On to the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Buffalo, and home... and then Southie.

Of course, I had the option to sleep in my bed, the first night back from my trip. Of course, DP was throwing down at his place in Southie, and I had to be there. What was one more night, right?

--

Leaving the Tetons, I made my way east through Wyoming. I had booked an AirBnB at some guy's place in South Dakota for that night; he had a spare bedroom with a door and a view for under $50. I needed a bed, a roof, a door - it was time to spare the expense. Plus, the reviews were outrageous, and made it's less-than-ideal location but super-affordable price, a combo deal that I chose not to pass up:

Like, ok, I get it. I'll go. (spoiler: it was, as reviewed, that good)

Nothing had happened in major circumstance while driving, thus far. I may have hit some rumble strips from time to time, but the journey so far has left me unscathed. Until Wyoming, where deer apparently don't understand that pavement is just not the thing to be running on.

I was driving left around a bend, going too fast, and this deer came out from the left, out of nowhere. I saw its trajectory, and knew that there was no chance I was going to dodge this deer safely. The animal continued its path and as I braced for impact with my foot on the brake, I noticed that the deer made a slight juke to the left, like it took a handoff and was trying to break off the screen. I was able to react by juking right, and our paths became parallel for a split second. It allowed me to pass the deer, nearly in its entirety, and juke back onto the road without causing any major accident. The only thing, it seemed the deer decided to jerk either its head or butt into the side of my door, causing the contents of the side door pockets to be ejected into the cabin. In my rear view, the deer was able, and did get off the road. I was left with a gift from the roads of Wyoming:

I'm super vigilant about deer crossings now.

I made my way across the state in search of Devil's Tower. A national monument that features a great land mass shooting up from the ground - couldn't miss it. When I got to the area where the natural structure broke ground, I could start seeing it from a bit of a distance. In the interest of time, I got as close as I needed to before entering the park area, snapped a couple photos, and went on my way towards Mount Rushmore.

I've been told a lot of hoop-la about the lack of grandeur at Mount Rushmore, and I was delighted on sight of the monument, breaking the musty expectation.

I took a moment to sit in the amphitheater and reflect a bit on upholding the ideals that inspired the work of shaping stone, to preserve faces of history.

On to Cascade House, my AirBnB location. Matt was an excellent host, letting slide the fact that I showed up to an empty house at first. He greeted me, then left to retrieve the horses. He was a sculptor and artist by trade, but also had this house in the middle of nowhere that has seemingly got 5 star ratings at a very uncommon rate. He struck me as a man who had a deep relationship with a belief, bigger than himself. He broke his bread, shared his wine, and made it clear that I could treat his home as mine. I wish I felt comfortable enough - I'm sure he would have been fine if I made a bag of his microwave popcorn - but I felt too modest to advance on his invitation to fulfill my own enjoyment. His son, one of three but presently unaccompanied, was by sight a clear product of his father. Matt referred to him as Bunny, but there's a shot that I misunderstood the pronunciation. Bunny joined us for dinner, then left for the yard at around 8pm. He had been sleeping outside since mid-June, when the weather turned for the best. He could have had a pocket full of strawberries and almonds too, I can't be sure, but... sure enough, the next morning, Matt was able to point out his son, residing underneath a tarp in the yard. I couldn't see it at first, until a gust brought in a patch of rain. The grey covering made an adjustment, perhaps agitated by an elbow looking to stay dry. Matt was unmoved by his son's desire to sleep outside, in fact I think he held pride for it. Matt was a guy who made strides to live simply. I think he held a good balance of it. He had a dishwasher, a washer/dryer, and running water. He had a laptop for work, a TV for movies, and the land for everything else, it seemed. If you're ever in Hot Springs, SD - I recommend stopping by the Cascade House.

The next day's goal was Wisconsin. I really wanted to make it to Chicago, but I knew that there were only so many hours in a day, and because of the timezones, I was about to lose more of it. I came up a little short of Madison, and stayed at the 2nd worst hotel of my life. There were about 3 different odors, the shower curtain being the source of 2 of those 3. Actually, that might have been the worst of it, because they also had a pool and I didn't hate that.

