After our quick tour of Yellowstone’s West Thumb Geyser, we pushed on east to say goodbye to Wyoming and head into South Dakota to revisit a family favorite from our first ever road trip in 2020: Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
But Wyoming doesn’t say goodbye easily or quickly – it’s a big state, and there’s a whole lot of real estate to it when driving from west to east.
We had 8 hours of driving to cover, and we knew that after packing up from our extended stay at Flagg Ranch AND stopping for one last Yellowstone NP hike, we would be splitting the drive up over two days. With nostalgia from our 2020 trip hitting strong, we added a stop to Devil’s Tower National Monument in our Google maps and decided “what the hey” when it added 90 minutes to our drive – we may not have been able to do it all on this trip, but as we began seeing the end of this precious time on the road draw near, I think both Mike and I felt even more strongly to try our best to squeeze every ounce of adventure possible.
Horseback Riding in Cody, Wyoming
Our first order of business while driving across Wyoming was to FINALLY get our youngest that long-awaited horseback riding experience. I gave Cedar Mountain Trail Rides in Cody, Wyoming a call from the road, and they assured me they’d be able to accommodate us that afternoon.
At a significantly lower rate than any other outfitter I had researched, our experience with Cedar Mountain Trail Rides was far more economical than I had anticipated our horseback riding outing could ever be, and was a 10/10 perfect experience for our family.
We were greeted by the owner when we pulled in, and he happily showed us where we could park our truck and camper and led us to the registration area. Two other groups of riders arrived, and within 15 minutes of pulling in, our crew of four were all on a horse and headed out for an hour long trail ride.
The trail ride was definitely not for the faint of heart – we climbed the side of a cliff slowly in a single file line, our horses all expertly navigating the rocky terrain. But the guide was fantastic and constantly reassuring, and it was obvious that my horse was a pro, so I trusted the process and enjoyed the stunning views – especially the look of pure joy on our youngest’s face from the moment he climbed into the saddle.
Old Time Family Photos and More Cody, WY Fun
We spent a little more time exploring the quaint town of Cody, Wyoming that afternoon before continuing east. We enjoyed Dariy Queen blizzards, shopped for authentic cowboy gear (a lasso was purchased), and found the perfect spot for our Old Time Family Photo shoot, because I wasn’t letting my family get out of this trip without one of those.
When we finally pulled out, we chose the town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming as our goal for a dinner stop. As we have learned while driving out west, it is important – imperative, really – to plan ahead for groceries, gas, lodging (including boon docking friendly spaces), and food if you’re hoping to dine out. RV travel comes with the benefit of all of the comforts of home, and I can always (and often prefer to) whip up a quick dinner on the two-burner propane stove, but finishing a long day of driving with scrambling to find an “RVs welcome overnight” parking space to boon dock can be miserable. So – Ten Sleep or bust!
I was especially excited because we had to decided to….drumroll…eat out! We were ditching the propane stove, crying uncle on roadside sandwiches, and heading to a Ten Sleep restaurant. Dairy Queen blizzards and a dinner out in one day – we were getting all kinds of crazy in Wyoming.
Traffic Violations, Dirt Roads, and Delayed Travel
And crazy – and hysterical – the rest of our day of Wyoming travel did certainly become. On a lonesome road in what I can only describe as the literal middle of nowhere, we saw flashing lights behind our camper. The speed limit in Wyoming is seemingly always 80, and Mike doesn’t ever drive over 62 while hauling the camper. As we pulled to the side of the road, I said “oh my gosh – we’re getting pulled over for going too slow!” But, no. Turns out, the speed limit had drastically reduced “in town”, while we stayed at our steady 55-60 mph.
Now, we are rural people. We KNOW rural. We are overly familiar with a singular general store and a small playground constituting a “town”. But for the life of me, I had seen no sign of life out there, much less this “town” – but such is life. We took our ticket, apologized, and cruised on down the road.
While still reeling from the speeding ticket (and by reeling I mean Mike distraught and me giggling uncontrollably) we passed a sign telling us to turn right to Ten Sleep. But Google maps showed Ten Sleep straight ahead in 45 minutes, while turning right would take us in a significantly longer roundabout way. So we barreled forward.
And then the road turned narrow.
Very narrow.
And then it turned to dirt.
Very dirt.
And then the washboard effect kicked in. And we limped through more than thirty miles of the bumpiest, dustiest road in the remotest of remote places at 20 miles an hour. And we finally pulled into Ten Sleep, Wyoming at exactly 8 pm, just in time for our restaurant of choice to close for the day.
And we laughed, and laughed, and laughed harder. From tire blowouts to road closures to weather events, travel is full of unexpected, and sometimes unpleasant or unfavorable twists and turns. But somehow, standing on that street in Ten Sleep nearly three hours after we had intended to arrive, staring at the closed for the day doors of the restaurant we’d all been so eager to eat out at – was just hysterical. It was one of the most awful, and yet most memorable, days of travel in our whole trip, prompting an evening drive full of “Ooh, look kids – Big Ben…Parliament” as an homage to our most National Lampoon-esque day of travel yet.
The Sleepy Coyote, Ten Sleep, Saves the Day…err, Dinner.
We still got our dinner out: The Sleepy Coyote in Ten Sleep, Wyoming for the win! We enjoyed our meal, enjoyed wandering around their super cute western gift shop, enjoyed the break from the bump bump bump of the washboard dirt road, and hit the (paved!) road for a couple of more hours of driving before boon docking for the night at a Walmart in Gillete, Wyoming.
Devil’s Tower National Monument
The next morning, we hit the road bright and early, excited to see Devil’s Tower National Monument again. Due to limited parking at the monument’s base, we were asked to unhitch our camper and leave it at a vacant site in the National Monument campground. We met the nicest couple working in the park who led us to our site. Though unhitching seemed like a royal pain, the set up actually worked to our advantage, offering us a beautiful campsite complete with a picnic table to enjoy our lunch after our Devil’s Tower hike.
The monument sits up high, and the traffic on the road to the parking area was insane. After an hour of limping along in the flow of traffic, we finally reached the top, found a parking space, and headed out to hike the base of the monument.
While our oldest and Mike picked out the “Devil’s Monument” magnet for the camper and stickers for their National Park/Monument water bottles, our youngest signed up for his second junior ranger program of the trip. The junior ranger program is awesome, offering kids (and adults, too, if you’d like!) an activity booklet to complete throughout their visit at the Park/Monument, and then awarding them status of “junior ranger” complete with a wooden badge at the end of the visit.
The junior ranger activity book helped us to slow down and savor our one mile hike around the base of Devil’s Tower, a stunning geological wonder that sits a staggering 867 feet high and is a place of great sacred significance to many Native Americans. Prayer ribbons adorn the tree branches surrounding the monument, and even with far more visitors at the monument than our first visit in 2020, the tone was relatively quiet and respectful as visitors made their way around the base in awe.
With our youngest sworn in as a junior ranger, our bellies full from a picnic lunch, and our trailer re-hitched, we hit the road overcome with excitement to get back to one of our all-time favorite places: Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
