Miko and Me: The Devil Is In The Details

I spent five days in the Black Hills. I took some incredible pictures, it is one of those beautiful spots that Mother Earth gives us. Unfortunately, I had some technical difficulties where my photos were not transferring to the blog. Being the Germanic, everything must be in the proper order of my brain, I have not been posting any blog updates as I tried to work through this technical issues. Unfortunately, I have yet to resolve those issues, so I will have to skip the Black Hills and move on. Hopefully, I will be able to come back to blog about this because of course I have some incredible photos.

I moved on to Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Tony and I had visited it sometime in the nineties, but the memory is weak. I don't remember it having the impact on me then that it did as I drove up to it this time. I strongly felt the need to go watch the movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' immediately. There was a campground down the road that actually showed that movie every night at 8:00 pm. My campsite was incredible, right out my front window I had a view of the tower. It was a powerful sight. The tower rises about 850 feet from it's base. About 4,000 people climb it every year. During my Junior Ranger quest here, I learned all about modern day climbing techniques.

The Kiowa people say:

“Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws, and his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified; they ran and the bear after them they came to a stump of a great tree, and the tree spoke to them. It bade them climb upon it, and as they did so it began to rise into the air. The bear came to kill them, but they were just beyond its reach. It reared against the tree and scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the star of the Pleiades.”

Looking Up

LookingDown

This campground was primitive, meaning that there were no hookups of any kind – no water, no electricity. There is a marked difference between these type of campgrounds and the traditional RV park. To me, it seems like people are just more open and friendly. In the RV parks, generally everybody just stays inside their RV, watch TV and they do not interact with their surroundings at all. Devil's Tower campground was not very big, if you were walking around the campground, it might take you about 10-15 minutes. I found I could never make the loop in less than an hour. There were always people reaching out and wanting to chat. Once it took me two hours. What was also interesting was the number of solo women travelers. When I started traveling, maybe five years ago, I was sort of an anomaly. Not anymore. Women are out and getting it done.

One of my neighbors. I'm seeing many more of these roof tents.

The little black structure contained his shower and toilet. Oh, and his trailer had his Harley.

My next stop was Buffalo Wyoming, a small town about a half hour south of Sheridan. I had a friend there that I wanted to visit with. Colleen and her husband Pete had recently left North Dakota, bought a ranch and retired out in the wilds of Wyoming. Bonus, they had a couple of Icelandic horses – Bokki and Skeesa.

Google was directing me to their place and told me to turn down this tiny little gravel road. I had to cross several cow guards and the road was uneven and narrow. I was a little worried about the road so I went extremely slow. By the time I found their place, my RV had overheated and was red-lining. Those of you who remember my travels last January will remember that I had an overheating problem and had to replace the radiator and several other things. This could not be happening to me again. At least this time, I had a safe place to be, Colleen and Pete were so gracious. Pete knew several trusted mechanics in the area and I was not all on my own.

Turns out that back in January, when Crain Buick did some massive repairs on my RV, they forgot to put my fan shroud back on. My engine would not overheat when I am going fast down the freeway, but on a 95 degree day when I am putzing along some little gravel road, a fan shroud is a necessity. I called Crain Buick in Arkansas and told them what had happened. Can you believe they said, 'send us the bill, we will send you a check'. They made a mistake and a whole nine months later, they are taking care of it. How incredibly ethical is that?

So, instead of the one night I was planning on spending in Buffalo, I ended up staying five nights. I was fed, I was driven around, I got to ride Icelandic horses – how great is that? I even got to do a factory tour of a woolen mill which was fascinating. There were tons of pronghorn antelopes and mule deer everyday to watch. It was absolutely lovely and a very pleasant place to stay. A very special thanks to Colleen and Pete for putting up with Miko and me.