To Nevada

We woke up outside of Jackson and it was raining...glad we brought umbrellas! We walked Banks along the Snake River. We rolled out in our earliest start to date...9 am...no ironing to do! We left Wyoming and entered Idaho, driving along the Snake River. The fall colors and the river made for a gorgeous combination. We saw the falls at Idaho Falls then crossed a 450ft tall bridge at Twin Falls...another incredible sight! Just one mile west of the bridge is where Evil Knieval attempted his jump across the Snake River.
In Twin Falls we stopped at a PetSmart to buy a ramp for Banks, er, Kathleen. Kathleen had been lifting Banks in and out of the RV and this repeated 70 pound squat and lift was taking its toll...after several practice runs Banks is pretty comfortable with it.
We arrived in Wells, Nevada, and stopped at a Shell station to buy gas...$140 worth. While I was at the pump, a helpful station guy sidled up and mentioned we had a bad front left tire (this was the tire we had fixed in West Yellowstone). He said if we drove over to the bay he would change it for us. At the bay, he "examined" the other tires and announced we would need four new tires. We said we were not the owners and would have to get permission from the rental agency...which he called. I began to smell a scam. I told the rental company I thought this guy saw two women in an RV and saw $$$. The rental company agreed to replace the left front tire only and I agreed. When I told the station guy we only wanted the left front tire replaced by the spare, he replied that his buddy had overheard my comment and he would not be changing any tires for us...not so helpful anymore! So if you get to I80, exit 352 in Nevada, do not stop at the Shell station!!!!
We drove to Angel Lake RV Park in Wells and they hooked us up with another service center in Wells. A nice kid came out and switched the bad tire and the spare...he said all our tires were fine and even the "bad" tire could be driven on. I love it when I am right!!!
The owners of this park are very nice...a "retired" ranching couple in their seventies. Now in their retirement they just work 12 hours a day at the park! it is very clean and they told us about a shuttle available to a casino. Didn't have to tell us twice...we showered and went to the casino for dinner and a small contribution to the Nevada treasury. Wells, Nevada, consists of two truck stops, three casino, oh, and one dishonest service station.
Tomorrow we drive to Reno to stay with my sister...she doesn't know it yet but her washer will be running for many,many hours! The picture shown is the Snake River canyon at Twin Falls and the golf course in the canyon...beautiful country!

Grand Teton

Whew, a lot has happened since my last post, let me check my notes. We have had spotty internet access the last couple of days so I am playing catch up. Friday morning we took a bike ride through a geyser basin. We thought we would get ot see many geysers...not so much. Saw one spring at the start then a small geyser at the end...7 miles of burned out landscape in between...lame-o. Many places in Yellowstone you can still see the effects of the fire in 1988 which burned 25% of the park. We walked the Midway Geyser basin and saw some neat springs and pools. Onto Grand Teton where we saw awesome mountains, blue lakes and our first moose. As usual, we saw a gathering of humans and vehicles along the road and stopped to ask what we were looking at...a moose far off in the grass. She was hard to see but the nose told us unmistakeably that she was a moose!
We left Grand Teton heading south to an RV park in Jackson, Wyoming. Every RV park up to this point had been maybe 25% full, so who needed reservations? A No Vacancy sign awaited us and we had to change plans. We parked downtown and went to the Cowboy Bar upon Kathleen's boss's recommendation...great idea! We saddled up to the bar to drink some great margaritas (when at the bar you sit in a saddle). Then Kathleen found a cute Mexican restaurant, the Merry Piglets...good food and more margaritas! By the time we were back in the RV it was dark and Kathleen drove us to a KOA 11 miles south of Jackson. With me giving directions over the walkie-talkies, Kathleen expertly backed the RV into our space...our first back-in of the trip...and in the dark no less! We were supposed to get 2 TV stations, but we don't seem to be able to receive TV by antenna...so we fed Banks and fell into bed. Or maybe fell into bed and Banks scrounged for herself...whatever.

Yellowstone II

I awoke this morning to a familiar sound in any RV park, the squeak of an ironing board being opened...Kathleen will have no creases while we are visiting the geysers! We also noticed that our RV seemed to be leaning. When we ventured outside to walk Banks we discovered a flat left front tire! Luckily the office here recommended a local service and it was fixed in about an hour.

We rented a car today and set out to see some geysers. Our first stop was Great Fountain Geyser, it only erupts about every 12 hours. We arrived a couple of hours before its predicted eruption time (predictions are within a 2 to 3 hour window). We walked to another geyser then returned to Great Fountain to wait. The crowd swelled and we were rewarded after about an hour and a half. The geyser was much bigger than Old Faithful and we were much closer! We did see Old Faithful and ate lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge. We also saw the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River.

