Day 68 Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Victor, ID to West Yellowstone, Montana – 103 Miles
We regretfully had to leave the Grand Tetons behind and headed for West Yellowstone where we would stay for a visit to Yellowstone National Park. West Yellowstone is just outside the west entrance to the park and our campground, Lionshead RV Park was just 7 miles west of West Yellowstone.
Before we hit the road we prepared bacon, eggs, pancakes, strawberries and lots of coffee and sat down with our traveling partners, Andy and Emily, for a wonderful Cowboy style breakfast. On a very sunny and warm day we head out.. on the road again…
On this trip out West we have become very conscious of weather. We found it is very difficult to drive during windy conditions – thunderstorms and such. We’ve heard chances of thunderstorms are on their way on Wednesday so we decided we’d rather be in Yellowstone rather risking another drive in bad weather.
Being at this elevation, around 6000 feet, the air is dry; the sky is clear and the sun is very powerful. After getting sunburned a few times just wearing his OU ball-cap style hat we decided that Richard needed a new hat. That’s right we’re in Cowboy country now… and note the star…. Richard even got deputized(-:
Day 67 Monday, May 7, 2007 Late Morning and Afternoon
After returning to the campground about 10:00 from my early morning photo shoot all four of us got in the car for a sight seeing trip to Jackson WY and on to see the Snake River (Evil Knivel jumped) and the Tetons.
Here’s our traveling companions, Andy and Emily.
We stopped many times along the way to marvel at the beauty of the landscape and took many pictures. We stopped at Jenny Lake, a mountain lake created by glaciers 200 feet deep and clear as glass.
Above, this is a photo of Jenny Lake and next one is of Jackson Lake.
We all wanted to see Eagles, Elk, Buffalo and Moose. We were fortunate to see all the animals including a baby Buffalo except a Moose although we traveled through Moose Junction(-: To be lucky enough to see a moose we decided we would all have to think Moose and one or more might appear. I think we may have been in the wilderness too long, what do you think? We also stopped and took pictures at the point were Ansel Adams took his famous pictures of the Grand Tetons, at the Snake River Overlook.
We had a very late lunch in Jackson at Bubba’s BBQ place – and he did do justice to the BBQ.
Upon returning to the campground we all had a long nap to recouperated from our exciting day. Later on we had a chance to talk to the folks that ran the campground. They were part of a workcamper program where they work 20 hours per week for a free campsite. This is usually a seasonal employment but there are year round work camp sites. Hmh…You get to stay for free in this beautiful place…..might be worth pursuing in the future.
Day 67 Monday, May 7, 2007 Early Morning
Victor, ID to Grand Tetons, Wy – 45 Miles
This morning I took off from our campground at 5am to catch the sunrise on the Grand Tetons. I drove the 45 miles over the Teton Pass and through Jackson, Wy into the park and found the great spot mentioned in the Photographer’s Guide to Yellowstone & the Tetons, a book Helinka Papison loaned to me for this trip. The spot was off of Antelope Flats road down Mormon Row; there are several abandoned old barns there that make for good material when taking photos of the Teton Cathedral Group.
It was very cold out there this morning, high 20s I’m sure! The first photo above was take just before sunrise and the other one shows the sun just illuminating the barn and the Teton Cathedral Group.
Here is a panoramic photo made for 7 pictures took as I panned from right to left to get a complete picture of the Tetons.
At the barns another photographer told me about another great place for some photos. This was just down the road to a gravel road leading to Schwabacher Landing on the Snake River. I parked the car and walked down an old fisherman’s trail leading north along the banks of a small backwater of the Snake River. As I was walking the path the same photographer from the barns viewpoint showed up and took me along to show me some great viewpoints for photos.
