Home Sweet Home

Well, 87 days and 12,210 miles later, we’re home; and how sweet it is! Although we thoroughly enjoyed our big adventure, there is no place like home. But let’s be clear, that mileage was not all travel. We estimated 8,500 to 8.700 miles for the actual trip. The remainder of the mileage was to and from family or friends, and inside the national parks.

We’re told that central NY had a pretty dry summer while we were away. Therefore, our fall color is pretty dull. When there has not been enough moisture to sustain the trees, the leaves turn a dull color and then drop pretty quickly. So we came home to a yard full of leaves to be picked up.

It was 71 degrees when we backed into the driveway at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. But the forecast was for a cool front to move in overnight, bringing rain with it. I awoke some time during the night, and could hear rain falling. It’s been raining all day.

It gave us a really good excuse to kick back and rest today. No sense dragging clothes, etc. through the rain to bring them into the house. Right??

As this will be our last post to this blog, we want to thank our family and friends for their hospitality during our stay with each of them. Additionally, we’d like to thank our ‘new friends’ for all their encouraging comments via our blog. And most importantly, we thank God for keeping us safe through our travels. It’s great to say that we arrived home yesterday without a single dent, or even a flat tire. Well, except for the ones inflicted by us during our little mishaps, but fortunately those were not serious either.

By the way, we’ve had many comments about Sal’s photographs along the way. If you would like to see more of the trip, feel free to check his website. He took thousands of shots; so it will take him some time to go through them. But he will select his favorites to post on the existing website. The address: http://photosal.tripod.com

Thanks for traveling with us, and thanks for your comments and notes of encouragement along the way.
Fay

Another Rest Day...

It’s a rest day. We are in Sandusky, OH. Yes, it’s a bit off the route to home, but it was the only campground or RV park we could find open. Well, actually there were a couple of others. But we left messages for two days, and neither of them returned our calls. Nice way to run a business!!

So we’re in the Bayshore Estates Campround in Sandusky. By the time we arrived yesterday, we were both exhausted. Yes, we know that it’s probably as much mental as physical. But we decided to take a day off the road. So we’ll be here for two nights; no sight seeing this time, just rest.

However, if you’re ever in the Sandusky area, this is a beautiful campground. It has lots of mature trees, and nice level sights. Each site has a fire ring, and picnic table. The CG is huge; ove 500 sites per their site map. The only negative is that there is a train track fairly nearby. But it didn’t seem to bother us, we both slept very well last night.

When we pulled into our assigned site yesterday, to our surprise there was another Outback right next door. We’ve traveled some 19 states now, and this is only the second Outback we’re seen in the same campground. However, there must be more Outbacks in this part of the country, because we did see 4 others on the road yesterday. That’s more than we’ve seen in any one day in any other part of the country.

Not much to report, the trip home has just become one long mile after another. We’re ready to be home.

If you’re still with us, thanks for your interest…
Fay

One Day Closer to Home

Well, it’s Friday, and we’re one state closer to home. We slept in a Travel Center last night because we could not find a CG still open.

Tonight we’re in Hickory Hollow Campground in Utica, IL. They have WiFi (or so they claim), but it does not reach our campsite. So we’ll post this somewhere on the road tomorrow.

We drove in rain all day yesterday, across the flat lands in Nebroska, and into Iowa. But we were surprised this afternoon to see rolling hills and trees just beginning to turn colors. We agreed that it reminded us of upstate NY. Or is that just because we’re ready to be home?

As we drove yesterday, we remarked about how difficult it must have been for the early settlers. Thanks to their guts and stamina, and for technology, our trip is much easier than those early Americans.

I guess we’ve both become a bit depressed. For over two and a half months now, when we moved from one place to another, there was another adventure around that next bend. But since we left the Tetons, our desire is just to be home. We’ve agreed that we’d like to be Samantha the witch. So we could just wiggle our noses, and be in our driveway. But of course that won’t happen. So we’ll just push on, and hope to be home by Monday.

For those of you who are still with us, thanks for your interest.

Buffalo Bill and Nebraska

Back on the road today, but we enjoyed our stay in Nebraska. We visited the Buffalo Bill Museum State Park yesterday. It’s actually his home here in North Platte. The self guided tour of the home, barn, and other out buildings is quite interesting. It’s filled with photographs, guns, Wild West posters, etc.

