A day at the races

We headed east again after departing Wisconsin.  We visited friends in Chicago and family in Ohio and are in Virginia catching up with some more family.  Chris has family all over the US.
Cousin Pat is a drag racer and agreed to Phil and Chris tagging along to the races one day.  As a matter of fact, they were the pit crew for the day.  Between each race we had to check the air in the tires, add fuel, attach the golf cart and push the race car into position and plug the charger in.  Pat did the complicated stuff.

Pat's car is currently fitted with his smaller engine that puts out 900 horsepower.

Before each race the cars all line up with the competitors.  During this time Phil made sure the tires' air pressure was exactly right and helped Pat move the car into position.  Pat put on his driving gear and strapped himself into the car.

Next the cars drive forward for another check and then into the burnout area.  Phil had to guide Pat so the rear wheels were in the little puddle of water.

When the tires are warmed up it is time to start.

Those tiny wheels at the rear keep the front end from going too far up.

 One eighth of a mile later it's all finished until the next round.  Zero to 140 mph in 5 seconds.

What a fun and interesting day!  Next time I'd like to drive the car.  I've been helping out in the shop to learn the ropes.

Don't I just look splendid next to the shiny red racing car?!  I could be the fastest polar bear on the planet.

Great Lakes

Hello again.  Bet you all thought they left me at Bear Country or something.  Phil and Chris make a lot of threats, but I think they kind of like me.

We travelled through the remainder of South Dakota and then cut diagonally north through Minnesota to Duluth, with a brief photo stop in Paynesville.

The farmers were all out working the fields and getting crops in.  We spent a few days outside of Duluth, before heading over the bridge to Wisconsin.  Check out the ships in Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes.

Once in Wisconsin, we camped on the shores of Lake Superior in the small town of Washburn.  The town is so small, that when Chris and Phil went to the local pub for Friday night fish fry they met a local who knows someone that went to UW-Madison with Chris.

The lake is ridiculously cold, my paw went numb when I stuck it in for a moment.  However, cold water was not enough to deter five intrepid sailors!!  Yes, sailing at long last.  We charted a sailboat with a couple of our friends and spent three fantastic days on the lake in the Apostle Islands National Park.  We had the usual interesting variety of weather typical of May here, but enjoyed the sailing and some short hikes on the islands, as well as catching up with friends and great food.

After our nautical adventure we went south to visit friends and relatives in Wisconsin.  In November we were here, and it was so cold that we cut our visiting short and headed south.  The weather is much better at this time of year...Wisconsin is a most beautiful and enjoyable place for about 4 or 5 months. 

We were invited salmon fishing!  On this day the weather did not cooperate, and it was pretty cold and rainy out on Lake Michigan.  The fellows we went with were going to take part in a tournament the next day, so they know where the fish are.  Here is Phil bringing one in.

 Bonus...this will be dinner for a few nights, I hope they remember to share with their favorite bear!

Another point of interest we visited in Wisconsin is the John Deer museum.  This place has over 500 John Deer tractors and various equipment, all stored in nice new sheds.  They try to collect the first of every model produced, and they are all restored with fresh paint and new tires.

How could we spend time in Wisconsin without mentioning cheese?  Here we are at the Mars cheese castle just before we left the state.  They had a terrific selection of cheeses, as well as other yummy Wisconsin specialties.

Thank you to the family and friends in Wisconsin (and Illinois) that made our visit terrific.

Badlands

The Badlands are in South Dakota, an hour or so east of Mt Rushmore and some of the other sites.

There seem to be two parts to this park.  The eastern region is dry, hot, rugged and fairly inhospitable.

The Western area is grassy and full of animals.  Hundreds of prairie dogs live here and they are hilarious.  They are tiny animals that burrow into the ground, however they seem to spend most of the day above ground in a social atmosphere.  They seem to have a warning system when people come to gawk...they sort of stand up, throw their front legs wide and scream.  It is really quick, never caught one in a photo, but funny to watch.

 One afternoon we were joined for happy hour by a number of bison.  While we were sitting outside with a beer, they slowly encircled us and the RV, while munching the grass.  Of course they wandered away when we got up to get a camera.  Earlier, Phil and Chris went for a little hike nearby and learned an important lesson on not startling the bison.

On the way to the drier, eastern area we spotted this sheep chilling on a ledge. 

