doing road work and today Ryan and I were the last car in this line of cars and we were able to carry the baton. It was as very interesting experience (see photos).
Our drive took us through some very rural parts of Montana. There were no gas stations, food stores, or even mailboxes for miles at a time. The road didn’t have any speed limit signs and I am pretty sure I broke the 100 mph barrier twice today trying to pass some trucks on a single lane highway (boy was that fun!!!). Our travel route brought us right by the Battle of Little Big Horn. Ryan and I spent about an hour in the park looking at the monument where all of Custard’s soldiers were massacred by Sitting Bull and the Sioux Nation. Ryan and I learned a little bit about the battle from some of the Park Rangers, and we walked around the visitor’s center. Being out there in the hills of Montana and seeing all of the grave stones, reminded me of Gettysburg. See some of the beautiful pictures that we took from the park.

After we checked out the Monument we continued along our travel route and had dinner in Billings Montana. We wanted to have dinner at Wendy’s but we decided to eat at Applebee’s instead. I know this may sound weird, but there is a reason why I am telling this story. It turns out our waitress at Applebee’s (her name was Linda) grew up in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. The whole conversation got started because I was complaining about how so many famous people had been dying since we left Philadelphia (Steve McNair was shot today). She almost flipped out to discover that we were from Philadelphia. She even knew where Downingtown was and said she used to live 40 minutes from there. Man what a small world this is!!! I always love running into people in the middle of po-dunk that know you or where you are from. So cool!!!

So then Ryan and I continued along our journey and eventually made it to Yellowstone NP. The ride off of Interstate I-90 was amazingly beautiful. This was the first time that Ryan or I had seen the Rocky Mountains up close. Check out all of the car photos, scenic overlooks, and videos of the area that we took. I cannot even say with words how beautiful it is out here. And the best part is that it smells like Christmas all of the time with all of the pine trees.
Ryan and I finally checked into our lodging here at Yellowstone NP. We are staying in an econo-cabin that does not have a bathroom. The cabin is pretty nice, but we have to walk about 30 feet away to find the bathroom or showers. Tomorrow (or better yet in the middle of the night) should be interesting when we have to use the facilities. After Ryan and I checked in we headed back towards Gardiner Montana, which is the closet town to Yellowstone NP from where we are staying. There we spent an hour watching fireworks. They were not anything fancy, but people all over the place were shooting them off so it was pretty cool. Ryan and I had some ice cream and made some phone calls (because we don’t have internet or cell phone in the Park) before we headed back to our cabin to sleep. Tomorrow we are doing an all day Ranger tour of Yellowstone, so check back for info on that and all sorts of pictures. Goodnight!