catch up time

June 23

The Coasters left Ennis bright and early this morning.  I hung around the campsite waiting for the tent to dry out.  When I first got up the rain fly was covered with frost.  So I had a little extra time to spend watching sandhill cranes, deer, antelope and the like.  Does life get any better?  It is easy to pray out here.  The prayer usually starts with WOW.  On the flip side, spending so much time alone sometimes it is pretty scary to pray.

So after a couple hours of tremendous scenery I find myself sitting in Yellowstone waiting for the guys.  When I passed them today Jerry was doing just fine about 1 mile behind the others but enjoying himself.  Way to go Jerry!  If Jack and Jeff wait for him before they enter the Park they will get in free on Jerry’s senior pass.  I suspect at that point they may wait.  Camp is set up, saw a few elk, no bear or buffalo just yet.  I’m sitting at a pull of completely visible to them as they pass.  Provided they are looking at something other than the road.  Weather has been good today.  In the sun it is actually hot.

A very old lady just walked past with her cane barely making it.  When she got to the end of the fence she began her stretching exercises.  Hearing more voices I looked up and here comes her husband with a walker looking more feebly than her.  Good for them.  Happy to say they were not driving.

There is an Osprey sitting in a dead tree just waiting for the right moment to do fishing.  Earlier today I did see on bringing home fish for dinner for the family.

Just looked out the window and there is a buffalo in the field across the stream –at this moment there are about 6 cars pulling in – I saw it first – I really did!  Guess I better keep an eye on my rear view mirror.  There is some buffalo fur back at our campsite.  I was thinking that it might make a nice taupe for someone I know.

June 24

So we camped at Madison Campgrounds in Yellowstone.

Sunday morning we took off for Grand Village in the southern part of the Park.  Try as we might we saw only that one buffalo mentioned above.  We were even told that there was Grizzly activity on our campground and we decided that seeing a grizzly would make up for the lack of other wildlife.  Happy to say we did not see a grizzly.  The rain began Monday afternoon.  Just a drizzle here and there.  By about 5 there was thunder in the air.  We attempted to fix supper a number of times but everything we got serious about then and  it began to rain again.  Finally the decision was made to eat out.  We ate at the Lake House.  Nice atmosphere, on Yellowstone Lake.  We headed for bed early, not much else to do in the rain.  Then we heard Jack looking for his cycling shoes.  Seems he might have left them in the shower about 2 hours earlier.  I’d sure like to know who he prayed to – he got back to the shower area about 5 minutes before they closed and managed to find his shoes.  Lost shoes could spell disaster for a cyclist.

It rained off and on during the night.  No Grizzly, no moon, no stars.  Packing up this morning was a challenge.  I have figured out how to take down the tent without removing the rain fly but then the process of taking down the rain fly isn’t a pretty one.  With a chill in the air I stopped for a hot chocolate then hit the road no wildlife but road construction this day.  Got held up for about 30 minutes.  From what Jerry tells me they had to get ferried across the area in the back of a  pickup truck.  We’re at an RV site in Moran WY-nothing fancy but a port in a storm.  ( I think God has been taking part in a new game.  Let’s see if we can blow Sue over as she carries the inflated air mattresses from the van to the tent.  So far I’m managed to stay on my feet – sometimes just barely.)

And a storm it was.  I crawled in to the tent to read about 7:30.  Ten minutes later the heavens opened and the wind began to blow.  It didn’t let up for about a half an hour.  I kept thinking of Jim and Karen who lost their tent in the Badlands to the wind.  Luckily ours held together and we were rewarded with a beautiful double rainbow after the fact.    

It is now Wednesday and the guys are on the road.  I decided to let the tent dry out a little before packing up.  They say the weather will be taking a turn for the better today.  Of course we’ll be leaving the area today.  But the sun is shining and all is well.  Actually it’s wonderful.