Right now it’s not funny, but maybe someday it will be.
Our last night of camping was at a KOA west of Oklahoma City. We didn’t use the air conditioning in the camper, though night-time temperatures were going to be a little higher than what we had been seein.. I got a little chilled during the night but thought it was because we had left some of the windows open.
After I had been up for a while, I realized that I wasn’t feeling very well. We thought about staying another night, but I figured we just should go ahead and head on home - even after spending time in the bathroom being sick. So I just machoed my way through getting ready to go - well, I was actually kind of wimpy about it, but we did manage to hit the road a little after 10 A.M.
I was driving. Karen doesn’t drive the truck when we’re pulling the camper.
I figured whatever was wrong with me was just something I ate.
The Oklahoma rock-and-roll, bumpity-bump interstate highways didn’t help with how I was feeling. I’ve never had motion sickness before, but I think it kind of aggravated whatever was wrong with me.
The first rest area was on the other side of Oklahoma City just past Shawnee. I went into the rest room and was sick again. When I came out, I laid down on the seat of one of the picnic tables for a while.
The next rest area was just before the Arkansas state line. I was sick again. I laid down on our bed in the camper and got about 15 minutes of sleep.
Our next stop was home. We knew we had a problem with the water line to the refrigerator because our daughter and her boyfriend had found the leak right after it started several weeks ago. They had managed to stop it, so we weren’t too worried about and my brother-in-law had stopped by to check on it.
Unfortunately, somehow, the refrigerator got unplugged — and we had stuff in the refrigerator and the freezer. Even after Karen tossed all of it out, the refigerator and freezer still stinks. This is going to take a while to fix.
After we got home, I spent some time in the bathroom again, being sick.
Karen had turned on the hot water heater at the breaker panel right after we got home. Some time later, she hollers at me that there is water spraying out of the hot water heater. It was actually the thermal relief valve opening which would indicate one of two problems, a bad thermal relief valve or failure of one of the two heater controllers.
I forgot that I had installed isolation valves at the hot water heater, so I opened valves in the bathroom and then headed under the house to isolate the main water line. When I got under there, I heard water splashing. When I investigated it turned out that all of the water going into the bathroom drains was spilling out onto the ground in a break in the drain line. I’m not sure, but some of the toilet water may have spilled out as well…. we’re buying some kitty liter as part of the damage control for this problem. We may use it for the refrigerator odor problem, too.
Because of the complication with the sewer, we are going to be sleeping in the camper — just in case we need to use the facilities in the middle of the night — and using the restroom in the camper.
I’m still not feeling well. I have a slight fever and a bad headache. My breakfast this morning was 2 peanut butter cracker sandwiches. I had 5 more just a little while ago. I had several glasses of water.
So where’s Chevy Chase when you need him?
Continue reading about Terrible End to Our Trip — Shades of National Lampoon’s Vacation
We’ve been traveling the last several days after spending some time in Moab, Utah, and visiting Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park. We will be back home tomorrow afternoon.
One of the things I plan to do after we get home is go back through the photos that I have collected and post travel journal entries for the days that I missed during the trip. I want to share more of the photos of places we’ve been and this is one of the ways that I will do it. Whenever I do post entries for missed days, they will be back dated so that they will show up in the right chronological order. However, I will also publish a current notice of the new entries, with links, to make it easier for people to find these “late entries.”
This has been our longest trip ever and we probably tried to cram too much into it. We have a lot to do at home over the winter, so we will probably not be going far until Spring 2008.
I have posted a few images in my photo blog of the Moab area.
Over the next few months, I will also be publishing a lot of my photographs in photo galleries at my Haw Creek Outdoors website.
We’ve been to Jackson, Wyoming, and the Tetons many times in the past. This time, we found some areas that we hadn’t ever been to — or hadn’t seen in a very long time.
The first three photos are an old homestead on the Gros Ventre road. It reminded Karen and me of the old TV series, “The Monroes,” a show about a group of orphaned brothers and sisters trying build a life in the early days of the American West. The only thing that I remember about the show was that the backdrop was the Tetons and they had a cabin about the same size as the one below. The show only had one season, premiering in 1966. I had been to the Tetons for the first time in 1963, when I was 11 years old, which is probably the only reason I remember the show.
A view though one of the windows.
Looking through the ruins of the back of the log cabin from a window on the side opposite the Tetons.
The Tetons and a barn in the old abandoned Mormon Row community.
It was a very windy day — and cool — so Karen went back to the truck while I was taking pictures. A mini dust storm blew up while she was waiting for me.
This is a panorama view of the Tetons from the Antelope Flats area.
A view of the mountains across Lake Jackson from a part of the Colter Bay area we had never been before, even though we had camped several times in the Colter Bay campground.
