It was May 26 2010,
Long weekend was right at the corners and it seemed strange to me that I've not made any clear cut plans for the trip till that night. ( My work load during the past 2 weeks is all to be blamed )
And finally found some time that night to look at what are the mountains, grasslands, plateaus, plains, rivers, valleys, canyons, caves and 'what nots' we can explore during the 3 and half days.
Yo! we had Rocky Mountain, Mount Evans, Black Canyon, and Rafting in mind...
But wait!!!!
Middlefork river in Sacremento is as good as Colorado for Rafting....
If we are visiting Black Canyon, we should visit canon city also, but sorry we dont have time...
We are also missing Great Sand dunes which is near by... ( We may not want to visit now, but we should visit some time later )
Thats when an evil devil struck my mind asking "Why not plan a separate trip for Black Canyon, Great sand Dunes and Canon city Later" and try out South Dakota & North Dakota in this trip?????? :-)
Hmmmmm... Pretty interesting!!!!! After all South Dakota and North Dakota in already in Place-to-Visit list ( I agree every state is in list - But this one I really wanna visit )
Thats when we got the brand new plan.... Well, Here is it...
Who is in the Trip?
Abdul Driver Fahad
FNU (Not FLU) Harshavardhana
Mukundappa-SAT a.k.a MS Sriharsha
Kutchery Kitty Krishna
Rajiv First US Trip Sarma
What are we doing?
Wind Cave National Park, Mt.Rushmore, Devils Tower National Monument - Day 1
Theodore Roosevelt National Park - Day 2
Badlands National Park - Day 3
Rocky Mountain Drive - Day 4 (Depending on the Time)
What States are we covering?
Colorado
Wyoming
North Dakota
South Dakota
Montana
Nebraska
How are we doing it?
Friday:
10:45 PM - Thats when all 5 reach Denver
11:45 PM - Reach Car Rentals and Pick one
12:30 AM - Finish walmat shopping ( Pack required food for some days )
01:00 AM - Start our pleasant journey
(Over Night Journey)
Saturday:
07:00 AM - Reach Wind Cave National Park & Freshen up
08:40 AM - Take Natural Entrance Cave tour ( Next Tour is at 9.20 AM - But we should not waste time :-)
10:30 AM - Done with the Tour - Start for Mt. Rushmore
12:00 PM - Mt. Rushmore Here we go - Have lunch stroll around for some time
03:00 PM - Start from Mt.Rushmore for Devils Tower
06:00 PM - Reach Devils tower - Spend sunset
09:00 PM - Reach Spearfish, SD and have a pleasant sleep
(Stay in Spearfish)
Sunday:
08:00 AM - Wake up guys, Finish BF and get ready for Theodore Roosevelt National Park ( 3 and half hour drive )
11:30 AM - Reach NP stroll around
01:00 PM - Finish lunch and continue stroll
03:00 PM - Start back to Spearfish, SD
06:00 PM - Reach Hotel and Sleep well
(Stay in Spearfish)
Monday:
09:00 AM - Finish BF and Start from Spearfish to Badland National Park
10:30 AM - Reach NP, Do all short hikes and roam around till afternoon
02:00 PM - Finish lunch and continue strolling
04:00 PM - Start driving to Rocky's ( 6-7 Hrs Drive )
(Half Night Journey - Sleep in Car rest of the time at REST AREA)
Tuesday:
07:00 AM - Start driving to Rocky Mountain NP
09:00 AM - Finish Breakfast
10:00 AM - Continue visiting all vista points - May be short hikes
01:00 PM - Lunch and continue roaming
02:00 PM - Start back to Denver
05:00 PM - Reach Airport, Drop Car and Get set to fly back
(Reach home and have a pleasant sleep)
What about the Bookings?
Car - I've already booked a Full-Size SUV
Room - Asked Baat to book 'Howard Johnson' for 2 nights @ Spearfish, SD
Are we camping?
No - It will be overkill for this trip - We need a cozy sleep :-)
What should you carry?
1) 4 Pair of Clothes
2) Extra pair of Socks (You know why)
3) Jacket (Rain Jacket if you have one)
4) Sunglasses (May be it will be sunny, May be it will be breezy, God only knows)
5) Cap
6) iPod/iPhone/Smart phones with Songs (If you have one)
7) Whatever personal item you wanna carry
8) And Loads of Energy & Enthusiasms
Cheers,
FD
7 comments:
Great Plains and great plans, keep it coming, keep it happening... You & your plans are awesome and we owe you a lot...
MS... Its a pleasure dude.. :-)
Cool .. did not know you too kept a blog. Nice to have a handy reference.
DG!!! It was dormant all these days... I've just dusted it back to keep all trips details for reference... :)
Nice :)
I remembering similar trip of mine...driving 3K miles covering most of the states...
Did u visit Colorado -- the 14K feet peak...?
Harry,
While doing this trip, I was remembering that you also did a similar one driving from Chicago. :-)
We visited Rocky Mountain in Colorado, Not Mt.Evans (14K Peak), we didn't have enough time. Will try to visit next time.
hey this is not a blog ... cheating
Post a Comment