Day 3 Devils Tower to Yellowstone

I woke with the sun, as I do most days when I find myself snuggled into my sleeping bag protected by the walls of my Kelty tent. I zip out to greet the morning and am instantly surprised to find that it had rained sometime during the night. Generally this would have woken me but I was greatly pleased that it did not. I left Angie to her sleep and ventured off to find myself a cup of coffee. However, there seemed to be two problems with coffee procurement. 1.) The camp ground is basically empty and has no services. 2.) The town of Pine Haven is on the other side of the the reservoir...10 miles away. What to do? Well it is 730AM hmmmm well according to my wonderful girl friends sleep schedule; I have plenty of time. I roll into Pine Haven and find some coffee at the local grocery store. As I step inside I am surprised to find a gaggle of woman huddled around the check out counter engaged in a daily dose of gossip. My presence has no affect on stopping or even interrupting the stories that are pouring out of these women. I did not catch all of it but undoubtedly somebody is pregnant and it is very scandalous. I exit the store with an ear to ear grin on my face. I love small towns, you do not get this kind of community in the city.

I returned with coffee we packed up camp and continued on to our first stop. As we approached Devils Tower I got more and more depressed about the possibilities that we would have there. The weather forecast promised severe weather throughout the day and the sky above was doing nothing to disagree with the forecast. Our hopes of a hike and the possibility of some climbing pictures were quickly dashed as the windshield dotted with drops of rain. We were able to get a few pictures but decided to push on and camp on the East side of Yellowstone.
Wow how wrong we were to think that we would be able to set-up outside Yellowstone. There were no campgrounds open within ten miles of the park. Once we got ourselves through the East entrance the campground board alerted us to the fact that there were only three grounds open and at that point two of them were full. Leaving us with one option. Madison. Madison, however is on the West side of Yellowstone and with a top speed of 45 mph it was going to take us another hour to get there. Thankfully we were able to make it there in time to settle in for a good nights sleep and some much needed dinner.

Day 2

Good Morning South Dakota! The greatest thing about camping is waking up with the sun. Well, at least I wake up with the sun. Angie still enjoys sleeping in as late as I allow her to. The KOA was a welcoming sight in the morning. The "K"ampground was teeming with National Park employees enjoying a preview day of the grounds and also taking advantage of pancakes, sausage biscuits w/gravy and bacon from the kitchen. We, however, only opted for coffee that morning. We broke down camp early as we had a 9am appointment with the Minuteman Missile Silo at the north end of the Badlands.

Minuteman is one of the newest national parks. The park offers tours of a decommissioned nuclear missile silo from the cold war era. The tour itself is actually of two different sites. The first is a launch control facility and the second a missile silo itself. The launch control facility controlled ten different missile sites within the area. All operations were done in a bunker three stories underground inside of a thirty ton steel capsule. Our NP tour guide was actually stationed at a Minuteman site in Missouri (I didn't know we had nukes in MO!) Talk about a character this guy just bubbled with retired military all over him, sense of humor and all. After the launch facility we got back on the highway and drove a few miles to the missile site. The silo was nothing more that a hole in the ground with a cover that strangely resembled a small greenhouse. Upon further inspection the contents was a six story rocket ready to take out one of six targets in under thirty minutes. Both sites were nothing more than an acre with a fence around them as you approached but their importance quickly came to fruition as you stepped within the fences. What surprised me more than anything about these two sites was their shear distance from the highway. Neither site was anymore than a half mile from I-90. I just couldn't help but think how many people have traveled this road over and over again and never realized that the power to destroy the world lay just to the side of them. There were over 100 nukes at one point in SD. Yet the people never seemed to think they could possibly have been a target. Incredible visit I recommend it if you ever have the chance.

The promise of food pushed us from the missile site and on to our next destination. Our next stop I do not know how anyone could pass up unless they purely skipped it out of spite. There must be 400 billboards from the South Dakota line to where we were beckoning us to stop. Who am I to disagree with such persistence. At exit 110 we pulled off and made our way through the town of Wall and the "world famous" Wall Drug.The store resembled that of a rural downtown. Filling up both sides of the street with shops, knick knacks and restaurants all bearing the Wall name. Wall much like the Corn Palace in Mitchell may be nothing more than a tourist trap, but it really is something to see. Half -way down the main entrance is a side hallway displaying the family history and how they have built their business over the last century. If nothing more this creates respect for the hard work and dedication of the Hustead family. Angie and I ate a modest lunch at Wall and hit the road once again as I was excited to get to our next stop.

