EAST OUT OF YELLOWSTONE - WHAT GOES UP MUST GO DOWN

July 15, 2013

Time to move on to see what is east of Montana.  This is the first day that we are traveling to new territory for both of us.  We have visited Yellowstone before but never farther east than Fishing Bridge.  Today we are explorers.

EAST YELLOWSTONE - Our route from West Yellowstone will take us back through Madison, Norris, Canyon, and Fishing Bridge (Upper part of the Grand Loop).  Challenge for the day is Sylvan Pass, 8537 ft.   As Ray says:  "Its easy to pull the trailer up the pass but its coming down is the challenge."  Evidently brakes and transmissions get hot and we have a heavy trailer (14,000 lbs).

We left early in the morning and had a pleasant ride on the upper part of the Grand Tour road.  Look what we found along the Yellowstone River.

 Couldn't help ourselves, had to take a couple of more pics even though we know there will be plenty of bison in our future.

The little kids eyes in the tour car were huge.  They were surrounded by bison.  Does it get any better?

Passed Yellowstone Lake.  Didn't realize how large the lake was.  The wind was not blowing this morning and it was beautiful.

There are remains of the burn from 25 years ago throughout the park.  The fire went to the lake in this area.  Its interesting to see what a forest looks like without reforestation efforts that we typically see after a fire.

SYLVAN PASS -  The ride up was great.  Beautiful views and easy conversation.  Then the first sign that we might be going downhill...and it was quiet in the cab.   Ray's plan was to take it nice and easy and pull out often.  Plan worked beautifully.  Traffic was light so he went down the pass about 33 mph.  

We would have other 5th wheels and trailers pass us and then we would go a little farther and there they would be cooling down their brakes/transmissions.  I wondered if they thought Ray knew something they didn't...









Made it to East Entrance and there was a 5th wheel just like ours entering the park.

CHILL'N IN WISCONSIN

Aug 7 thru 12, 2013

We are still traveling, we just had a recess in Wisconsin from the hectic schedule we were on.  Ray was in full vacation mode and we were not going to let a minute be wasted.  By the time we hit Wisconsin, I was exhausted and thankful there were no National Parks within a 50 miles radius.


We left Duluth by crossing a channel on Lake Superior and landed in Wisconsin.

Our first stop was the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center.  The center was full of information about the area and had beautiful views of Lake Superior from the viewing area on the upper floor.  The inside of the building had murals, information tables sponsored by National Parks, NOAH and US Forest Service.  It was a great place to take a break and learn about the area we were planning to visit for the next week.

Our next stop was Woodruff Wisconsin in North Wood Wisconsin.  The temp was in the high 60's and felt wonderful.  This is a busy place.  There is an impressive intersection where folks travel to three other towns surrounded by lakes, shops, and people.

 Our home for the week was Hiawatha Campground.  It was an older well kept campground with a majority of the spaces occupied by seasonal campers.  I now know what a seasonal camper is:  Someone that rents the space from May thru September.  Campers come up on weekends to fish or Loon spotters (Loonatics) This type of rental is not the case in the NW but I could see the appeal.  Most camp sites had long boats and Ray was anxious to purchase one...not.  The lakes were beautiful but most of the waterfront is private property.
















I loved the signage.  Every intersection had signs for who had cabins down the road.

Sydney loved the green area around the campsite. Unfortunately, she ate something she shouldn't have and became ill.  We spent a couple of days watching Sydney.  She is much better but has lost the privilege of people food.

 We had a visitor at our campsite - a black squirrel.  The other animal we saw and was surprised by was turkeys along side the highway.

The other interesting thing we saw was a clothes line at the campsite.  This was a popular item.  I had never seen a clothes line for campers to use.  Doesn't take much to impress me.

I had my hair done in preparation for my class reunion the following week.  I was a little nervous when I found out it was the second week of employment for the hair stylist.  But she did a great job.


Back to Minnesota so I can catch a plane to Portland.

DOUGLAS WYOMING HOME OF THE JACKALOPE

July 21 - 25, 2013

 This is our first stay at a KOA Campground.  I jump out of the truck to register us and gather all the information about the park and our site.  Next thing I knew, Jodi walked in and she had been talking to Ray about sites.  Ray and Jodi took off in a cart to scope out a perfect spot for our stay.  This service set the whole tone for our stay.  Thanks Jodi!

 Our site is perfect.  It is near the office/mini golf course/pool/etc.  We have shade and power.  Happy to have AC.   First day here we did catch up on paperwork and other important matters inside our very cool 5th wheel.

 This is a really cute town.  Their claim to fame is the hometown of the Jackelope and the Wyoming State Fair.  The town was founded by a railroad company and it has a railroad museum in the center of town.

Look on the side of the train.  There is a screen for movie night - each Monday in July.  This Monday the movie was Shane.

 

Douglas also had a POW camp during WWII.  It housed Italian soldiers and then German soldiers.  The soldiers worked on ranches in the area while in prison here.   The US was trying to demonstrate best practice for POW camps in hopes other countries would improve facilities for US POWs.

WELCOME TO THERMOPOLIS - HOME OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST MINERAL HOT SPRINGS

July 16 & 17, 2013

Thermopolis is Greek for "Hot City."  Interesting fact: This is the home town of the governor.  (We listened to the park's information radio station to find out that nugget.)

 Hot Springs State Park is located in Thermopolis. It is free and beautiful.   The park has two swimming pools with slides and a free soaking pool.  There is also a swinging footbridge and a walking tour of pools of mineral waters flowing into the river below.

 The swinging bridge was build in 1910.  I think there was a hotel on one side and it is how guests got to the pools.

