Road Trip USA Yellowstone to Chicago
Road Trip USA – Epic Journey 2016-18 Part VIII
We have covered almost 5000 miles since we left California. Along the foggy Oregon coast up into fantastic Washington into the Rockies in and around Idaho and Montana. One highlight follows the other. And yet it only gets better.
Like now in Wyoming, when we arrive in Yellowstone National Park. There are still timeless wonders hidden here that we want to explore.
Primal Nature and the Wild West
But we'll start at the bottom. Namely, in Grand Teton National Park, not far south of Yellowstone, which we skipped on our last trip to this region in 2010 .
The gateway to the Grand Teton is the small tourist town of Jackson. The local tourist center is highly recommended. In the town cowboys dressed up as sheriffs and outlaws are roaming around, having theatrical shootouts for us visitors in the middle of the town center.
Grand Teton National Park is rather disappointing. The sky is cloudy and foggy from wildfires raging somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Therefore, we can only imagine the picturesque mountain massif of the Grand Teton.
Besides, the whole tourist hustle and bustle in and around the park is a bit too much for us.
Early in the morning, when most of the people are still sleeping, we find a nice hike around a lake and scare a bear on his breakfast tour.
We head back north, passing Yellowstone on the right, for now, to pay a visit to the town of Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman was recommended to us by a friend in California. Here, our van gets a nice overhaul. Meanwhile, we explore the popular Museum of the Rockies.
I am totally thrilled! I have never seen a dinosaur exhibition like this one. Skeletons and replicas of giant T-Rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurs, a planetarium, history about the region, and much more the museum that the museum has on offer. We easily spend a few hours here without getting bored.
Next door is an old farmhouse, which today serves as a living museum. In the 19th century, the state lent large pieces of land for 20 dollars, which were yours after 5 years of living there. In this way, the government created incentives for pioneer families. They were supposed to settle and cultivate the land, no easy undertaking on this dry, hot piece of earth surrounded by "Indians".
In the farmhouse, Joice Sheppard sits at a spindle in traditional dress and tells us about the times. The ambiance fits perfectly. The whole house is furnished as people lived 200 years ago in the Wild West. We laughed along with Joice as she first mentioned how difficult it was for her to learn the spinning craft and then, to prepare for her role in the museum, had to google to gather 19th-century facts. Difficult to imagine this old woman, who seems to have come out of a history book, on the computer 😄
We loop through Montana to reach Yellowstone from the east this time.
On the breathtaking Beartooth Highway, we are caught by a rain and hail storm. It accompanies us up to Beartooth Pass at 3340 meters above sea level.
The steep mountain road and its tight hairpin curves demand a lot from our van. But the atmosphere in the cloudy mountains is magnificent, the views dramatic.
The next day we are back in Yellowstone National Park. We drive in early in the morning to avoid the tourist traffic. The time before 10 am is best. For the time being, no avalanches of cars await us, but hundreds of bison. Simply spectacular!
The longer we watch them from the roadside, the more vehicles join us. The buffalos are used to the stream of tourists and are not disturbed. But we are and continue through the park.
As mentioned, it is best to walk the countless trails to the highlights of the park early in the morning, otherwise, you will be trampled by the crowds in summer-time Yellowstone National Park. If you follow this rule, you are almost alone in this enchanted and beautiful land before our time.
Grain and Wasteland
When we finally leave the park, we enter the real Wyoming: cowboy country. Wherever the eye looks, only wide fields and pastures, ranches, rodeos, and cowboys (and cowgirls, of course). A whole different world. The food production center of the USA.
Further and further east, the route takes us through the rocky Bighorn National Forest into South Dakota, where a huge troop of bikers awaits us. Apparently, a famous biker meeting has just taken place here. As inconspicuously as possible we roll past the bearded men and women and their hot machines.
Through the Black Hills we reach the imposing Mount Rushmore Monument, where from rocky heights the four former presidents stare into the distance:
- George Washington (1st President, he helped the United States gain independence from Great Britain).
