| Devils Tower
Gillette, Wyoming Our plans for the last year had been to attend
the Escapade and Escapees' 30th Birthday Bash with friends in Gillette,
Wyoming. Don and Gloria Our first full day we took a narrated bus tour of Devils Tower National Monument and Eagle Butte Coal Mine, a strip mining operation. In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt designated Devils Tower the first National Monument. The vertical monolith rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River and the park contains 1,347 acres. Once hidden below the earth's surface, erosion has stripped away the softer rock layers revealing the Tower. We hiked a 1.2 mile trail around the big rock and it was a scenic hike, mostly level, but steep climbs in a few places. We encountered two problems on the tour.
We wanted to do the tour with three other couples so the eight of us arrived
to board the tour bus. But we were told we could not ride the same bus
because they were boarding by alphabetical order so they put four of us
on one bus and four on another bus. We were dropped off at 10:45 to hike
around Devils Tower and the bus would pick us up at 12:00 and take us to
a picnic area for lunch. There was a mix-up in our lunches and the bus
did not return until 1:25 p.m. making us nearly 1.5 hours late. When we
boarded the bus neither the bus driver, the tour guide nor the Escapees
host apologized or explained the delay.
Eagle Butte Coal Mine
We were 1 1/2 hours late for our tour, but their tour guide was waiting to board our bus and explain their operations. I love facts so I will list many facts. Wyoming's Powder River Basin coal accounts for approximately 40% of the nation's total coal production. It is shipped to 36 states and 99.99% of the coal is used to generate electricity. Wyoming's coal is valuable because it is low sulfur and can easily meet the environmental smoke stack emission limits. Wyoming coal contains 0.2 - 0.55% sulfur while Eastern coal contains between 3 - 10% sulfur. All mined land is reclaimed. About 250 feet of soil is removed and stored and after the 70 - 120 thick seam of coal is removed, the soil is replaced and it is sown with native grasses and trees and even rocks are placed back on the soil. Our first stop was to inspect a dump truck and WOW, what a truck. Here some facts on the 797 CAT 240-ton trucks. Cost: $2,500,000
OK, here are some facts on the shovels. The Marion 301-M shovel weighs 2,300,000 pounds and the scoop holds 90 tons. Water trucks spray water on the roads to keep down dust and each truck holds 35,000 gallons of water and can be filled in 4 minutes. Trains transport coal out of Wyoming and each train contains between 115 and 150 cars and is over 1 1/2 miles long. About 85 - 90 trains leave Wyoming each day and each one carries about 15,000 tons of coal. Trains run under silos at 0.6 mph and each car is weighed as it is filled. When about 120 tons are loaded the coal is shut off until the next car is sensed. We visited only one of several coal mines
near Gillette, Wyoming and were amazed to learn our nation's energy and
power depends on Wyoming coal. If you get to Gillette be sure to take a
coal mine tour.
Escapade The Escapees RV Club normally has a Spring western rally and a Fall eastern rally, but to celebrate the club's 30th anniversary they held one large rally in Gillette, Wyoming. Our first three days included the above tours and two off-days, then the Escapade (rally) actually began. There were seminars, vendors, new RVs on display, craft classes, dance, exercise and yoga classes, chapter meetings, nightly entertainment and prize give-a-ways, and of course friends to visit. We had so many friends at the Escapade we didn't have enough time to visit all of them. Several nights we went to restaurants with groups and a few nights we hosted BYOF evenings. For those who don't know BYOF is Bring Your Own Food. We set up chairs, tables and grills and everybody brings their own food. The grills are for anyone to use and we all sit around eating, drinking and shooting the bull. In addition to our group (Rich, Diane, Don, Gloria, Gustav, Michelle, Linda and me) we where joined by Mr. Escapees (Mark Nemeth), Stan and Betty Bober, Paulette Cormier, Jim and Nancy Tidball and others. The best thing about these rallies is seeing old friends again and making new friends. After the Escapade was "officially" over everyone stayed one more day for the 4th of July and the 30th Anniversary Birthday Bash of the Escapees RV Club. The morning started with a free pancake breakfast in Gillette which we skipped because it was too early for us. We did attend the 4th of July parade in town that had over 100 floats, bands and groups of riders. Then we went to Bicentennial Park where thousands met for free hot dogs, potato chips and soft drinks. Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch? Just announce free hot dogs and thousands show up. (Now this is weird and if you know the answer please send me an email. There were tubs of ice and cold water with cold soft drinks. As I looked at each can I noticed they were all diet drinks and I wanted a regular Sprite or Coke. A woman told me to reach to the bottle because diet drinks float and non-diet drinks sink to the bottom. So I reached elbow deep to the bottom and sure enough - that is where all the non-diet drinks were hiding. So my question is: Why do diet drinks float while non-diet drinks sink?) Back at the Com-Plex it was time to attend the 30th Anniversary of the Escapees RV Club. Joe and Kay Peterson started the club 30 years ago and wondered if 100 couples would be interested in joining. Today over 100,000 people (or couples) have joined so it exceeded their expectations one-thousand fold. After listening to a history of the club everyone was invited to eat cake (actually cup cakes) and ice cream so the second time during the day we were standing in line to get free food. (OK, our rally fee paid for this snack). I ran into the Petersons and asked them to pose for a picture, then I made a picture of the Escapees Family - Joe and Kay Peterson, Bud and Kathy Carr and Greg and Angie Carr. Back at the campground we had another BYOF meal and several friends stopped to say hello or good-bye. Mark Nemeth brought some of his tasty home-brew and proved he is multi-talented by picking up Gloria's bow psaltery and play a few songs. Well before the sky darkened neighborhoods all around the Cam-Plex started shooting fireworks and no matter which direction we looked we saw beautiful fireworks exploding in the sky and it continued for hours. The city of Gillette set off fireworks in the Cam-Plex and we knew about where they were, but we missed our guesses. We set our chairs in an open area and when the fireworks started we were so close we could feel the heat. It was one of the best fireworks displays we have seen and in our nine years on the road we have seen 4th of July fireworks in nine different cities. Finally it was time to leave Gillette and we and the Emonds said good-bye to everyone and headed north working our way to Canada. (Below are pictures from the Escapade.)
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