2021-08-14: Camped in Bridger, Montana and Exploring the Pryor Mountains in Custer National Forest

Welcome back to AwayWeGo's Traveling Adventures. We've got the motorhome in the small town of Bridger, Montana. It's just up the road from the Pryor Mountains where my next job assignment is located. With my coworker being delayed in getting here, and he's bringing all the survey equipment, I have a free week or so to go exploring and geocaching. Today I'll show you some Bridger history. I also take a drive down to the jobsite at Pryor Mountain to do some Jeep off-road trail exploration. So hop in and let's go for a ride.

Bridger started out as a mile long alley of hastily built wooden shacks and businesses called Stringtown. They didn't have indoor water, no electricity, not even a wooden plank sidewalk to keep from walking through the wet mud or dry dust. But hundreds of people came for an opportunity to work in the coal mines or a job on the railroad. Calamity Jane even lived here in the early days of Stringtown, taking in laundry to earn a living.

Jim Bridger, born in Virginia in 1804, arrived in Montana in 1822 as a member of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company brigade. He roamed all throughout the Rocky Mountain region, trapping and exploring. A keen observer, a natural geographer and with years of experience amongst the Indians, he became invaluable as a guide and scout for wagon trains and Federal Troops following the opening of the Oregon Trail. He spoke several Native American languages, as well as being able to converse in French and Spanish, and was often called upon to negotiate disputes between the Native Americans and encroaching white settlers. In the 1860's Bridger moved down to Missouri and lived until his passing in 1881.

A post office was established on October 29, 1898. In 1902, Stringtown was renamed Bridger and incorporated in 1907. There are two geocaches in town. One at the Jim Bridger statue above (GCW1BR) and the other at the Veterans Memorial Park below (GC3NQEP).

From there I drove south on US-310 down to the town of Warren, and then north on the gravel Railroad Bed Rd up through the Pryor Mountain Wind Farm. Now I know where the jobsite is and how long it takes to get here.

Going past the wind farm, I continue on the gravel road up towards the mountains. The next geocache was at an old kiln site (GC6VTX9). This lime kiln was used by many of the early settlers of the nearby ghost town of the Bowler Flats area in the building of their homesteads from the 1890's to the 1930's. Not too far away on the other side of the hill was another geocache at a quarry site (GC7MF00).

Just past the quarry I come to a fork in the road. I can continue north on Railroad Grade Road or turn east onto Pryor Mountain Road, which has this sign. Well I think it's obvious which road I take the GeoJeep onto.

About a half mile down I spotted this mound with some rocks and a stick off to my right. My first thought was an old pioneer gravesite. Upon closer inspection and thought, it was more than likely a surveyors property corner. Probably set a hundred years ago.

I continued up the mountain on the way to a cave where the next geocache (GC7MF3E) was hidden.

The higher you go, the rougher it got. I don't make videos very often, but this time I remembered to give it a try.

I made it up to the cave. Unfortunately, I didn't find the geocache.

I wanted to continue going up the mountain and do some more exploring. But when you're out here all by yourself, miles from anywhere, it's getting late and you loose phone service, I can't take too much risk. So, back down the mountain...

Back down on the "Flats," I continue on to one more geocache (GC7MF44) before it's time to head back to civilization.

Taking a different route back out to US-310, I passed by this old homestead that made for a great photo.

 

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-08-09: Road Trip from Colorado to Wyoming in the Motorhome While Geocaching

A few days into this road trip from Texas to Montana and it has already been an eventful road trip to say the least. Within a few hours of starting out in Texas, I had an air suspension issue that I luckily was able to fix myself in a parking lot. Then the next day made it up into Colorado and was able to do some sightseeing and geocaching before another breakdown. This time a blown freeze plug leaking engine coolant everywhere. That brings us to waking up this morning in a little town called Kit Carson, Colorado. Is the one mechanic in town able to get us back on the road today or are we stranded until who knows when? Let's hop into the Jeep and see if he's even open...

Following the directions from the RV park owner, the shop is behind his house on the edge of town. I get there at 8:00 in the morning and he's already underneath a pickup truck. He says he's got a full work load and working alone doesn't really do mobile repairs. But he understands my predicament and says to give him an hour or so to get the truck's fuel tank re-installed so that it doesn't fall off the jack. Then he'll drive over to the RV park and check out the leak. GREAT!

