Cell Service....Finally

Heading out of Yellowstone National Park through the West gate this morning we saw one of the traffic jams we had heard about but fortunately avoided all week.  Driving towards the West gate there was one lonely Bison on the opposite side on the road on the shoulder.  One car had stopped in the middle of the lane to look, everyone behind them stopped as well.  That side of the road was backed up by that one bison for miles. All the rangers talked about how this happens all the time.

Then at the gate itself as we left there were about 5 lines of traffic waiting to get in. What a mess.  We decided it is best to enter the Park at 3:00 in the morning like we did. No traffic at all then.

Upon entering the town of "West Yellowstone" we suddenly acquired cell service!!  Hurray!  Our phones began to chirp and ding and ring all at once. Unfortunately one of those messages told of a sick family member.  We decided to go see if we could be of assistance.  Our detour may have us off the road for a bit.  No worries, Glen and Debbie and Rocinante will be back on our voyage as soon as we are able. 

Happy Trails to you until we meet again.  Really? Roy Rogers and Dale Evans?

Old Faithful, Prismatic Spring and Grand Fountain Geyser

July 24

This is our last day in the Park, the goal was to see all the areas we have not alreadyseen.  We almost made it!  The only area we did not explore was  West Thumb and Grant Village which are very close to each other.

We did the major player, Old Faithful and Old Faithful Inn.  but we also stopped a few time to see other ‘must see’s’ on the way.

We planned to get an early start and were out of camp by 6:00am or even a bit before.  By 10 to seven we were completely stopped by a 'road closing' for construction.  Any other way around would have added lots of time so we stuck out the wait until they opened it at 7:00pm.  Actually it worked out great.  We simply made breakfast in our traveling  home and finished up the dishes as they took away the barricades. WooHoo!

Firehole Lake Drive was the first attraction. It brought you around many Geysers including Grand Fountain Geyser that went off every 30-45 minutes. 

The best part of the day for me was, the Midway Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Spring.  The colors are amazing as you walk among the springs, turquoise, gold, all brilliant.  The walk around them was all boardwalk so you could not get burnt but, it was hot! That water is super heated.  

We finished our tour at Old Faithful and the Old Faithful Inn. This area is where most of the damage was during the 1988 fire.  Old Faithful Inn was threatened.  The Fire burned over 33% of the park. The National Park Service got heat for not trying to put it out but time has told the story.  Now the Park is much more diverse in types of trees etc.  Some of those seeds required super temperatures

Prismatic Springs

Old Faithful

The Great Room at the Old Faithful Inn

This is the 'Hot' Spot

Prismatic Springs

to open and begin to grow.  The recovery was phenomenal. 

We have certainly enjoyed our time here but, we leave the Park tomorrow morning.  Stay tuned for our next adventure! 

July 23 

Today we hiked a trail across the street from our campground.  It took us down to the Gardner River.  The hike was straight down and then straight up.  I was a little nervous about finding a bear (because Glen would not buy bear spray at $50 a pop) but I kept singing (and then put my playlist on. Glen made fun of me but,

This guy was huge, and not afraid of us a bit.

The water was about 41 degrees, I couldn't keep my feet in.

later I did here him singing too..haha.

On the way back we were checking out animal scat to see what is around us.  We saw lots of what we determined to be Elk scat, we guessed because we have seen lots of Elk in and around camp.  

We were confused by an enormous about of grape size scat until we came upon this large, what I called, a Jack Rabbit. Largest rabbit I have ever seen!

The day was capped off with a meal of fresh caught Lake Trout.  Glen seasoned it, added butter and lemon juice, wrapped it in foil and baked it over a wood fire. With wild rice and greed salad we ate like royalty!  

All around the Park in 12 hours

July 22 Around the Park in 12 hours.

Today was an all or nothing day and Glen’s choose (does that surprise anyone?).  Glen made reservations with a charter boat on Yellowstone Lake to go fishing from 6-8pm. We needed to be at Bridge Bay Marina by 5:30.