The boardwalk was interesting.  The only thing we were missing was water to drink.  

It was hot and humid. 

View from the river.  This park is peaceful.  There   are picnic areas, walkways along the Wind River and lots of grass.  The pools were not over packed and families were enjoying strolling and looking at all the features.








Thermopoplis also is known for dinosaurs and fossils.  Wyoming Dinosaur Center is located here.  We're not into dinosaurs, so passed on visiting the center. I did think of my friends Josh, Isaac,  Ben, Alexis, Haley, Nathan, Clark, and Jack and how excited they would be to see dinosaur bones.

Free soaking pool - you can soak for 20 minutes in the park soaking pool.  This is where I'll be today.

The park continues up the hill to Joe Sneider Point.  Evidently, Joe and friends saw the steam from the pools in the distrance and thought it was an angry Indian tribe getting ready for battle.  They went to this point to scout out the situation.  I bet they were surprised to see the pools of water instead of the Native Americans.

New wildflowers. 

 We saw bison, pronghorn and this gentle deer today.  My first sighting of pronghorn was in the front yard of a farm house along the highway.  At first I thought they were goats just like I saw at my cousin's Carrol's house - nope pronghorn.

We also saw small oil and natural gas wells on farm land.  Ray said "Where there are dinosaurs, there is oil."  Wonder if that's true?

EAGLE RV PARK

We're staying at Eagle RV Park. 

 This is a great little park.  It has everything we need:  Full hook-up, cable, wifi, showers, laundry, and AC.   Everything a continuous traveler needs after two days without modern conveniences.  It running us about $35 per night with Good Sam and cash discount.

There are grassy areas but the space assigned to us is all gravel.  This is fine - we pulled out our rug and made due.   The weather is muggy and so we are spending time inside with AC on.  Didn't think we would have muggy weather in Wyoming.


Best news - there is an Ace Hardware up the road.  Ray is so happy.  We lost our welcome mat somewhere between Cody and Greybull (home of firefighter airplane museum that you can see at the rest stop just west of town.)

Last night, every RV was from a different state.  Interesting.

Sydney and Louie like the dog walk.  However both prefer grass over gravel and were thrill with the walk in the state park yesterday afternoon.

WYOMING CAMPING PLANS

Our plan for Wyoming is to camp mostly in state parks and then intermingle with private campgrounds for showers, internet access, laundry, and air conditioning.  Not too worried about which direction we go for the next couple of weeks. 

Ray does have a rule about avoiding highways with high high mountain passes.  Also, boondocking might be out of the question.  Just outside Yellowstone there was a sign saying camping only in designated parks because of bears.  There are several FS campgrounds near the park to stay so no worries.  Evidently, there is a housing shortage in some WY cities and campground reviews have focused on larger than normal amount of full-time residence in RV parks - so we decided not to go to Casper and instead focus on smaller towns and FS/state/county campgrounds.  I think we are going to keep north and head into South Dakota just ahead of bikers going to Sturgis. 

ITSY BITSY SPIDER CLIMBED UP MY LEG - Welcome to West Yellowstone

July 10, 2013

We have been traveling for two months now.  Arrived in West Yellowstone yesterday with two items on our agenda:  1) Have the truck repaired and 2) Find medical clinic.  For the first item we had made arrangements a week ago with the auto body repair shop but the need for a medical clinic was new.

Spider Bite

Evidently, I slept with a spider last week and it loved my leg.  We knew there was a possibility of needing medical assistance on the road but we put that low on our list of worries.  Ray and I had visited our physician several times before we took off and knew we were in good health - take or minus a few pounds that we promised to lose.   As my friends will testify, I get the strangest reactions to bites and was not surprised when my leg began swelling.  The internet came in handy and I found Community Health Partners in West Yellowstone. As soon as we had cell service, I called and had an appointment two hours later.  The NP confirmed it was a spider bite(s) and not a tick bite or something else unusual that would cause a flesh eating disease.  Received a prescription and I was on my way.  Good news, the medicine could cause me to be cranky - I have a pass card for being cranky for a week!  Score!

West Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park and Cabins

The repairs to the truck is estimated to be done by Saturday.  We are staying in a RV Park across the street.  So excited to find a place close because we are now on foot or bike.  The RV Park is super nice and the price is nice too ($40 for a tent to $65 for premium spot).  But considering this is peak visitor time for Yellowstone and the park is exceptional, no complaints only giggles.   We took the only spot available for the time we needed - electric and cable only ($54).  Our big rig looks kinda funny in the spot made for a camper or smaller trailer.  We are just happy to have a spot.  Did I mention it is a corner spot?  Only neighbors on one side.

The highlight of our spot, E1, is the park exit is next to us!  We have a parade of RV's coming and going. It is so much fun to watch families enjoy their vacation.  Kids are so happy and you know this trip will be a memory they will have forever.



Last night Ray enjoyed watching campers (parents) using the laundry located across the street.  It's like living on main street in a small town.  They started at 4 p.m. and it didn't end until 11 p.m.  There were many tired campers getting their clothes cleaned before going to Yellowstone the next day.  I bet some of them were dreaming of their washer/driers at home.

This morning campers headed out to Yellowstone around 8 a.m.  I heard that they were staggering the number of cars entering the park.  Largest crowds in years.  This news helped with our situation of no car and having to hang out in West Yellowstone for the week.

This is the best RV park in the area - perhaps all of Montana and we are happy to be here.





Highlight today:

Ray has already made several bike trips to the pharmacy,  grocery store, fly shop and other places in town.  He has saved a trip to the hardware store for today.  I'm hoping he will also fit in a trip to the grocery store.  :)

I am staying at the RV and resting my leg - under doctor's orders.