More to follow in my next posting……
Day 66 Monday, May 6, 2007
Hill AFB, Utah to Victor, Idaho – 252 Miles
We’ve got ourselves a convoy. At the campground we met Emily and Andy Gleason from New Jersey – they are doing a three month trip as well and they are also on their way back to the East Coast. They had debated going to Yellowstone or not since they had heard there had been some snow up there. After talking with us they decided go ahead and join us to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. So, we got the CBs fired up and headed down to highway. The scenery again was breathtaking with rolling hills, meadows with horses and in the background tall snow capped mountains. We entered Idaho, the spuds state, with pleasing hills and fields prepared for the spring as far as the eye can see. The scent of wet overturned soil was in the air. We were definitely in Cowboy country. We made it up some pretty steep hills to our campground which was surrounded by mountains. Just what the doctor ordered. A point worth mentioning – some of the roads have had quite steep inclines and as you can imagine this coach is slower than molasses in January negotiating these steep hills. When ever possible we try to pull over to let the normal faster traffic go by…Idahoians were very appreciative of this jester of consideration; everyone of them honked their horns and waved as they passed by. I, a cynical 95 driver, did not recognize their appreciative honks at first, rather thinking they were upset with us; however, Sylvia set me straight; it’s good to get a different perspective.
Every campground has different amenities. This one provided WiFi, yeah! however, we were so far in the mountains there was no TV reception – no problem! We rely on our emergency radio for our weather forecast anyway.
Having Andy follow us was a good thing as he pointed out to us that our bikes hanging on the back of the RV were hanging too low on the ladder obscuring our right break light on the coach…not good. We took care of this right away moving the bikes up clearing the view of the break light.
Days 62 - 66 Wednesday, May 2 through Sunday, May 6, 2007
Sylvia returned on Wednesday. As I mentioned in the last posting I kept myself busy while she was away by pulling some maintenance on the RV and the Honda. I washed and waxed the RV, Honda and even Lucy with a few naps here and there… The weather was warm during the day chilly at night.
Hill AFB has a great Gym which is located right across the street from the RV park. It appeared to be brand new. I knew Sylvia would love it when she returned and she did; especially since I had set her up for a massage for the afternoon she arrived back to the RV. The prices were just too good to be true, about a third less than in Virginia. We spent a lot of time this week going to the Gym utilizing their great exercise machines and taking advantage of the sauna and steam rooms. Sylvia even found her a Yoga class to go to!
We did drive down to Orem, Utah to visit our good friend from Germany, Gloria Gorden. Gloria was our traveling partner on our trip to Moscow and Leningrad while we were all stationed in Germany. Gloria and Sylvia also worked on a project together to collect clothing in Heidelberg, DCSENG for Rumanians after Romania opened up. Clothing was collected and shipped to Romania via a German Relief Society.
We had a great lunch while we caught up; we had last seen each other when Gloria visited us in VA several years ago. Later on we enjoyed dinner with her family Mike, Martine, and Matt (8) at a great Chinese place. Matt recommended his favorite, Teriyaki Chicken, a good choice Matt!. Martines’ parents joined us as they were in town from Manassas for Matt’s First Communion, talking about a small world to run into someone for Manassas while in Utah!
After we enjoyed a glass of wine – it was time to say goodbye but not before Sylvia and Gloria discussed a get together this summer in TN.
Saturday, we made a trip into Salt Lake City to look around a little. The weather was really cold, raining and downright ugly, so we really only found the best German Deli in Salt Lake and had a great lunch of Weiss Wursts, potato salad and a good German beer.
Later on the way out of town we drove by the Mormon Temple and also noted the they had European-like street cars in Salt Lake.
Day 59 - 61, Sunday, Apr 29 through Tuesday, May 1, 2007
After about 2 months on the road I thought it was a good time to take some time and wash and wax the motorhome while waiting for Sylvia to return so we could continue our adventure. You really do not realize how big this RV is until you start waxing it; this was a full 2 day effort to complete the job especially since I did have to take some breaks for a nap or two.
I took only a few pictures during this work period but I did take a few that I’ll share. This is a panoramic photo of the area looking out from our campsite; not bad, huh?!
I did take off on Tuesday and took a drive up into the mountains in the photo above. Lucy and I took a hike into the snow and enjoyed the cool and clear mountain air.
On the way I ran across this small waterfall.
Day 56-58 Thursday, April 26, 2007 through Saturday, April 28, 2007
Richard Travels from Travis AFB, California to Hill AFB, Salt Lake City UT– 714 Miles
I took off early out of Travis towards Salt Lake City. It was a pretty drive across CA past Truckie, CA by Lake Tahoe and on into Reno, NV. I stopped in Reno and overnighted in the parking lot of the Home Depot there. The manager was very accommodating.
