Day 8 and 9
It has been a few days since I have had an opportunity to update the blog. Day’s 8 and 9 were spent waiting in Yellowstone for the fire to end. We finally decided it was time to leave and head to another great hospitable brother. This time it was Pete and Victoria’s nightmare. They were great hosts. They welcomed us into their home and insisted we sleep in the house on comfortable beds. We were on it in no time at all, with a, oh OK if you insist. God, I never new how wonderful a warm bed and covers could be.
We slept like bears in hibernation. A warm house, coffee and breakfast at Pete’s restaurant & casino in Dillon started the day. From there we went to a ghost town and then to a hot spring’s resort. We toured part of Pete’s 3,000 acre ranch and saw the creek (pronounced krik for us from Montana). There was also a river that runs through his property and a fishing pond. Pete has disassembled and reassembled a log house (not cabin) on his property right on the river. Once he completes his balcony, you can probably cast from there into the river. The house is just under 1,600 square feet, larger then some of our homes.
Day 10
Pete and Victoria were quite gracious, but the wilderness was calling. It seemed that the fire was out and we decided to return to Yellowstone. This time we went to the north entrance to a small town called Gardiner. The RV camp was right on the Yellowstone River, but fishing was impossible since there was a deep ravine to get down to the river. If not careful we all would be washed away and never seen again.
Day 11
Day 11 started uneventful but cold. The weather has definitely turned. It is now cold and will not warm up again until next spring. Today we are able to get to those places in Yellowstone we wanted to see. The fire was out. So we left early, drove through Gardiner in two minutes and we approached the famous Yellowstone arch built in 1872. John was driving and pulled over and jumped out to take pictures. I did the same, exiting through the RV door. Here is where the day changed quickly. To all the fraternity brothers, you all remember our commitment to each other how none goes his way alone. Well after taking a few pictures I started back to the RV and guess what THE BROTHERS WERE GONE. I saw Big Bertha in the distance getting smaller and smaller. I was truly alone, except for the bears, elk and buffalo. By the way the buffalo are huge. Trying to think quickly, which is not easy at our age, I decided my track days were over and running after would only put me in the hospital. So I decided to stretch my entire body across the road and have the next foolish driver pick me up and chase the RV. This worked well and we caught up with Big Bertha at the entrance to Yellowstone. Both Rick and John had thought I was in the bathroom in the RV, which was foolish since you don’t want to do anything in a bathroom while the RV is moving. When I opened the door and swore at the two other stooges they had no idea that I was not in the RV. Their excuses were pitiful.
Yellowstone was great. We went to the hot springs and walked around the various pools of steaming hot water. At the hot springs village there were 20 or so elk and one buck; quite a harem. By the way, the bucks don’t like when you approach them, they will turn and charge you. After the hot springs we drove to a geyser field full of geysers and a whole bunch of steam venting through the escape holes. The field was huge and there were a number of geysers all around. You are not allowed to walk off the walkways or you may fall into a hole and get scalded. In some areas the ground is only 4 to 6 inches deep, so it is easy to fall into. The pools were very colorful with deep blues and greens and steam rising throughout.
From there we went to the highlight of the day, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The Yellowstone River, waterfalls and canyon were beautiful. Everyone should make Yellowstone a must see destination on a vacation.
Tired and hungry we left and returned to Gardiner for gas and to refuel our propane. OH NO, the propane place was closed for the weekend. The closest place for propane was 35 miles away and very little hope of being open. We were almost out of propane so we decided to ration the remaining amount. This left us in a quandary, we were not going to connect the hot water, nor were we going to use the stove to cook dinner. That left us with only one thing that we would use the heater for, to keep us warm. Well let’s say more to keep us from freezing. The temperature was set for 60 and we quickly put on our warmest clothes on and tucked ourselves into our sleeping bags.
We were able to watch the USC Cal game and that alone warmed my insides, so I slept very peacefully with teeth chattering.
We are now heading for a small town in Montana called Whitefish. This is near Glacier National Park, which will be our next stop. It is supposed to snow tonight, so who the hell knows whether we will be able to get out of Bozeman tomorrow. Wish us luck.