Karen was within just a few feet of this bull moose near Menor’s Ferry when he turned his head. The motion caught her attention and then she whispered, very loudly, “Michael! Michael!” in a way that she has of getting my attention. She wanted us to move very quietly past on the walkway, but I said, “No, let’s go this way,” wanting to move out and away from him. There was an old wagon shed not far in the direction we were going and as we got near it, there was a young ranger beckoning us to move in her direction. We talked to her and another young ranger for a while. They were both appreciative that we had moved past the moose through the grass a ways away from it rather than staying on the path. It had gotten antsy earlier in the day because of the proximity of people and had nearly charged several, including one of the rangers trying to keep people away. The day before some people had been trying to get it or another bull to get up and move by throwing rocks at it. Really dumb!
There was also a cow and a calf nearby. We had seen another bull, cow, and calf earlier in the day between Jackson Lake dam and Moran Junction and another trio the day before in Cascade Canyon.
William D. Menor’s country store. It was his home and a store combined. Today it is part museum and part gift store, in a very rustic manner.
On the way back to the campground by way of a road that goes from near the Moose Junction visitor center to Teton Village, avoiding the crush and bustle of Jackson at quitting time.
Continue reading about Travel Journal — Jackson Hole and the Tetons — Off the Beaten Path
September 18, 2007 — On the way over to Jackson, Wyoming, we took Teton Pass. The steep grade was interesting for towing our camper over — especially on the downhill side!
We’re camped right next to the Snake River. We walked down to the water’s edge shortly after we got here and saw a couple of boats of fishermen floating downstream.
September 19, 2007:
The new visitor center at the Moose entrance to Grand Teton National Park has only been open a few weeks. It is quite impressive, and, given the volume of visitors through here, sorely needed.
The “courtyard” going into the visitor center.
The visitor center includes a very modern museum/interpretive center. In this photo, Karen is standing on top of a set of video panels showing the role of fire in the park’s natural cycle. There were several of these floor video panels, each showing the same video, I think, but sequenced so it seems like they are all different. Instinctively, it just feels wrong to walk on the displays, but that is what they are designed for or there would be a barrier to keep people off.
There were quite a few bronze statues depicting different parts of the history of what is now the park.
The Tetons, looking across Jenny Lake. We walked a trail later in the day that goes up the notch on the left into Cascade Canyon.
On the trail, headed first to Hidden Falls.
There are some huge trees in the park.
Hidden Falls
A British couple that had road the same boat across Jenny Lake took this photo for me after I had offered to take one of them with their camera. We ran into them again later in town.
Fall colors on the way up. On this trail, it is a constant climb up to and a little past Inspiration Point, which is about a mile in. Then it levels out in Cascade Canyon. We hiked a ways into the canyon, but turned back because we were at our limit for distance and we also had to get back to ensure a ride back across the lake. We ended up doing about 5 miles all told, which is an improvement for us.
This is the toughest part of the trail — not for the faint of heat or those who fear heights. There is a long drop-off at this point. Sensible shoes highly recommended! — although we saw people with smooth soled shoes and even sandals! These folks were very tentative coming down, especially the last guy. He kept very close to the inside wall and even then almost fell when he got down to safety at the point where we were standing.
We had been there before and went up — and down — with no problem.
One of the few pictures of me — I take most of the pictures.
After we got to Inspiration Point, we continued a ways, but were planning to turn back before too long as we had already done a lot better than we had thought we would. Along the way, several people returning told us about 3 moose off the trail a ways ahead so we kept plodding along. We finally found them. They were a ways off the trail laying down. We couldn’t see them very well, but I was able to enhance this photo to bring out the rack on this bull moose.
Looking back up behind us as we headed back down the trail.
Coming back across Jenny Lake.
After the hike, we drove north a ways in the park. This is at Oxbow Bend turnout near Moran Junction.
Continue reading about Travel Journal — Snake River and Grand Teton National Park
Today we drove from near West Yellowstone, Montana, down to a campground just south of Jackson, Wyoming. The shortest route would have been through Yellowstone National Park, but that probably would have taken the longest because of the speed limits in the park and the amount of traffic even this late in the season.
There were two other routes that we considered. One was down to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and then across into Wyoming, roughly following the course of the Snake River. The other was up over Teton Pass between Victor, Idaho, and Jackson. We had been up over the pass a number of times in years past and I knew that it would be a test for the truck and camper if we took it.
Boy, was it ever a test!
The maximum grade on the road is 10% and I think most of that was down hill for us going into Jackson. The truck and fifth wheel seemed to be handling it fine, but I was reluctant to drop down from second into first gear.
I should have!
At one point, I pulled over to let a small car go by and really had to press on the brakes to slow to a stop. The brakes were smokin’! Literally.
