And I looked over and saw empty fields forever. And then I realized I was still in Wyoming. Iowa was Mecca compared to Wyoming. Gillette was pretty much the last stop until Cody. While the country side is beautiful there is something depressing and lonesome about not seeing any signs of life for over an hour. We did get a chance to pass such gems as Emblem, WY with a population of 10. Yes they actually put up a sign for a town with a population of 10. If I killed 2 of the people I'd knock out 20% of that towns population. Stalin wouldn't have shit on me. But the drive was worth it for the landscape changes. The open fields and rolling hills gave way to the Big Horn mountains. We went from a sunny, warm 82 degrees at Buffalo, WY to a cold 54 degrees at 9800 feet on the mountaintop. We got out real quick for pictures and got back in real quick when we saw the guy sledding with his kids and carrying a gun on his hip. Strange people. Coming down the mountain, the snow receded and gave way to amazing cliffs, canyons and valleys. At the bottom it turned into a of rocky desert with small towns every 30-60 miles apart. Cody seemed to be the last stop before Yellowstone and was a decent size town.The way into Yellowstone follows a river which seems to be speckled with campsites and strategically placed wildlife. We saw goats, deer, a moose and lots of buffalo. One buffalo was walking down the side of the road so we stopped and asked if he needed a ride. He didn't answer so I called him an asshole and told him to get out of the road. I think by dumb luck we picked a great time to go into Yellowstone. The roads were clear but there was just enough snow left to make the drive beautiful. The main lake was still frozen over and with the snow capped mountains it made for a great visual experience. It also helped that we hit it at a unseasonably warm weekend, so 72 degrees worked out well. We made out way from the west entrance to the Mammoth/Hot Springs area near the north entrance. Mammoth was littered with elk walking around town and the elk shit on the ground at our campsite pretty much ensured we'd see some animals. We setup the tent, cooked dinner (which turned out well thanks to the new stove from Mr. Moto) and turned in for the night.
In the morning we decided that we should try to see the big five: elk, buffalo, wolf, moose and the ever elusive hot chic. The herd of buffalo walking 20 yards from our campsite covered one. Kind of weird to see 200 buffalo walk by you then stop at the ranger houses and eat their grass. Driving down to Old Faithful we saw some more elk milling about in town as well as what could have been a wolf but was more likely a coyote. The moose from the day before left only the hot chic (and the search for that secretive beast continues).
Again by dumb luck we arrived at Old Faithful about 2 minutes before it popped, saving us from having to wait for 90 minutes between explosions. The geyser itself was predictable... After paying to much for a bad lunch at the cafeteria we drove on through the Grand Teton National Park which had some great scenery but we were starting to get mountained out. We passed through Jackson then climbed another mountain to cut across into Idaho. By this point I was kind of sick of the Rockies. We stopped for the night in Idaho Falls.
Monday we drove from from Idaho Falls to Pocatello (which we referred to as Padonkadonk instead). We passed through an Indian Reservation which was everything I hoped: broke down trailers and a casino. We saw a sign for the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot and after a quick look at each other knew we had to stop. I learned more about potatoes than I cared to know and got a free box of freeze dried hash browns (whoever's birthday is next is getting a present from the road!).
Ok so this is way to long already. We continued to the Lava Hot Springs which was a total waste of time and disappointment. We then took the Oregon Trail scenic byway past Bear Lake and into Utah. We watched lightning strike a tree in Cache National Forest and realized camping tonight might be a bad idea. So we pulled into Logan, UT and our favorite hotel chain Super 8. Tomorrow we go to Salt Lake City to hang out with Andy for a few days. New pictures from Yellowstone and Idaho on Flickr.
