Buffalo Kind of Look Like Bantha

Thus said Mr. Hawking upon review of the Buffalo herds at Custer State Park. I am inundated with Star Wars fans in my house. The Sailor is so proud. We also saw prairie dogs, elk, deer, a mouse, red squirrels, a turkey vulture, a hawk, cows, horses and many, many buffalo. They would wander in the road on the Wildlife Loop and stare down cars. And meander off. It was cool. The nervous side of me kept wondering what we would do if they decided to charge the car, but since people do this all the time, I think they are kind of bored with the cars. There was a bull cow that started head butting the fence when we drove past, but the buffalo just kind of looked at us, and grunted.

You may be wondering about the car. After all the hullaboo, the mechanic thinks that our coolant tank was previously overfilled and popped the top off when it heated and boiled over when we were driving up a mountain/gravel road. Once he added the right amount of coolant, it worked again fine. They checked the engine and got the check engine light off and the thermostat works. For the sum total of 8 hours and $26 dollars, plus USAA Road side assistance, we have my car back. The guys at Tires Plus were AWESOME. Even though they closed at 1800, they worked on our car until he got it fixed to make sure everything checked out. Although every time they hook my car up to the car computer, it always tells them everything is fine. Anyway, they didn’t bilk us and they could have easily done so and were so nice and helpful. Yippee! However, upon going into Wyoming, the Airbag light went off when the car momentarily lost power. I am beginning to think the car is cursed. I am thinking there is a little electrical something wrong and just praying that she will get us to Washington where I can get her checked out tail to hood.

We left South Dakota today and I am sad. South Dakota was simply amazing. The ever changing landscape continuously left me surprised. Its people are friendly and kind and helpful (although the French Couple at the Park were like French everywhere). We have seen prairie, caves, mountains, flats, plateaus, outcroppings, erosion, lakes, rivers, buttes, mesas, caverns, canyons….it is an ever changing and intriguing landscape of beauty. I am greatly impressed and never bored. On our final trail out of South Dakota, we took the Needles Highway into Custer State Park (to see the Buffalo we promised the kids yesterday)….we had seen many comments on blogs to do the Needles Highway, but no one really said why. Well, I am here to tell you why. It’s freaking awesome. First you wind up through these amazing granite out croppings that are tall and skinny and well, look like needles. There are three single lane tunnels that have been drilled through the rock in which to drive. There is a 5 mph switchback when the road winds down the hill and best of all, there is an area, where we thought we had taken a wrong turn—the road drives up into a parking area surrounded by rock on all sides. We went to turn left to turn back around and find the road we missed, when there was the turn into the mountain to continue the road! You couldn’t see it until you turned. One of the vistas has been dubbed Cathedral Spires and indeed, it is a church of God’s creation in the middle of a mountain. Fantastic!

Lunch for Treb was a Bison Patty Melt. Yum.

It took us about 3 hours to get out of the park and SD and we entered Wyoming, in which, while SD constantly surprised both the Sailor and I, Wyoming is everything we imagined. We took a detour to check out Devil’s Tower national park and several melt-downs by Mr. Hawking. I have been puked on enough from screaming thus far to fill my quota of spit up. A little old lady commented that “boy was he in a mood.” I told the Sailor to smile at the camera like we were having a good time. The Devil’s Tower is pretty cool. In fact, it is so cool, it looks fake. It doesn’t look natural at all, because it is so uniform in shape and column structure. The Native American legend states (or in some sort of variation) that there were 7 Indian girls that were being chased by a bear/wolf/buffalo and a tree/hill spoke to them to climb on top to save them from the bear/wolf/buffalo…the hill/tree grew and grew until it reached the heavens and the girls became the stars in the Pleiades/Big Dipper. I read three different variations on the story and none were exactly the same. Cool myth and I am sure this is exactly how it happened (an Ode to my EfM buds). Since the mood of the kids was a disaster (I’d say in the making, but it was a disaster that was already happening)….we packed up ship and headed back out. I am a little tired of the car, so I am sure my angels are too. It’s incredibly difficult to be patient and sympathetic though when you are being screamed at.
I am so used to humidity that the air is so dry up here that I am just dry. My lungs feel dry, my nose feels dry and my mouth feels dry, but I don’t feel thirsty. It’s so odd. I bet the idea of humidity up here is like 10%. I am so from the south.

The road to Cody is long and boring although we can see the Rocky Mountains in the distance. This is a first for me. We are averaging 36 miles for every service station so we have had to watch our gas and bladders and stop when we need. The Sailor enjoys having the interstate to himself.

The kids are asleep, the Sailor is listening to a boring book on tape that he has already read, I have no cellular connection for my laptop, so I am obviously typing in Word again and I have nothing good to read. I have finished all my books and while “The Fourth Star” was an excellent book, I have met my quota of military books for the moment. The Sailor’s suggestion to read “Black Hearts” about the deterioration of a platoon in Iraq leaves me wanting. Thus I write. If I was a tad more motivated, I could use this time to write a book. I keep telling the Sailor it’s all in my head if I get the gumption to put it on digits; so I blog instead.
I am three quarters across the country and while it has all been amazing, I am finding myself strangely emotional to finally come to the realization that we have uprooted our family and have moved from one coast to the next. I am shocked and a little nervous and probably a lot anxious (I do this every time) that there won’t be a return trip for two to three years and while I may be a practicing duck, I am definitely feeling out of water. My son however has told me that this is the best move ever and each night and for grace he prays to God and gives thanks for the wonderful times with Granny and Gamma and the cousins, for the Caves and Mount Rushmore and for the train and he prays that we continue to have a good trip. As do I. We have a day in Cody, WY ahead of us and a rodeo. Yeehaw!

1800: Dinner at the Branding Iron Café in Dayton, WY is proof that stopping in at random home grown American joints is a smart thing to do. Not only did they have a decent glass of wine, they filled it to the top. Dinner was chicken fried steak (I couldn’t resist) and homemade mashed potatoes (swoon!). Treb had a philly cheese steak with real beef and homemade potato chips. They made pancakes just for my kids. KUDOS! Dayton is at the edge of the Rocky Mountain and the Branding Iron was the ONLY restaurant until we either stop at a lodge or get to the other side. The mountains are magnificent. It reminds me of the Alps, but different. I can see if you don’t need company or people that living out here would be a dream come true. I still kind of need people. But dang, these mountains are fabulous. I know we aren’t in Montana yet, but I still haven’t figure out the “Big Sky” thing. I’ll let you know if it strikes.