Traveling to Effingham, IL and Mid America Corvette/VW

We left Sioux Falls, SD to travel to The Rally in Louisville, KY. Our first day saw us stop in Forest City, IA at the Winnebago facility where we enjoyed a free site and the chance to buy a couple parts at the Winnebago store. This shows us at the Winnebago Visitor Center as we hooked up for the day's travel. Great facility and very nice folks.

While we were at Forest City, a storm blew through and these impressive clouds appeared in front of the sun. A beautiful sight!

We headed toward Effingham, IL and Rick saw a billboard for the Mid America Motorworks, a parts dealer that specializes in VW and Corvette autos. Kind of a unique combination and Rick had ordered parts for the several VWs he restored years ago. Naturally, he wanted to check it out. Driving into the facility, we were impressed.

In addition to the large production facility, there is the Garage and Museum which is great. Starting with these eclectic cows, there are all kinds of cars and related items that are on display and for sale.

As we walked in, Rick was delighted to see this 1954 Corvette in fabulous shape. This is the car that started it all with the Vette and Rick is looking forward to seeing the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY in a few days.

Of course, he had a really soft spot for these VWs. He thinks he will need another one of these as he has turned virtually every nut and bolt that exists on the air cooled VW.

However, this Corvette line is also VERY interesting! The museum housed many really interesting Vettes such as this racer.

Wow -- this is a unique vehicle. This 1964 Corvette Coupe was specially built for the Chevrolet’s General Manager, Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudson as his personal car in September 1963 and is called the Styling Corvette. Talk about a one of a kind.

Orinda liked this interesting car. This car was specially prepped for the 1964 World’s Fair of New York -- which Rick visited as a kid. He recalled the many cars on display and maybe saw this one.

Corvettes are designated by "generations" (we are in generation 6, also called the C6 models). The museum had two interesting cars such as this one -- the very last C4 generation car built at the factory in 1996. It is absolutely pristine and is still literally new.

Not to be outdone, here is the last of the next generation, the C5. This 2004 Corvette has about 7,500 miles on it and is actually for sale! Check it out at The Last C5

Sioux Falls Corvette Club -- a cool meeting at the Fairgrounds

We were walking Cody around the Sioux Falls Fairgrounds when Rick heard a powerful engine followed by squealing tires. Of course, he had to go investigate this and joyous occasion -- a Corvette club autocross! Turns out the Sioux Falls Corvette Club was having a meet and we took some time to watch these powerful cars.

Here comes a Corvette Z06 (VERY powerful) as it blasts through the slalom area of the course. I think it was just a bit faster than our HHR dingy car!

This Vette is taking a sharp curve in the Fairgrounds parking area. What a nice area to set up a sports car course and how cool to be camping close by.

The local Chevy dealer was helping to sponsor the event and several of the Corvettes were parked on display. Orinda thought this yellow Z06 Vette was nice-- as it should be with over 500 hp.

There were all kinds of Corvettes in the autocross and on display. This classic Corvette was beautifully restored and featured a custom pearl paint job (looks at the license plate -- PURRL). Rick thought this would be a great car to tow behind the coach!

We even got to see the same Z06 Vette that we saw zipping around the track a bit earlier. It looks fast just sitting still. Pretty nice to see this newer Corvette after 57 years of Corvette production. A true classic.

Exploring Sioux Falls, SD

Sioux Falls is a vibrant city in south east South Dakota of about 150,000 people and offers many amenities. The city gets its name from the real Sioux Falls of the Big Sioux River and as you can see above, are real waterfalls. This is surprising to many folks since the surrounding area is rather flat, but these falls are very beautiful and the city park that now surrounds them is a great place to take a walk.

The river cuts through red granite rock that was used to build many buildings in the area. The erosion has caused some interesting patterns in the rock and adds to the rugged beauty of the area.

Not surprisingly, early residents used the falling water to power factories including the old flower mill you can see across the river. The small house is an old power generating station that was used by the mill. The Falls are a must see if you are in the Sioux Falls area and easy to locate just a touch north of downtown Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls is also home to the Battleship South Dakota Memorial (right off 12th street) and is really worth a stop. The Memorial is very unique and since it was impossible to sail the huge ship up the Big Sioux River (to say the least!), the memorial consists of a full scale outline of the ship along with many artifacts from the ship. Known as Battleship X to keep the Japanese Navy guessing about how many Battleships we had in WWII, the South Dakota was heavily involved in many battles.

The South Dakota (and Washington) participated in one of the only battleship to battleship gunnery duels in WWII. Imagine these huge ships trading 16" shells that weighed 2,000 pounds at distances of several miles. The South Dakota's excellent marksmanship resulted in several Japanese ships being destroyed, although the South Dakota was also hit several times.

This is the official Navy construction model of the South Dakota and shows how she looked at her 1942 commissioning. Although in service for only 5 years, she participated in most battles in the Pacific and even served in the North Atlantic.

This view shows an actual 16" gun from the ship and one of the 4 huge propellers that drove her. You can also see the short wall that depicts the outline of the ship and gives a great idea of the enormous size of the ship.

In the center of the ship, about where the actual bridge would be, is the visitor center and inside are many great pictures and artifacts. Although there is no admission fee, this is really well worth a stop for all ages.

A Great Fourth of July in Cody Wyoming!

We visited Cody, WY for the great Fourth Celebration some 20 years ago and wanted to attend again to see if it was a great as we recalled. We parked near Main Street to get ready for the big parade and next door to us were these great Golden Retrievers -- very hungry for affection. What great dogs!