We also visited a very nice Art and Gift Gallery yesterday. It’s an artist’s co-op. Each artist displays their specialty, and contributes both time and a percentage of their sales to keep the business operating. We were fortunate enough to be there while they were having a photography show. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend a stop there if you pass through North Platte.

We had fog when we awoke yesterday, and that gave way to very dark clouds in the afternoon. But the rain held off until about 6PM. The local weather forecast called for high winds (up to 55MPH) overnight. But if it blew, we both slept through it.

Back on the road today; we spend tonight in Iowa. One more state closer to home…
Fay

We left the Tetons yesterday as planned. I will admit that although I thought I was ready to head home, I got pretty weepy when he headed down the road. I am ready to be home again, but I’m also a bit sad that our ‘great adventure’ is coming to an end. We have already vowed to return to Yellowstone and the Tetons. However, we just don’t know when that may be.

But on to yesterday’s travels… We headed south on 189, then to 191, and finally onto I-80. Shortly after leaving Jackson we drove into a beautiful canyon. There were evergreen trees on both sides of the canyon walls, and as we drove further, we noticed the ever present Grand Teton peaks in our mirrors behind us.

We had snow capped mountain peaks most of the morning yesterday; sometimes on both sides of us. As we traveled through WY, we saw hundreds of Pronghorns. They were in groups of 2 or 3, or sometimes in larger groups of 20 to 30. Some were all alone in a field; other times they were sharing a field with cattle. What a pleasure it was to enjoy them through a good part of the day yesterday.

Also, fairly early in the morning I spotted a mature Bald Eagle. It was sitting in the middle of a grassy field along side 189. It seemed a bit strange to me to see him just sitting there on the ground. But I still enjoyed the sight, even if it was only a momentary glimpse.

The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful. Just miles and miles and miles of fences and arid pasture land, and of course the cattle and horses which are ever present in WY. They certainly hit the mark when they named it the Cowboy State.

This morning dawned blue and bright, but a bit windy. We jumped back on I-80 and headed for Nebraska. Now talk about wide open spaces. We drove for miles without seeing anything. Just up one hill and then down another. But finally we crossed through a high pass, where we found evergreen trees again, and snow on the ground.

Later this afternoon we found the corn fields. One corn field after another, and we were a bit surprised that they had not been harvested yet.

Tonight we’re spending the night in North Platte, NB. In fact, although we’ve only been on the road two days, we’re going to spend two nights here. There are a couple of things we want to see while here, and this was a 360 plus mile day for us. So we decided to take our break a day early. Who says we can’t change our plans!

We went through a time zone change a few miles back. So we’ve lost an hour today. One more change and we’ll back on NY time.

Thanks for traveling with us.
Fay

Just one more time...

Last post before we hit the road…Sal went out very early this morning, and caught the Alpen Glow on the mountains.

He also got some great early morning shots of elk. He caught them just after sunrise, and the shots are facing into the sun, hence the different light.

And as a last to do before leaving Jackson, we had to photograph the arch in the Town Square. The Boy Scouts collect the elk antlers which the animals drop each year in the National Elk Refuge. The four corners of the Town Square are framed by these elk arches.

Hope you’ve enjoyed our trip as much as we have. We’ll continue to post until we arrive home, that is assuming there are points of interest along the way.
Fay

More of Grand Tetons...

We had a great day in the park yesterday. Although the prediction had been for rain most of the day, we awoke to sunshine and blue skies. Sal had the truck’s oil changed first thing in the morning, and then we headed into the park.

We started with a ride through Antelope Flats. We really have fallen in love with those gentle giants, the bison. They are so much fun to watch as they move along at their own slow pace. We watched one crossing the road yesterday. He stopped mid stride, right in the middle of the road, and just stood there for several minutes. We actually thought he had fallen asleep. Then after several minutes he slowly finished his journey to the other side of the road.

We drove through Lupine Meadow too. We hadn’t seen anything of note until we were almost back to the main road. Suddenly from nowhere there was a mature bald eagle flying low over the creek. Needless to say we stopped to enjoy its beauty.