Having a little bit of free time before he gets to the motorhome, I decided to grab the two geocaches in town. The first was over at the Kit Carson Cemetery (GC1EF8H). Then back to the center of town at the Kit Carson Railroad Depot (GCV3R5). From the historical marker: "Built in 1904, this depot has survived intact and is not significantly changed. It is one of a handful of surviving railroad depots of the period in Colorado and may well be in the best condition of those remaining. In addition to housing the station agent and his family, this rectangular depot accommodated the daily activities of train passengers, freight, and the telegraph, and is a distinguishing feature of this depot."

 

Shortly after arriving back at the RV, the mechanic shows up too. The coolant leak from the bad expansion plug is up top on the exhaust side of the head on the Cummins diesel engine. To work on the top of the engine you have to go inside the coach. Opening the "hood" of this motorhome is lifting up the bed.

So I show him where the leak was coming from and he checks it out. He pulls out the bad plug, cleans up the hole, and installs a temporary rubber adjustable expansion plug. Getting the correct size steel or brass would have to be ordered and may take a couple of days. This rubber one will work for a while and until. Hopefully I will eventually be able to find a shop that has the time to replace them all. Anyway, he got us fixed up and able to get back on the road. AND when I tried to pay him, he refused to accept my money and wished us well on our travels.

Now back on the road heading north on US-287, we eventually merge onto I-70 westbound. Once in Elbert County, I had found a geocache (GCQTWZ) by an off/on ramp that had a big enough shoulder to park the RV for a few minutes. See the first photo at the top of this blog. I made the quick find and then also noticed the old farm house and barn at the top of the hill. That made for a nice photo too.

A few miles up I-70 in Arapahoe County, I found another exit ramp with a geocache (GC8CD7) that had good parking. Turning onto I-25 northbound, another exit ramp geocache for Larimer County (GCY322) and then a rest area earthcache for Weld County (GC1ME6T). 

Finally crossing over into Wyoming, we pulled into the Welcome Center just south of Cheyenne where we decided to park for the night. The Wyoming Welcome Center is practically a museum / historical center. We must have taken about 50 photos. These are just a sample. From a petrified tree,

the "Hole in the Wall Gang" with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,

giant prehistoric skeletal bones that were once large beasts,

and Wyoming cowboys, rodeos and ranch life.

Also located at the Wyoming Welcome Center were two geocaches. One was a multi-cache (GC979A5) and the other an earthcache (GC93HTZ). These gave us credit for Laramie County.

After the tour of the Welcome Center, we drove about a mile to the next exit to grab a bite to eat. Also at the same exit was a virtual geocache (GC946E) that I couldn't pass up. My job is a surveyor and the cache was about a surveyor. 32-year old John Phippin was a dedicated employee of the National Geodetic Survey, Coast and Geodetic Survey.

A resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming, he was working in Blythe, California on an oceanic geodetic survey project in 1992. In April of that year, two men (I'm not gonna mention their names) quit their jobs as carnival workers and began on a crime and killing spree. They broke into Phippin's motel room where they beat him and then stabbed him in the heart. The two then proceeded to load up his possessions and stole his vehicle, which they drove to Las Vegas and murdered another man.

That's it for today. Tomorrow we arrive in Montana, hopefully trouble free! Stay tuned...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-06-30: Visiting Noah's Ark After Our First Day and Our First Breakdown in the Motorhome

On this date of our AwayWeGo's Geocaching and Traveling Adventures, we begin a new chapter. We took delivery of our RV, a 2000 American Eagle 40' diesel pusher motorhome, and begin our journey with our home on wheels yesterday. Now when we drive to a new jobsite we no longer have to stuff our Jeep with all our belongings. No longer do we have to look for a furnished place to rent for the duration of the project. We'll have everything with us and get to sleep in our own bed every night. So climb aboard the big rig RV, there's plenty of room. Today was our first day of driving from Indiana, to Florida, and then back to Texas for the next project.

Leaving from the north side of Decatur, Indiana yesterday, we headed south on US-27 a few miles to a truck stop to top off the 150 gallon diesel fuel tank. Then a few blocks past that to a Walmart to get some groceries, some basic cookware and utensils to start with, and some new linens and pillows for the queen bed as well as the foldout couch for my wife's granddaughter. The queen bed still had the original comforter and pillows which looked like they were brand new. But they didn't look very comfortable. So they'll stay looking new because we soon put them underneath the bed in the storage compartment.