Well I thought we were getting where I wanted to go, but we had to make a stop at the Reptile Gardens on the way and why not? Crocodiles, Alligators and giant Tortoises....color me sold. We perused the dozens upon dozens of animals that could potentially kill us. It is great to have a girl friend that finds creepy crawly animals not only intriguing but cute and cuddly as well.

Finally we were driving the winding mountain road up and up through the Black Hills. We rounded the corner and made our way to the top of the parking structure. Luckily we were blessed with a beautiful day. Bright blue skies with happy big puffy cumulus clouds that added a Bob Ross feel to the mountain as we strolled through the state walkway. As I approached the platform I was simply in awe at the sheer size of the work of art that lay before me.
Angie was not nearly impressed as she had been there before but she was still quite happy to be there. We perused the museum below seeking an education about the difficulty of the project that Borglum had undertaken. How awe inspiring the mountain is I still at the same time am torn with the monument itself. I can't help but wonder how beautiful the mountain looked before these 400 men blasted and chiseled away the presidential figures. I am all for respecting the men that have paved the way for our country; but at what cost? I say give me a statue; leave the nature to itself. It is majestic enough.

After leaving Mt. Rushmore my planned camping site of the night was down the road in Wyoming. We decided to stay off the interstate and instead to stick with U.S. 16 taking us out of SD and into WY. If you ever have the time to take a drive through this country that does not involve the over commercialized interstate highway system, take it! Finally, real America. The small towns and people that make up this country. The drive was beautiful through Wyoming, my goal was to make Devil's Tower to set up camp and still have time to make it to a local watering hole for a drink and the Cavs game. We, however, decided to camp at Keyhole State Park about twenty miles outside of the park. We were able to sit up camp and make our way into the tiny town of Pine Haven. We drove up to the "R" Bar for some dinner, a libation and a basketball game. The bar was a quaint little tavern for the town there were a few locals coming in and out while we were there. I actually had to ask to have the game put on one of the T.V.'s as the local population were more concerned with the outcome of American Idol than they were with what was happening in NBA finals. That definitely surprised me more than anything. I am sitting in a Wyoming bar filled with rough and tough ranchers decked out in dirty jeans and work boots. Their program of choice? Two boys dueling it out for top singing honors. I am enthralled by the people in this country every day.

I can not wait to see what I will encounter tomorrow!

Day 1- Pipestone to the Badlands

7:00 AM always comes so early when you actually sleep through the night before. A feat which on its own seems nowhere near impressive except for the fact that I can not remember the last night that I have continued through to morning without waking. Just proves the length at which this rarely occurs. However, this morning I wake to the sound of Jane opening the door to my slumber, quietly fulfilling a request to rustle me out of the sheets before she begins her daily ER grind. Now the hard part....I have to wake up Angie. I am hoping her enthusiasm for our impending trip will over shadow her want and need for sleep that she so desperately desires. I am in luck this morning! Although her excitement does not quite match my own; I know that as we begin down the road and Minnesota is left by nothing more than a glance in the rearview mirror her belief at the greatness of this trip will begin to grow as well.

8:30 AM- We have begun on journey finally down MN 23. Forty-five minutes later we arrive out our first spot. Pipestone National Monument. Now it has always struck me oddly that National Monuments always seem to resemble more of National Parks than just a stone figure pointing towards battle mounted upon a horse. A symbol from my childhood that I always associate with a monument. There is always land attached to these national monuments in vast quantities yet the only thing they seem to be lacking is a distinct place to pitch a tent. As we enter the visitors center and peruse the displays inside we come to a man sanding a bright piece of red stone. As he continues to fashion the stone as we look on he name of the monument finally becomes clear to me. For the man is sanding out the inside of what will soon become a smoking pipe. I swivel my head to the left at the gift shop that sits just beyond and I suddenly realize that Pipestone is the mecca for Native American smoking devices.

The plains indians have migrated to this site for two millennia to harvest the precious pipestone(catlinite) to use in building their "peace" pipes and ceremonial pipes. Pipes that they still make, use and sell today. It leads me still to think further. Considering tobacco was not a staple of these native populations . Being that it was commercialized by the colonists of early America. What exactly were these Native Americans smoking? It must have been something very good or very important for so many to travel so far and risk their lives to attain. Pipestone is still revered as a holy place among many native tribes and a place where they still migrate and harvest stone to this day.

