How The West Was Won

After nesting at our friends, the Sparrows in Chicago, it was my turn to take over planning the westward movement.  While my travel companion is often the first to offer his opinion to me on just about any topic, he apparently took great offence to my simple comment that he sometimes is over-planning our adventure and that maybe we could be a little more spontaneous. I believe that his decision for me to be the one to get us from Chicago to Seattle was not one of his best ideas ever, but no way was I going to tell this to him. While I had no objection to this task, I do know my limitations when it comes to logistics, but I refused to back down to his challenge (see previous post for details).

First I started by selecting all the places I wanted to visit between here and Seattle and those would be – Lake Superior in Wisconsin, Rapid City in South Dakota, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and then on to Glacier National Park in Montana.  A few things to note, I refuse to drive in mountainous regions or curvy roads, however I failed to take this into consideration when planning.  It was quite the surprise for me when I discovered that we had to cross the Rocky Mountains and would not be able to go around them without leaving the country or getting back to Texas. The other thing that apparently I failed to incorporate into my less planned version of the trip is to realize that all there is to do is spend time driving the scenic by-ways or go out and about walking the trails when you get to South Dakota and Wyoming.  I did not realize that my dear husband tried to plan the previous portion of the trip to limit the driving to 3 to 4 hours per day to prevent sheer exhaustion and to reserve some energy for sightseeing.  Next I made the executive decision to stay no more than 3 days at each destination and sometimes only 2 days.  I quickly started making our reservations as I could not wait to surprise Ronjoy and let him know that not only did I have everything planned out, but all reservations were booked for the next 12 days!  You cannot imagine the look of horror on his face, but I was so delighted with my achievement I ignored his less than complimentary reaction.

Needless to say, it went something like this, approximately 12 hours of driving per day everyday for about 10 of the days I had planned.  The other little mishap which occurred is that I booked a lovely lodge in Alta, Wyoming which was a little more difficult to get to than one would expect. Even though it is in Wyoming, from the direction we were coming we had to go across to Idaho and then backtrack to Wyoming and then drive up to an elevation of 9,000 feet to get to our lodge… needless to say, it was a little stressful as it was at dusk compounded by the narrow road which was a continual climb into the mountains with so many dreadful twists and turns.  Thank God I was able to maintain my composure and still able to provide Ronjoy with commentary on how he was doing behind the wheel. The other unfortunate thing for Ronjoy during our time in the West was that besides having to drive 85 percent of the time under my watchful guidance, I had to restrict his food and liquid intake because we could not stop every hour or so for a bathroom break as we had done thus far.  By the end of each day the poor guy was not only tired with bloodshot eyes from driving, but he was starving and dehydrated too.

We finally made it to Montana and had plans to go to Glacier National Park; however we were not going to be lodging inside the park since I did not make reservations in time, but I was able to find hotel accommodations about an hour outside the park.  After a 10 hour drive to Montana, Ronjoy reached out with a plea that I could not refuse.  He asked only 2 things of me, first if we could stay in the hotel and sleep all day and skip the park, and second with deepest sincerity he asked if I would please let him resume the remainder of the road trip planning from that point on. Even though I did not get us all the way to Seattle, I think I was able to prove that it could be done without extensive planning. I never said it would be easy on Ronjoy and in the end we are both happier when he thinks that he is control.

While it sounds as though it was a bit grueling the West was spectacular in every aspect.  When we reached Rapid City, it was the last day of the infamous Sturgis Rally where more than 400,000 motorcycle riders (mostly Harleys) descend upon this small town near Rapid City as they have been doing for the past 71 years and cause this tremendous roar in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We were mesmerized by the uniqueness of the Badlands and enthralled by the wildlife of Custer’s State Park where we saw hundreds of wild Bison as they grunted past the cars on the road. There is a town nearby called Deadwood where Wild Bill was shot holding the infamous dead man’s hand in his last game of poker and in this middle-of-nowhere town lives a very rich man who owns a casino and collects Hollywood memorabilia and his collection is quite interesting to say the least. It was essential to visit Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial (unfinished) and feel belittled by the sheer magnitude of these monuments and the determination of their creators. After Rapid City, we went on via Grand Teton to Yellowstone National Park and were amazed by the phenomena of the area with the hundreds of geysers and hot springs. Heeding the warnings from our friends to stay away from the bears, we were able to come out of there alive and head on to Montana and say goodbye to the wild, wild West.