After resting a little I unhooked the car and drove down town Reno to check out the Casino’s and to see how the Reno Strip differed from the one in Vegas.
I found the Reno Strip to be far less exciting as the one in Vegas but none the less it was neat to see. Went in and checked out the Circus Circus Casino, played the penny slots and broke even.
Up early and off across Nevada on Interstate 80 towards Utah. After a good long drive I stopped off in Elko, NV and overnighted in the Wal-Mart parking lot along with several other RVs en route to other destinations. Here’s a panoramic photo of some of the country I drove through.
Saturday morning I drove into Utah driving across the salt flats past the Bonneville Speed way. This is really the most desolate and barren part of the country I’ve ever seen. It is flat (but at an altitude of about 4100 feet) and barren as far as the eye can see!!
Here’s a photo that I took out my driver’s window where you can see the other lane going the opposite direction and you can see the utter flat desolation of the white salt flats.
I made it to Hill AFB shortly after noon on Saturday. Here’s a view of the mountains from the campground; what a view!!
Day 55 Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Sylvia Flys Out of Oakland International to Washington
Got up really early this morning to make the hour drive into Oakland to take Sylvia to the airport for her flight back to Washington.
She arrived back in Virginia and said she was amazed at the size of our kitchen and bathroom at home after living in the RV for a couple months. She said she felt like a visitor and her short time at home did not allow her to get too excited about all the things we normally do in the spring to get the yard in shape. Linda and Romano took excellent care of the house and she said it was nice getting together with them to catch up. So with not enough time to worry about what we have to do once we return she just enjoyed visiting with friends and family. It was so good to see John and Christine again. The grandkids, Tanner and Sophia, must have grown at least an inch in the past 7 weeks. She loved getting caught up on all the going ons in their busy lives. The First Communion was very touching and we were so proud of our young man. Afterwards they celebrated at John and Christines’ house with family and friends. Family, friends, laughter and good food are ingredients for a great recipe for good memories of this special occasion.
While Sylvia was flying back to DC, I took the opportunity to visit the Jelly Belly Candy factory. It was really interesting taking the tour to see how the Jelly Belly Beans are made and to hear the history of the company.
The were Ronald Reagan’s favorite and official White House candy. This, in fact, is what did it to put this candy company on the map and made their sales sky rocket. Here’s a Jelly Belly Bean mosaic of Ronald Reagan.
Day 53 Monday, April 23, 2007 & Day 54 Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Back to San Francisco
Today we headed back to San Francisco; we decided to try to drive into the city to give us some more options on seeing some outlying areas. On the way in we routed ourselves such that we could go to Sausalito, the town you see across the bay from San Francisco. We walked along the Bay and stopped for coffee at Caffe Trieste, taking in the sun and people watching.
Afterwards we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. We drove into China Town, parked and found a nice little place for lunch. We walked around China Town and were able to visit a Fortune Cookie factory where we watched them make the cookies and add the fortunes. Fun!!
We then visited the Fisherman’s Wharf
and of course had to purchase some of the famous Sourdough Bread from the Factory. According to the poster they invented the sourdough soup-bowl.
We walked on down to the famous Pier 39 and were entertained by the Sea Lions as they made a lot of barking noise and playfully pushed each other in the water as they seemed to play “king of the hill”.
Got some good views of Alcatraz Island from Pier 39.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 – Rest
Today we took it easy riding our bikes around the base and walking Lucy. With Sylvia leaving tomorrow to fly back to Woodbridge for Tanner’s first communion we took the opportunity to get her packed up for the trip.
Day 52 Sunday, April 22, 2007
Napa Valley
Today we headed back to Napa Valley so Sylvia could do some serious wine tastings. We visited Hagafen Cellers on the Silverado Trail
and Clos Du Val with it’s lovely picnic grounds and flower garden, but kind of snooty
and the Hess Collection Winery.
After sampling Sylvia purchased one bottle of wine at each winery, as the RV is packed to gills. However, she took notes in order to purchase some of the other types of wines once we return to VA. Needless to say by the end of the wine tasting she was very “happy”. She decided she must return to Napa again and she thought this would be a perfect place for a “Ladies’ get away”. I wonder if they have a place like Napa Valley for beer and have Micro Brewery tastings????