We drove to Oxbow Bend, still in the hopes of seeing a moose, but no luck. But we were there just at the right time to catch a reflection of the mountains in the Snake River. Sal was able to capture it just before it started to disappear.

We also ran into a small herd of Pronghorns yesterday. They were close enough for us to realize what beautiful eyes they have. Take a look at those eye lashes!!

Today is our last day in the Tetons. After 2 ½ plus months, we’re heading for home tomorrow. I’m ready. But Sal would stay longer if he could. Fortunately for me, unfortunately for him, all the remaining RV parks close tomorrow. So it’s ‘On the Road Again’ with Willie tomorrow morning.

While our plan calls for a ‘no detours’ trip from here, we have talked about stopping in a couple of places along the way. We’ll see what happens when we actually hit the road.

Thanks for sticking with us…
Fay

More of Gros Ventre Wilderness

The are just addditional shots from our wilderness adventure...It should be noted that while this is an adventure for us, it is a working cattle ranch road. So we encountered many ranchers along the way, moving cattle or horses to wherever...

The Gros Ventre Wilderness Red Rocks

On Wednesday we headed back to the Gros Ventre Wilderness. Remember that wild ride we took within our first days here? We vowed to go back when we had morning sun. So Wednesday morning we stopped on Mormon Row to photograph some beautiful old buildings, circa 1910 to 1930. They were part of a Mormon community which had since been abandoned.

Then we continued on into the Gros Ventre Wilderness area. That road too had become much more difficult to travel since the rains of the past week. But we were determined to photograph the red rocks in one of the canyons. It was a great day, and we thoroughly enjoyed the ride, although rough at times.

Today (Thursday) we’re doing house keeping chores, i.e. groceries, laundry, etc., and gettimg some much needed rest. The skies had begun to cloud over when we left the park yesterday. But high winds blew after we returned to camp last night. So the morning dawned without the clouds, and a brilliant blue sky.

The shots included in this posting are all from the Gros Ventre Wilderness Area. If you're ever planning a visit to Grand Tetons Nationall Park, we highly recommend a trip up this road.

Thanks for visiting the Grand Tetons with us!
Fay

And the sky is blue...

We spent Tuesday photographing scenics. We awoke on Tuesday morning to heavy fog. So we took a ride from Teton Village to Moose River Junction. It’s one of those gravel and dirt roads we discussed before. But since the rain and/or snow of the past several days, the road conditions are much worse. However, it’s still a beautiful quiet ride.

The fog lifted fairly quickly. So by the time we reached the Moose Junction the sky was a brilliant blue, and the high peaks were visible. We spent the day enjoying the sunshine, and the vistas which had been uncovered by the better weather.

We've also included a couple of shots of our new favorite wildlife animal, the bison. Note the lighter color of the calf's tail. That more golden color is how they come into the world. Then as they grow older they turn the darker color. Apparently the tail is the last part to turn.

Hope you enjoy the beauty also...
Fay

The grouse, and then the clouds lifted...

Another great day in the park…We headed to Gros Ventre first thing this morning in hopes of getting some morning light on bison and pronghorns. But no luck; we did see a couple of each, but not nearly the numbers of previous days.

So off we went to Oxbow Bend, looking for nothing in particular. It was still somewhat overcast this morning. So scenics were still not a good bet. We drove up Pacific Creek Road to the trailhead. It was a beautiful quiet ride on a gravel to dirt road. We saw lots of birds, but not much else. We stopped for a sandwich along the way, and just enjoyed the solitude.

Then we headed back toward Oxbow Bend, and stopped to watch the swans on the river. Before long we had quite a surprise. A grouse stepped out of the grass just at the edge of the pavement in the turnout. At first we tiptoed around in whispers, thinking that we would scare it away. After several minutes of both still and video photography, the grouse moved toward the road. We were afraid it would get hit by a car. So we ‘herded’ it back toward the grassy edge.

You’ll never guess what happened next. It scooted under our truck, and sat there. It preened, flapped its wings as though to stretch, and then just sat. We tried coaxing it out by slamming the truck doors and stamping our feet on the road side of the truck. Hoping that it would scoot back into the grass. But it did not move, except to change positions under the truck.