Near the Badlands National Park are some of the old Minutemen missile silos.  Most of the silos in this area have been decommissioned and there is one launch facility and one silo open to tourists.

They built the launch facility to look like a ranch house.  Sort of.

 Burried underneath the living areas in the house is a thick walled pod where the officers were stationed for 12 hour shifts in case the need arose to launch a nuclear missile.  The pods were constructed to withstand a near miss by a nuclear strike, and there is an escape hatch.  If there was a nuclear strike, why would you even bother trying to escape??

A little Minutemen humour.

The next stop was at a missile silo.  There is a missile down in there.

 The lid on the silo is pretty thick. 

After our visits to all these sites we started our long drive east across the rest of South Dakota.  Trust us, that state goes on for a long time.

South Dakota

Yellowstone NP left a big impression and we were tempted to go up to Glacier NP.  Twice we actually made some arrangements to go there, but then we heard that most of the roads in the park were closed and so we headed east. 

Our next touristy stops were in western South Dakota.  We visited Mount Rushmore and those presidents are still looking good up there.

One of the drillers who worked on the sculpting back in the 1930's was signing books and answering questions in the shop.  He was 17 when he got the job working there and is the last one left.

We camped down the road from the monument in a really nice campground.  We treated ourselves to a new tent recently and put it up.  It was too cold at night to sleep in it, but it looks good.

We got ahead of ourselves and missed a little stop in Wyoming.  We visited the Battlefield at Little Big Horn.  A very enthusiastic ranger gave a talk about the history of the battle and explained Custer's last stand.  There are white markers to identify where soldiers died on the battlefield.  Every year they have a re-enactment of the battle, and perhaps these horses take part.

Bears were not to be seen in Yellowstone, or anywhere else that we went, so to see bears we went to a place called Bear Country USA, near Mt Rushmore. Pretty touristy, but there were bears.

There were some elk also, with more antlers than we'd spotted up in the higher country.

 They had bighorn sheep too, which we hadn't seen yet either.

All the black bears ran together in a big pen which we drove through.  Black bears are not all black, they can be brown or even sort of blonde too.

Maybe it is like being at a spa for them... a bit of time on the logs, then maybe a swim.  Wonder what is for lunch?

The Grizzlies are in their own enclosure, not where we drive.  Look at that face!!! 

 Cuddly.

The cubs all had their own enclosure (nursery) where they play non-stop.  We're not sure if these cubs get together with their moms at the end of the day or what, but maybe we don't want to dwell on the happiness of these animals.

 It was good to see all the bears and I was pleased that Phil and Chris didn't leave me there.

Yellowstone part II

Today in Billings, Montana, we are back in shorts and the warmth and sunshine are welcome.  Great to wash the thermals and put them away, but for how long this time?

Getting back to Yellowstone and the wildlife spotting, here is a group of elk checking out a campsite not far from ours.

We spotted some coyotes near the river looking for something,

and then saw this fox near the road after a small critter no doubt.

It is early calving season for the bison and we saw only a handful of calves.  Check out this photo carefully, it is a little scary (for the bison) to see the fox or coyote just in the upper left corner, not very far from that calf.  Didn't notice the fox until we were going through the photos.

We were very lucky to see some wolves too.  This fellow was busy digging something up near the road.

 These guys were on some sort of mission in the snow.  They marched right past us in the RV.

We even managed to spot a moose and her calf up in the forest one day.  Surprise, what good luck!

What we did not see, was a bear.  Are they all still hibernating?  We heeded the warnings but spent a lot of time looking in the areas that are supposed to have a lot of bears.

 You might ask, what is bear spray?  We wondered if it would have a similar effect, on a bear, as wasp spray.  The bear spray is over $30.00 a can and the wasp spray is about $3.00, but who is willing to do this experiment?  Really.

...and so, we were armed with bear spray.

We could have easily spent more than four days in this park.  The scenery was stunning, no matter what weather conditions we encountered.

 The thermal activity in so many areas of the park is renowned.  There are bubbling hot springs all over.

 How hot are they?  Chris just had to touch the springwater.

 One day we all went to see Old Faithful, which following an earthquake, isn't quite so faithful anymore but this day it was right on time.

Finally, it was time to leave.  One last look at the snow, and another interesting road sharing experience, and then we headed to the Roosevelt Gate.