July 27 & 28: The Drive Home

My new buddy 2nd Lt. Alex as he departs YNP.

Like the night before, it got pretty chilly at night but we stayed toasty warm in our new bags. I awoke before 6 AM and realized I needed to put on my fleece before organizing the back of the truck. My buddy Alex was already up and about and nearly ready to head off to his next adventure in Glacier. We talked for a few minutes and exchanged e-mails before he left and promised to keep in touch and maybe hit the mountains together sometime.

Time was of the essence as we had to get back home by noon so I woke Yumi, made her some coffe and breakfast in record time. By 7 AM we left the campground and were on our way home. We'd decided that we'd try the Chief Joseph highway on the way out and catch I-90 instead of the Beartooth highway and I-94. either way, we'd get the chance to drive through the Lamar Valley and hopefully see some wildlife in the early morning.

We were not disappointed. Just minutes after beginning our drive we were held up by Bison crossing the road. I managed to slalom through the few stragglers and continued east. Shortly, however, we were again forced to stop as more Bison made the crossing. For a few seconds it looked like we could be featured on some wildlife video as one of the beasts seemed to be making a move on my truck. Luckily we didn't butt heads and we were on our way once again.

A look at our campsite at Slough Creek CG.

Arriving just outside the park at Cooke City we again were delayed by road construction for about 20 minutes but spent the time quite enjoyably talking to the flagman. Once free of delays we were able to make it to the junction of the Beartooth and Chief Joseph highways without incident and made our way towards Cody and the Bighorn Basin. I was beginning to think that we'd have a hard time making it back home by our noon deadline tomorrow by going this way, then recalculated. Sure enough, we'd really have to push AND limit our sleep time to about 4 hours. Oh well. I put us even closer to the edge when I stopped at the summit and read all about Chief Joseph's miraculous escape from the U.S Army. A good read in a beautiful spot.

We arrived at Cody exactly at 10 AM and stopped for gas. The first thing I noted was that I needed to loose my fleece jacket as the temp was up to 92 already. The second thing I noticed is that I was really smelling funky. Oh well.

When we neared Worland we realized how hungry we were getting and stopped at a Subway. I had this sneaky plan to have a little picnic near West Tensleep Creek in the Bighorns. I knew the area well as I had been there in July of 2005 to visit the Cloud Peak wilderness and wanted to see it again while we were so close. We wound up eating our sandwiches while on rocks in the river.

Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

By 2 PM we were in Buffalo and I was in serious trouble. Yumi suspected we'd be pushing it to make it home on time and wasn't happy. I assured her we'd make it by noon, but I wasn't so sure. Yumi took over the driving duties and she sped through Gilette and got us to Sturgis, SD, where we stopped for gas and dodged bikers who were already starting to take over the town a week before the big rally.

Rapid City going up in flames.

By this time we had been eying what looked like a large flume of smoke off in the distance for a while. As we got closer to Rapid City we could see that there was a wild fire burning. Further down the interstate we would see flames burning on a residential hillside. Homes would most likely be lost.

Yumi and I switched places when we stopped for gas in Chamberlain, SD, just after 9 PM. We hadn't eaten dinner yet so we pulled into a McD's and were quickly on our way again.

Once into the hated state of Minnesota we stopped at a rest area near Luverne and slept pretty good on our therm-a-rests in the back of the truck for about 4 hours.

By 4 AM we were again on our way. I knew that if we made it to La Crosse by 8 AM we'd make it home on time. Not that there was ever any doubt, we arrived in La Crosse at 7:15, stopped for gas and even had time to eat some donuts.

By this time the lack of sleep and constant driving over the past three days had taken its toll on my body and head so i begged Yumi to drive the rest of the way. We made it back to Manitowoc at 11:50 AM despite having to get there via Green Bay due to another wrong turn. somehow, it only seemed fitting that would happen.