20070706 Friday
From Moran Jct, WY to Yellowstone NP (Fishing Bridge RV Park)
75 miles
Warm then hot (89*F) then cooler

We got out of the Grand Tetons RV Park & Resort in good time, then slowly made our way the 75 miles to Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone. I say slowly because the speed limit was 45 or less the entire distance. Probably a good thing, the road badly needs improvement.

Dolores saw two deer on the way up, so our animal count was low. I saw a squirrel. The scenery was very nice, though.

We'd decided this was going to be a quiet day earlier. So we set up in FBRV and went for a walk. First we hit the activities desk at the RV park stand and made arrangements for dinner at the Lake hotel dining room for Sunday. The big dining room in the Old Faithful Inn is booked solid until July 15th. The RV park is full as well.

We walked onward to the General Store and had lunch at the counter-type sandwich shop. We bought groceries and two books. I walked next door to the garage and got more power steering fluid (more later on this), then we walked back. It was quite warm in the sun and the lack of breeze and the altitude let us know we're not young anymore.

So we settled in for the day - books, naps, etc. I got restless so I went out to look at the transmission cooler fan plug, which had popped out again on the way up and caused the transmission to run warm for a while. My prior duct-tape fix hadn't worked, so I jury-rigged a plastic-tie method of holding plug and socket together. We'll see. By this time it was nearing max temp (89). I came in and read. Dolores read a book, then napped. A stray shower came by, made a lot of racket and rained gently for three minutes. But the temperature went down to 77, so I went back out to find out what's leaking onto the ground under the front of the truck.

It turns out to be the power steering gear stub shaft seals, where the steering column enters the power-assisted steering gear. Doesn't look like a great big deal, so I'll feed it fluid and not jam the steering gear hard either way until we can get to a service place. The manual says it has to come out of the truck to be worked on, so it's not minor, and I hope it's not major.

This RV park is really crowded. The sites are interleaved with each other for maximum utilization. Our rear neighbor's sitting area is immediately behind our trailer. We park the truck next to our trailer on its left side, and the neighbor on our back left shares the plug-in stand (water & electric distribution). It's sort of not describeable, but trust me, it's tight. But it's not terrible, everyone seems to be quiet and we'll be gone during the day anyway.

We'll have dinner soon, then really relax. It's so very quiet here with only one terrible radio station, no TV, no internet, no cellphone service. 

20070707 Saturday
At Yellowstone NP (Fishing Bridge RV Park)
Mostly cloudy, cool

Totally different weather today. Woke up to cloudy skies and 60*F. It had rained just a little in the night.

We had breakfast, during which time it cleared a little. We decided on shorts & short-sleeved shirts, which I regretted once or twice. We cleared the campground and headed for the main intersection here. As we got to the bridge over the Yellowstone (Fishing Bridge), I had to slow way down for a car ahead of me. After a bit, I could look under the car and saw feet ahead of it. When we got to the other side, the bison turned off to the left and we could get on with it.

We headed up the east side of the figure-eight (one loop above the other) set of main roads in Yellowstone. We saw several herds of bison. We diverted onto the road to Artists Point that will be closed Monday for refurbishment. Artists Point is the preferred viewing area for the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We took pictures there, and helped others with their pictures. Got a picture of a mule deer on the way. Then we came back a ways on the road to the lookout point for the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. We took more pictures there.

We went into Canyon village, where D got pictures of two elk laying down relaxing, and out to the east and south on another road with views of the Canyon. At Inspiration Point, we took a few more pictures. There, you see more of the lower river and a very slight view of Lower Falls way off in the distance. We finished the road, came back out on the main north-south road on the east side of the park and continued north to Tower intersection.

There's nothing much at Tower, but US212 comes into the park as its Northeast Access. There are a couple of little towns outside the park there, so we decided to go "outside" for lunch.

The route took us up a bit of the Yellowstone River, then up the valley of the Lamar River. At first, the valleys are quite broad. You can see quite a distance. Several herds of bison were doing there thing. We came upon a set of cars stopped on the road; then we realized they were stopped because a herd was crossing the road. They don't do this in any sort of organized fashion - it's sort of a slow stampede. The baby bison were cute. Finally a break came and all of us were able to scurry through before the rest of the herd started across. Now I have an appreciation for the early wagon trains that had to wait hours for a herd to move across their path.

We left the park and the road turned to doo-doo immediately. Wow, just patch on patch on patch. We went on slowly to Cooke City, Montana. Had lunch at the Bistro Cafe, which was very nice. Hundreds of motorcyclists around. There's a Honda Goldwing thing this weekend that started at Billings and moves into the park, and there were a whole sackfull of Harley riders in small clumps coming into the park. Many of the bikes had little trailers behind them, where I suppose tents and other camping items are stored.

Back into the park with a bunch of bikers ahead and behind, and down to Tower intersection. We debated about doing more of the figure-eight but decided that doing the whole top loop (the only option) would take too long. So we came back down the road we went up.

Near the top of the pass between Tower and Canyon, we came upon a bunch of Ranger cars around an SUV resting on its top in a parking turnout. I thought about it all the way home and still can't figure how he managed that. Someone's weekend is surely ruined.

Back at Fishing Bridge, we stopped for diesel fuel - $3.399/gallon. We also stopped in the store for a few things. Then we went to the little house in the huge campground. I checked the transmission cooling fan fix (see yesterday) and found it had held the plug and socket together all day. But the truck looks like a moving mudbank with all the road dirt on it, and that dirt all clumped up by the few raindrops. It needs a bath.

In the trailer, we read for a while and did computer stuff for a while. Now it's 8:15pm and we'll take a hike, return and take it easy.