6/28/04 - 7/5/04

29- June- 04
As you have probably read in the other family’s blog, you know that we broke down. I stayed with Lisa, Nicole, and Mom in the camper while Travis and Dad were getting parts. I was hoping something exciting would happen like seeing a grizzly bear come close to our camper or something. I didn’t quite get what I wanted, but something did happen to Nicole and me, but it wasn’t that exciting by reading this. It was a lot more exciting when we were actually in the situation. Nicole and I went for a walk at about 7 or somewhere around there. Here it gets dark really late, so it was as bright as day. Since we were talking about grizzlies the whole time we were walking, I think it made us a little more cautious. We had just been walking less than ten minutes when we heard what I thought was a growl, but Nicole said it sounded more like a grunt. It was weird though, because we both stopped, looked at each other, and said, “Did you hear that?” It was really scary. We both remembered what brochures and signs said to do if you see a bear. It said not to run, so Nicole said, “Don’t run, just walk fast.” So we practically ran back to the camper anyway. We were just so scared we didn’t think. As I said, it wasn’t near as exciting as seeing one, but when you were standing right there, it was really frightening. What was worse was that the camper was a little ways away. When we were in the camper, we kept looking to try to see if the animal we heard was coming up the road. We weren’t sure if it was a grizzly, but it could have easily been. I do hope we see one at Yellowstone, though. Nicole and I had our adventure for that day.
-posted by Renae


2-July-04
Well I guess the camper’s doing alright, at least temporarily. Today we went into Cody, about 100 miles from the campground, to get more parts for the camper to permanently fix it. On the way we saw a moose, which was neat. In Cody, while dad got the parts we went into the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which was HUGE and included 5 museums. That was pretty cool. After we got all the parts & were finished with the museums, we went to Thermopolis, about 2 hours from Cody. We sat in a hot springs pool, which was free b/c it was a state park. It felt good, although it was kinda dirty and got pretty hot after awhile. We were only allowed to be in for 20 min. It started sprinkling right before we got out, which felt pretty good since the water was so hot. By the time we got out & took some desperately needed showers it was pouring. We ate at Pizza Hut, where we had extremely poor service, and then went grocery shopping. That was interesting, since we all got our own lists and got our own things. The clerk looked at us weird when we brought 6 baskets up, but hey, it was a lot faster! We’re on our way back to the campground, and I’m missing a pretty sunset. So I better leave now. (Oh, by the way, Travis wants to be a moose when he grows up & keeps referring to himself as “Jonas”. We think it’s some identity crisis or something. Kinda scary after listening to “A Beautiful Mind”….) –posted by Lisa

30-July-04
Renae wrongly assumed Dad already wrote about the breakdown. But alas, he did not. So I guess that’s my job. Here we go…brace yourself. We were about an hour and a half from Yellowstone, driving these really remote, very pretty mountain roads when we heard this thump and thought we popped a tire. So we immediately pulled off and discovered a much bigger problem. The springs on the camper were broken. I don’t know what that means except we can’t drive it like that. .It took about 3 hours to get the broken springs unhooked or unattached whatever we did to them. The nearest town, Cody, was about 100 or so miles away. So…Dad and Trav drove in to Cody to get parts to fix it, and the rest of us stayed in the camper w/o electric or toilets all day. We got pretty good at peeing in the woods and running from grizzlies. And we all much improved our dutch-blitz playing ability. But it wasn’t so bad. Something like that was bound to happen sometime. Nobody was hurt. And we’re back on our jolly good way now.
Aside from getting stranded on remote mountain roads, running from hungry man-eating grizzlies, and getting rescued in the nick of time by Dad or Lisa from many a very dangerous, very steep cliff, we’re having a pretty good time. (One of my father’s favorite pastimes is posing me on these really dangerous looking, sheer cliffs that are about 3 ft. from the ground, with someone holding on to my arm to save me right before I fall to my death. If you get the camera angle right it looks almost real. He finds much pleasure in that. He’s a sick man.) Haven’t had any lumberjack/bear cub dreams in a while. I’ll keep ya posted. -posted by Nicole

