060726 Cold Brook Lake Campground, Hot Springs SD. I arrived early and had to wait for the camper in my space to check out, but there was no sign of them. They were camping in a small trailer and must be out on the lake. So I pulled into another space to wait. But I did do some geocaching on the way. I pulled out of Crawford pretty early, it was only about 30 minutes to the border of South Dakota. I made it in 31 minutes and pulled over at the state line because on these back roads there is usually a cache welcoming you to their state. Sure enough, I was parked less than 50' from a cache. The description said I will need a TOTT (Tools of The Trade) to retrieve this micro. I took a look and saw the container way up high on the Welcome to South Dakota sign. I hesitated not and got my ladder out of the van to make the grab.
Continuing on into South Dakota, a state I need for another sticker on my water bottle, I proceeded to visit The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs to claim a virtual cache. I did not pay for a tour, it was pretty crowded, but I was able to meet the requirements for the find.
Driving through Hot Springs, a small mountain town surrounded by evergreen with modern condos and an old downtown. Before I knew it I was on a dirt road heading north out of town for about 3 miles before pulling into the campground where I am still waiting for my campsite to open up. The ranger stopped by and said it was fine if I waited where I was and that he would check down by the lake.
I didn't need to wait too long and I was all set up by 1630 and had a nice peaceful evening in the small campground. Although the Camp Host had to run their gas generator, but that ok with me. In the morning I took a nice walk down a jeep trail before packing up. This is definitely a place that I wish I could stay longer, but I have a place to be at in Southern Colorado in 2 days.
The next days route will be determined by the wind. There are high wind warnings for south Nebraska and Wyoming but it looks like if I make it to Cheyenne then go west I should miss all the heavy wind. So I left at the regular time and entered east Wyoming and stayed on the eastern border. I stopped in Lingle Wyoming to claim a virtual cache and have some lunch. It was overcast but the wind was mild.
The wind picked up as I got closer to Cheyenne and when I made the junction to I80 west the wind was even stronger, but I pressed on west until I saw the Highway warning sign, you know the ones that tell you click it of ticket, that said road closed for high profile vehicles less than 20,000 lbs, that's me! I took the next exit and stopped at the Northbound "Welcome to Wyoming" rest area. It had a RV area with a dump station and best of all 2 adventure labs with a bonus cache!So I went ahead and dumped my gray tank, parked and got to work on the Adventure labs. To get the answers to all the questions required walking the whole rest area and the perimeter, where the final micros were, so I got in a good walk in strong wind.
No reason to try and find a campground, obviously overnight parking was allowed. I talked to an old fella that said someone had run him off his land and all he had left was his old beat up chevy van. He gave me a tour of the inside and I listened to all the improvements he'll make once he get his settlement money for his property cause "I'm gona sue them for all their worth" he said many times. I asked him if he was okay on food and that I would make him a sandwich , but he declined, says he can take care of himself. I didn't press the issue, though he looked like he missed a few meals, we just shared our good wishes for each other and settled in for a fine rest stop camp. Tomorrow I'll stay at a state campground outside of Walsenburg CO, only 30 miles from the Rocky Mountain Star Stare. I can fill my water tank, get a shower. and stock up for a week of boondocking. I sure took a roundabout route to get from Alabama to Colorado, but I got four more stickers on my water bottle and saw some pretty neat sites. Thanks for visiting, bye!
π·Camera Roll π§»









60326 After getting an oil change it Wichita, I proceeded north towards the state border with Nebraska. I stayed at another Army Corps of Engineers campground called 



































