The Last Post

My next and last stay was another Harvest Host location, Burn 'Em Brewery in Michigan City, Indiana.  I probably could have made it all the way home this day, but this would have made for an extra long trip (well over 8 hours), the last bit of which would have been in darkness.  So I decided to add this extra stop.

I actually drove right past the brewery at first since it was nondescript and didn't look like a brewery (whatever that's supposed to be).  My initial thought was, "Oh my!"  However, I didn't have much choice, and as I learned previously, you just never know.  

While the decor and layout were indeed unusual (there was no indoor seating, for one), the staff was friendly, and the beers were extremely tasty!  The parking was across the street at what appeared to be a small, defunct truck depot.  But the lighting was good, and it was very secluded.  So, I felt pretty safe (there was actually another RV-er there from Texas).

The brewery and taproom, which appears to be in an old house.

 

I later moved Ansel to the back of the lot by the trailer you can see in the background.

The next day I drove home with a slight detour to visit a fraternity brother and his wife who were camping near my hometown of Jackson.  I had texted him the night before about the brewery since Michigan City is close to where they have they have a cottage, wondering if he had ever been there (which he hadn't).  That's when we decided to connect.  It sure was great to see them, even if it was just for a short while!

So there we go, another trip in the books.  And, it was a successful one, I feel.  Even though I took far fewer images than during some of my other trips (only about 650 this time), overall I am pretty happy how they turned out.  So with that I will finish this blog with some additional images.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my posts...I sincerely hope you enjoyed them (and the images especially, of course).  

Till next time...

This abandoned building was just outside the park

A much clearer (complete) shot of the bison

Day Six & Seven: Last Day & Heading Home

This was my last day in the park.  While many photo opportunities were certainly left, I always get to a point where I am simply exhausted and my creative juices are expended.  Not to mention the fact the weather forecast was for another cloudless day, and of course, my foot was still bothering me, meaning hikes were out of the question.

But, there was still one more opportunity for some early morning light shots.  I headed to what had become my favorite spot, the Fossil trailhead (technically in this case it was the Castle trailhead, which is immediately opposite).  I thought I was going to miss the right light since the sun was already above the horizon.  But when I got to the trailhead, the sun was still hidden by rocks to the east.  I was in luck!

I drove to the east end of the park and walked around the trailheads there.  There weren't many good shots because of the strong light, but I did take a few.  I decided it was time to leave, but drove westward on the loop to do one last "sweep" of the park.  

So that was it!  I exited the park and got back on I-90 to start my long drive home.  My first stop was in Wagner, South Dakota, which was only about 3.5 hrs away.  I wanted to get further, but the Harvest Host (HH) I had initially reserved was closed for the week.  So my 2nd choice was Choteau Creek Brewing.  As I got closer I began to wonder if this was such a good choice.  I was nowhere near any town, there were no visible buildings, and at the end I was driving on a dirt road.  Did I even have the right location in Google maps?  Then there it was: a small, unassuming building tucked in amongst some trees.  Well, this was indeed the right place, but I still had my reservations.

Well, this was a classic case of appearances can be deceiving.  It turns out this was probably my best HH experience ever!  I was immediately greeted by an employee who told me where I could park.  The taproom was small, but there were already quite a few people there.  I ordered a beer (which was very good) and soon began to chat with the staff.  Eventually the placed filled up with locals, most of whom knew each other.  What a fun time!

The brewery and taproom

My spot next to the barn (yes, there cows and chickens here)

View from the dirt road

The bar and one of the employees, all of whom were very friendly

The night sky was very clear, and the stars were very bright.  I wondered if I could find the Milky Way.  Turns out it was right over the rustic barn I was parked next to.  While the galactic center was not fully visible, I did manage to get some shots.  Not my best Milky Way images, but still pretty cool!

The next day I headed off for my next stop, the Millstream Brau Haus, a German style brewery in Amana. Iowa.  This was a long, boring drive with not much to look at but...need I say it?...cornfields.  Yep, more of these!  The highlight of this drive, though, was a much needed shower at a Love's Travel Stop.  This felt SOOO good!  I had never done a shower at a truck stop, but I have to say I was impressed, at least with Love's  They do a great job with this service, and at $15, it was well worth it.