- Thomas Jefferson (3rd president, main author of the Declaration of Independence)
- Theodore Roosevelt (26th president, he led the USA to great economic growth and development in the early 20th century)
- Abraham Lincoln (16th president, he led the U.S. (Federal Union) in the Civil War in the 1860s and opposed slavery)
Even the weather can be wild in the "Wild West". We are driving on the highway towards Rapid City, the evening sun is warming, it is dry. A few hundred meters ahead, exactly on our route, we spy a gray-black curtain hanging in front of the city. One second sunshine, the other downpour, which I have never experienced before. We slow down to a few miles per hour because the windshield wipers can't handle the sheer mass of water falling from the sky. A minute later, the spook is already over.
The next natural spectacle awaits us a little later in Badlands National Park, which is home to strange stone and sand sculptures. We are just in time, August 12, to witness the Perseid meteor shower.
At a simple, free campground in the middle of the desert, we climb a rock, lie down, gaze into the depths of the universe - and count shooting stars.
Unfortunately, the weather does not play along the next day. It is gray and cold, which forces us to continue our journey. We drive through an unreal scenery, perhaps similar to the one on Mars.
After the Badlands National Park, there is nothing for quite a while. Only wheat and cornfields. And a road that disappears again and again at the horizon.
The Border from East to West
After a long drive, we reach the border of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa at the Missouri River. After all the flat dryness, a new world unfolds before us: green, huge thunderclouds, sultry, warm air. We can breathe freely again. Aaah!
We follow the river that forms the border between Nebraska and Iowa down to Kansas City and there turn east to St. Louis where the Missouri flows into the Mississippi.
For the first time, we reach the Mississippi. In the city of St. Louis, it is hot, but we enjoy it, the city at the great river. From far away we can see the arch rising into the clouds, symbolizing the gateway to the West.
St. Louis is bursting with cultural and social diversity. Blues music, markets, breweries and beer gardens, museums...
In the history museum, we learn about the Civil Rights movement around Martin Luther King, and learn once again how difficult life was and often still is for many Afro-Americans in the USA. How sad and humiliating to be cheated of one's rights again and again and to be treated as being inferior. Much has improved since the 1960s, but the fight against racism still has a long way to go in the States.
We spend the night on the street in the lively Soulard neighborhood. But the hot and humid air in and around our van does not let us sleep until midnight.
Eclipse
The drive from St. Louis to the Shawnee National Forest in the south takes three to four hours. All campgrounds are fully booked, and crowds have arrived from everywhere to witness the big event.
Fortunately, we find a picnic area hidden in the forest that is still free. But not for long. Rangers come by and explain to us that normally you are not allowed to spend the night here, but today is an exception because so many people have gathered.
Soon others arrive who have not found a campsite anywhere else.
Three students tell us that they have traveled 24 hours from Texas to attend tomorrow's solar eclipse. Who knows if you will ever get the chance to see such a spectacle again.
Rachelle drove up with friends from Detroit, 550 miles away. We spend a nice evening together in a pleasant company after which Rachelle invites us to her home when we reach Detroit.
Finally, the next day is the big day. Seraina and I look for a quiet place by a creek where we can watch the eclipse undisturbed by the crowds.
It takes quite a while until the sun becomes a crescent. Then it suddenly happens quickly. A gigantic shadow covers the world. The crickets fall silent, the frogs begin to croak. For a minute and a half. The prevailing mood is surreal, almost a little eerie. But no sooner has the sun disappeared behind the moon than it emerges on the other side.
The frogs go back to sleep, the crickets continue their briefly interrupted concert. And the tourists? They go home again.
We, too, drive on. Again towards the north. We pay Chicago only a short, three-hour visit. We want to get at least an eyeful of the big city before we move on. The skyline is fascinating. Certainly, it would be an exciting place. To get to know it better, we don't have the time.
We have an appointment in Detroit.
Epic Journey 2016-18
Back to Part VII:
Epic Journey 2016-18
Forward to Part IX:
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