Devil's Tower

Did you ever see “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”?  It was filmed right here at Devil’s Tower.  We debated whether it was worth a journey this far off the beaten path, but boy it really was!

Devils Tower is 867 feet from its base to the summit. It is an igneous intrusion.  That means Magma welled up into the surrounding sedimentary rock.  There it cooled and hardened.  The sedimentary rock has since eroded away to show this majestic tower. 

While preparing to travel west, we spent a lot of time studying the Native American Indians who were here long before we settled in America.  Our family formed our own personal opinions about what happened during that time, and this natural wonder sparked a great deal of conversation on the topic.  You see, this is considered sacred ground to the Indians.  “Devils Tower”, it is believed, was a name given when an interpreter wrongly translated the name into English.  The Indian term probably literally meant “God’s Tower”, but it was translated as “Gods Bad Tower” or “Devils Tower”.  Knowing this land and structure was of such great importance to the original inhabitants of the area, we turned it into a tourist attraction and even allow to this day climbers to scale the massive structure.  This is seen as a desecration of a holy place to the Native Americans.  

Rocky Mountain Campground

Wow!  This campground was absolutely breathtaking.  It is nestled in the mountains overlooking the Yellowstone River.  The Roosevelt Arch marking the original North Entrance to Yellowstone Park can be seen through our front picture window.  Just out our door is the Yellowstone Trail that takes hikers all the way into Yellowstone Park along the river.  As you can see, wildlife was abundant and walked freely through our RV park.  We walked into the town of Gardnier every evening for dinner where almost every restaurant is on the river.  I could stay here forever!

Life on the Road

In this picture, Mike and I talk on our CB’s as we drive side-by-side through beautiful Montana.  If you look closely in the mirror, you will see Lacy’s little head sticking out the window in the back …  her domain.  (When Ted honks, she sticks her head out and waves.  Once he honked and poured a cup of water out his window!) We spend hours on the road when we travel cross-country, but you must understand that with RV travel, it’s the journey … not the destination.  We can do anything on our moving home that we can do in a small condo at the beach.   We eat, cook, shower, run up and down the isles, play game cube, watch anything Direct TV offers with our in-motion satellite and sleep (some more than others!).  But mostly we gaze in awe out the many large picture windows at God’s creation.  One thing we have learned is that the United States is far from overpopulated.  Probably 80% of our over 30,000 miles of travel is through untouched land as far as the eye can see.  We are quietly curious about who lives in these houses you find along the way, hundreds of miles from anything else.  Who builds a house high atop Big Sur where a number of natural disasters can devastate your life?  Who lives on that ranch in Wyoming, or the dozens of small towns through which we have travelled with less than a hundred in their entire population?  As I ponder their world and mine, I feel a pang of longing for that simple life.  Surely church is so much more than a weekly duty.  It’s got to be a social outlet … the center of their relational fiber.  You see every little town, no matter how small, has a church right in the center with a steeple for all to see.  Probably not much has changed since the days of Laura Ingles.  What a wonderful and diverse people group we American’s are.

The Breakfast Club

After our eventful evening, we were happy to find the campground provided all-you-can-eat pancakes for $1.  Their cook has served over a million pancakes!  While Lacy and I decided to forgo the pancakes for an extra few minutes of sleep, this happy little group enjoyed breakfast together on this beautiful morning.