Day 22 Yellowstone NP (Fishing Bridge) to West Yellowstone, MT

We left Fishing Bridge RV Park at 9:48 (HA! Early for a change) we both had a good night’s sleep and we are ready for more adventures.

10:03am – Two Bison on the side of the road startled me, they were in the woods but probably no more than 50 feet away as we went by.  We headed North, loosely following the Yellowstone River and passed the upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls – the lower falls is 308 feet.

More bison, twos and threes then tens then many more.  Some near the road and some across the river.  Just beautiful.  About 11,  traffic slowed to a crawl as we came to a herd of perhaps 100 or more right along the road, quite a site.

Continuing to the main geyser basin, we passed hot spot after hot spot, many had bison roaming around them so we began to understand how mystifying this place must have been to early settlers.

A little after 12, we arrived at the Old Faithful village and watched the end of an eruption, the next was forecast for 13:50 so we had an hour and a half until the next one. 

Lunch at the Old Faithful Inn seemed as good a way to spend our time as any.  Bison burger, hamburger, baked beans, snow peas and a couple of pints of craft brews hit the spot.  These burgers and sides were absolutely perfect, far better than we expected but absolutely in keeping with the aura of the inn.

13:50 – no eruption, 13:55 – no eruption, 13:59 Away we go!  Water, steam and a most impressive plume burst forth to entertain the thousand or so spectators.  It definitely was worth the trip.

We drove slowly back up the valley enjoying further views of bison and volcanic activity then turned West at Madison to follow the Madison River of trout legend to West Yellowstone, Montana and the Grizzly RV Park.  Bought a few groceries, fondled some trinkets at the General Store and returned to our RV for cheese and crackers, wine and blog writing.

Baby Bison time in Yellowstone.

Odometer: 80115 Miles Today: 94  Total: 2896

Day 21 Grand Teton, NP (Colter Bay) to Yellowstone NP (Fishing Bridge)

Grand Teton Lake

After breakfast, Mary and I took a stroll to the lake located just a hundred yards or so from our campground.  The beauty of this place seems overwhelming. Once again, 10am was our departure time – this seems to be becoming a habit.  We toped off our propane (1.4gal) and got a few groceries at the camp store then headed North again.

Lewis River Yellowstone, NP

10:30 – we entered Yellowstone, NP and continued climbing.  More snow here than Grand Teton but it is old and in the trees.  At 11:35 we crossed the Continental Divide for the 5^th time as we continued through the forests wondering when we might start seeing much beyond the shoulder of the highway. At Lewis Lake we got a fine view and at West Thumb we stopped to see the boiling paint pots and to have lunch.  While we were there another Pleasure-way parked beside up and on the way out we saw another in another part of the lot (3 PWs, two Lexors and a Plateau,in a single lot is the most for us.)

Lewis Falls

We pulled into the Fishing Bridge RV Park about 3pm and decided to do laundry and showers before parking the rig so by 4:30, we were clean and so were the clothes.  The rig was nestled in its space and all was right with the world!

West Thumb Paint Pots

Odometer: 80021 Miles Today: 80  Total: 2802

Day 20 Thayne, WY to Grand Teton, NP (Colter Bay)

Mary by the Snake River in Wyoming

We left the campground after the usual morning routine and stopped for gas, a few groceries and a pack of #6 screws and nuts. I repaired a pesky door support on Mary’s above bed compartment using the screws, some nail polish and a few well chosen words questioning the ancestry of the engineer that placed the support so close to the rear compartment. By 10am, we had completed the errands and repairs and began the beautiful drive along the Snake River to Jackson Hole.

Jackson we much larger and more developed than I had expected; the sleepy little mountain town of my dreams was surrounded by shopping malls, hotels, apartments and supermarkets.  We did find the boardwalked old town but it was filled with upscale stores offering $2000 cowboy boots and $300 shirts – I don’t know how modern cowboys can make ends meet.  We did enjoy strolling and looking for an hour or so.

Elk antler arch in Jackson, WY

After a picnic lunch of fried chicken and spinach vegetable salad (thoughtfully purchased this morning by my lovely navigator), we fired up the rolling hacienda and headed into Grand Teton, NP.

Strolling the boardwalk in Jackson, WY

At the entrance gate, I presented our Senior Federal pass (purchased 5 years ago for $10 at Badlands, NP) and was waved through at no charge, if you are over 60 and travel you need this lifetime pass, it has saves us hundreds of dollars in free or reduced price admissions, camping and other services.

Grand Teton in the clouds.

Driving on the inside park loop, we took the Jenny Lake scenic drive – the lake and mountains make for spectacular viewing and pictures. We met a couple from Istanbul who immigrated 40 years ago and live in Dallas, TX.  He took a picture of us with the lake and mountains as a backdrop and we talked a bit about the vast beauty of this country and the richness and variety of its citizens (including our new Turkish friends).

At Jenny Lake in Grand Teton, NP

We continued North with the incredibly steep and craggy Tetons on our left and a nearly flat grassy valley on our right.  We arrived at the Colter Bay RV Park at 3:oopm and checked in. 

Mary's Moose!

