The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful

View from our room.
Hampton Inn, Green River, WY

Yeah, it mighta' been the last long road trip ever for Julieann and I...eleven days in all.  6+ days of driving. It was around 3,000 miles total, Sac-town to the Black Hills and back. Pretty fine adventure with tours through Yellowstone and the Tetons on the way and fastest return possible on the flip-flop.

We recently picked up a newer mid-size SUV that fits our current lifestyle pretty damn good and we (read "I") was anxious to test it's legs.  So we headed out with rear seats folded forward, bags and gear aplenty packed in back, small cooler for snacks and such, navigation instruments set and reservations made.

We would spent nights in some purely Western towns such as Jackpot, Jackson Hole and Cody. The route was familiar as I had made it a couple times before, accidentally on purpose collecting material for my book "Badass - The Harley Davidson Experience" and heading for the Mother of all Motorcycle Rallies - Sturgis.

So here's the rundown; the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful of our run:

The Good:

Another good: Breakfast
with the Presidents
at Rushmore
(It's not about the food.) 

• Traveling with wife and pal of 50+ years was fun! We hollered at dumb drivers (including ourselves once each) and shared a few laughs every day.
• Julieann's family - good folks from Rapid City I am proud to know. A never-ending curiosity to me why we are so far apart politically from most of them, why common ground seems so elusive.
• The Black Hills - a Spring of steady rain has filled the creeks and lakes.  It is greener than we recall seeing it...ever.
• Sturgis/Deadwood - Looking and feeling good there, always. (Especially during the Motorcycle rally.)
• The hotels - Yes there are good ones out there folks and we found a few. A lot of people in this service industry trying to give folks a decent night's rest and are doing a good job of it.  Recommended: Hampton Inn in Green River, Wyoming and Gold Country Best Western in Winnemucca, Nevada.
• The hay. Yes that's right; the hay.  Impressive seeing the crops of large round bales and rectangular big and small bales in the fields. Amber shapes lying in green fields. I wondered about the price in today's market and looked it up as some sort of economy barometer? Currently, the price of a bale of hay depends on grass or alfalfa - generally a large round bale of Alfalfa (weighs around a ton) a little over $161.  (Yeah, yeah I know...I have too much time on my hands.)
• The Hippies - Yes folks they are still out there, roaming the country looking for Nirvana. The long hair, floor length skirts, sandals...the whole nine yards.  Except now the hair is gray, the bellies potted and the "look" seems pretty weird. (Funny, at times in the 70's I thought I wanted to be one, but these modern-day old folks have removed that desire. I do share that pot belly look though.)  

The Bad:

• Between here and there you can't find decent food.  We looked.  We tried.  We failed. Road food is the pits folks. (Yes, we're spoiled.)
• California forest fires. They blocked the sky and fouled the air all the way from Sacramento to the Tetons. (The year was 2018.)
• Thoughtless drivers. Sitting in the hammer lane without passing, abrupt lane changes, following too close. (Where TF do these people come from?!)
• Highway construction.  Sure we need it but that doesn't mean we like it.
• The hours of driving.  Even when you have a ton of time it still seems to take too much.  Reckon they drag on more when you are older. (But they were very cool through the Tetons and Yellowstone.)

The Beautiful:

• The Black Hills - so green and gorgeous with full lakes and streams. Like we have never seen them in 50 years of travel back and forth. (Okay, okay I kind of said this already but hey, some things bear repeating!)
• The West - C'mon folks, America the Beautiful is alive and doing okay right?! (In spite of the fires, our new EPA and Department of Interior's efforts to F___ it all up.) 
• My Wife and travel partner - she is always a step ahead of me in thoughtful actions and words. I see that capacity in my son and daughter too. (One of the most admirable traits a human can have eh?!)
• Scott Jacobs art Gallery in Deadwood, South Dakota. (I have already paid homage to that master of photo realism here: http://tclifecycles.blogspot.com/2018/08/deadwood-sd-and-man-scott-jacobs.html)

Now many of you have asked (none actually) why that might be our last long road trip. Well, when you reach a certain age you seem to run out of gas a little quicker than the vehicle you are driving knowwhatimeanVern?

P.S.  For you Clint fans, I added "Beautiful" because there is no "Ugly" to this story.  (Wait.  There WAS that dinner at the Winnemucca Inn and Casino...)