August 25, 2008 - Richfield, UT

Don't forget to check out our itinerary at:

Bounder Across America Itinerary

We are comfortably settled amongst the mountains of central Utah, enjoying a couple days of R&R in order to catch up on some badly neglected tasks. Foremost is bringing our blog up to date. For nearly three weeks now we have been without good and consistent internet access.

Before proceeding, we need to say a few words about internet access on the road. We offer this as an 'excuse' to our readers, and as a word of caution for our fellow RVers.

As 'full-timers', the internet is an important part of RV living. Unfortunately, many RV parks have not yet quite gained an understanding of just how important this amenity is. We consistently make an attempt, before booking, to insure that, when possible, the places we stay have wi-fi internet access. This allows us to access the internet from the comfort of our motorhome. We have learned that although many parks advertise that they are 'internet friendly', with wi-fi available at each site - this is not, in fact, universally true. We have stayed at a number of RV parks during this trip that advertise wi-fi; but what they really mean is that the office may have a router with a wi-fi signal - this signal is only available if you are within a few feet of the office. For the average RVs, spaced out around the park, this signal is non-esistant. Even when dragging the laptop closer to the office, access is sometimes not available. (In our case, with Glen's computer being non-portable, this is not really possible; and even if it were possible - not desirable.)

Our most recent stays, have provided little or no ability to access the internet. (Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone National Park - where no wi'fi was advertised or offered; Chatfield State Park in Denver - where wi-fi is available, but where we were located at the furthest reaches from the park's internet router; and Ami's Acres in Glenwood Springs, CO - where the wi-fi signal was practically non-existent, and when we could get the signal, the connection was so slow that it must apparently have been a single dial-up line connected to a weak internet router). So this situation has left us quite far behind in our blogging. (A situation we hope to begin to remedy right now!!!)

Most recently we’ve been enjoying a very pleasant visit with Glen’s sister and her family in the Denver Colorado area, and a stop in Glenwood Springs, CO to visit with Donna's cousin and her husband. However, we’ll save the blog update about this leg of our trip until later. For now it’s time to cover the time we spent in Wyoming… from August 4 through August 14.

On Wednesday, August 4, it was time for us to head out from Rapid City, and to continue our journey West.

With Yellowstone National Park as the ultimate goal for this leg of our journey, we decided that a few days of rest would put us in a position to better enjoy all of the wonders of Yellowstone -and Sheridan, WY was the place we chose as an interim stop along the way. However, before proceeding on to Sheridan, there was a place that Glen was particularly anxious to see. Devils Tower was featured in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and practically on our way to Sheridan. After visiting this national monument, it’s clear why the director (Steven Spielberg) wanted this location to form a cornerstone for the film. From a long way off, after cresting one of the many mountain passes when heading west, the tower becomes a prominent point of interest on the horizon. It has an intriguing appearance that seems unique in all of nature. (See Donna’s photo album if you are unfamiliar with how Devils Tower looks.) Having spiritual significance to the Native Americans, the monolith appears to have been carved in place eons in the past. Although many may think that Devils Tower is an extinct volcano, in actuality it never quite made it to that status. Instead, it is an offshoot of a volcano, a collection of lava tubes, that never made it to the surface to spew lava. Cooling too rapidly, the lava tubes abruptly ‘froze’ beneath the earth, and didn’t surface until many years later, when wind and water erosion cleared the soil from around this geological anomaly – making it appear as a tower above the surrounding landscape. Today the tower stands more than 1000 feet above the surrounding area. With it’s flat top and ribbed sides, Devils Tower can compare to nothing else we have ever seen. Sitting at it’s base and looking up, it’s easy to understand why Native Americans believed this to be a holy place. There is something quite mystical and arresting about the solitary promontory, sitting in the middle of the Wyoming eastern plains. As we approached for a first-hand look, the park ranger informed us that we would need to disconnect the motorhome from our car, and then drive only the car to the monument (because the park was expecting a crush of visitors from the Sturgis Rally and didn’t want the road to be blocked with large vehicles). Glen, believing that American citizens driving motor homes have as much right as bikers to have equal access to national parks, questioned this advice. We decided to drive the motorhome to the base of the monument anyway - and we’re glad we made this decision. We were able to make it to the upper parking lot with no problems, and volunteers from the Sturgis motorcycle contingent who were directing traffic, quite courteously showed us to a place where we could comfortably park the Bounder with no inconvenience to the many motorcyclists. Then, after enjoying viewing the monument from various angles, we were able to park out motorhome just a bit down the hill and enjoy a pleasant lunch in the shadow of Devils Tower. Anyone in this area of Wyoming shouldn't miss seeing this unique geological formation.