3-July
Since everyone else is on a hike (about the 10th one for the day) but me, I guess I’ll use my time wisely & write a bit. We walked so much today that my feet are sore, and I’m sure I’ll have blisters on some of my toes. We’re still in Yellowstone & it’s a very cool place. Today we walked around where Old Faithful is – there are miles of walkways to see all the geysers & hot pools & stuff. Renae & I walked probably at least 4-5 miles & the others figure they probably walked 12 or so, plus now we’re driving around a loop where there are lots of other places to walk to & see stuff. I did some of those till my feet are bothering me too much. I guess I need new shoes. Roger & Travis finished fixing up the camper for good this morning. Hopefully there will be no more breakdowns. It was very fortunate it all happened like it did – it could have been worse. I’m also thankful my husband & son are such good mechanics & could fix it so it didn’t have to be towed or whatever it would have taken. We’re going to have a late supper tonight caused we decided we wanted to finish this loop before going back to the camper, instead of having to come this way again tomorrow. I would say Yellowstone is definitely the highlight of the trip so far. –posted by Jolene

4-5 – July
It’s been quite a few days since we’ve been at a Flying J where we can get on the internet & post all these days, get email, etc. Back to civilization! Yesterday we spent the morning finishing up Yellowstone, seeing the falls, etc. I stayed at the camper while the others went off at 7 am. I need some time to myself now & then! I got food ready for lunch & supper, cleaned up the camper, took a walk & generally had a nice time to myself. When they got back around noon, we hooked up & left – we wanted to get to Jackson Hole for the fireworks that night. We drove through Grand Teton Nat’l Park but didn’t take lots of time since we wanted to get to Jackson Hole. Got there, parked, and walked around the town for awhile which is a real tourist place. Turned out the fireworks got cancelled cause a big thunderstorm went through right over the time they were going to be. We slept in a parking lot, unhooked this morning at some empty lot Roger found, and drove back through Grand Teton Nat’l Park today. On the way back we drove part of the way on a nasty 4 x 4 road that the rest of my family enjoys for some strange reason. I’ve had enough roads like that in Botswana to last me the rest of my life! Anyway, it was beautiful even though we saw no animals like we were hoping to. Stopped in at Barb Weaver’s (from church) parents in Jackson Hole this morning – only her mom was home. We really surprised her, especially since she doesn’t even know us! She was very gracious & invited us in & we talked for a bit before going on our way. Tonite we’ll sleep at the Flying J on the way to Salt Lake City where we’ll post this. I’m hoping to get some laundry done there too. –posted by Jolene

28 Jun – 5 July
PROCLAMATION: “ HEAR YE, HEAR YE – THERE WILL BE NO MORE RIDICULE, TEASING, MOCKING, MAKING FUN OF, OR BELITTLING ME FOR BRINGING TOO MANY TOOLS ON THIS TRIP”

Let it be known that I needed many of the tools to remove an axle on the camper and repair two broken springs. Even with the tools I had, some “shade tree mechanicing” was required. I definitely did not bring enough along. If only I would have included an air compressor, air wrench, torch, and welder. I guess the argument could be made the springs would not have broken in the first place if they were not overloaded with all the tools – but that is very flawed reasoning (please do not even mention that reasoning to my family).

The broken springs could not have happened at a much worse place. I thought I would have to go to Billings, MT for parts, which was 150 miles away, but we ended up finding what we needed in Cody, WY, only 100 miles away. The first two days we repaired it enough to get into Yellowstone after sitting along a road in a very remote location. In the two days we sat there 100’s of cars passed us, many almost stopping to gawk at our predicament with the entire camper blocked up and the axle lying beside us, but not one stopped to ask if we need help – in a very remote location. I was completely astounded. What is this country coming to? A ranger did stop by one day and checked up on us the following day – but that was it. We didn’t need help, but it would have been nice to have been asked. We did cripple the camper into Yellowstone and then ended up changing some wheel bearings etc. and finishing the axle work. I don’t know what the neighbors thought with our camper on blocks a few days.

Yellowstone is a very impressive place. If only there weren’t so many people there. Most times when I am impressed with a place the first time, the second time it doesn’t seem as amazing, but Yellowstone and Carlsbad Caverns are two places that was not the case for me. The second visit was as impressive, or even more so, than the first visit. They are my two favorite locations in North America. This country definitely has some real beautiful scenery. - posted by Roger