It had drawn quite a crowd by this time. Several people came along, asked what we were seeing, and then sat down on the ground to photograph it under our truck. After about a half hour, I decided it was time to move it along. So I extended the legs on the tripod, and began running it along the ground between the front and back tires. The grouse just moved to the area under the front bumper, and out of the reach of the tripod!!

Finally after several more minutes, it decided it was time to leave, and it sauntered back into the grass. The last time we spotted it, it had moved a little further down the turnout and scooted under someone else’s car. Obviously it had very little fear of people.

But as our attention had been trained on the grouse, we didn’t realize that the clouds have finally lifted off the high peaks. For the first time in days we could see the mountaintops. So we turned out attention back to scenics, and began to photograph the peaks before the clouds moved in again. The forecast for the remainder of the week calls for sunshine. We’re hoping the weatherman is right this time.

We hope you enjoyed our grouse experience as much as we did. Thanks for sticking with us…
Fay

How Grand the Tetons are today...

And now we understand why they call them the Grand Tetons!!! We awoke this morning to still cloudy skies and cold. We headed into the park, and were absolutely speechless. Not only were the high peaks covered with snow, but now most of the mountains also. There was even snow at the lower elevations within the park. At one point I said to Sal that the only way to describe the beauty is to say, “Look what God has made.” Only he could create something that beautiful. And for those of you who say there is a scientific explanation I say, baloney!!!

We had a great day in the park. We searched in the area where Sal saw the eagle yesterday, but to no avail. It wasn’t our turn to see eagles today.

But we had a great time this afternoon watching a ‘herd’ of Pronghorn. There were 17 females, and one male in the group. Another, much younger, smaller male appeared on the horizon. The more mature male began herding the girls into a tighter group. One of them must not have liked his looks or something, because she kept running away. We watched him chase her down, and turn her back toward the herd a half dozen times. Eventually, while he was herding the errant lady, the younger male infiltrated the herd. As soon as the old guy saw that, he headed back to protect his ladies, chasing he younger intruder off.

But of course while his attention was turned to the intruder, his runaway took off again. She had put quite a distance between herself and the rest of the herd by the time he noticed her. But off he went to round her up again. At one point Sal and I agreed that he should just let her go. She was probably more trouble than good. But he was having none of it. Every time she strayed, he chased her. We watched this scene for probably 20 minutes before moving on down the road to find the herd of bison. What fun to watch nature at its best.

By the way, through some internet research on the Pronghorn, we found that they are capable of running 80 mph in short spurts. So you can imagine what fun it was watching these two.

As we were heading back to Jackson it began to snow again. So we may find a fresh blanket of the white stuff again tomorrow.

Thanks for sticking with us…
Fay

Missed Out Again!!!

Another day in God’s country…weather prediction was for rain and/or snow, even in the valley most of the day. We had a bit of everything. Sun with clearing skies; rain, snow, hail, and now it’s clearing again.

I elected to stay in camp today. Getting a few home chores done while enjoying some space. Meantime Sal went into the park. And remember that day in Yellowstone when I stayed in camp? Well, today was the same deal. Yes, he spotted an eagle and was able to photograph it. Missed it again!!!! He did say that it was pretty far away, but he still captured it, even though not as clearly as he would have liked.

He said the weather was really strange to watch. The clouds were so low that you could actually see the snow falling on the mountain peaks.

Well, I’ll keep this short today, and just let the photos speak for themselves.
Fay

Back in Action...First Shots with the New Camera

We had another great day yesterday. The temperatures were still in the 40’s, with overcast skies. Not great weather for photographing; so we drove through the park, observing wildlife and enjoying the scenery.

The clouds had lifted enough yesterday to enable us to see the mountains. They are so beautiful with the snow covered peaks. But the camera’s lens could not capture the beauty. The clouded skies blend with the gray mountain peaks, making for ho hum shots.

We awoke to pretty much the same weather today. The prediction is again for rain and/or rain mixed with snow at the lower levels, and more snow at the higher elevations. So today may be a good day to enjoy the museums and photo galleries, of which there are many in Jackson. We definitely want to see the Wildlife Museum before we leave.