From Devils Tower it was onward to Sheridan, where we stayed for three peaceful days at a pleasant RV park - with internet access. In retrospect, we would probably have enjoyed Cody, WY more. Although Sheridan is a pleasant enough town, it suffers a bit from hype rather than reality. The truth is, Cody is more 'Wild West', particularly with a gigantic museum dedicated to Buffalo Bill Cody. And we would certainly have enjoyed a night at the rodeo - an event this town offers nightly during the summer.

(Just a brief note about the Bighorn KOA RV Park in Sheridan, and their internet access. This was the first time we encountered 'metered' wi-fi. We were quite easily able to connect, but we were accessing the internet through a 'filter' that counted the amount of internet traffic we were generating. If we used this access too much, we were told we would be 'transferred to a slower link - and ultimately that we would be cut off if we attempted to do too much. Although we didn't come close to exceeding the limit, we were a bit intimidated by the possibility, and found this type of metering to be just a bit too intrusive.)

True to our plan, we didn't attempt to do much in Sheridan other than rest and catch up on neglected chores. We did, however enjoy a couple of beautiful drives into the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains (where we even drove into Montana for a short way). This part of the world is marvelously underpopulated, and when you drive into the mountains, it's possible to turn off the car's engine and hear absolutely nothing of civilization. The wind in the pines and the chirping of birds is all that one hears, and it helps one to realize just how peaceful nature can be without the intrusions of modern life. A bit of wildfire in the hills contributed to some spectacular sunsets, and the abundance of small deer in the fields made the drives particularly relaxing and enjoyable.

On August 7 we navigated the first twisty mountain roads of our journey. The way to Yellowstone takes one up into some fairly steep mountain passes, and although the roads were all quite good, Glen's shoulders were quite stiff at the end of the drive from gripping the wheel more tightly than normal. We entered the national park at the Eastern gateway, and got our first indication of just how vast Yellowstone really is. The ranger at the entrance told us that we were quite close, and that the Fishing Bridge RV Park was the first real development that we would encounter in Yellowstone heading west. He was right; but this still took us twenty-six miles into the park - and we had barely made a dent in the hundreds of miles of good paved roads that abound in Yellowstone.

At this point in our blog it's difficult to know where to proceed. Yellowstone is surely one of the modern marvels of the world. The park covers more than 2 million square acres - and within that acreage there are a seemingly impossible number of spectacular sights to see. As stated earlier, hundreds of miles of good improved roads circle the park, and these roads are laid out in circular routes that allow the visitor to see all of the sights by following several northern and southern routes, which in addition to circling all of the major attractions, take one to a half dozen 'villages' that provide food and lodging and shopping services. From the first moment we entered the park we encountered not only unprecedented natural beauty, but also an abundance of wildlife not previously encountered. Ten miles before reaching the RV park, we noticed a few cars stopped along the road. (We subsequently learned that when cars were unaccountably stopped in this fashion, it invariably meant that some form of wildlife was visible.) There, on the side of the road, we saw our first ever grizzly bear in the wild. Not ten feet away from us, the rather small and immature bear was feasting on the carcass of a dear - no doubt the casualty of a run-in with a car. We then proceeded to within a couple miles of the park, where a buffalo was slowly sauntering along the side of the road, blissfully ignoring the passing cars. Later, after setting up, we learned that we had no cell phone coverage. After inquiring, we found out that by stopping along the shore of Yellowstone Lake, it might be possible to pick up a signal. Sure enough, in the dark, we parked and called the family to let them know we would be out of reach for nearly a week. Then, when we turned the car's headlights on to proceed back to the park, we learned that a coyote was crossing the road about five feet ahead of us! This constant parade of wildlife never stopped for the entire time we were in the park!!!

Rather than bore you with descriptions of all that we saw, it's probably best to let Donna's Picasa album 'speak' for us. (The link follows later in the blog posting - and as we all know, one picture is worth a thousand words; and you'd probably be happy to be spared a thousand words for each of these photos!) Instead, we'll just pass on some observations from our experiences.