The woman that checked us in said we shouldn’t miss the view from the deck at the Blue Heron Lounge at Colter Bay Lodge so we headed that way for cocktails on the veranda, a margarita for her and a huckleberry margarita for him accompanied by chips, salsa and guacamole – there are no calories in Grand Teton.  A few minutes after sitting our waitress came back to out table to point out a moose about 500 yards out in the marsh.  20 minutes later another one waltzed into the pond below the deck – that’s two wild moose, mooses, meece?? In one day!

Back at the RV park about 4:45pm, we leveled and hooked up the rig for the night.  I fired up one of my Villar-Y-Villars and took a stroll around the park. Excellent end

to another great day.

Lounge view at Colter Bay Lodge

Odometer: 79941 Miles Today: 101  Total: 2722

Day 19 Brigham City, UT to Thayne, WY

 He’s alive! It’s a miracle what a slug of Nyquil and 10 hours sleep can do so lets get this show back on the road.  We had coffee and cereal while watching Sunday Morning on TV before morning showers and tearing down the rig.  Topped of the gas next door at $2.79/gal (the best we have seen since Colorado) and so, with empty waste tanks and full fresh water and gas tanks, we headed North on US 89 for more adventures.

Paris, Idaho has a great sign - don't blink

At about 1:28pm we crossed into Idaho (Mary’s #46th state) along the shores of beautiful Bear Lake. The overcast skies and intermittent rain gave the lake a soft turquoise color – it was beautiful but then the sun came out and the lake turned Carolina Blue (proving, of course, that God loves Tar Heels).

We were looking for lunch in Montpelier, ID when we encountered some beary interesting statues (see picture of driver above). 

No lunch though, the entire town is closed on Sunday so we continued into Wyoming and the great little town of Afton; Home of the largest elk antler bridge in the world – I can’t make these things up folks!   

Los Cabos Baja

Oh, and along side the bridge was Los Cabos Baja, home of enchiladas suises and Negro Modello – guess what was for lunch?

Continuing North from Afton, it was a short drive to our destination the Flat Creek RV park in Thayne, WY.  Not much on looks but spectacular on views.

The view from out campsite!

Odometer:79840  Miles Today:166  Total:2621

Day 18 Provo, UT to Brigham City, UT

Sorry there were no pictures today. Rained all day today and the driver was fighting a serious head cold.  We got underway about 11 and stopped at a Wal-Mart for some meds and a few other goodies then headed North to Layton, UT to visit Mary’s Grand Niece Karen and her family.  I introduced myself and retired to the RV to ingest the cold meds while Mary had a nice visit.

We headed to Brigham City for the night and were going to stop at Maddox Restaurant but there were acres of cars and gobs of people so we decided to pass.

Stopped at Golden Spike RV Park in Brigham City in pouring rain – we parked, I crashed and burned!

Odometer:  79674 Miles Today:  106  Total: 2455

Day 17 Green River, UT to Provo, UT

After the thunderstorns and hail last night, we got an easy going start this morning with nice hot showers in the campground.  We dumped tanks and headed up highway 6 heading for Provo, UT.  We arrived at Price, UT around 12:30 and did some grocery shopping and had a picnic lunch in Heritage Park at the West end of the city. 

We had been unable to light the propane mode on the refrigerator and though I am reasonably certain it is a dirty burner, I just couldn’t get it out to clean it.  We stopped at an RV dealer to see if they had a magic access trick to get it going again.  The tech listened, prodded and looked for a few minutes and declared, “Dirty Burner, I’ll need to pull the fridge to get to it.” No appointment for repair for a month so we are continuing on our way looking for an RV repair man who needs to make some money.

We left Price and headed over the mountains to Provo – rain, sleet, snow, sleet, clearing, more sleet more snow.  Mary did well not to stroke out but we made it to Provo in the sunshine at around 4:30 and are now drinking wine and relaxing at Lakeside RV Campground.

Odometer: 79568   Miles Today: 148   Total: 2349

Day 16 Dewey Bridge Campground to Green River, UT

We got up this morning to a nearly abandoned campground.  There were still a tent and a couple of campers but no people.  Really quiet morning having coffee along the river with no noise but the river, and occasional jumping fish and a few birds – very peaceful.

Mary at work

We loaded up our chairs and rolled out of camp about 10am to a morning with no sun and no rain.  Our path along UT128 followed the Colorado River to Moab, UT.  We passed several more BLM primitive campgrounds (like ours last night) and saw a couple of Dude Ranches as well but the morning drive was generally just a slow meandering one that mirrored the river.

Then came Moab!  I’m not quite sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t the traffic, never ending No Vacancy (motel and campground) signs and dozens of stoplights that we encountered.

The Three Gossips

We quickly reversed course and headed up US191 to Arches National Park.  At the visitor center, we stamped our National Parks Passport and watched the informative film about the park and the forces that created this unique area then prepared lunch in the parking lot before heading up the mountain for the park itself.

Castle Rock

Beautiful, stunning, many wows, fantastic – then sensory overload began to kick in.  This park really needs to be viewed slowly rather than at our breakneck speed of 20-30mph.  Everywhere you look another spectacular sight awaits the eye.

Sandstone Arch

We left the park around 4 and had to drive 50 miles to Green River to find a campground that had some space (Shady Acres RV Park & Campground).  We barely got setup when the thunderstorms hit and we had a noisy 30 minutes.

Odometer: 79490   Miles Today:  199  Total: 2201