Before reaching the Baymont POS, I had an excellent dinner at this hole in the wall Mexican place.

I posted a pretty good review to Google. Apparently, that photo has been viewed over 500 times online.

More driving. I'm going to fast forward to Buffalo, where I met up with old chorus mate VG. He had given me permission to crash at his place, so that was my goal the following day (from Madison). It was a long haul, but I got it done even with hitting rush hour traffic in Ohio. I got to his place and reunited with his wife J. Then, we nearly immediately took off for wings, beer, and catching up.

VG has 3 sons with 3 equally strong (and defiant) personalities. His oldest is a sports almanac, his middle was ferociously concerned with the forecasted red velvet donut, and his youngest is just too cool for school. Too young, too, he's only like 3. I got the full experience the next morning when we went to Paula's Donuts for breakfast. A quaint breakfast nook with the full intake of sugar and coffee ensnaring one through smell. It was a great visit, and I'm truly grateful for a friendship that has lasted through the time and distance. I departed around 10am and made my final morning departure before crossing back into the northeastern Commonwealth.

Of course, not one moment is lost at my arrival of home. I unpack what I think is necessary, and I make my way to DP's place because beer and singing is an ideal way to end my vacation. I slept on his lazyboy, and it was not comfortable.

Of course, I had made it home at that point. I was done! My trip was incredible.

JC

On to Grand Teton

Just writing the title of this post is thrilling, in that I get to revisit one of the major highlights of my month-long excursion.

Before I get into it, I started getting really annoyed with car living. I was finding that I needed too many things during the day, making it hard to organize things in such a way that I didn't need to move extra things out of the way to get to the things that I needed at that time... it was very stressful, I made this very clear to ML on my near-daily phone rants. Having a better system of organization would have gone a very long way, especially in such a compact space.

Big Springs, ID, I need to love ya & leave ya. Another early rise, as this time it was 2-fold: getting into Yellowstone early enough, as that was my pass-through route to get to my next camping location.

I made sure to hit some spots I missed in Yellowstone, and was sure glad I did.

I was out of Yellowstone by noontime, and on my way to another part of Wyoming! Colter Bay Campground is located within the limits of Grand Teton National Park, and had the most available camping sites out of all the options.

     

Colter Bay was located on the east bank of Jackson Lake, overlooking these beasts:

I set up camp as soon as possible to get down to the lake. Now, I should mention at this point that I was visiting my 8th National Park, 3.5 weeks into a more or less "backwoods" experience, and I had done so... without bear spray. Every park recommends this, and even though I never needed it, I wish I had it. Especially at this point, as the path from the campsites to the lakeside were not properly marked. It turns out that there are tributary footpaths that lead from each grouped campsite to the lakeside. I began down one, took a turn, and ended up in what I best thought was the correct direction to the water. I was on high alert, reacting to every sound I heard, even the ones made by myself. The forest became so dense that I couldn't see through the trees, only the path ahead that would get lost in the weave of the roots. After what felt like hours of walking, I heard the playful splash and shout of a child. I soon came to the water's edge, and took in the sights.

The view of these mountains over the lake was momentous, moving, encapsulating... I was drawn in for the remainder of the afternoon. I sat there with a few snacks and the remainder of the 6-pack from Oregon, laying witness to the sunset appearing over the most entrancing things I'd ever seen.

The next morning, I set out for the southern side of the park. I had heard that Leigh Lake was supposed to be secluded and off the beaten path, holding some treasure-like views. I also wanted to hit Signal Mountain, for the advertised view. Unfortunately, the weather was about to get in the way of both these items. I decided to pursue anyway.

This view shows a lot!

Quail

artsyfartsy 

A view to the canyons beyond the mountain faces

Where a glacier probably was.

Perhaps light!?

The sun eventually came out for a little bit, so I decided to race back to my campsite to dump my car and get back to the lake's edge. It wasn't as outrageous as the day before, but enough for me to write the rest of the day off, once again. After all, this was it - I would be traveling by car for the next 3 days straight, with only brief stops before reaching my Simmons Beautyrest back east. I had been on the road for almost a month!