- First and foremost, if you intend to explore Yellowstone, allow enough time. We planned six days, but thought we perhaps had allowed to much time. We did not!! Six days allowed us three full days of following the various loop routes, with days in between for recovery and 'housekeeping' tasks.

- Remember altitude takes some adjustment. Fishing Bridge RV Camp is at about 8000 feet of elevation. For 'flatlanders' like us, this meant that we were subject to a certain degree of 'altitude sickness' - diarrhea, headache, shortness of breath and a day or two of lethargy. (On the plus side, this certainly conditioned us for our stay in 'mile high' Denver.)

- The iconic image of Yellowstone that we were all exposed to as schoolchildren (Old Faithful Geyser), although wonderful in its way, is not the greatest spectacle the park has to offer. Innumerable rivers that cascade and often drop in breathtaking falls; canyons that although may not rival The Grand Canyon in scope, are nevertheless strikingly beautiful; more than half of the world's known thermal geological sights - including other geysers, pools, 'mud pots' and a variety of steaming vents; one of the most gorgeous mountain lakes possible; and the previously mentioned wildlife make for a seemingly never-ending display of the best that nature has to offer. Just when you think that you've seen the best, you round the next corner and are again awed by something new, fascinating and exciting.

- Don't be afraid to eat out in the park. Xanterra corporation has the current concession contract for Yellowstone, and does a surprisingly good job of providing good food at a reasonable price. We had a few good meals that we had difficulty believing came from such an institutional environment as a national park.

- Allow time for the buffalo. There are several large herds of buffalo in the park, and these animals (rightly so) believe that they own the place - including the roads. On more than one occasion we found ourselves in a long line of traffic as one of these magnificent beasts decided to take a stroll down the middle of one of the parks roads. They appear oblivious to humans and their machines, and are perfectly at home on the road as well as in the many pastures and meadows that would seem to be more natural habitat.

- Take in Grand Teton National Park as well. Just south of the South Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, you enter Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons are perhaps the most striking mountains in America. They have individual peaks that rival the Alps, and bordering several lakes within the park, there are more than enough 'photo ops' to satisfy even the most demanding shutterbug. Snow-capped, these steep mountains, although not as high as some of the Rocky Mountain peaks, nevertheless appear to reach higher because they are more individually located, rather than a part of a massive range.

- The park is wonderfully accessible. Although not everything that is worth seeing is on the main 'loop roads' that make up the bulk of paved road in the park, there are good roads that take you a bit further back into the more pristine countryside. Sometimes it's worth wandering off the beaten path to see something that although listed on the park's maps, is not visible from the main road. No matter where you go, the roads are universally drivable; and the National Park Service has been extremely good about not providing access to areas that might be just a bit more dangerous and precarious than we are used to. Be careful - but enjoy all that the park has to offer. It's quite a treat to see that the NPS gives us credit for having enough sense not to take our life in our hands - and gives us the opportunity to see some things that only a little bit of venturesome nature will allow one to see.

- Don't play with fire... but also don't be afraid of it. Fire is a part of nature in Yellowstone. We drove through wildfire areas that were still smoldering while entering and driving through the park. There are numerous signs of past fires, including the 1988 conflagration that ravaged more than 500,000 acres (nearly a quarter of the park). There are constant reminders of past fires, but also the Park Service goes out of their way to keep everything safe for tourists, and to remind us that the fires are necessary to keep the natural beauty of Yellowstone. Fire leaves nutrient that allows the flora to flourish and propagate.

There's probably a lot more to say about Yellowstone National Park, but just let us finish by saying that if you ever have the chance to go - take that opportunity. There is more of the beauty and wonderment of nature packed into a small area than anyone might think possible.

Following Yellowstone it was time for us to backtrack a bit and on August 14 we headed toward Denver, Co, where we would spend a bit of time with Glen's sister and her family. More of this in our next blog. For now, we hope you will enjoy some of the beautiful photos Donna took and included in her latest Picasa album. Follow the link at:

WyomingAugust, 2008.

Now, we hope you are all well; and that you have found this installment of our blog to have been worth waiting for. Take care, and come back soon for our 'Colorado Installment' of Bounder Across America. And of course, don't forget to drop off a comment and let us know you've been here!!

Donna & Glen