We left camp early to drive down to Norris Geyser Basin.  We checked out the museum and then did a hike around part of the basin looking for a Geyser to erupt.  None of them did while we were there but is was still an interesting hike, and exercise. 

Next we stopped at the viewing area for the upper falls on the Yellowstone River.  It was a short hike to an impressive falls.  And remember, we started out this trip with Niagara Falls, this was still breathtaking.

Then we found a pull out in the Hayden Valley and made lunch.  Beautiful place on the river with meadows all around. Sorry we did not get a picture....I think we were thinking about lunch!

After a stop at Fishing Bridge where Glen walked the bridge and Debbie napped in Roci, we headed to our fishing appointment.  You must know that I do not fish, however, Glen had to rent the whole boat, so I was a fisherman for a day, with license and all.  As luck would have it, Glen’s luck that is, I caught the first, second and last fish while Glen caught one in the middle of that.  These fish we caught were evasive lake trout illegally introduced to the lake over a period of 5-6 years around 1993.  Now, a company had been hired (in 2012) to gill net them.  They net and kill about 300,000 a season and still they have a 10 to 1 ratio over the native cutthroat. 

The ride out into the middle of Yellowstone lake was fun, the lake is huge. It was also during the beginning of sunset.  

Glen filleted them and we have a good stock of fish in our freezer.

We did not get back to camp until almost 11pm. I know we put on at least 100 miles.

The Upper Yellowstone River Falls

It's a big one! At least it feels like it.

Pretty good for a non fisherman:)

Norris Geyser Basin

Top of the Falls

Top of the Falls

Now that is a Glen kind of day…haha! 

July 21 Mammoth Hot Springs

Today we are camped at Mammoth Hot Spring campground.  It is my choose day so I get to choose what we do.  My choice is to explore the are we are in instead of driving. That meant Glen could take his time with breakfast and cook bacon on the campfire that morning.  He bought the bacon days ago hoping to get this chance.

We Hiked to the top of Mammoth Hot Springs, a very long inclined trail.  That coupled with the 6500 feet altitude we are already at and very warm temps made the hike a HIKE!  We did it though and we rewarded with a grand view of the area.

After the hike we found an air-conditioned restaurant where we had lunch and cooled off. The rest of the day was spend at camp napping and enjoying the views.

Now that is MY kind of day!

Top of the Hot Springs

Rainbow at camp

Bacon over the fire..Yum!

The view from Roci

We hiked to the top!

One of the pools

The People you Meet

The people you meet

Throughout the last 3 weeks most of the individuals I met and talked with seem to be the long winded type. I converse with them, listening to the stories of where they have been and were they are going.

 Mostly I listen and generally they are pleasantly pleased to be able to talk with someone and tell stories. I think it has something to do with being a captive audience to their traveling experiences  and just speaking with another person.

Last night I saw a, sophomore at UCSB running through the campground several times around the camp, I said hi as she passed by the second time, she stopped the run and almost immediately wanted to talk and became very emotional, very close to losing it.

 She said it was the worst day of her life and continued the run. Soon she came by again and I invited her to the campfire, she immediately accepted. Debbie was in Rociante taking a shower. So just Heather and I sat by the fire as I listened to her trial and tribulations of the day. 

She is a summer worker in the Ice Cream parlor; all of her problems were work related. I, of course, was brutally direct with my advice and evaluation of her situation. You see this is what I absolutely love to do is help young people with work relationships advice and how to WIN. 

Of course she did not want to hear what I had to say about her being a YPK (Young Punk Kid) and thinking that she is the victim. 

We ended our fire side chat and she left for the evening. About one hour later I was still up and at the fire, Heather came by with a “Oh good I was hoping you were still up”.  

She had gone back to her housing and talked with her bosses. She thanked me and hugged me; one of those “didn’t want to let go hugs”, and told me I changed her life.

She said she will always remember to have PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) and will never forget me and how I listened to her.

That made my trip worth everything to be able to help a young college sophomore.

