Camp Hope Riders

OK… maybe 40 degree sleeping bags weren’t our best option for Yellowstone in late September.  Brrrrr!  What a cold start to the morning.  Our thermometer read 34 degrees, but we were told it dipped down into the 20s.  Brrrrr!

First thing in the morning, after thawing that is, was a stop at a Ranger station to check on the road closure.  Lucky for us the road towards the south end of the park was temporarily open, and we were able to make it to Old Faithful and the south entrance of the park heading to Grand Teton.

In Grand Teton we encountered more fires and smoke, which left a haze that made it nearly impossible to appreciate the scenery.  Catch a glimpse below, the mountains are still impressive.

From Grand Teton we made our way south to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then across the Teton Scenic Byway into Victor, Idaho where we stopped for the evening.

By the way, my sincere apologies for the delay in posting to our Blog.  Our service has been spotty at best sometimes.  For instance, we had absolutely no service in Yellowstone until we got to the village at Old Faithful.   I suspect we’ll have more of this as we go through some of the remote areas on our route.  We’ll do our best to minimize that though.

Thanks for following us!

Old Faithful... and no, I don't mean Duke!

Scenes from Yellowstone

The road through AJ's windshield on our way to the Grand Teton

Group photos at the Grand Teton

Scenes from the Grand Teton

Antler arches in Jackson Hole, WY

We started the day off in Buffalo, Wyoming and immediately got on the road.  We were however surprised to find that Ron had been busy.  He managed to somehow make a rather large bumper sticker to promote Camp Hope and taped it to the back of his RV.  Take a look at the photo below.

US Highway 16 lead us out of Buffalo, and what an absolutely breathtaking ride!  We then took Wyoming Highway 31 back to 16 and that turns into US Highways 16, 14 and 20 just outside of Greybull leading you straight into Yellowstone.

We were in for surprise though when we arrived.  There was a huge fire in the park and the Park Service had shut down a section of the road leading to Old Faithful.  With construction and a road closure on another road in the park, are only option was to head north in the park. 

Ron and the RV had to stay at one site—the only RV site that wasn’t full.  The problem being this was strictly a hard site, no tents allowed due to bear activity.  The rest of us headed north to the only non-primitive/non-backcountry campground that wasn’t full.  Of course with the fire and the road closures, that was no longer the case when we arrived.  Luckily we met a fine gentleman, Harold, and his family who allowed us to share their site.  Have I mentioned my snoring?  Poor people!

By the way, check out the picture AJ managed to take of the Yellowstone sky at night.  Beautiful!

Our travelling billboard

On the road to Yellowstone on US Highway 16

Discussing our options

Scenes from Yellowstone

AJ's shot of the night sky in Yellowstone

We started off Day 10 in Sturgis, South Dakota… We needed our bikes serviced, and decided to get it all done while in the area.  Those with “metric” bikes stayed in Sturgis, and two of the Harley-Davidson owners, Kristen and I, made our way to Black Hills Harley-Davidson in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Some would consider that wasted time—time we could have better spent on the road—but we met some wonderful people there.  Two associates of Black Hills Harley-Davidson, Paula from Service, and Chrissy from Parts; and a fellow rider who was stopping for some service as well, Guy, an Air Force Veteran.  All three were very interested with Camp Hope, and we spent a considerable amount of time talking with them about all of the work that’s been done and the plans for the future. 

Paula spoke about a gentleman based out of Keystone, South Dakota that has an organization called Camp Freedom which works with disabled Americans.  She was going to try to put him contact with Camp Hope and see if he can bring in and host disabled Veterans at his facility.  What a great idea!

The response we’re getting everywhere we stop and have an opportunity to speak of Camp Hope is very, very encouraging.

On to the ride… Day 10 had us traveling from Sturgis to Devils Tower National Monument and then on our way towards Yellowstone National Park, both in Wyoming.

West of Sturgis, on our way to Devils Tower, we took South Dakota Highway 34 to Wyoming Highway 24.  The ride was spectacular!  After Devils Tower, on our way to Yellowstone, we made it as far as Buffalo, Wyoming where we bedded down for the evening.  We’ve been putting in some long hours on the bikes, and today was no exception. 

Enjoy the photos… more to come.

Group photo time at Devils Tower

Scenes from Devils Tower

Which way do we go...