But back to yesterday…We found a back road yesterday, which we love. It had very little traffic, and was prime moose habitat. But still we did not find any moose. Then as we were leaving the park around 5:30 last night, you guessed it. A moose cow and calf tucked into the sage brush, just outside the park gate. Not a place we would expect to find moose, proving once again that animals don’t read the books written about them. We enjoyed just watching them for a few minutes. They seemed quite content to lie there and watch the people who were watching them.

We did take a few wildlife photos yesterday, and some are included in this posting. The elk shot shows a wound on his shoulder. We actually didn’t notice the wound while we were observing him. But when Sal downloaded the shots to the laptop, it clearly was visible. He otherwise appeared to be in good health.

The bison are free range animals. They are so much fun to watch as they wander. It always reminds us of yesteryear when they were free and plentiful.

Thanks for sticking with us. More to come as the weather prediction for next week is back to sunny skies. The new camera will be put to good use, and hopefully we’ll have lots of great stuff to share.
Fay

Back Again,...

We’re back… Where have we been, you ask? The answer, bummed out! At last posting we reported that the camera was back from the repair facility. Yes, it was; but what we hadn’t discovered yet was that it wasn’t entirely repaired. One of the major issues when we sent it out was the detachment of the mounting ring. For you technical people like me, that’s the thingy that holds the lens on the camera.

Remember that it fell completely off the camera, and Sal tried to reattach it. Well, guess what? The tech did everything but check that mounting ring. Sal went out to test the camera. He had a long lens attached to the tripod. As soon as he attached the camera to the lens, the mounting ring fell off again. We didn’t have time to wait another week for a second repair trip. So we went in search of a replacement. Long story shortened, new camera purchased. It arrived yesterday afternoon.

We hit the road shortly after delivery. But unfortunately didn’t see any wildlife until after it was too dark to photograph, and the mountains were cloud covered . But what a great experience it was anyway. The elk are magnificent to watch, even if you don’t have a camera. Then today we found herds of bison, and they seemed to be much more active than in days past. The young bulls were ‘sparring’, and the small calves were running around as though playing. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the weather has turned cold. Highs in the 40’s today, and the peaks are snow covered. But whatever the reason, we thoroughly enjoyed watching them romp.

The weather prediction for the remainder of the week and weekend is pretty much the same; rain and/or rain mixed with snow. So we’re still waiting for that sunny morning to go back to the Gros Ventre Wilderness. Hopefully we’ll get it before we leave here. Meantime, we heard today that the Yellowstone South gate is closed due to snow. Guess we moved from there just in time…

Well, again sorry for our absence the past few days. But we didn’t think you’d want to hear our complaints about camera equipment.

The shots included in this post are some which Sal took before the ill fated camera incident. Although the camera was gone, the memory card survived. So he was able to download them once the new camera arrived. The first is an unmarked scenic. Sorry, we can’t remember where we found that one. The second is a blacktail fawn; and the last it a couple of
Pronhorn which Sal titled, “How long shall we stand here, holding traffic?”
Fay

Our Wilderness Adventure

First an apology for my failure to continue to post on a regular basis. We have discovered that we do not have WiFi to our site as expected. So in order to post we have to go to the lobby of the lodge which is associated with the RV park we’re in, or head to the library. Needless to say, we’ve been remiss in doing either. We’ll try to do better.

The really great news is that the camera is back. I won’t go into the ugly details, but it was repaired and arrived this afternoon. Another star for Brown. The repair facility chose to return the package via UPS 2 day air. It was picked up yesterday afternoon, and was delivered to our site about 2:30 this afternoon. So hopefully we’ll be able to begin posting photos again soon.

Meantime, we took a ride into the Gros Ventre Wilderness yesterday. This was not an intentional adventure. We took a wrong turn, saw a sign that said rough road next 41 miles, and thought to ourselves, “How rough can it really be?” After all we were traveling on a smoothly paved road at that point. But after a short time the pavement ended; but we still had good graveled road, so we kept going. After a short time even the gravel ended. Now we’re traveling on what appeared to be a packed clay road, which grew increasingly narrower.