I prepped my car for the big haul home after returning from the lake. I kept out only what I needed, so that when 6AM came around, it was a pack n' go situation. The sun hadn't exactly made an appearance on the day yet, but I could see the light begin to illuminate the trees and roads. I drove my way to the lakeside once more, where I had first made a stop two days prior when entering the park. There were some boat docks at the lake's shoreline, one of them being marked as private - no trespassing. There were some beautiful colors emerging, and I wanted to get a good picture, without the boats or dock in the picture. After a self-bout of whether or not this was the right thing to do, I stepped over the dangling chain and made my way to the end of the private dock. I was just trying to live my best life.

See, the boats don't need to be in this view. I'm glad I jumped the dock.

On my way out, I wanted to get a sunrise pick at Jackson Lodge. I recalled the day before, stopping into the lodge for services n' such. It was like a scene out of some 1980's Chevy Chase comedy, the lodge/hotel had a very distinct vibe to it. Walking to the back of the lodge are these large, cathedral height windows that provide a view to the faces of all the mountains at Grand Teton.

I saw these mountains in my rear view for the next hour, no joke.

Entering Yellowstone

It was an early rise. I had no idea how big Yellowstone is - it's bigger than I thought, you could say. For one, I was not expecting to be in the car all day! I was also not expecting to see all that I saw, so that was cool. Plenty of pics. I hit the McDonald's in West Yellowstone before heading into the park.

If you think of the park as a figure-8, my safe plan was to head towards Mammoth Hot Springs, Roosevelt Tower, then the Canyon Village. At that point, I would take stock and see if I should cut directly west and head back, or continue on a southern loop back to Madison. Later, I would realize that Old Faithful was on the southern drive, which impacted my decision.

Vapor lifting off hot pools of the Earth

This was stark. Seeing these in the distance was humbling, in a sense.

The previous 5 photos were taken within 30 minutes of stop-and-go driving. This landscape is wild and consistently changing.

Steamboat Geyser was a sight to see. It would tease onlookers with energized bubbles and hisses, but would not climax past a brief period of excitement. What I could do without (then, and through the entire park) is the horrid smell of these geysers and sulfur pools. Rotten cheese, old eggs, anything you might call it - it is without a doubt, 100% unenjoyable.

More sulfur pools. There were parking areas littered up and down the road, allowing guests to get out, walk around, and snap a few pictures. No doubt, Yellowstone is an RV's dream.

What's that, ahead?

I can't quite make it out yet...

OH

Driving down the road, wildlife will not hesitate to make your path, theirs. National Parks are designed to protect wildlife, so cars and persons must yield to live animals, even on roads. These bison... or buffalo.... were just stretching their legs!

Waterfalls would be around random bends and corners

It looked like snow in person, too.

I wanted to run up this, if only the acid wouldn't have melted my feet.

This tree was one of 3 trees that survived the most recent
volcanic activity at Yellowstone, 650,000 years ago.
The other two trees were stripped out by token-treasure hunters;
this last one remains enclosed and protected by the park.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Honestly, more enjoyable
than the North Rim of the real one.

GC of Yellowstone

These actively bubbled, attracting oo's and ah's from the travelers abound.

In Canyon Village, I could either head due west back to camp (perhaps another floating session), or continue south to West Thumb. Seeing Old Faithful on the map, I was curious to know when she was predicted to release today. I think I must have been born lucky, because I had 4 hours to get there before the next eruption - perfect! I continued south to West Thumb.

Wildlife wasn't always easy to capture

Looking east, off Yellowstone Lake

I was getting tired. I was guessing that the afternoon performance of the storied geyser would be a myriad of crowds, families, and cars. I took special care in finding a spot that would provide an easy exit, and made my way to the geyser.

The presentation is really something. The parks constructed a wooden walking platform and benches around a half-moon circumference of the spout, leaving about 75 yards(?) of space in every direction.

A close up of the geyser.

Old Faithful rang just a minute past her predicted time. I was impressed. I sprinted to my car, and made my way north.

At this time, I was beat. There was a bit more to see down by Lewis Lake, but I needed to pass through the park in the morning anyway, as the next day I was moving forward to Grand Teton. I settled on a few morning stops, and made my way back to camp for the night.