After being on the road over 7 hours, I finally arrived in Amana.  The brewery was a bit of a disappointment.  It would be tough to beat the previous spot, of course, but there were simply a lot of things that left me unimpressed.  Oh well.

One more stop left, and one more blog post.

Day Five: Venturing Out

Like the day before, I got early, made coffee and then headed into the park to catch the early morning light.  This time, I was smart (or at least smart-ER) and identified a spot to shoot.  I got there at the perfect time since I didn't have to wait long.  This was a good thing since it was dang cold.  It was right around freezing and windchill was easily in the teens due to the strong winds.  Thank goodness I had foresight to pack thermal underwear...and put it on!

There was another photographer there, which suggested this was a good location.  And it was!  I took a bunch of shots with the golden light and then some more when the sun popped above the rocks behind me. Very cool!!!

Pano taken with my cell phone

I drove a bit further, thinking about what to do next.  The light was changing rapidly, and since it was a cloudless day, it was not very likely I'd get many good images.  I had toyed with idea of driving over to Mt. Rushmore, which was about 90 minutes away.  It wouldn't present many photographic opportunities, but since I was this close and had never been there, I thought I should go see it.  And I'm glad I did.  This is an amazing place!  I especially enjoyed the museum that talked about how Mt. Rushmore was built.  Fascinating!  I left with a good dose of patriotism.

I thought this was a clever idea.  You could pick frames with different sayings to have your photo taken with Mt. Rushmore in the background.  It was fun watching families do this.

What next?  Visit Custer State Park?  There was some amazing scenery there, but at least a day was likely needed to justify visiting.  I even thought about Devil's Tower, but that was over an hour further west.  I decided just to head back to the park and catch some sunset shots.  But first, since it was officially afternoon, I thought I'd check out Firehouse Brewery in downtown Rapid City.  They had all those impressive billboards along I-90, so it was worth a stop.

The brewery, as I suspected, was an old fire house downtown, and it was decorated with various fire fighting memorabilia and equipment, including tons of patches from fire departments around the country (and possibly the world).  However, there was a touch of shabbiness about the place.  It had clearly been there awhile and hasn't seen many (if any) updates.  And the beer?  Well, the IPA I had was good but it wasn't remarkable (I almost always get an IPA at a new brewery...contrary to popular belief, brewing a great IPA is hard, and if a brewer can nail it, chances are the rest of the beer line-up is pretty decent).

I headed back to the park with a quick stop for some essentials.  My destination for the sunset shots was the Fossil trail head.  It didn't disappoint!

Another "selfie"

Unfortunately, while I was wondering around, I turned too quickly and lost my footing on some loose stone, which caused my foot to twist oddly.  Initially I thought I was OK and even took a few more photos, but eventually my foot began to hurt.  I hurried back to the van, took off my hiking boots, wrapped my foot, put some ice on it and popped 4 ibuprofen.  Well this is going to put a damper on my plans!  (I had contemplated just staying at this spot and grab some shots of the Milky Way, but no way was I going to wander back out there in the darkness with a lame foot!).

Back to the cliff campsite for dinner and a few well-deserved beers!

Dinner from a recipe provided by my sister-in-law.  Yummy.

Day Four: Exploring the Park

The wind kicked up considerably overnight, so much so that the sound and movement of the van woke me in the middle of the night.  I had left a chair and small table outside, and even though I had collapsed them and laid them next to the van’s wheel, I started to worry that the wind might still blow them over the edge of the cliff.  I wasn’t worried about the value of the items, but I didn’t want to be the idiot that allowed that to happen.  So, I got dressed and went outside to check.  Fortunately, they were right where I left them.  I brought them in the van and went back to bed.

I awoke early.  I wanted to make coffee and head back into the park to capture some of the blue and golden hour light.  I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going, but finally stopped at the Fossil Trail Head, where I got some pretty decent photos.  It’s beautiful to watch the rocks light up and glow with rising sun.

