Week 22

Monday, August 26, 2002

I pulled up stakes at Dick’s RV Park in Great Falls and headed East out of town on US89. I thought I should get the oil changed, since I had driven through some pretty dusty places since I last had it changed in Palmer, Alaska. I stopped at a Pro-Lube place on the edge of Great Falls and got quick and efficient service, except that the attendant broke my hood release. He told me about it and apologized profusely, and said that if I take it to an RV shop they would fix it and for me to send the bill to them and they would reimburse me. He gave me the name of 2 RV dealers nearby. Neither one could fix it and one referred me to a Chevrolet dealer. They offered to fix it on Thursday. I decided to worry about that at a later date, like the next time I wanted to raise the hood. I drove a couple hundred miles through beautiful “Big Sky” Montana country, through the Lewis & Clark National Forest and finally into Livingston, Montana, about 10 miles of interstate before heading south on US 89 to Gardner, Montana and the entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Admission is normally $20 now, but with my National Park Pass, I got in free. I drove the 5 additional miles into the park to Mammoth Hot Springs Campground. I was assigned a space with a terrific view of the mountains. After getting set up at the site, and catching a bite to eat, I went to the amphitheater for a good slide show and talk all about Yellowstone National Park.

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

I could have walked into the town of Mammoth Hot Springs, but I decided to drive in instead. The “town” is completely operated by a concessionaire of the National Park Service. There is a huge post office there, where I picked up my mail. Then I walked, and walked and walked over the miles of wooden walkways overlooking the hot springs, geysers, and mud pots that Yellowstone is famous for. By the time I finished all the trails, I was hungry as an Elk. I saw plenty of them on my walk too. I went to the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel and had a great Mountain Trout dinner. Returned to the campground for an early nights sleep.

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

I left Mammoth Hot Springs early this morning and drove South through Yellowstone. I stopped at Norris Jct, for more boardwalk paths through more pools, geysers and all kinds of strange formations. Took a side trip along Firehole Basin and another along the Firehole River Drive, then on to Old Faithful. Old Faithful sure has build up since I saw it last. There is a huge viewing area and I saw the Old Faithful geyser erupt about 20 minutes after I arrived. Then I took a long walk through the boardwalks and saw hundreds more geysers and pools. You just cannot get enough of this scenery. I tried to have dinner at Old Faithful, but everything was reservations only and they were booked up for the evening, so I left and drove to Grant RV Village at West Thumb. I was assigned a beautiful site right on the banks of Yellowstone Lake. They had a very nice restaurant at Grant Village where I had a Montana Huckleberry Chicken dinner. Back to the princess for another sound night’s sleep after a long day.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

I was planning on going for a horse back ride today, but then I found I would have to go back about 50 miles to the stables, and I figured I would find something else to do. So I went to the West Thumb Geyser Basin and took a walk with a park ranger who pointed out all the geysers, pools and mud pots along the shores of Yellowstone Lake. It started raining around noon, so I returned to Grant Village and decided to do some laundry since it was building up.

Friday, August 30, 2002

Another gorgeous day in Paradise. I did run into a little problem during the night. It seems that I ran out of juice on my batteries. I have been camping without electricity all week. The last time that I plugged in was on Sunday night. Driving charges the batteries, but I did not drive much yesterday, so late last night, the lights started getting dim and by 2:00 am the heat was off. The rules of the campground are “no generators after 8:00 pm” so I just threw on another blanket and pretended that I was sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent. At precisely 8:00 this morning, I started my generator, turned on the heat and jumped back in bed for another hour. By 9:00 everything was fine, so I got up, ate breakfast and left Grant Village and Yellowstone Park. I drove down the John D. Rockerfeller parkway to Grand Teton National Park. My first stop was at the Colton Bay Visitor’s center, where I saw a good slide presentation and ranger talk all about the park. I inquired as to which roads were OK to take a motorhome on and I was told that only one road was off-limits. I drove the length of the park road stopping a few times to take in the magnificent scenery. At the town of Jackson, I stopped and saw a beautiful little log cabin church, a restored settler’s cabin and general store and a passenger ferry that the park service operated across the Snake River. I took the free ride across and back again. I really enjoyed that little stop. Leaving Jackson, I headed back North on US89 to Moran Junction. From there I headed East out of Grand Teton Park and into Wyoming. My stop tonight is at the Grand Teton RV Park, about 6 miles east of the Park. For the first time since Monday, I have a full hook-up and internet service, something I haven’t had since Great Falls, Montana.

Saturday, August 31, 2002

I was not too happy with Grand Teton RV Park. Although I had water and electricity and internet service, I did not have cable TV and the spot that I was assigned was not a very pleasant spot, near the highway with no landscaping. I was happy to leave. I wasn’t sure where I was going to spend tonight, but I headed West on US26. One possibility was Riverton, WY. This was a very nice town. I filled up with gas as 1.39 per gallon and then went to Safeway for some groceries, but it was just a little after noon and I wasn’t the least bit tired, so I decided to push on to Casper, WY. I picked out a very nice KOA campground in Casper and arrived around 5:30. They serve a pretty good barbeque Buffalo platter here, and they had everything as far as hookups: water, electricity, sewer, cable TV and internet. Life is good! It is Labor Day weekend, and I wanted to see if I could get my hood release (that was broken in Great Falls, MT) fixed. There is a Chevrolet Truck dealer right across the street from the campground. Who could ask for anything more, except that they are closed tomorrow and Monday. I think I will stay put over the Labor Day Weekend.

Sunday, September 1, 2002

Well, I couldn’t just stay put and do nothing. I found that there was a “National Trails Interpretive Center” that is operated by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management and just opened up on August 9. I drove down the road about 5 miles to this place. I was really impressed. It was one of the best presentations that I have ever seen on the Westward movement. It gave a lot of exhibits and examples of the various trails leading west that were used by the thousands of settlers between 1840 and 1880. The Oregon Trail; the Jim Bridger Trail; the California Trail and the Mormon Trail. They all converged here in Casper. This museum really brought to life the trials and tribulations of the settlers moving West. It made me really appreciate my Airstream when compared to their covered wagons. Would you believe that these settlers didn’t even have internet service?

After a couple hours in this museum and picking up all kinds of maps and literature, I left and drove to the Fort Casper Museum on the other side of town. This was another interesting depiction of life in the 19^th century, but after the first place, it was a little bit of a let down. I then went to Eastgate mall which is Wyoming’s largest mall, about 50 stores. It is Sunday and most of them were closed, but it still provided some of the flavor of Casper. Back to the KOA for a leisurely evening of TV and computer time.