Now if you have been following along reading about our travels, you'll notice that I usually like traveling the backroads. It's much easier to pickup new geocaching counties in the GeoJeep. But kinda hard pulling into rural cemeteries and outta the way ghost towns in a 40' motorhome. I'm gonna have to practice some serious route planning to accomplish that. But for now I take US-33 south over into Ohio to jump on I-75 south to Florida.

The first few hours driving the RV down the highway went really well. This diesel pusher motorhome drives, rides, and handles so much better than my gas motorhome I had back in 2005-07 when my AwayWeGo Adventures began. (Click here and scroll to the bottom to start from the beginning.)

But when you purchase a 20 year old motorhome and start driving it down the road, there's sure to be some little bugs pop up that didn't show up on a test drive or the dealer inspection. I also see others online buying brand NEW RV's with pages of items that need to get fixed too. 

So driving down I-75 south and approaching Cincinnati, the engine temperature gauge starts jumping from normal to hot and back. I don't get any warning lights saying that it's actually overheating. Plus the gauge is moving too fast. I pulled into a rest area just to check it out and make sure. Don't see any leaks. I Googled and found a Cummins dealer on the north side of Cincinnati just 10 miles further down the road and they could get me in first thing in the morning.

Waking up today we head straight down to Cummins to be there when they open up to drop off the RV. The three of us then piled into the GeoJeep and crossed over into Kentucky to the town of Williamstown. There we visited the massive Ark Encounter theme park and tourist attraction.

The Ark Encounter was opened on July 7, 2016 by the Answers in Genesis organization.  It is a full-sized replica of Noah's Ark built according to dimensions specified in the Bible. This massive structure is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. Approximately 3.3 Million board feet of wood was used in the construction of this project.

The Ark contains 132 bays that are eighteen feet high and arranged into three decks. Visitors enter through the lower deck and move up via a ramp in the center. There were mini cages for various birds, but mostly chickens for food. Another area held large liquid containers for drinking water and oil for lamps.

Just a few photos of various bays representing different animal types gathered upon the Ark. There were no live animals inside the Ark, but there was a petting zoo that you could walk through on the outside.

Located throughout are scenes of Noah's family as they would worship and work at various activities within the Ark.

After touring the Ark and the zoo, I did manage to grab one geocache (GC7NAPC) near the entrance out by Highway 36 for Grant County.

Arriving back at Cummins to pick up the motorhome, it turned out to be a loose wire behind the temperature gauge on the dash. So hooked up the GeoJeep and continued on home to Florida for a couple days before heading to Texas.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-06-27: Geocaching and Sightseeing History in Gary and East Chicago Indiana

Hello again and welcome to our adventures. We're winding down our little side road trip while our "new to us" used American Eagle motorhome is almost ready to take delivery. On this day we explored the towns of East Chicago and Gary in northwest Indiana. East Chicago is my fathers hometown and we'll pay a visit to his childhood home. And over in Gary was the childhood home of a world famous celebrity. So join us as we grab some geocaches and take a look around at what remains of this town...

Our first geocache of the day was in South Bend, Indiana for Saint Joseph County. A virtual geocache (GCA525) was located at the LaSalle Landing Park. Unlike a traditional geocache, a virtual geocache doesn't have a container with a log sheet to sign. You typically have to gather some answers at the location and email them to the creator of the virtual cache to get credit for finding it. The coordinates bring you to this stone monument with the depiction of the French explorer LaSalle, the first white man to visit this region, passing from the St Joseph River to the Kankakee River in the late 1600's.

Next door in the now Riverview and Highland Cemeteries is another historical marker recognizing the Council Oak. It was here that three years after his first crossing, LaSalle met with the Miami and Illinois Indians to enter into a treaty to resist the aggressions of the Iroquois. After surviving two lightning strikes, the centuries old oak tree was eventually taken down by a tornado in 1990.

Also located within the cemetery was a famous resident well known in the sports world. Knute Rockne (GC276Q6) emigrated with his parents from Norway to Chicago at the age of five. After graduating high school, he worked at the post office for four years to save enough money to enroll at the University of Notre Dame. He earned All American Honors playing football for Notre Dame in 1913. After a few years playing professionally, he ended up back at Notre Dame. During his 13 years as head coach of the Fighting Irish, he achieved an astounding record of 105 victories, 12 losses, and 5 ties, as well as 3 National Championships. Rockne died in a plane crash in 1931 at the age of 43.