After several more miles we ran into an oncoming truck. Sal waved him down and asked if the road would get worse. His simple response, “Yes!” And he continued on his way. We looked at each other and discussed whether or not we should continue or turn around. We decided to continue for a bit further.
That was the last bit of civilization we saw. There were no more people, and not even an occasional animal. But, oh what beauty we found. The scenery was absolutely breath taking. Although we soon decided it was best to turn around, rather than get stuck on the road in dark, we vowed to return to photograph this beautiful wilderness. We had many miles ago decided that it needed to be photographed in morning light. Stay tuned for the return…

Hope you haven’t given up on us. We promise to try to do better…
Fay

The Tetons

It’s Tuesday, and as reported previously we moved from Yellowstone to Jackson, WY yesterday. I will admit that I was a bit nervous about towing the 5er over the narrow roads within the national park. But as always, Sal did fine. I just closed my eyes when we came to a narrow spot and encountered an oncoming RV. And once we were passed the Madison Junction, the roads are wider and not as crooked.

When we neared Jackson we began to see foliage in its full fall color. The mountain peaks are all covered with snow, and when you add the golds and even a few reds, the vistas were magnificent. We can’t wait to get out to do some photographing before the foliage begins to drop. It appeared to be at peak as we traveled yesterday. So we won’t have much time before we lose the color.

We made calls to check on the ill fated camera while in route from one park to the next yesterday. The news wasn’t good. First the repair facility told us they didn’t have the camera logged in yet. So we called the Fed Ex CAT Team leader who authorized the special courier pickup. He was able to confirm that the camera had in fact arrived at the repair facility, and had been signed for by their Shipping/Receiving Dept. So back to CT we went. Unfortunately we didn’t have any success in tracking it down yesterday. But today is looking better. We received a call from them this morning. The camera has been logged in, and is on a technician’s bench.

Meantime, we were told by the RV park host that they have not had much luck with overnight packages. So now we had one more headache to worry about. Sal went out to do some scouting this morning, and spotted a Fed Ex truck. So shy boy that he is, he followed it until it made a stop. Nothing like stalking a delivery truck to get first hand information…The delivery person turned out to be a woman, and she was very helpful. She said excluding a big snow storm to prevent flights, an overnight package would not be a problem. She took Sal’s name, and told him she would be on the lookout for the package. So now we have a nice lady on both ends of this saga looking out for his camera. Keep your fingers crossed.

Meantime, while traveling yesterday, we saw first a moose cow as we crossed a stream, and later a moose bull on the run. As Sal scouted today, he ran into someone who lives/works in Jackson for the summer/fall season. He gave Sal some very good tips on where to find moose and elk. So our chances of finding moose in the Tetons are looking up.

Next stop the grocery store this afternoon. Then tomorrow morning we’ll head out in search of those big beautiful animals. Wish us luck!
Fay

Elk and an Eagle...

Well, it was our last day in Yellowstone, and what a great day we had! We decided to just take it easy today, and soak in all the favorite places we’ve fallen in love with in our time here.

We headed, yes you probably guessed, to the Madison River. The wind was blowing in camp when we left, but it always blows on top of this hill. As we moved close to the west side of the park, it started to get dark. Before long it started to sprinkle. No wash outs, just sprinkles.

We found our favorite meadow, and our favorite bull elk and his harem. They were all napping, or chewing their cuds when we arrived. So we just sat in the truck and watched them. But after only a few minutes the bull sniffed the air and stood up. He headed across the river. At first we weren’t sure why; but in short order he began to chase another bull. The challenger circled around, eventually crossing the road in front of us. Wow, what a site!

Then we turned our attention back to the prime bull. He found three new cows while on the other side of the river. So he herded them up, and headed back to the meadow where the rest of his harem was resting. What he hadn’t seen, was that the challenger snuck back into the meadow and attempted to steal part of his harem. When the prime bull realized that the challenger had returned, he chased him far away very quickly.

To keep this blog G rated, I’ll just say that the prime bull and one of his cows got very frisky. In short order, our view of the meadow became X rated. I had been filming the challenger incident, and just kept filming when the bull and his three additions returned to the meadow. But very quickly I began to feel like a porn producer. I’ll leave the rest to you and your imagination.

