No Reservations
Taken from my travel journal dated August 11, 2003.
We drove to South Dakota and back to California in 9 days. After renting a Ford Escape mini suv, we packed our sleeping bags, tents, food supplies, and drove through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota. We didn’t make any reservations and decided to drive wherever the day would take us. Everyday we camped under a million stars and explored the national parks and monuments: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Little Bighorn, Devil’s Tower, Mt. Rushmore, and Arches National Park. The highlight of the trip was the wildlife roaming in Yellowstone: buffalo, deer, elk, moose and pronghorn. Other memorable moments: A highway with no one on it (U2). Dodging birds that might fly into the truck’s grill on the drive from Montana to South Dakota. Rolling hills and endless dusty roads leading to no where. A word of advice: You should never plan a road trip around the time of the Sturgis Bike Rally if you don’t have reservations two years in advance. The town of Sturgis in South Dakota has a population of about 5,000. I’d never heard of this rally which is held once a year and draws about 25,000 motorcycle bikers! Sturgis was the only town where we couldn’t find a place to stay. After driving for two hours in Sturgis, we crossed back into Wyoming and still couldn’t find a place. Around midnight we finally found a motel on the main highway that was willing to let us stay in their dining hall in fold-out cots. Except for Sturgis, camping in the National Parks without a reservation was fairly easy and inexpensive.