As we entered South Dakota country on our way to the Badlands I was needless to say enthralled by their favorite form of advertising media. The 30 ft billboard. I wish I could say that these massive structures of wood and metal just seemingly dotted the landscape but if I were to say that I would be a liar. Trust me there is now no way possible that I could ever forget The Corn Palace, Wall Drug or the Reptile Gardens. I was reminded of them every thirty yards altogether they formed the perfect monstrosity of advertising genius. I say this because they roped us in...all three fo them. I don't know if it was the constant barrage of billboards or just pure curiosity of what may possibly lay inside either way we were determined to find out.

We arrived in the Badlands in the late afternoon on Tuesday in reasonably fashionable time. Although I had seen mountains before I was not ready for the incredible striations that the badlands had to offer us. The deep rosy reds, earthy tans and pearl whites all in unmistakably separate layers piling on top of each other to create breath taking sights in every direction. We paused at a few lookouts along the way before setting off to make camp at a KOA on the the south side of the park. Although the campground set a few miles outside of the park, it was a good introduction to the week that lay out before us. The campground offered much more in the way of modern conveniences than I knew we would find in other places. Showers, wireless internet and friendly staff all can be fairly uncommon in my personal experience. We set-up campsite one in a wonderfully stoney lot with stiff dry grass, which only perplexed me as to how dry that area became in the stifling summer heat if it already looked so withered in the early season. After setting up camp we again hopped into our packed up home and went for a drive down the badlands loop in search of the elusive black footed ferret!

Prairie Dogs, prairie dogs and more prairie dogs it seemed as if these little rodents streamed on for miles. Their holed burrows could be seen in every direction as well as the little guys themselves scurrying from hole to hole with their young in tow. Some even so bold as to sit on the roadside watching the passing traffic acting as intrigued by their visitors as the tourists were with them. However, signs warned us every 200 yards not to approach the pet looking creatures as the "prairie dogs would bite and are infected with the plague" Now I am still not aware what kind of awful plague these adorable little creatures were carrying but in my experience the cuter they are they more deadly they can be. After an hour drive through the park we made our way back to the camp ground disappointed in our lack of ferret finding but we we quickly took solace in the prospect of a glowing campfire and some much needed dinner.

2009 National Park Western Tour.

As a tool for those of you following along. I have included a travel map with some of our "planned" stops in the next two weeks. I use the word planned very loosely as the trip is freely open to spontaneity and indecision. In essence, who knows what will happen! I will do my best to update the map as we go as well as the blog so everyone can keep up with us! Enjoy! I know Angie and I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Thanks.

View CO Trip in a larger map">

Stranded in Purgatory.

Stopped before the adventure could even begin thanks to the fine folks at www.backcountry.com . Do not for a second get me wrong I have no ill feelings towards the wonderful people at Backcountry they have amazing gear and unbelievable prices they just did not get the gear to us as quickly as anticipated. Now the old military mantra beckons in my head "hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait".
We could certainly be stranded in worse places than Marshall, MN especially on a day like today. The sun sits highest in the sky surrounded by an endless ocean of blue with just the faintest brushing of white almost seeming like caps upon waves. High of 80 and beautiful a great rest day before the trip begins.
This down day has given me an opportunity to repack the car in a way that makes sense; we may actually be able to access our gear along this 2,700 mile road trip. Access it and actually have some space to expand into as this always happens on an extended trip. the back seat becomes an endless void of snack wrappers, fast food bags and dirty clothes. However, when you are starting out with essentially no back seat, where do you have to expand to? Good Question. We will see how this trip transpires!
With our gear drop today we should be off tomorrow morning! En-route to Pipestone National Monument and the Badlands!

The journey begins.......tomorrow.

Work in New Zealand this winter! (re-post from CW)

This winter I will be attempting to do something that I am sure a lot of you here on CoolWorks have either thought about doing yourself; or have already done but wished you would have had some help.
Some people here thought it would be a great idea to share with you some of the information that I have gathered to try and make it easier for the rest of you. What a fantastic idea!

As my plan goes now I am planning to be there from Mid-Oct/ April. I do not have firm dates but this should not deter you. This is a plan in progress much like any seasonal plan, it changes and flexes as it needs to.