July 19 and 20

Up close and personal with Bison Lamar Valley

Preparing his new fly rod Slough Creek Lamar Valley

Hundreds of Bison at a safe distance in the Lamar Valley NE area of the Park

We made it!

July 19 and 20

We got up early and left Sundance hoping to get to Yellowstone in one day. Not much messing around today.  A stop for breakfast at Perkins and then a recommended ice cream stop at Dirty Sally’s in TenSleep on Hwy 16. 

We did make it all the way to Yellowstone, the East Gate at least. Then went back down to 3 Mile Camp, you guessed it, 3 miles from Yellowstone because all campgrounds were full.

Got up really early today, 3 a.m., to try and get a first come first serve campsite at Canyon.  Got there at 5 a.m., waited till 7 a.m. and then found out it was NOT one of the first come first serve sites and it was full for the next 5 days. On to the next one, Tower Campsite, got one of the last sites there. 

So far we have seen what I think was an ELK (it was dark thirty and hard to tell), too many deer to count, two gray foxes, several antelope and had an up close (too close maybe 3 feet from Roci with Glen’s window open) encounter with a Bison!  We saw herds of Bison, huge numbers.  

Glen bought a fly rod yesterday in Cody and now he is trying to figure it out, just setting it up. We are up in the Lamar Valley next to Slough Creek which is supposed to be good fishing. 

The plan is to stay in the park for 5/6 days and then head to Kalispell MT. 

No wifi and 3G/LTE service is again spotty, so all these posts will be delayed.

Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Sturgis and Sundance

Today we left the very nice KOA in the Badlands to venture towards Sundance Wyoming for our one night stop over. As I sit here in Sundance writing this the days memories go to , man I wish I had my Harley to take this trip today. Gary, lets rent bikes and a trailer and head to Sturgis next August, this is bike rider heaven!!!!

First we stopped in Hill City for breakfast at the local's place. It is a cute little ’cowboyish’ town. Then drove to Crazy Horse. (It is much more than a memorial statue of Crazy Horse, the family of the artist had a vision of an Indian University, a hospital and telling the Indian story that has been ‘white’ washed in all our history lessons.) Afterwords went to Mt. Rushmore about 11 miles away and awe inspiring.  Then towards Sundance through Deadwood and Sturgis.

Tonight in the town of Sundance we have a city sponsored reenactment of the era of Harry Alonza Longabaugh when he lived here;  the “Sundance Kid”. (He did not live here, he did an 18mos stent in the local Hooskow.) A nice stroll around the town’s historic sites with beer or wine while hearing the town’s wild west history. But Debbie stole his gun and almost snuck a kiss from the young outlaw.

I love driving through the Black Hills, wish I had a motorcycle.

Tomorrow we ride…opps…drive for Yellowstone National Park, it is a fur piece, don’t know if we will make it that fur. 

 

Deadwood

Mt. Rushmore from viewing deck

The Sheriff of Sundance beginning the tour

Debbie stealing The Sundance Kid's gun and almost a kiss

Deadwood

The KunckleHead Bar in Sturgis, a very long bar.

Crazy Horse, he looks the same as on the 60minutes show years ago. 

Enough said

Ditto

Hill City where we had breakfast. See that local Hellion leaning on the light pole?

Rest Day

Rest Day/No /travel

I have figured out that I need ‘no travel’ days for recuperation. Today is one of those.  We remain at the badlands at a KOA with a pool, laundry, snack shack, and numerous flies and mosquitos.  Have I told you there are a lot of mosquitos this trip?  

Glen has a hard time with the flies and I have a hard time with the mosquitos.  So….we are even:)

We spent some time at the snack shack tables this morning doing business from home.  Did I tell you good wifi is hard to come by?  Wifi here can be good when it wants to but, it  generally waits till you are almost finished with what you are doing than then cuts you off so that your work is lost. Mildly irritating. 

Anyway, we put that aside and played a couple of games of tetherball, anyone remember tetherball from grade school?  We've still got it! It was a close hard fought tie one to one. 

