9/15/2013 / Yellowstone to Atlanta

This is the sixth Yellowstone to Atlanta email that was originally sent out as separate emails to family members to let them know where we were, what we were doing and give tidbits about our activities. I have copied the original emails and added some pictures for viewing. The trip started in August and ended in October.  This is the first of our extended stay trips in the Adventurer.

Please enjoy and feel free to share the link to the blog site with family and friends that might like to read and see the pictures.

Subject: Horse thief campground update

Here we are still located at Horse Thief campground.  On Friday we had a good rain and the temp never got above 60 all day.  This is a laundry day for the group.  During laundry I took advantage of the close proximity of the office to determine the origin of the name ‘Horse Thief Campground.’  According to the owner, in 1870 a fellow stole a horse down in Rapid City and they caught up with him right outside the campground.  When they did, they hung him from a tree in front of the lodge.  The tree is no longer there but when it was, the campground folks used to re-enact the capture and hanging nightly.  Even more interesting is there was a fellow that came through a few years back and thinks the hanged horse thief was his great-great uncle.  All that to let you know, my horses are safe.

Beverly in her 'big girl' chair at Horse Thief Campground

I also utilized the time Friday to catch up on some Ancestry work.  And no I have not found a criminal or scalawag (not counting me) in the ancestor line yet.  I did find some interesting reading though.  My father’s grandfather on his mother’s side served in the Confederate army during the Civil War.  He was captured in Tennessee in December 1863 and was prisoner exchanged in March 1865 close to the end of the war.  His prison time was spent in Rock Island, IL and was part of the affidavit given when he applied for a soldier’s pension from the government.  In it he also went so far as to let them know he ‘is ruptured and has piles and cannot do heavy or lifting work.’  For those of you who do not know, that means hernia and hemorrhoids.  Interesting reading, wouldn’t you say?

Saturday dawned bright and clear with the sun warming the air quickly.  We decided to do some exploring as we were all interested in the tunnel (remember the warning we encountered on our way to the campground) that is just up the road.  As it turns out we are right outside of Custer State Park and within the park is Sylvan Lake (we are told a good fishing lake that can be circumnavigated on foot).  We find the tunnel very quickly and indeed it is as advertised, very tiny and only one lane through it.  The intrepid explorers we are, we plunge right through it (in our car and not the motorhome) without incident.  Before we come to the park entrance, we find ourselves driving on a narrow roadway with many switchback curves that deposit us many more feet higher than when we began.

First tunnel warned about on way to Campground

Of course this presents a photo opportunity for our photography team and with boundless energy they jump from the car to capture just the right images.  After the stop we proceed further and locate the Custer State Park entrance adjacent to Sylvan Lake with a park store, restaurant and campground.  After surveying the lay of the land and the parking lot, David runs in the store to obtain fishing information.  He and I will be back before we leave because this lake is stocked with Rainbow Trout and the fishermen we saw did not know how to catch them.  We will show them if they are still hanging around when we return.  As we leave the parking lot, we catch a glimpse of another one of those signs about tunnels and no maintenance on the road during the winter months.

Picture taken at pullout along Needles Highway

We knew we were traveling on the Needles Highway but did not fully understand what that meant when we left this morning.  We are getting more and more information as we proceed and by the days end fully comprehend the significance of the terms ‘needles’ and ‘no maintenance.’  To give you a ‘feel’ of the experience, please picture deep, deep valleys and extremely high mountains.  Now look on the mountain and you see this car zig-zagging back and forth as it ascends the peak.  Now picture yourself in the car and look at the road ahead.  There is no center line painted on the road and it seems extremely narrow.  Look outside the car to the side and you see nothing but sky until you look down and you are staring at the edge of a precipice and over the tops of trees into the valley.  Now you look forward again and you see a sign with a curved arrow and a 5 MPH warning.  Uh-oh there is another vehicle approaching and you are scooted to the side as close as you dare and wonder if the other car will actually squeeze past you without hitting you or the rock on the other side of it.  Okay, you can breathe now because even though we experienced this many times today, we made it just fine.  Although Sophie is still gasping for air and asking for the oxygen bottle from time to time.

Kind of looks like the 'eye' of a needle

Yep, this is the Needles Highway

As we approach the forewarned tunnel (the second we encounter today-see picture below) we find a pull out to stop and take more pictures.  When we exit the vehicle we notice many more stopped vehicles with people peering down this very narrow tunnel.  Yes we see cars going through it and it is only one lane with narrow clearance.  We even see a dually truck that has very wide mirrors make it through but then we look and see a rented Cruise America Class C RV pulled over.  Now for those of you that do not know, it is quite a popular thing for foreign individuals from other countries visiting the US to ‘rent’ a RV and drive around our country looking at everything that is so marvelous about our homeland.  The only problem is the language barrier, understanding language idioms, warnings, signs, etc.  About this time, David wanders over to me and says, “let’s stay here until he decides to go through or turnaround.  I want a picture of this!”  “Okay”, I say in reply.