The pictures show a group of elk we discovered by following the gaggle of humans. The elk were all swimming to the far side of the river, all except one baby who remained behind on our side of the river. The young elk, probably realizing he/she was now alone, let out a mournful cry. Then he/she calmly went back to eating grass...the adults did not seem concerned. Tough love in the wild!

Entering Yellowstone

Day 5 we drove across Wyoming, including up and over mountains with hairpin turns...Kathleen survived but she had to dig her fingers out of the bottom of her car seat. We arrived in Yellowstone around 3:20 but still had two hours of driving to get across it!! One lonely buffalo slowed traffic at one point, but cars stopped in the middle of the road for some elk grazing close to the road. We also saw elk along a river. It did not take long to figure out how to spot wildlife. Either you scour the sides of the road and happen to see some, or, more likely, you come across a gaggle of humans in a traffic jam...sure sign of wildlife. Banks got to go swimming in Lake Yellowstone, she loved the water but was not fond of the rock bottom.
We arrived in West Yellowstone, Montana, at our RV park just in time for happy hour. We sat outside under the clear blue sky and sipped our cocktails while conversing with the many dog owners who walked past. We have discovered the Ritz Carlton of RV parks...this place is great!!
Tomorrow we explore the wonders of Yellowstone!!

Day 4

We left the Badlands and motored to Mt. Rushmore. It is an incredible sight, even more incredible that 90% of the sculpting was done with dynamite! This day was significant because Kathleen spent a great deal of time on the phone with her bankers and her boss as the markets crashed!! While Kathleen sat in the RV in the parking lot securing her companies' assets, Julie wandered the grounds of Mt. Rushmore...la la la!! We left Mt. Rushmore for Deadwood, SD, with plans of a nice lunch with a drink at an old time Deadwood saloon. Our dream died in Deadwood when we missed the first RV parking lot then got kicked out of the next one...no RV parking. Not wanting to turn around, since Deadwood has essentially one main street, we continued out of Deadwood to Spearfish and ate a late lunch at Taco Bell, sans margaritas.
We are spending the night in Buffalo, Wyoming, and tomorrow intend to drive to Yellowstone.
Looking ahead, Kathleen is right now planning our trip home...not that she is anxious or anything. But I have to say she is quite the RVer...she is the one who has taken charge of emptying the "poop" tanks !!! She seems to take a rather perverse pleasure in this task!!!

The Badlands

We got a little earlier start today...we are getting better at this every day. We drove to Wall Drug, the mother of all tourist stops...but you have to go there! Then we drove through the Badlands...saw several prairie dogs and one lonely bison. Kathleen wanted Banks to come out and "see the little bison"...luckily she saw the sign...bison are very unpredictable and dangerous.

Took Kathleen's picture on top of a butte...she wants to know "if this butte makes my butt look small". Dinner at the park lodge, really just a coffee shop/souvenir stand, then on to our little site at the Badlands KOA. We have cable, but no ESPN, no Monday Night football...life is rough!

Tomorrow Mt. Rushmore and on to Wyoming.

Day 2

Kathleen took over the driving and the RV seemed to sway alot more today. OK, it was a little windy. We saw a big wind farm in Minnesota. In South Dakota our final destination was the Corn Palace, which friends told us we had to see. Kathleen cut a corner close and we went over the curb, settin' the RV arockin'. Soon after, a familiar odor enveloped the RV. I went to the back of the RV (risking my life since we were in flight) and sure enough, some items had shifted! A full tequila bottle had fallen over, the cap came off and tequila poured into the storage area and onto the bed. I am not sure which was worse...cleaning up the mess or dealing with Kathleen's hacking sobs (we can buy more tequila, I tried to tell her.) Finally, she was consoled when I pointed out that when she laid her head on her pillow she would smell tequila.

Needless to say, we did some laundry tonight! We also cooked in the RV for the first time...spaghetti with great sauce given to us by our neighbor Jen. Tomorrow we do our first major sightseeing...the Badlands and Wall Drug.

Oh, the Corn Palace was interesting, many murals made of corn cover the walls, the top picture is the Golden Gate Bridge in corn. Some murals were unfinished which was really cool to see. They are huge color-by-numbers, or color-by-corn murals with not all the corn yet installed. That is the second picture you see. I think it will eventually be Washington crossing the Delaware or Kathleen saying "catch that tequila bottle". Those are just my guesses, what do you think?