Sept 25-26

The drive from Yellowstone to the Black Hills of South Dakota was tedious, to say the least. After leaving the Gallatin River drive, it seemed we saw NOTHING out there but antelope on huge, rolling, empty plains. We stopped for the night in Hardin-- found a very nice campground, and were able to tour the National Cemetery and Custer's Last Stand at Little Big Horn.

Now we're at Chris's Campground in Spearfish, SD. What a great place, and the people are so nice. They even offered to babysit our dogs while we went sightseeing. the weather is great--we're back to T-shirts and shorts. Lanna, the owner of the campground has mapped out several tours of the Black Hills/Deadwood area to make sure we see everything we can while we're here. We'll post some of those pictures later.

Sept 23-25 Yellowstone

We saw a great deal of Yellowstone these next three days, but of course it would take much more time to see it all--it really is enormous. The day we headed to Mammoth Hot Springs (the white stuff you see here), the weather was clear and much warmer. Once again we saw sights that only a poet could possibly do justice to describing. While we were there, we had lunch at the old hotel. Touring the area and the old Fort was interrupted as we had to make detours around some rather aggressive bull elk who were in rut and carefully guarding their harems. The one in this picture had about 30 ladies he had rounded up for himself and didn't want to let anyone near them. I don't know why he thought the lawn of the hotel was going to give him a lot of privacy, though.

The only grizzlies we were able to see were in the Grizzly-Wolf education center. It was a nice non-profit center that was well worth visiting. We did get to see a wild wolf briefly on one of our drives. Three wolves had brought down an elk and were feeding on it as we got there. By the time we could grab the camera and get out of the car, though, they had moved off into the distance and we couldn't get a picture, although we did get a pretty good look at them while they trotted towards the woods.

Sept 22 Yellowstone

Anyone who has traveled with us knows that we almost always forget to bring along the camera, and our first day in Yellowstone park was no exception. We looked at each other as we entered the gates to the park and said, "SOMEONE" forgot to bring the camera. That left us with only my cell phone camera to use for the really awesome views that day, so we apologize for the quality of the photos on Monday.
As the pictures show, the weather was very cool and overcast. We saw many geysers, mudpots, furmeroles, etc., as well as numerous buffallo and elk. The sights were so fantastic that we forgot how crummy the weather was. We lunched at the incredible Old Faithful Inn and, of course, bought t-shirts :-)

Sept 20-21

Days 6 and 7

Saturday, a two-hour drive from the Tetons to West Yellowstone--a beautiful drive passing steam vents and geysers on the way to our new RV destination. Passed--not 100 yards away--the most awesome bull elk I've ever seen, but too much traffic to pull the motorhome over for a photo. Hope we'll have lots more chances in the next few days after we're parked and just driving the car.

We arrived in Yellowstone in T-shirt weather and within the next two hours an unbelievable thunderstorm/hailstorm hit and we've been sequestered inside listening to CD's, drinking wine, and enjoying watching the weather. Sunday we're doing laundry and watching CNN (gritting my teeth everytime Palin comes on). We're expecting snow tonight! But we're hoping that will get the wildlife moving down so when we go out into the Park tomorrow, we'll have some good photos to upload.

Sept 18-29 Tetons

Days 4-5
The Wyoming highways were a blessing--smooth sailing to the Teton National Park. Wow! It's so spectacular you can't describe it. Stayed at Colter Bay RV Park in the trees, 200 yards from Jackson Lake with the Tetons in the background. More than we could ever have hoped for.
Every time we walked the dogs, we felt like we were trolling for bears; never did see one, but heard some great stories from other campers. We did see huge herds of buffalo and a cow moose and calf hiding in the brush next to the highway. One evening walking by the lake, we heard an elk bellow from across the lake, but couldn't see it.

Sept 15-17

Day 1

All three dogs knew something was up. After days of preparation, we boarded our Gulfstream for the first leg of our adventure. The Sun Voyager scaled the Cascades easily and negotiated Central Oregon to Burns with an all-too-boring reliability--thankfully. Our first night was spent in the Burns RV Park. Quite a nice little campground, except for the stickers and burrs that all three dogs collected every time we took them for a walk.

Day 2

Headed out about 9:00, Burns to Hagerman, Idaho. Saw a large herd of antelope no more than 100 yards off the highway. The rest of the drive was uneventful unless you get turned on by sagebrush and a lot of brown and tan earth broken up by cornfields and potato plants. We'd had enough by the time we reached Hagerman RV Park. Quite a nice place except for some unusual permeating smell that filled every breath and saturated the motorhome, including bedsheets, and that lasted for a couple of days. Lots of huge feedlots around that area, so probably had something to do with that.

Day 3

Driving from Hagerman, ID to the Tetons for the most part sucked. We think the Idaho highway dept wanted people to get a feel for what it would have been like to drive 65 mph on the original Oregon Trail. Thought the kidneys were permanently bruised and Tip's knuckles permanently white from gripping the steering wheel to keep the motorhome on the road.