Driving over into Lake County, we arrived in Gary, IN. The first thing I see that I remember hearing about was the U.S. Steel plant. It was where my grandfather worked. Gary Indiana was named after Elbert Gary, a co-founder and longtime chairman of U.S. Steel. When U.S. Steel bought the land to build the factory, they also created the Gary Land Company to design and build a town for their workers. At its peak, the Gary plant was the highest producing steel plant in the world.

Near the entrance to the plant is the EJ&E 765 locomotive (GC1VPVD). The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern train engine was built in 1929 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. When the EJ&E railroad switched its fleet to diesel engines, U.S. Steel saved it from being scrapped. It sent it to northern Minnesota's Iron Range, where it moved iron ore and taconite bound for Gary Works and other steel mills. Retired and restored it now sits at a roadside park for all to enjoy.

Turning south down Broadway, we passed some of the abandoned buildings around town. With the 1970's came a declining steel market and massive layoffs. U.S. Steel has laid off nearly 30,000 employees. The population of Gary has gone from 175,000 in 1970 down to 69,000 in 2020. It's turning into a modern day ghost town with an estimated 13,000 abandoned structures around town.

One of those buildings was the Palace Theater. Built in 1925, it featured vaudeville acts, live stage shows, and motion pictures bringing in more than 2000 patrons every weekend. From the very beginning it was one of Gary's most popular entertainment venues. But as the city began to decline so did ticket sales. The final live show was performed on January 3, 1972.

I'm switching the next two stops in order for the story to flow better. Over in East Chicago, Indiana, my father grew up in this house on Vernon Ave. This 3-bedroom, 1-bath, 877 square foot house was built in 1930. My father was born in 1932. Along with his parent, I believe he lived here with his four siblings until he joined the Air Force.

He once told me, after returning from his 50th high school reunion, about this girl that once lived down at the end of the street. Her name was Katherine and she walked with a limp. Going to the same schools, they sometimes were in the same class. When she was 19, she married Joseph Jackson and they moved to this house Gary. Joseph became a crane operator at the steel plant where my grandfather also worked.

Joseph and Katherine had 10 children over the next 16 years. This house built in 1949 was just a 2-bdr, 1-bath, at 867sf would be a bit crowded for this large family. One of those children was international pop superstar Michael Jackson. After the family's "Jackson 5" musical group signed their Motown contract in 1969, Joseph moved the family away from Gary to California.

Again, it wasn't until 50 years after graduation at his high school reunion, while sitting around a table reminiscing with classmates about whatever happened to this person and that person, he learned about the girl who lived down the street.

While sitting at a stoplight in East Chicago, Indiana, this building at the opposite corner caught my attention. The Calumet Trust and Savings Bank was constructed in 1916. From what I could gather on the internet, it was abandoned at one time with a partially collapsed roof and water in the basement. But the outer walls and columns are still intact. If only I could have it lifted and moved somewhere else.

OK, back to heading out of town and picking up more geocaching counties. Taking I-65 south into Newton County, I stopped in the Roselawn Cemetery (GC2BE8R) for our next geocache. I didn't take the time to look around cause I wanted to keep moving.

In Jasper County, the next geocache took us to this old abandoned school house (GC8P79B). It was hard to get a decent photo with all the trees surrounding it. But from what my research has found is that it was called the "Newton Township School" and was built in 1923. It was closed in the early 1960's with the rural school consolidations. I couldn't find the geocache here for the school. But I did find another at a nearby stop sign for the county.

Still moving south on I-65, I was able to find a quick geocache (GC8QDK6) in Benton County as we barely passed through the corner of that county. A mile to the east and we're in White County and finding another quick roadside geocache (GC8QDK3).

We continued eastbound on US-24 into Carroll County. I stopped at Yeoman Cemetery (GC1FV19) for another geocache. There are just over 1000 internments dating back to 1844.

