Our RV Adventures

We left the rig at Yellowstone Valley Inn & RV Park about 9am, heading for the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone National Park, but this time I got to sightsee a little more since I wasn’t driving the rig this time.

And it was a lot of really spectacular views.

Our road paralleled the Shoshone River for a good while, with a lot of whitewater and kayakers enjoying the water.

And as we got closer to the park, we started our climb up the highest point on our trip, Sylvan Pass at 8530 feet.

We were surprised to see how much snow was still around up there.

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We knew we were getting close when we took the curve and looked out on Yellowstone Lake. When we left the rig it was bright and sunny, but as we got deeper into the park the overcast rolled in and stay with us most of the rest of the day.

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A few miles before the Fishing Bridge we had our first animal sighting, this female elk out in a field. There was a small herd of more off in the trees.

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Getting to the Old Faithful area about 11:30, we got parked and headed over to the Old Faithful Inn for lunch. I remember eating here with my family in 1964 when we did a two month trip out west.

We both had the lunch buffet with such items as Sautéed Trout, Wild Rice, Chipotle BBQ Chicken, and our favorite, the Bison Chili.

BTW When did buffalo become bison. We don’t sing “where the bison roam”. We don’t read about “Bison Bill Cody, and Nick Russell’s contribution, we don’t sing “Bison gals won’t you come out tonight”

So who decided we needed a new name for buffalo, and why wasn’t I consulted?

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Finishing up lunch, we walked over to the Old Faithful Geyser to wait for the next eruption.

Luckily for us we only had to wait about 20 minutes, since the sun had disappeared in the clouds and the wind had picked, making it pretty chilly.

After watching the Big Blow, we made the obligatory visits to a couple of gift shops before getting back on the road and heading north on the Grand Loop Road.

Passing Madison Junction, the west entrance to the park, we headed over to Norris, and then Canyon Junction. Along the way, we came across this gray wolf running across the field.

And this pair of swans.

Next was this group of adult buffalos and a couple of calves.

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And a little later, this big guy was just glaring at the traffic going by.

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Coming on around the Grand Loop we came back to our turn at the Fishing Bridge, and after making a pit stop at the General Store there, we headed home.

Just as we were leaving the Yellowstone Lake area, we once again came across this one-lane stoplight system.

It’s there because of this washed-out section of roadway. The only problem is that this same section was washed out two years ago, and protected by the same automated stoplight system.

So either this section of pavement washes out regularly, or they just haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet.

Personally I think it’s the second reason.

We finally got back to the rig about 5:45pm and settled in. Since we had a big lunch, I made coffee and then we popped some Orville Redenbacher’s Kettle Corn.

All in all, a very nice day.

I thought tomorrow night was supposed to be the SuperMoon, but this one will do in a pinch.

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Thought for the Day:

"You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new." – Steve Jobs

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We left Teton Valley Campground about 9:15 and headed up and over the mountain at Teton Pass and then down into Jackson, WY on our way to Cody, WY via Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

Jan was worried about taking the rig up and down those 10% grades, but we really didn’t have any problems. Most of the time going up, I stayed at about 40 mph, except when someone pulled out in front of me from a turnout and I had to slow down and got behind the power curve. That dropped me down to about 30 for a short while until I caught back up. Coming down on the other side, I just downshifted into 3rd and put the PacBrake on, though in one really steep part, I dropped down into 2nd for a while. But finally, much to Jan’s relief, about 45 minutes later we were driving through Jackson and out the other side, heading toward Yellowstone.

The trip through the National Park went very smoothly with a moderate amount of traffic. The road is two lane all the way with no passing lanes, but a lot of pull-outs, both as scenic viewpoints, picnic areas, or just plain parking areas.

And, unlike our previous Yellowstone trips, where we’ve seen moose, elk, buffalo, grizzlies, and wolves, this trip only yielded three buffalo, with two about a hundred yards off the road. But the third was kind of neat. There was a very large buffalo just walking down the narrow shoulder of the highway, on the opposite side coming toward us. He didn’t seem to be at all bothered by the cars and RV’s whizzing right by him.

About 2:30 we pulled into the Yellowstone Valley Inn & RV Park in Wapiti, WY, about 20 miles west of Cody.

While I was registering, I inquired about staying a 4th day as we had originally wanted, but was told that they were pretty much completely booked through July 4th. So as soon as we got parked and set up, I called the RV park in Billings and said we’ll be coming in on Monday instead of Tuesday. So it’s all good.

This park had some great views out the windshield, and in every direction, actually.

Tomorrow we’re going to drive back down to Yellowstone for the day and revisit some of our favorite spots. Then on Sunday we’ll get together with our friend Al & Adrienne who are workcamping here in Cody.

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Thought for the Day:

"Everyone has a purpose in life. Perhaps yours is watching television." — David Letterman

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