The important things to know. Being a U.S. citizen you are not required to have a visa to travel to the country. However, if you are planning on working in NZ you are required to have a working visa. This is very easy to attain without paying some organization to help you do so. All of the information you will need is located at the NZ Immigration website. It has a lot of helpful information. For those of you who are between the ages of 18-30 you can apply for a working holiday scheme. The Working Holiday Scheme has the following criteria for U.S. Residents:

You must:
* have a passport from the United States of America that‘s valid for at least three months after your planned departure from New Zealand
* be at least 18 and not more than 30 years old
* not bring children with you
* hold a return ticket, or sufficient funds to purchase such a ticket*
* have a minimum of NZ$4,200 available funds to meet your living costs while you’re here
* meet our health and character requirements
* hold medical and comprehensive hospitalisation insurance for the length of your stay
* be coming to New Zealand to holiday, with work being a secondary intention for your visit
* not have been approved a visa or permit under a Working Holiday Scheme before.

Breakdown:
1.)As of today the exchange rate for U.S. to NZ was 1.68. Therefore $4200NZ= $2487 U.S. dollars
2.)Health and Character requirements- When applying for your working scheme they will ask you a series of health related questions injuries, hospitalizations, illnesses etc. your answers will determine if you are required to send any additional documentation to them in order to approve your visa. There were maybe twenty questions of which no additional documentation was needed by me. Character requirements are only necessary if you plan on staying in the country beyond one year. If so you will be required to send them a police report if they ask for it.
3.) They did not ask me about health insurance. But they say it is a requirement. Perhaps a short term health plan could be purchased. See the Health Insurance chat transcript for help.

It took approx. a week from the time I applied for my visa to the time I received an acceptance and confirmation in my email.

Now it states that your primary objective is that of a tourist and that you should not take up permanent work. Which I know is fine with all of us! The encourage you to take up work in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, viticulture and I have seen many hospitality jobs.

When you arrive or find a job in NZ. You will need to things a NZ bank account and IRD number. The IRD is the equivalent to our SSN. To apply for your IRD simply go to the Inland Revenue website and fill out the application form it should only take a few days. After you have received your IRD number you can now get a NZ bank account at any one of NZ 19 Registered Banks.

As for jobs in NZ. Being that there is no CW in NZ(although I will try and change that while I am there :) ). There are some resources that you can use to help you find a job. Once again The accommodating people of New Zealand have done a great deal of work for you and that have a lot of it broken down on their immigration website that I have tabbed out for you.

For those of you over the age of Thirty I have attached a pdf file that gives all the criteria and information necessary that you will need in order to apply for a 1016.pdfworking visa.


For those of you looking here is some great news from Kari, NZ Seasonal worker shortage!

I hope this helps you all in your future endeavors!!

Kevin

Cross Country national Park Tour (re-post from CW)

I am starting out at Rio Blanco Ranch on June 1 +/- 2 days. So my girl friend and I, or rather me really decided that it was necessary to take a little bit of time to reach our destination. In an attempt to please me, distract me or simply just not have to do it herself she leaves me with the sole responsibility of planning the trip. Really? Does she have any idea what she is getting herself into? Quickly I pull out my National Park Passport book. There are a lot of stamps I need between here and there!

At this point I have a general mapping of some places I would like to go of which I figure I will have to figure out the path as we add or subtract locations. I am supremely excited as I have never undertaken such a loose trip before, which being the organized person I am; may drive me particularly crazy at first but for certain it will drive my girl up the wall. Which excites me more. However, I could use some help/suggestions about some possible stops. Especially when it comes to food! I am a huge proponent of local diners and dives, if they look like they haven't been throughly cleaned in a decade and I am getting my food served to me by some one toothed waitress names Flo, just call me Peter because I am in heaven. Once again the g/f not so much. I feel this becoming a torture trip for her not taking part in the planning process.

So below is a list of my scheduled stops and the states if you have anything to add feel free!

South Dakota:
Minuteman Missile Silo
Badlands NP
Mount Rushmore
Wind Cave

Wyoming:
Devils Tower
Signal Mtn Lodge- Have to see my boy Garland!

Utah:
Arches/ Canyonland NP
Moab

Colorado:
Mesa Verde NP
Westcliffe- To see my Uncle

Then off to Meeker!