Then we drove to the park for an Indian Taco, they said we HAD to have one, so we did.  It was huge and delicious, we shared. After getting fueled up (us not Roci) we headed to Shelf Trail.  Beautiful views and smells of CA all around because of the sage brush smelling evergreens. 

Now, Glen is napping and I am at the pool (where I can get wifi) typing and gathering pics for today’s post.

Tomorrow, Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Sturgis, SD (pray we get out of there without a Harley being pulled behind!!) and, if we have time, Devil’s Tower. I am tired just thinking about it haha? 

Glen's Pic, wish I could claim it.

Half an Indian Taco. The Indian bread makes it an Indian Taco.

Just look at the athleticism displayed here!

The head of the Shelf Trail

View from part of the trail

The Badlands

We got on the road at 7:30 this morning, hoping to make the 4 1/2 hour drive, all on I-90, to the Badlands as easy and smooth as possible and with no stops. Is that really the speed limit, I’ve never seen a limit at that. Now normally I’ll drive 6-9mph over the limit, today; Debbie wouldn’t let me drive any more than 2 over the limit. (I asked him if the speed limit was 90, would he go 95?) 

As you can see the road was wide open, farm land, flat with hardly a car on it, 2 lanes the entire day. ( My take was: boy is this a boring drive). I made it to the Badlands quickly. Earphones in rock and roll cranked up with the window down, while Debbie was resting on the couch in the back. 

We heard so much about this place called, Wall Drugs. They had signs starting about 100 miles from it every 10 miles or so promoting it. It reminded me of taking I-95 to Wilmington with the bill boards advertising Pedros South of the Boarder “I never sausage ,a place” was one of my favorites. Well let me tell you the hype was for not. It was a big waste of time; but that is what we are doing checking out places. (We ate lunch at a BBQ place with just us and one other customer. With a Ukraine waitress and cook. The ribs, potato salad and beans were to die for. However, I had two soft beef tacos which were good too.) 

Onto the BadLands National Park. We did some hiking and conquered a small hill on the edge of a very scary cliff looking down. I hate heights looking over the railing of a bridge or cliff, my mind wonders and I visualize falling, can’t help it, but it scares the crap out of me. 

Afterwards stopped at small store for some wine and Ice and on ward to check into our KOA for the next 2 nights.

Hopefully we can get this blog done in this evening before the Park Ranger program at 9pm with a star/galaxy viewing through telescopes afterwards at 9:45pm. It’s been so look since I’ve seen the night sky like you do away from the city lights. Thank you Lord for all that you have created and how great IT IS.

Oops, it is on Deb

Our scenery for hours and hours

HoooHa!

Oh my, I am in trouble now.

Two Stops

July 14 and 15

This is what we call camping somewhere to get somewhere else.  Today we headed south from Duluth to hook up with Interstate 90 and go west to the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, etc.  However all that good stuff is way far away from Duluth.  

We choose a campground south of Minneapolis/St. Paul on Hwy 35 about 13 miles from hitting Interestate 90.  Two things were important: they claimed to have internet at every campsite (also laundry facilities) and there was a golf course near by for Glen to play.

The internet was stellar!  We made reservations for the next 3 nights!  Also, Debbie got to relax at camp while Glen played golf….doing laundry?  Really?  What is up with that.  Clearly I dont have a hold on what it means to have a retired husband.  

We left that humble abode (after the laundry was dry) and made it to where we sit.  Just inside the South Dakota border off 90 at a little State Park in Brandon S.D. 

Glen has already started the afternoon ritual of chopping wood for the campfire.  We are both praying the wind will hold up to keep the mosquitos at bay.  We are on our third can of extra strength,  highly toxic, DEEP WOODS OFF.  We will be radio active by the time we get home.  

Tomorrow we begin some more sight seeing.  First Badlands National Park….we can’t wait. 

Glen was excited to grill a pork loin on the campfire.

Elijah, does this look about right?

Ahh, a great day on the links!

Ahh, a great day in the laundry room?