The temp began to drop, and the rains came in earnest. So we headed back to Mammoth Hot Springs. Sal was driving, so I was on animal watch. I looked into a reforested area along the river, and suddenly realized that I was looking at an eagle.

Now, you need to understand that as we left the elk, I expressed a desire to just be able to see an eagle before we left Yellowstone. So when I spotted one in the burned scrags across the river, I was thrilled. We both jumped out and grabbed our cameras. I filmed about 20 minutes of the eagle. Mostly he just sat there, but he did preen his wings for a short period. I just kept the video camera rolling. But the cold, and the previous filming drained my battery. So I finally had to abandon the eagle, and head for the truck and the inverter to recharge. Meantime, Sal got some really close up shots of the eagle. His lens picked up the details much better than the video camera.

But what a thrill it was to see our National Bird in our country’s first National Park. I will never forget this experience.

As we headed back to camp, the rains got heavier, and in some parts of the trip turned to snow. It's still raining in Gardiner, but we hope it will let up before we have to pack up in the morning. Sal hates having to dry the slide before we pull it in. And I don't like that he has to get on a ladder in wet weather. So we'll hope for an improvement overnight.

Yellowstone has been wonderful. But on to our next adventure tomorrow. We’re told that there are more moose in the Tetons. And since we’re both nuts about moose, we’re looking forward to the Tetons, and hopefully a moose experience.

Thanks for traveling with us…
Fay

Yellowstone in the rain...

We’ve been in Yellowstone almost three weeks, and we’ve finally had a day of rain. Yes, we’ve mentioned rain before; but only small showers during the day; the heavy rains have always been at night. We drove out to the west gate today, and it has rained most of the afternoon. The temp has dropped into the high 40’s to low 50’s (dependent upon whether you in a valley or on a hilltop). So the rain is cold and accompanied by brisk winds.

We did some gift shops in West Yellowstone, had lunch and headed back to camp. The inclement weather does not seem to bother the wildlife. We stopped a couple of times to watch elk and bison along the way. It's still a beautiful place, even in the rain.

Sal’s camera was at long last, and after much ado, picked up about 8PM last night. We waited in camp all day yesterday for the Fed Ex pick up guy. Long story short, he came, he didn’t find us, and he left. So back on the phone, and finally Fed Ex authorized a special courier. Due to the missed pick up, unfortunately it won’t arrive in the repair facility until Monday. We’re just hoping for the best. Sal did shoot a few shots today with his backup camera using slide film, but his heart isn't in it without the digital camera. I've vowed that there will be a backup digital camera before we make this trip again.

One more full day in Yellowstone tomorrow, then we head for our last big adventure on Monday. We’ll be in Jackson on Monday night, and will explore the Tetons until the snow drives us out or Oct 15th, whichever comes first.

For those of you who are still with us, hope your enjoying the ‘ride’.

By the way, when we started this adventure, we roughly calculated that it would be about an 8500 mile trip. We checked mileage a couple of days ago, and found that we’ve already traveled 8773 miles. However, that does include the miles we’ve traveled within each of the places visited. So it is not all true ‘travel’ miles.
Fay

Bad Morning...

The day was going great. AND THEN BOOM!!!!!

We left camp very early to hopefully catch the wolves in Lamar Valley. We spotted a group of people in pullouts, so we pulled off to check it out.
It turned out to be wolves!! Here’s the boom part.
Sal pulled his camera out of the truck, and headed for the knoll. The release on his tripod caught on something, and BOOM. Down went the camera and 50 to 500mm lens to the pavement. Fortunately, the lens seems to be ok. But the camera is dead.

So we came back to camp, and rushed through the process of finding a repair facility. The camera will be picked up by Fed Ex tomorrow, and hopefully will be back within 5 days. Meantime, we’re leaving here on Monday, moving to the Tetons. So the camera will be shipped to our next RV park. Wish us luck!

Sal does have two other cameras, and all his lenses fit the spares. But they are not digital, so there goes the blog photos until the digital camera is returned to us.

By the way, we did see two wolves feeding on a bison this morning. They were fairly far away, but I was able to do a bit of videoing while Sal tried to put his camera back together. But the joy of the sighting was lost on the mishap.
Fay