Unbeknownst to us, the first flash of lightning traced it's way across the sky. But there was no mistaking the thunder that followed. It was 2:30am, and the next flash was followed by a boom 11 seconds later. And then the rain started; sporadic at first, it quickly turned torrential. Then, more lightning, eventually the thunder a mere 4 seconds behind. And then, as quickly as it started, it was over - the storm cell had passed, the thunder pounding away in the distance. As I fell back asleep I wondered - would there be more? If there was, I…
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Sometimes we just get lucky - and this morning was apparently one of those times for me. I mean sure, I situated my truck for success the night before, and I'd brought the camera into the tent thinking there might be an opportunity to capture a bit of early orange hue, but I never thought I'd get the display that I did, while still warm under my comforter. It started as it so often does - just a hint of brightness along the horizon and deep purple highlights on the clouds in the sky. This is the moment, I thought…
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As I'd crawled into bed a little after 1:15am, I knew this was going to be a night without much sleep. Not because of rain or snow or cold - quite the opposite actually. Because for the first time this trip we were camped in a location that would allow us to see not only the sunrise, but the glow on the horizon before sunrise. That of course meant being up before 6:00am, a tall order even for me, the early riser. You can imagine my surprise then, when I climbed down my ladder and looked around camp and saw none…
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We were up early, even for me. Mike @Digiratus apparently rolled out of his tent at 5:30am, and Dan @drr and I followed not long after around 6:00am. We had a long day ahead of us to reach Cooke City by our agreed upon rally time of 6:00pm, and we knew that Zane @Speedytech7 was already there, having arrived the previous evening - now bored out of his mind. Being up early also meant that we got to put our tents away wet from the overnight rain - it wasn't much, but that's of little consequence when the sun's not…
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Derp would never see the sand dunes, even though it turned out we were camped at the base of one nearly 200-feet high. Having set three sequential alarms "just in case," when his first alarm went off at 4:00am, he bucked his usual trend and got up and out of camp relatively quickly. It was still dark, but we could hear him reving along the muddy roads for a good 20-30 minutes, so we were pretty sure he made it out alright. Back to sleep for a few hours, when I woke again at 7:00am, it was cold. 24-degrees cold.…
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The rain we'd known was coming did in fact come, but it passed by 7:00am the next morning as the sun and blue sky revealed themselves through the clouds. In what was becoming a ritual, I got up and explored the area around our camp before the rest of the crew got out of bed. It was always exciting to see where we'd ended up the night before! In the distance, some abandoned structures dotted the badlands - not part of the ghost town of Gebo, but likely mines abandoned long ago. Closer to camp, evidence of the high winds…
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We woke up in Monte's driveway without having been rained on at all the previous night. Glorious. Ben and Kirsten had taken off early - around 7 - since they had a long drive in front of them before work the next day, and we got word from Glenn (who'd stayed at a Super8) that he too was taking off, and that Derp could keep those gas cans…but not more excuses for showing up without extra fuel. Ready for some downtime, the rest of us took it easy, happy for both the break in the weather and the mud-free ground.…
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September 19, 2017. Hoping the rain would stop, we all stayed in bed until 8:30am. Or at least, that's why I stayed in bed - I'd later realize that 9am was the general wake-up time. Once again, morning provided a clearer view of our campsite as the rain let up slightly I headed out to take a look and get started on breakfast. Next to the creek, everyone was dry in their tent - but Zane was clearly in need of a new rain fly. Once again breakfast was sausage, eggs, and strawberries but on this morning I had the…
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