Fossil Trailhead/boardwalk.  Even in black & white the morning light is cool.

My version of a "selfie"

The clouds were excellent from a photo perspective so I spent most of the day driving around the park looking for photo opportunities.  The park loop is not that long, so it’s easy to see the whole park without having walk or hike very far.  But, I do want to do some hikes before I leave.

I called it quits about 4 o'clock.  I was tired, the temperature was dropping fast (freeze warning predicted overnight), and the clouds were getting heavier, which meant there was no chance of sunset shots.  So, I headed back to the cliff view campsite.  I picked a different spot, but the view was equally as spectacular as the night before!

 I'll finish the post with a bunch of photos.  Remember that you can see a bigger version by clicking on the image.

The only hoodoo I have found, but there may be more further off the loop road.

This is actually just outside the park.  I couldn't resist the image!

Right after I took this shot this little guy yawning, he and others nearby stood up and screamed.  I waited to see if any of them would do it again, but they didn't.

This guy was just laying right next to the road, unfazed by the steady stream of tourists stopping to grab a photo (like me).  Perhaps he was just showing off his "best side".

Hoping to get a better shot a the bison, but I rather liked the way this guy was simply lying amongst the prairie grass.

Ansel

Day Three: I Made It!

First stop on my way to Badlands National Park was Sioux Falls, SD, just over the line from Minnesota.  There was a marine supply dealer there (are there lakes in South Dakota?), and I was hoping I could find a fuse for my DC to DC charger since it was a marine style fuse.  I must’ve been their first (only?) customer of the day as they were very friendly and eager to serve me.  The guy at the main desk in fact personally escorted me to the parts department.  I proudly displayed my blown fuse and said, “I’m looking for one of these.”  The parts department service guy went to check and soon returned with a box saying, “I have good news and bad news.  We have the fuse, but the one we have is not blown like yours.”  Funny…I guess that’s what happens when you’re the first customer of the day at a marine supply store in South Dakota.

I paid for the fuse (a bit more expensive than Amazon) and got back on I-90.  The weather was much nicer than the day before…and much less windy.  My travel time was a little over 4 hours, which again felt longer than that.  There’s not a whole lot to look at along this route, though once I crossed the Missouri river, the topography got a little hillier (more hilly?).  And, there were fewer cornfields.  But there were still fields.  And fields are fields.

Fields

This is pretty much the view for most of the trip

One bonus: Speed limit is 80 mph!!  Though I couldn't quite bring myself to drive Ansel that fast.

The only thing of interest were the billboards.  Most advertised tourist attractions (and thankfully not personal injury lawyers).  Interestingly, most were low to the ground in contrast to billboards in the Midwest that are so high they could warrant aircraft warning lights.  The most common were of course billboards for Wall Drug.  Some of them look like they have been there for decades but still interesting.  A close second were signs for the Firehouse Brewery in Rapid City, which claims to be the first craft brewery in South Dakota (you mean there’s another one?).  What was amazing is that every one of their billboards had an old fire truck in front of it.  I lost track, but there were at least 10 of these!  What an investment.  I’m sold: I need to visit!

I finally arrived at the National Park, and used my Senior Lifetime Pass to get in 😊.  I drove the Badlands Loop, stopping only a few times for photos.  My intent was simply to get a lay of the land and think about where I might want to shoot over the next few days.  Bottom line: I have no idea where to start.  This place is amazing, and there are endless possibilities!  I guess I will just need to be flexible and go with the flow!  

 

I drove into Wall, SD and paid a quick visit to Wall Drug.  I’ll probably go back, but to be perfectly honest I was a bit underwhelmed.   

 

I picked up a few items, including some beer and buffalo burgers, at the small local grocery, and headed to my campsite for the night on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland, which is run by the National Forest Service.  It overlooks the badlands and is supposedly the 2^nd best boondocking (free) campsite in the U.S. (what’s #1, I wonder?).  Lots of other RV-ers taking advantage of this spot.  It’s truly amazing.

The view from my campsite!!!!

And by the way, my battery was finally charged to 100%!!