Wandering from Tennessee to Alaska, and back, 2023

[barbender]

National Monument, stop being a butthead, Jake😂

[barbender]

Lots of familiar country to me in the last photo sequence, MB. 

[Machinebuilder]

NM = National Monument :


bunch of wiseguys here ;D

[Raider Bill]

Did you happen to stop in Aladdin, WY? Cool store there.

[OlJarhead]

Dang it! This keeps getting my travel bug going!  But I'll wait, I'm busy at the moment but we do plan to do some soon!

[Machinebuilder]

I missed the store..........I might have :D blinked

[barbender]

 There's not a lot there in Aladdin! 

 That area of Wyoming is unique, did you happen to notice the bur oak? The Bearpaw mountains are the only area of Wyoming it grows. Then in the South Dakota Black Hills, you find bur oak, white birch, and white spruce. It's kind of an interesting East meets West landscape.

[customsawyer]

I sure enjoyed you taking us along on your trip. Glad that most of us have a sense of humor.

[tule peak timber]

Drove by that sign in Monarch more than a few times. Thanks for the memories!.

[Magicman]

Glad that most of us have a sense of humor.

I smiled when I saw the "NM" and almost made the same 'tongue in cheek" comment.  

  I will echo again how much I have enjoyed this epic journey.  We made the trip in half the time and probably saw a forth as much.  I was glad to see all of the juice squeezed out of this trip.  

[Machinebuilder]

From my Camp near Hanna, SD I went through Lead, SD

Lead is the site of the Homestake Mine. It was the Largest and deepest gold mine in the US until it closed in 2001.
The surface mine is 1/2 mi across and 1200' deep, the under ground goes to 8000'
George Hearst was one of the partners in 1878.

in the 1960's Raymond Davis installed a neutrino detector at the 4800' level. He won a Nobel prize in physics for his work there.

Now the mine is the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF). They have a really nice visitor center in Lead.

one of the compressed air locomotives



 

From there I went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Work on it began in 1948 and is funded by donations.

This is how far they've gotten in 75 years



 

If there is another place to view it I am unable to find it..

The visitor center has this scale model of it made by sculptor Korczak Ziółkowski



 

From there I went to Mt Rushmore, I had been there in 1999 and do not remember the massive parking garages and visitor center



 

A young lady asked me if I would take a picture for her of her and her husband. when I looked confused because she was alone she showed me a painting of him.
They had plans to travel together and he had passed away before they could. So I took several pictures of her and the painting with the presidents (using her phone).

it was a very sobering experience.

This is a picture from 1999





I will probably go back to the Black Hills and spend more time there in the future.

[Machinebuilder]

From Mt Rushmore I went to Rapid City and got my oil changed and headed to the Badlands.

Scenic, SD is a little crossroads west of the badlands



 

Sage Creek road goes from Scenic to Wall, I saw many bison and stopped at a campground for lunch.
There was no way i could have camped there, it was a prairie dog village and Gabby and Sox had eyes on nothing else, including the bison about 100yds away


 



 



 



 



 

From Wall I started looking for a place to camp, I quickly found out that you do not want to get off the gravel road if there has been any rain.
The mud is not bentonite, but a different kind of slippery sticky mess. I worked my way around to the NPS campground which had a big FULL sign.
After talking to the attendant I started to leave when he came out and stopped me. He had seen my license plate and we are from the same county in TN.
There was 2 campsites he was not allowed to rent and he let me use one of them for the night.



 



 



 

With the rainy cloudy weather the sunset was spectacular



 



 



 

The next morning there was a nice rainbow



 

[Machinebuilder]

The Minuteman National Historic site is on the eastern side of Badlands NP



 



 

With better planning I think there is a tour to the launch facility, there is a silo you can stop at.



 



 

At this point I was rally ready to get home and did not take many pictures. I did take the scenic route through Nebraska and Missouri.
I tried to avoid interstates but spent quite a few miles on them. In Missouri I went to Springfield and stopped at Grizzly Industrial.
I'm glad I did not have a lot of space in the camper. I did get a G0940 13" planer with spiral head from their scratch and dent area, along with some odds and ends.

I stopped and visited with a friend from highschool, we hadn't seen each other since then.



 

Bruce is a very skilled artist who paints custom motorcycles, cars, and his major income is carnival rides

I took Hwy 60 across Missouri to Cairo and crossed the Mississippi there. it is a couple of old narrow bridges that don't seem wide enough when a semi is coming towards you.

From there I stopped in Dickson, TN to visit another friend and then to my Franklin, TN to visit my sister, her family and my Mom.

Gabby likes Mom and cuddled with her one night.



 

I was very happy to get home, Gabby and Sox were glad to be home and all of us are settling in.



 

I've spent many hours cleaning the camper (done) the truck (WOW that mud it everywhere, and hard to get to).
I got the windshield replaced and am ready to start working on some projects.

I found out my basement dehumidifier had died and had some rust/mold problems in the basement.

[thecfarm]

It's good to be home.
I enjoyed your trip too.

[Machinebuilder]

My Summer Vacation Stats

154 days (5/1-10/1)

approximately 20630 Miles $8462 for gas

5873 pictures taken
679 pictures posted

Countless memories, incredible views, new experiences.


My Track



 

That wraps up this trip now to get some things done at home and think about my next one...............................

oh start reading this one from the beginning  :D

[Andries]

Wonderful travelogue, great photos and an epic journey.
A deep bow and a tip of the hat to you for sharing those 679 photos. 
Not many have bragging rights to having been to Tuktoyaktuk NWT, by truck. 
Experience rich and incident free - well done.
There's no place like home.

[Ron Scott]

A great trip!

[jb616]

In some of your pics it looks like you built an air dam between the camper and roof of the truck. I have seen inflatable ones in the past. What did you build it from?  How did you mount it?  Do you feel that it helped?  Thanks in advance.

[Machinebuilder]

the wind deflector is there because putting the camper on the flatbed raised it about 6".
That made a lot of wind noise.

I made it out of some oak boards i had laying around ;D and used pocket screws to mount it.
I should have made it a little shorter, I had some paint scrapes on the truck roof.

It really cut the wind noise down, it did not change fuel mileage that I could tell.

[Stephen1]

Thank you for sharing that epic journey!
it is great to be home!