The rest of the way down, I dropped the transmission into 1st gear and used the brakes sparingly so that they could cool down. When we got to a stop light a few miles further on, the rig stopped just fine with no squealing or fading of the brakes.
Lesson learned!
I’ll use the lowest gear necessary to keep from overheating the brakes — even it means slowing others down. People don’t need to go fast on that kind of road anyhow.
Better yet, we’ll take the longer route — if feasible.
Continue reading about Ten percent grade on the highway was almost too much!
This morning, we stopped at Norris Geyser Basin, but don’t have any pictures because we were a little out of routine getting going in the morning. As a result, Karen brought out my camera, but I hadn’t put the memory card back in it. We discovered it wasn’t in the camera after Norris. There was another smaller point-and-shoot camera in the truck that had another memory card in it that would work in my Pentax, though the card had much less capacity.
Tower Falls — another disappointment. There is a sign at Tower Falls that points to the overlook, but the part of the sign that says how far it is to the falls itself was covered with a piece of wood. We didn’t even notice, though. We had been to the base of the falls a number of times in the past, so really didn’t need to know how far it was. However, when we were about half way there, the trail was blocked by a barricade. A sign that said the trail beyond that point was closed due to erosion. So we turned around and went back. This picture is from the Tower Falls overlook.
After Tower Falls, we drove up the road to the northeast entrance a ways, had lunch and saw several hundred — maybe over a thousand — buffalo. On the way back, just before Tower Falls, we saw some bighorn sheep. This female was just stepping off a wall along the side of the road. I shot the picture from the driver’s seat of the truck, trying to compose it in such a way that the road and wall didn’t show much, if any.
This young male was very close to the female, just on the other side of the wall.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone — Someone wisely refrained from going after their cap - outside the barriers, too close to the edge, and on unstable, gravelly soil. Just before this, we saw an overweight man climb over the railing very close to the brink of the canyon to retrieve his cap. Luckily, nothing happened.
Looking down the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from an observation point on the north side of the canyon.
This view is from another observation point further up the canyon, again looking downstream. This is a composite of several images.
Twisted and gnarled tree roots, with a rock gripped in them.
Lower Falls of the Yellowstone
Steps going down to the observation point where the previous picture was taken. This was at the end of a trail with quite a few switchbacks and a bit of a climb.
Switchbacks on the trail.
Continue reading about Travel Journal - Tower Falls, Big Horns, and Canyon at Yellowstone
Sunrise this morning over Yellowstone. We are about 6 miles west of the park and the horizon in this picture is inside the park.
The aspens and other hardwoods have really started changing colors in our week here. These are just down the road in Idaho.
We took a scenic loop that goes over the old highway to Yellowstone. It’s east of the highway used today and goes through some very pretty country. Though the smoke from western fires limited visibility a bit, we could still see the west side of the Teton Mountains. This image has been enhanced to improve the view of the Tetons.
Lower Mesa Falls as viewed from the Grandview Overlook built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The falls are 65 ft tall.
Wild flowers still in bloom, despite temperatures that are resulting in fall colors in a lot of the vegetation.
Big Falls Inn - Built around 1915 by Mesa Power, company officers planned to harness the power of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and Mesa Falls to produce electricity. A license to produce power from the plant was never obtained and the property was eventually sold to Montana Power in 1936. It may have started as a a combination office and residence for workers, but became a popular spot along the old highway to Yellowstone. With it’s spectacular location, it also became a spot for dances and social gatherings for locals, sportsmen and tourists. After it was sold to Montana Power, it was used as a company resort. Over the years, it was also used as a restaurant and dance hall, boy scout lodge, and retreat/meeting hall. In 1986, the Forest Service acquired the lodge in a land exchange. It has since been renovated and serves now as a visitor and interpretive center.
The inside of the inn is just beautiful.
Dried flower near the inn. Karen got some seeds, though we don’t know what it’ll look like when it blooms.
Upper Mesa Falls in a composite image created from several photos. The falls are 114 feet high, dropping over a ledge of 1.3 million years old compressed volcanic ash.
Karen at one of the overlooks.
The falls are so large that at the overlooks, the only way that I could get it all in was to create a composite image using several photos.
The area to the falls is a Forest Service fee area.
We headed back down to Old Faithful again on our drive around the southern loop of the park. Our stop at the inn was intended to be a restroom break, but, once we got there, we decided to walk a bit of the trails in the vicinity, including a hike up to an overlook above Old Faithful.
Looking down the Firehole River from a bridge over it.
Buffalo near the trail up to the overlook.
An elk along the trail.
Old Faithful eruption viewed from about 1/2 mile away.