Our last geocache for the day was at the Davis Cemetery in Cass County (GC3KB5K). The Davis Cemetery has over 3000 internments dating back to 1836. From the Find-A-Grave website: "William was a soldier in the Revolutionary War serving a total of 70 months. He married Lydia Busson in NC, about 1781 and parents of 10 children. They began housekeeping in VA just over the NC line. When the war was over they moved to Warren County, GA, now Columbia County, and lived there 21 or 22 years. The family moved to Preble County, Ohio in 1805 and lived there until 1835 when they moved to White County, IN then to Cass County, IN. Children: Arron, Joseph, Mary, Newberry, William, Jeptha, Mahala, Diadama, Clementine, and Clarrisa."

 

That's it for today. We still have nearly two hours of driving to get back to Decatur. Thanks for joining us.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-06-26: Visiting the RV Museum and Hall of Fame in Indiana

So today was one of those "checked an item off the bucket list" kinda day! Since owning my first motorhome way back in 2005, I've always wanted to visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana. Now that I'm in the process of purchasing another motorhome I finally get the chance. It was a wonderful journey back through time. So come and step back in time with us as we look at RV's through history.

We continued our road trip journey from yesterday finishing a few stops in Ohio. Two quick geocaches were found in Williams County at the Fountain Grove Cemetery (GC60CNV, GC358WN). There are over 7500 internments but I didn't spend anytime looking around.

From there we drove up to the NW corner of the county. That corner also happens to be the intersection of three states: Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. We found the virtual geocache at that location (GC2018). Even though the geocaching website has it located in Michigan, in reality it is located in Indiana. There's also a traditional geocache (GC3499B) there but we didn't have any luck finding it.

One more quick geocache (GCM8N1) at a cemetery in LaGrange County. The Riverside Cemetery in the town of Howe, Indiana has over 2300 internments dating back to 1816. The one grave to point out was the one detailed by the geocache hider. Christina Irene Hahn D' Sullivan was more commonly known as "Crissy the Skunk Woman." She was born in 1845 and died in 1925. She had many pets throughout her life. By the time she reached her 70's, she had many skunks as pets living inside her house. For the full story, click on the GC# link at the beginning of this paragraph.

 

And finally we arrived at my bucket list item, and there's a geocache there too (GC33Y84). The RV Hall of Fame and Museum first opened in 1991. The current 100,000 square foot facility opened in 2007. The museum is located right off of I-80/I-90 between Elkhart and Bristol, Indiana. There are about 50 vintage and antique RV's on display dating back to a 1913 Earl Trailer and Model T Ford. It is believed to be the oldest non-tent travel trailer in existence.

I'll highlight a few others in coming photos. The information I'm providing comes from the display boards at each RV.

This one is a 1916 Telescoping Apartment built on a 1915 Model T Ford. Selling for $100, these Telescoping Apartments were built in San Francisco as aftermarket camping accessories for early trucks. To travel, both side-cabinets slide in and the rear section telescopes into the main compartment and is secure for travel. Warm water for the shower is produced by radiator heat from the engine.

This is a 1931 Chevrolet based custom made "Housecar" was one of the enticements offered by Paramount Studios to get Mae West to leave the Vaudeville circuit and begin to make movies for them. It is designed as a chauffer driven lounge and not as a "camper" unit.

It features a small hot plate stove, an icebox, and a small table to enjoy lunch or a spot of tea. It was used for several years to transport Miss West from her home or hotel to the shooting locations. The story indicates she had a rocking chair on the back porch where she could enjoy the breeze when appropriate.

I could see myself owning and driving this one down the road! The Star Streak II is the second of two custom, all aluminum motorhomes built by Paul Jones. Built in 1988 using a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado chassis and a 1976 Oldsmobile Toronado 455 cu. in. engine. It was designed and built specifically to fit in a standard residential garage door. Length is 270 inches, weight 5400 pounds, and height 83 inches.

Made in upstate New York, a 1929 Wiedman Housecar built on a 1928 Stuart Truck chassis. These camper bodies were available either as accessories, shipped directly to a purchaser for installation, or mounted by the factory on a chassis of the buyer's choice. The large panel on the driver side was the platform for a fold-down bed with a canvas cover on the more deluxe models. It is bolted in place on this model.

This is one of two scale model displays of various RV's. They go back to the early days of diecast models and RV toys.

So that's it for today. Another bucket list item checked off. Tomorrow we explore my father's hometown of Gary, Indiana. And while there we stop by a worldwide celebrity's childhood home a few blocks away from my fathers. Until then...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.