On the Road Again...

When I last posted, we were leaving Dubois, WY, enroute to Grand Teton National Park.  Well, we made it and had a glorious time.  The scenery was even better than expected.

We then spent three nights in Yellowstone and saw all kinds of wonderful things there, including many animals (bison, bears, bighorn sheep, elk, marmots, etc. etc.), all kinds of geothermal features (geysers, fumaroles, hot springs, mudpots) , and great scenery.  

I will post about those things with more detail later.

This morning we came across the Beartooth Highway, a scenic highway out of the northeast corner of the park through Wyoming and Montana.  Here I am at the west summit of the pass, just over 11,000 feet.  Yes, that is snow at the same elevation.  It was 48 degrees and windy when we were there mid-morning.  The surface is rock covered by moss-like plants and lots of flowers.,

Gwen, we thought of you.  There were many bicyclists on this road this morning.  It was organized with support vehicles, but did not seem to be a race.  No amount of support would be sufficient to enable me to ride a bike up that mountain!

We then spent part of the afternoon exploring the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the location of Custer's Last Stand.  Being there helped make the entire battle make more sense.  We would have stayed longer if it had not been 99 degrees!

Tonight we are in Sheridan, Wyoming.

Westward Ho

Tonight we are in Dubois, Wyoming, about an hour east of Grand Teton National Park.  Most of today was spent exploring the vast emptiness of Wyoming.  I had no idea it was so empty...clearly rivaling west or south Texas.  However, the scenery was breathtaking.

Part of our travels paralleled the original path of the massive westward migration along the Oregon Trail (which here was also the California Trail, Mormon Trail, and the Pony Express).  The sign to the left shows that we are approaching the crossing for all four trails.  We also visited Independence Rock, an important marker on the Oregon Trail, and Martin's Cove.  Martin's Cove is the site where a large contingent of pioneers pulling handcarts were trapped by cold weather and died.  The handcarts were used by those that could not afford a covered wagon or other means of moving household belongings.  I can't possibly imagine trying to walk several thousand miles across the country  pulling my belongings on a handcart.  Let me restate that without qualifiers, I can't imagine walking several thousand miles period.  Yet, over a roughly 40 year period, nearly 400,000 people marched across Wyoming.  Most of them made it.

Tomorrow we move on to Grand Teton National Park.

trains, rains, and nuclear bombs

We pulled out of the driveway at 1 pm straight up. We pulled into the motel in Amarillo a few minutes after 6. It was an uneventful but enjoyable drive up US 287. I suppose many people would find it boring, but I have always liked that road. It is a nice divided highway with relatively little traffic. It parallels the rail line most of the way. It is an extraordinarily busy line with mostly coal cars pouring in from the north...maybe from Wyoming?? Wherever it is from, I presume it is on its way to be converted to electrical energy to power the state's air-conditioning needs.

We also saw our fair share of oil wells, cattle, and cotton fields...quintessential Texas. Speaking of Texicana, we are a mile from the Big Texan, the restaurant where you can have a free 72 ounce steak...as long as you eat it within the prescribed time limit (1 hour, I think). There is even a white limousine from our hotel (with longhorns on the front!) that will take us to and from the restaurant. We passed on the limousine. We decided to pass also on the restaurant when we saw the long line out the door. I ate there 10 years ago when my Leadership Texas class was in Amarillo. It is ok, but once is enough.

We had stopped for gas in Wichita Falls on the drive up and it felt wonderfulwhen I got out of the car! It was 100 deg, but dry...what a relief from the unbearable humidity at home. However, the humidity caught up with us and we had rain as we approached Amarillo. It is now pleasant and in the 70's. I will take it!

I am now sitting in the room looking out the window. I can see plumes of steam rising in the distance. I was wondering if that might be the Pantex plant, the United States' only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. We stay in all the posh places!! Actually it is far in the distance across the flat expanse of the "staked plains", so I really don't know what it is.

Lots of flatness today. We will move to a 3D world tomorrow!