Solitary Geyser. In 1915, the spring was tapped with a pipe with the idea of putting some of the hot water in the park to use. The level dropped about 5 feet and what had been a calm spring became a geyser erupting every few minutes. The pipe was removed, but the disruption of the balance caused over 90 years ago continues today.
A raven that visited us at lunch.
Lake Yellowstone Hotel - a panorama. Click on image to see a larger image (it will open in a new window).
The hotel dining room.
The hotel’s “Sun Room,” adjacent to the lobby and overlooking the lake.
View of Lake Yellowstone from the shore in front of the hotel.
Churning Cauldron - The roiling of the water is not boiling; it’s huge bubbles of hot gases from deep within the earth.
This lady was way too close. If these buffalo had started running, the could have been on her before she had a chance to react. We’ve seen people who were even closer than this to buffalo.
This was a lazy day. We stayed in the campground until a little after 2 P.M. piddling with various projects. I got ahead a ways on the diary entries of Gideon Welles, the Union Navy Secretary during the American Civil War, which I am publishing day by day in my Daily Chronicles of the American Civil War, currently posting from September 1863. After that I set up our new wireless router so that Karen and I can be online at the same time. We also took a walk around the campground. The horses below were on the range land west of the campground.
Before going into the park, we went through a few of the shops in West Yellowstone. We saw some interesting things — many of them too expensive, in my view. But we restrained ourselves and didn’t buy anything before we headed into the park for dinner at Old Faithful Inn.
Construction on Old Faithful Inn started in 1903. The architect and construction crews worked through the winter to have it ready for guests in June 1904. It’s really hard to get a single picture to show what the inside of the inn is like. This picture is a composite created from 21 photos. The beams are straight, not curved. It’s an effect resulting from the blending of multiple images taken from one spot, but it does give a good idea of what the place is like.
We had dinner reservations for 6 P.M. and got there quite a bit early. It was nice to be able to just sit around and relax, looking at various things and taking pictures. The next photo is of the dining room at the inn. It’s taken from a second floor balcony that overlooks the room. Our table was the second one through the doorway at the top of the picture. The meal was good, but pricey.
Before supper we were treated to a long and impressive eruption of Old Faithful, which we viewed from the balcony over the entrance to the lobby of the inn. It had been raining not to long before this, and we were reluctant to stray too far from shelter since we didn’t have any rain gear with us.
After dinner, on the other hand, there was a very short and less powerful eruption than the previous two that we had observed this trip. I had been asked to take some pictures of a group of people, using their camera, of course. After I took the first picture, Old Faithful started erupting, 4 minutes earlier than predicted and the eruption was so brief that I was only able to get a couple of shots before it started petering out. From our experience, it usually teases the viewers by spitting and sputtering a few times before it actually erupts. This time, it started erupting with no warning.
We made it back to the campground after dark. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any wildlife on the road.
Continue reading about Back to Old Faithful Inn — for dinner
Today we drove the northern loop of Yellowstone. I’ve included several photos from the day below. We went in through West Yellowstone to Madison Junction, then north up to Norris Geyser Basin, up to Mammoth Hot Springs, out the north entrance and then back into the park. We ate lunch at a little picnic area right on the 45th parallel — halfway between the equator and the north pole. After lunch we drove down towards Tower Junction, except we took a dirt road called the Blacktail Plateau Drive. Once back on pavement, we went on past Tower, up over Dunraven Pass. By the time we got there, smoke from the wildfires in Idaho and Northern California were really reducing visibility, so we decided to save the drive to the top of Mt. Washburn for a later day. The smoke was bad enough that we could smell it inside the truck with the windows closed. After that, we completed the rest of the northern loop through Canyon Village and back to Norris.
Madison River, several miles east of the west entrance at about 7:30 AM. The air temperature was very close to freezing.
Bull elk wading in the Madison River, about 3 miles further into the park. Good sighting early in the morning — sometimes it’s the best time to see the animals.
It was about 40 degrees this morning when we ventured out on a trail, Karen was glad she had picked up a pair of gloves, though I didn’t need any. It was a really pretty trail by some of the boiling mud pots and steaming water areas.
The driver in this car had obviously read the warning about buffalo being dangerous animals. As this buffalo was walking away from us as I started inching forward, the car it was walking toward started backing up! and did so several more times until traffic arriving behind him prevented it!
Deer relaxing under a trampoline in the small town of Gardiner at the north entrance to the park — there were about 4 deer in this yard.
Wandering Garter Snake at the 45th parallel. Karen spotted it while I was taking pictures and called me over. Karen had purchase a couple of small field guides yesterday, so was able to identify him even as I was snapping pictures. It was actually a very small snake.
We saw this coyote on the Blacktail Plateau Drive. It was the third one we’ve seen and the second that we’ve been able to get some good pictures of.
Recent Comments