This is where the fun and entertainment begins.  As we are watching this scene unfold we realize the couple driving the RV are from Germany.  The wife is nervously watching her husband contemplating their next move.  The husband is ‘eyeballing’ the situation very closely.  He wisely seeks the counsel of one of the American bystanders who tells him in unequivocal terms, “no your RV will not fit through that opening.”  Not to be so easily persuaded to turn around and go back the way he came, our intrepid tourist walks off the distance across the tunnel as he counts, eins (1), zwei (2), drei (3) taking three large steps, then turns with his arms outstretched and looks at his wife with a nod that says it all.  I can make it and by George I am going through that tunnel.  He walks determinedly back to the RV and the wife waits nervously at the entrance of the tunnel.  Now don’t get ahead of me here or you will miss the grand entertainment we experienced.

One fellow has backed his car out of a parking spot to proceed in the opposite direction having already gone through the tunnel when he sees the gaggle of people that have congregated to watch this spectacle.  He pulls back into his parking space, runs over and breathlessly asks, “is he really going to try and go through there with that RV?”  Yes! We all exclaim as one voice.  David has sidled up to the wife and told her he is going to take pictures of this and she smiles pleasantly as they try to communicate through this wild haze of not comprehending words and the nervousness of the moment created by her determined husband.  Most people are in shock at this point that they are about to witness this ‘event.’  David continues his ‘conversation’ with the wife by asking her, do they have insurance.  We are not sure if she understood or was just being polite but we did hear a definite, Ya.  Soon after this with the entire congregation of spectators standing on tippy-toes to get the best vantage point and a thousand camera lenses pointed at the tunnel entrance we hear the cranking of a motor and a racing of the engine.

It was at this point, the fellow who gave the tourist the very sound advice, was overheard to say, “he did not take into account that the tunnel gets narrower the further you go and he only measured the opening.”  David also pointed out that there are numerous points and crags of rock that stick out from the walls creating even a narrower space than was measured by our German fellow.  Just then a swoosh of white and a cloud of dust accompany the RV as it makes the narrow turn into the entrance……

You can either read the rest of the story below, or if you are a visual person, please enjoy the attached video provided courtesy of our negotiator/photographer/wife, Beverly.  Make sure the sound is up and not muted so you can hear the comments too.

What you may not pick up in the video is the harrowing gasp from the crowd when he hits the wall the first time.  We do know he hits the wall at least two more times with a very audible gasp from the onlookers the last time because it was so loud.  Please watch the lady at the end shaking her head, scratching her head as she heads down the tunnel to catch up with the RV, that is our German wife dutifully following her crazy husband, shaking her head, after he exits the other side of the tunnel.  If you listen closely you will hear her say Nein, Nein, Nein as he hits the third time at the end of the tunnel.  You will know it by the last time you see taillights and then you see daylight around the RV.  

Now you may think that is the rest of the story, but you would be wrong.  For you see, there is another tunnel on down the road apiece.  It is after this second tunnel we spot the RV pulled over with the husband desperately trying to convince his wife he is not crazy as h_ _ _ and to please get back in the RV so they can continue their trip.  I do not speak German but I can sure read body language and it was definitely expressing the sentiment I relayed to you.  I would love to be the ‘fly on the wall’ when he turns the rented RV back in to the dealer as he explains the bumps and bruises on the fairly new looking rental.

Beverly also made a movie of us passing through the same tunnel as shown above to give you the sensation from a vehicle that is well within the parameters provided on the warning sign.  You can imagine the difference in a significantly larger vehicle.  Here is what the drive looks like going through the same tunnel as you just viewed watching the RV, however we are in our car (a much smaller vehicle) and you can readily see the sharp edges protruding into the tunnel.  We never did spot the one that caught the RV towards the end of his excursion through the tunnel.  Boy was this great fun!

The rest of our trip down the Needles Highway was rather uneventful.  We proceeded into Custer for a burger at a local bakery on our way to see the Crazy Horse Monument.  It is only partially finished but dwarfs all other sculptures in the world in its size and scale.  It is totally funded by private enterprise and that is the main reason it is not finished yet.  The original sculptor has died and his wife and family are carrying on the work.  Someday it may be finished but as of yet, the face is the most prominent part that has been completed.  We will show you pictures when we return and tell more about the details later.  We finished our tour today at an ice cream shop in downtown Hill City before returning to the campground.  Wonder what lies ahead tomorrow?

We will let you know.  For now that is all.