The parade started with this excellent, Western color-guard. Representing the Marines, these riders gave us a great preview to what was to come.

The parade started right at 1:30 and featured almost 200 different entries. Naturally, there were all kinds of western themed entrants, including these wonderful miniature pack horses that were very well trained and a delight to watch.

There were some very creative floats, including this group of skiers who were ready to go on the lift. Skiing is big around here, but not too much is done in early July!

Rick really liked the many old vehicles such as this early 1900's pick up truck. looked pretty functional, but I suspect that a modern F350 might out pull it.

Here is a classic Western transportation system, courtesy of Wells Fargo Bank. Well over 100 years ago, this stage and many others like it, traversed the west. Cody was served by several of these coaches bringing folks to the newly created Yellowstone Park.

Rick thought this late 1920's luxury car that was great. The car was in super shape and was the pinacle of high fashion 90 years ago.

Here is how the well-equipped farmer ran things 100 years ago. This distillate-powered tractor had been very well restored and easily chugged its way up Main Street.

These Cody Rodeo riders are real cowboys and helped keep the parade underway and the spectators on the sides of the street. These guys could really ride and the horses were magnificent.

Traveling the Beartooth Highway -- The top of the world

We took a trip from Cody to Red Lodge, MT and then took the Beartooth Highway which is rated as one of the most spectacular in the country. Our first stop was Red Lodge which is located on the banks of this beautiful river. After a quick stop for coffee, we headed to the Beartooth.

The Beartooth is an amazing highway that was built in the 30's after the coal industry in Red Lodge ended. Designed as both a scenic highway as well as a route to Yellowstone Park's Silver Gate entrance, this road reaches some 11,000 feet in elevation and offers spectacular vistas.

Here, Cody and Orinda enjoy a quick stop at one of the lower (8,000') vistas on the road.

Soon after, we began to near the top of the 50+ mile road and began to hit snow. Since this was in early July and there was plenty of snow remaining, we wondered how much snow is here in the winter -- must be a bunch!

We passed this very heavy duty snow thrower parked along the road and it gave mute testimony to the work of keeping the road open in the spring. The road is totally closed in the winter.

Wow, we turned a corner and saw what the snow thrower was doing, probably not too much earlier. The snow was still over the roof of the car by quite a bit!

We kept climbing (and climbing) and soon passed the tree line. Finally, our trusty GPS showed us to be over 11,000' -- the summit at last! We have not seen this elevation before! We were also about 25 degrees cooler than the bottom of the road.

The summit offers a grand view and as you can see, not much grows up here. There was quite a bit of snow and some hardy grass; other than that, rocks were the dominate species.

We really at the top of the world here and it was very interesting to travel here. We were also surprised to see that the level of traffic was not very high. Certainly, this road was every bit as magnificent as the famous Road to the Sun in Glacier Park, but had far fewer vehicles on it.

Cody was delighted to get out for a quick stretch in the snow. This snow was still about 3' deep and was as hard as ice in most places.

As we descended, we started to come across a number of beautiful snow melt lakes. At about 9,500', we started to run into trees again, which became larger as we descended. This is a great trip and one of the best scenic highways we have ever traveled. Just outside Cooke City, MT, we turned south on the Chief Joseph Highway (which we traveled a few days before) and returned to Cody after about 175 miles. A great day.

Chief Joseph Scenic Highway and Yellowstone Park

While at Cody, we based at the Absaroka Bay RV Park which was nicely situated to see all of the Cody area. The manager suggested we consider that we take the Chief Joseph Scenic highway to Cooke City, MT and then through Yellowstone Park back to Cody. Sounded like a great plan to us!

The Chief Joseph Scenic Highway runs 47 miles through some outstanding terrain and is a great drive that crests at 8.000'.

The road travels through some sharp turns and grades, as a result, large vehicles are not advised. Glad we took the HHR and not the coach!

The highway is named after Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe who fled the Yellowstone area to avoid being forced onto a reservation. He successfully evaded a large US Army force through some very difficult terrain and was successful in reaching the Montana area with his tribe.

They certainly were not kidding about the sharp turns! The HHR made the drive fun and we enjoyed the many scenic turnouts.

One of the amazing things we saw on the drive was this bridge that crossed Sunlight Gorge. When we drove up to the bridge, it did not look very dramatic since the bridge is at the same level as the road and surrounding land. The gorge, however drops vertically several hundred feet and as you get close, is very striking.

We also saw this fox dart across the road and were delighted to see him. We were not aware that we were to see much more wildlife in the next few miles!

We left the scenic highway and traveled through Cooke City, MT. We entered Yellowstone at Silver Gate, in the northeast corner of Yellowstone. We had never entered the park from this point and were curious to see what we would run across.

The Silver gate is not heavily used and perhaps this accounts for the wildlife we saw. As we came around a corner, I saw a couple cars parked and looking up, saw this grizzly bear on a ledge about 100' above the road. WOW! This is the first grizzly I had every seen and even with the telephoto lens, the bear was impressive!

As we drove down toward Fishing Bridge, we encountered a couple of very large bison herds, including this calf. These are very impressive, large animals that you need to treat with respect! This group of bison were right on the road and we waited several minutes for them to cross. Very cool!

Heading east toward Cody, we passed Yellowstone Lake. This huge lake is near 8,000' in elevation and is beautiful with the snowcapped mountains surrounding the lake. It is also clear as glass.

As we drove by the Lake, lo and behold, we saw this large black bear ambling off to the side of the road. He was a big fellow, but I don't think he was a big as the grizzly we saw earlier. What an amazing day -- we saw two bears in one day. Pretty well sums up a great day!