August 9 & 10: The Drive Home

Joe, Jen, Jim and Cynthia---my favorite retirees---at Beartooth Lake CG.

I was up bright and early probably due to the fact that it was cold! I would later find out it got down to 33. Damn...not quite cold enough to snow.

I spent a little time in the truck checking my road atlas for a new route home but couldn't find anything that would be interesting yet not too far out of the way and resigned myself to another traverse of the Bighorns. Oh well, there are worse places to drive through if you HAVE to go home.

I fired up my Pocket Rocket and heated some water for some more oatmeal. I was really tired of oatmeal by this time but crammed it down anyway. A quick trip to the outhouse and I'd be on my way right at 8:00.

Something happened to my plans however. I noticed a truck with Wisconsin tags in the site across from mine and decided to stop and find out where they were from. It was then that I met Jim and jen from the northern Wisconsin town of Woodruff. Retired folks, they spent a lot of their summer here at the Beartooth Lake CG. I thought we'd talk for a few minutes then be on my way.

Nope.

We talked about retirement and the correct way to do it. I listened intently, never knowing when I might hit it big playing Powerball. We talked about the mountains, northern Wisconsin, fly fishing and deer that shit in his front yard. We talked about everything a 70 year old and 43 year old strangers could talke about. Every time I tried to say goodbye we found something new to discuss.

Just when I thought it was time to go, Jim and Cynthia showed up. Also retired, they lived in Cody and spent their vacations at the camp ground as well. Turns out the four of them had become good friends despite living 1400 miles apart. My itinerary completely fell apart when Jim told me he was retired from the NFS as assisstant superintendent for the Bridger National Forest.

Jim and I had a fascinating conversation about the hikes he had done when younger, looked at his semi-converted van and talked about the Beartooths at great length. We looked at my gear, ate my apples and had a great time looking through my Falcon guide.

Finally, at 3 PM I got into my truck and started the long drive home. About 8 hours earlier I decided to take US 14 through the Bighorns as it was the only way I hadn't been.

It seemed very strange to be driving the Chief Joseph Highway a mere two weeks after Yumi and I had gone home this way. This time, however, I didn't have to worry about being home at a certain time so I was able to pull off and take pictures of the wide open spaces that are Wyoming.

Soon after leaving Lovell I crossed the Bighorn River and began following the Bighorns south for a few miles. The range looked like a vertical wall of ancient rock and I began wondering if my 4-banger would have enough horsepower to make it up.

My fears were well founded as my speed continued to drop as I gained altitude. I began downshifting, trying to find the optimum torque and eventually settled on 2nd gear while crawling through the switchbacks at 25 mph. Near the summit I decided to pull off to the side of the road and was rewarded by some of the strangest sounds I've ever heard from a car engine. It seemed to be gasping for air and eventually conked out on me. Great. Not here, not now, not 50 miles from the nearest town with a tow truck.

I tried to restart...no good. I waited a few seconds...the engine came to life. Thank you!!!!

Feeling confident I'd make it back home, I decided to push the trusty vehicle up the access road to the Medicine Wheel which I had read about in the Falcon Guide while planning last years Cloud Peak trip. When I got to the main parking area I discovered the road heading up to the wheel itself was gated...and shut. So I grabbed a water bottle and hiked the 2 miles the rest of the way up.

The views were great and the Medicine Wheel fairly impressive except for a few assholes who left cigarette butts as "medicine". The thing is, as much as I wanted to remove the butts from the posts, I didn't think it was the right thing to do and didn't want or need any bad luck on the trip home because I had removed legitimate medicine.

Bighorn Medicine Wheel.

On the hike back down to the truck I caught up with a young biker couple from Rockford, IL, taking, of all things, pictures of wildflowers. So much for the rough and rugged biker image.

Once back to the truck I began to focus on the drive home. By this time I was really tired of driving long distances back home. Going west is no problem, but the drive home is always a drag. Back off the mountain, I passed quickly through Dayton and Ranchester en route to I-90 and gas at Sheridan.

I managed not to hit any antelope, deer or bikers by the time I reached Wall, SD, for gas and concentrated on getting as far as I could before having to pull over for sleep. I made it to Kimball before bedding down in the back of the truck for a few hours just after 2 AM.

i woke up at 7 AM feeling refreshed and began my final day of freedom counting the horde of bikers heading west to Sturgis for the rally but quickly lost count.

Since the rest of the trip home was boring, that's all i'm going to write except to say I made it home by 4 PM and was already plotting next year's trips to the Rocky Mountains.