Sunday 13th August 2017

It might take some time to process all what we did today. A 13 hour car drive arriving at Yellowstone as it was getting dark, hoping that the reservation was still good.

Anyway, thanks to our old friend jet lag, I was awake at four. Jools had been awoken at half twelve by the sound of the whistle of a passing freight train as it crossed the level crossing two blocks away. And as we lay in bed waiting for dawn to come, we heard another train approach and pass.

by half six, we were showered, dressed and packed, and ready to start the day, a day which would be mostly a 12 hour car trip into and across Wyoming. Me saying ten months back that we could fly in there, drive somewhere else in less than a day and so on was on the basis of not knowing how big Wyoming is. I mean the atlas we have for it is as big and comprehensive as one for Britain.

So, 535 miles according to the sat nav, and what we would see; who knew?

We did not have breakfast in the hotel, we could have but that would have meant making our choices the night before, and who really know what they want to eat 12 hours in advance. But the one thing we could be sure of is there would be no shortage of places to have breakfast on the way, at least in the first hour on our way to Chayanne. I mean tthat there is a western name if ever there is one, and that is on the way to Laramie, and that is even more western.

We load the car and drop the roof, but on the way out of Fort Collins it was choilly, and on the interstate it would be colder and breezier still, so we stop to put the roof up, just beside a university campus, a nice looking place I have to say, as was Fort Collins, leafy and mostly unspoilt with just the centre being strip malls and parking lots.

Onto the interstate and up to just before we were to turn off, and we roll into an Dennys. Where are you from, what is that accent? Blah blah, and so on. I have been to Englan, I went to Liverpool, met this guy, Bob, do you know him?

Anyway, we order breakfast, which comes on two plates each. This is crazy. BUt it is also good, and we eat most of it, whilst listening to the guy on the next table, complain, whilst breathing pure oxygen through a tube, that Obamacare needs to be repealed and that all the trouble in the US is the Democrats fault. I listen and try not to laugh, but they moved onto the eclipse and the fact people might come from out of state to see it.

If only they knew.

We leave, and with Jools driving we strike out west, along another interstate, 80 I think, making for the line of mountains on the horizon, but never quite getting to them.

Readers, America is big. Vast in fact, and we drove for hours and hours, the countryside turned into rolling prarie, hour after hour we went along, passing weather butes of rock, rolling prairie and grassland. Fiver hours to go. Four hours to go.

And we were running out of gas.

Places on the map saying they were cities, yes, I’m talking about you, Jeffrey City, we nothing more than a collection of shacks and tumbledown buildings. We had less than 50 miles of gas when we arrived in Riverton. We stop at the first gas station, and despite having had two breakfasts four hours back, we have lunch. A salad followed by a sandwich. Another two plates.

But again, everyone is so darned nice, real nice. I tip them.

And we are off again, along hour after hour of identical countryside, but also stunning at the same time. Rolling prairie lands, rugged butes of rock, fertile river valleys. The afternoon grew old. We pass through a narrow gorge which the river shared with a road and railroad.

We had passed a mile long freight train a few miles back, so waited at two spots to snap it. At the second we discover a wealth of wildlife, four butterfly species, katydids and wasps and bees. I get shots of them and the train and so am very happy indeed.

Just out of the valley, at Sparolopolis or something, the weather closes in, and clouds drop down and day is turned into night, and all the wile the landscapes gets ever more larger and dramatic.

We have to pass through where we will be staying from Sunday, Cody Wyoming, named after Buffalo Bill Cody. So its Buffalo Bill this and that including a museum. We shall have two full days to explore Cody. Well, one day and then there is the matter of the eclipse of course.

We are within two hours of our cabin, but have to climb over a mountain. A place called, I kid ye not, Dead Indian mountain. Up and up we go, clouds part and dramatic rock formations are revelealed, under a rainbow. Under a double rainbow. And then once we had reached the top of the pass, there was a ten mile descent that would have given Le Tour riders trouble. From the top we could see to the start of Yellowstone, and the road coiled up below like a hose.

Final push now, into Montana. Past a lively town with many bars and cowboy themed places. I think this will become a trend. As will “boot barns”. Montana doesn’t look that different from Wyoming, other than the town with the bars all done out to look all western like.

The rain sets in, hammering down and making the car think its night, so dimming all the lights in the car.

And at quarter past six, eleven and one half hours after setting off, we arrive at the gate to Yellowstone.

That’ll be $30.

But have a map.

The landscape had been dramatic before, and I wish I had shots, but the clouds tuened day into night again, and they would have been rubbish. So, take my word for it, huge mountains, trees, valleys and rivers.

We came to a jam, a jam caused by bison. I mean, when you weigh a ton or more, you should be able to stop traffic. The alpha male waks beween the lines of cars, grunting, while all around his hareem eats or rests.

And then there is the hour hour drive round the park to Mammoth, and hopefully where our room, or cabin, is waiting.

We see no bears, but in Mammoth Falls we see an elk. Or a caribou, not sure which, but it is eating the manicured lawn in front of the hotel. But we are staying in a cabin out back. Jools pays and get the keys, so we can relax.

I walk to the store to buy some beers and stuff, return to each Ritz Crackers with cheese from a can, because we can.

Outsie we sit on the stoop, eating and drinking, whilst Swifts wheel and spin hunting for food, as we look on. Some Italian tourists arrive and don’t look to happy, but we are. Even with out wifi, a TV. It all we need., we drink and eat, and tiredness overcomes us.

Time for bed (mountain time).