Catching Up!

Wow so the last three days have been a wild ride! To get everyone up to speed…. We got off of I-90 at Buffalo, Wyoming and fueled up. We picked up Highway 16 West out of Buffalo across the Bighorn Mountains and stopped for a photo opportunity at Powder River Pass (Elevation 9,666 ft.) On the way down the back side we drove through the Wind River Canyon. It was amazing to be driving underneath huge red cliffs that towered above us. Cricker, because he is half mountain goat, scrambled up to the cliff face and got some great shots of the sun casting shadows into the canyon. We continued on 16 toward Worland and arrived in Cody for the night around 10 pm. We immediately located the local Walmart and spent about 45 minutes inside warming up (Remember folks, the bus has no heat or insulation in the front!)(It was freezing at almost 10,000 ft and got colder when the sun went down!). Cricker told me that camping in the parking lot was perfectly kosher and that Walmart even encouraged it. I had serious doubts about his announcement, so I did a little research online and found a few forums entirely dedicated to Walmart camping. Satisfied with that information, we set about making a hot dinner. I elected to use my backpacking stove, which had been riding under the seat all the way from Virginia. For anyone who has ever used a liquid fuel stove, you know that you have to get it started by having a huge flame for about a minute to get the fuel to draw. Well I started this process on the little pop out table on the side of the ice box, and I immediately sensed that things were going downhill fast! Evidently the nut on the bottom of the fuel injector had worked itself loose, and liquid fuel had spread all over the table and onto the bus. About the time I had a three foot flame going, the entire table caught fire and there was a great deal of excitement! I grabbed the flaming stove and carried it far away from the bus as Cricker swatted the flames out on the bus…. Wow. The cart return guys were really eyeing us for a while after that. Haha. But I tightened the nut and let the stove heat up and in short order we had chicken noodle soup (Thanks Mom!) and turkey sandwiches. The hot meal was worth all the excitement! We popped the top up and crawled into bed around midnight. As it grew light out in the morning, I could hear people stop their cars every so often and oohh and ahh and chuckle about the bus. When I finally woke up, I had to use the restroom sooo badly, I ran into the store to take advantage of the amenities that our great asphalt campsite offered. While I was washing my hands, I couldn’t help but laugh at my face in the mirror. I was definitely “That Guy” you see at Walmart and wonder where the heck he came from…
So that was my first trip inside. I put on my jeans and changed shirts and Cricker and I went inside to stock up on groceries. The greeter just laughed as we walked in. 45 minutes later we had the cooler and icebox stocked, and Cricker had purchased a new zero degree sleeping bag. We refueled at a Shell station and headed across town in Cody to find a wifi connection where we could upload some pictures. We got coffee at Mcdonald’s and were able to pick up an unsecured connection from a local hotel. A good three hours went by there while we uploaded pictures, posted the link to our blog on the Samba, and I checked my grades….A fairly positive experience! There is a good story about some old ladies who were getting icecream and coffee…. But its too much to type here.
We left Cody heading towards Cooke City, Montana on Highway 296. This has without a doubt been the most amazing experience of our trip. Words don’t do justice to the views. If you ever visit Yellowstone, I highly recommend going in the northeast entrance. I’ll post pictures so you guys can see for yourselves! The skies were blue and the temperature was in the mid sixties when we left Cody, but by the time we were headed up the mountain to Cooke City it was blowing snow and freezing cold. (Ok, here is the back story to why we went to Cooke City…. We stopped in Pleasant Hill, Ohio to see our cousin Karen and she was visiting some friends of hers. We hung out for a while with them (the Boothes) , had pizza and when it was brought up that we were headed to Yellowstone we were instructed to look up some friends of theirs (Rick and Catherine Porter) who live just outside the park. To make a long story short, we just showed up in Cooke City having never talked to these people, and had to ask around to find them because their phones were out!)
The night/day we spent in Cooke City, Montana was by far the most fun we have had since leaving. The view of the mountains rising above us was breathtaking and the town was quite possibly the coolest place I have ever spent the night. We showed up at the Hoosier Motel and met Rick, who had no idea who we were or that we were coming to visit him. His wife, Catherine had just left to visit her parents down the mountain, but he invited us in and we sat around telling our story until she showed up. She was just as surprised but excited to have visitors from the East. We showed them the pictures of our travels and traded contact info. We spent the afternoon and most of the night going to all the local hang outs that were open at this time of the year. Miner’s Saloon has fantastic burgers, we got the quarter pounders, but immediately wished we had opted for the half pounders! Many hours were spent poring over the atlas and dozens of great stops were circled and discussed as well. Even some of the locals offered advice about routes to take and places to see. We headed to bed before them but we snapped a quick photo first, which will definitely be posted. We slept on the street in front of the motel and the night was surprisingly warm although we awoke to a light snowfall, which I enjoyed immensely! We were up before our hosts, so we spent a few hours walking around town and having breakfast at Buns ‘N Beds- a great cup of coffee and filling breakfast burrito! After dropping off some post cards at the post office and checking out the Cooke City Store, we bid adieu to our hosts and wandered on down the mountain into the Northeast Yellowstone entrance. (The park pass is paying for itself, already halfway!) Thanks so much Rick and Catherine for your hospitality! We had a blast and both of us will definitely be back… Ill never want to go into the park from another entrance!
This catches everyone up to Friday about noon. The Yellowstone adventures deserve their own post so that’s coming up ASAP. Im typing this from Canyon campground, a few miles north of Gardiner, Montana where we stayed last night. If breakfast doesn’t get in the way you should be up to speed with us in a few hours! The service is not great here but ill try to at least get a picture or two up!
Thanks for keeping up with us, sorry about the delay in the blog. We kinda dropped off the side of the earth for a few days there!