Sept. 11
Gotta love the big RVs that try to fit in a space way too small for them. They end up blocking the road and the paths to the bathrooms – guess they don’t need them …. the same ones that sit up late and crank up the radio so that everyone around them can enjoy their favorite country music. Ah, thanks – but no thanks. Honestly, it could have been worse but it was pretty bad. Guess our tolerance level is fairly low – we’ll need to work on that. The moon was almost full and was casting shadows everywhere. Totally beautiful. And then there was the Magic. The couple two sites down (not the music people) came over and offered us some dutch-oven-homemade apple cobbler. Warn and delicious. Yummmm.
I had just hit that twilight state of sleep when my tent mate said ‘Did you hear that’. I was far enough gone to ignore him until he repeated it a second time. He continued – it sounded like a wolf and it sounds close. After 36 years of marriage he should know not to say things like that to me, right? There went my good night’s sleep. So that was the evening 9/10 – I say that not for your sake but to help me keep the days straight.
In the morning we left Yellowstone and headed for the Grand Teton but not before we ended up once again in the middle of yetanotherbuffalo
The Tetons are breathtaking. Snow above, a few flowers below. We camped at Jenny Lake. While there Jerry took a kayak out for an hour or so. Yea, arm! It worked. The evening brought very dark clouds and thunder and lightning in the mountains. We went for a short walk in our rain gear then stayed close to the tent and van. We ended up eating leftovers, something quick and simple. The clouds just hung above us. Didn’t seem to be moving at all. In the end we had a lot of wind but very little rain.
Spet. 12. Ate breakfast at the base of the Teton watching the sun come up. There was quite a chill in the air again. We broke camp and headed for Dinosaur National Monument (Jerry’s pick). We drove through the Flaming Gorge National Rec. Area. This is one of those roads where I keep my eyes shut a good part of the time and only imagine the steepness of the river below-don’t know which is worse reality or imagination. The reality is that it was beautiful. Cliffs, rivers, long horn sheep. Another ‘wow’ adventure. We drove about 350 miles, 8 hours or so. Found a site at Dinosaur National Monument. We stopped at the information center on the way in and Jerry was crushed to find out that the main exhibit building was closed. They are hoping to open Oct. 4th. Turns out they have been closed for the last 4-5 years. Maybe we should have checked the web site. Oh, well. BTW- This was the first campsite we have had that did not come with a bear box. Yea, for leaving bear behind.
Last night the moon was full and the sky clear – until about 1:00a.m. I woke up to lightning and thunder in the distance. It continues to get closer until you could hear the thunder start in one part of the sky and roll over to the other end. The ground vibrated when it passed over us. Seems that rain doesn’t happen too often here. We were just lucky enough to experience it.
We did a ranger lead hike this morning to view some fossils in the cliff wall. This afternoon we drove over to the CO. part of the park. Ended up on a plateau and drove for about 30 miles. Jerry did a hike. Why anyone would build a road going up so high is beyond me but it was beautiful and you felt like you were literally on top of the world.
One of the joys of camping is when you stay two nights in the same place. It prevents you from having to break up camp and set it up again each day. Well that is what we had planned on at Dinosaur but the fates had other plans. Seems as though they were planning on repaving the area we were in, so…. We thought of just putting the tent on the top of the car since we really didn’t have to move that far, or just walking the tent to its new site but I guess common sense won out and we took down the tent only to put it up a few spaces down the road.
The other morning while lying in our tent trying to talk myself in to getting out of the warm sleeping bag I noticed something interesting. We have a Euerka tent. Their trademark is a ‘!’. Our tent has a ‘!’ on either side. What a nice way to hem in your day – between two ‘!’ marks.
Sept. 14 – Wednesday – Chore Day!
We broke up camp and headed in to town in search of an oil change, a laundry mat, and a Walmart. Jerry dropped me off with the laundry. Went and had the oil changed. Found an ATT store that solved his phone problem. Went to McD to use the internet and have a breakfast sandwich. All while I was still groving’ with our laundry. All our chores were done by noon so we hit the road and headed for Bryce Canyon. Once again the drive was amazing. Then we hit the rain and stayed in it for some time. It was like driving through a cloud. Actually, we were driving through a cloud. Evening time rolled around and we found a campground in Salina, UT. The Butch Cassidy Campground. Wasn’t bad – clean restrooms, free hot showers, grassy sites. Down side was it was about 50 yards from a road. We figured the traffic would let up as night fell. Were we wrong! All night long coal trucks rumbled past us. Some vibrating the ground just like the storm of a few nights ago. Give us the rain any day!
Sept.15 Blew We blew out of Butch Cassidy town as fast as we could. Still heading for Bryce. Once again the scenery left us in s state of awe and wonder. Once again, Jerry was giggling at the rock formations. Pulled in to Bryce late morning. Found a good campsite. Set up camp – I sometimes remind Jerry how I did all of this myself last year. He said that he wants to try and set the tent up solo sometime – but that time hasn’t come yet. It is so much easier with two.
The land here is full of hoodoos. Crazy rock formations that seem to defy gravity. It’s a wonder! Rained a little more but what’s a few drops now and then. Saw a rainbow. The other element that comes in to play is the temperature. It’s getting cold once again. There was fresh snow on the mountains this morning and it is suppose to get down in to the low 30s tonight.
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