Tuesday - Battery is charged

Boy do I need an extra battery for my camera.  There was so much I missed on Monday.  There was a coyote walking along the side of the road. There were a herd of bison in a plain down over a cliff and the scenery everywhere was just asking to have a picture taken.

We went back to YNP's version of the Grand Canyon which was one of the things I didn't get the first time around.  The pictures will be on FB.  The rock formations and the colors were just fabulous!  I took a lot of picture - I'm sure they will not do it justice. 

On the way back to the campground we had to go through some construction.  They were resurfacing the road and another place they were working on the cliffs.  We stopped to see the petrified tree and then we took a 6mi. back road which was dirt and had not seen a grader in a few years.  A perfect one for the jeep. We saw lots of rolling hills and the west's version of fall.  We also saw some big horned sheep.  I had to change lenses to get any pictures and by that time they had run over the hill.  They are very shy.  Not like the elk or the buffalo. 

The elk just wander anywhere they want.  They were in Mammoth village one day just lying around in the grass all around the building and they were here in the campground.  the bull elk just lays in the grass and his harem is all around him.  He is quite majestic with his big rack of horns. 

We did not see any bear on moose while we were here.

Monday in YNP

We spent all day Monday driving a loop around the park.  It is bigger than I expected.  We probably drove over 100 miles.  We spent the whole day driving the loop with me wanting to take pictures every 50 feet or so. You should have heard the "humphs" but he did it anyway - he loves me lots.

The first place we stopped was Mammoth Springs.  It was early in the morning and there was a lot of steam with the cool air.  But what a sight!  The pictures will be on FB.  I was taking pictures out the car window or asking Joe to stop so I could get one.

The second place we stopped was Norris Geysers.  There were a lot of hot springs and little geysers and stuff.  There was a 1.2 mile hike around the area and I took that while Joe hung out at the museum.  That took me about an hour and a half but I got lots of pictures.  They also will be posted to FB.

We stopped a lot of places in between the stops to get pictures.  The country is so different from back home.  I couldn't stop taking pictures.

The last stop was Old Faithful.  That was the primary reason for being here.  Not the bison or the elk or the sheep or any of the other animals or sights that we saw.  (believe that and I have a bridge to sell you Ha Ha).

Of course my camera battery started to die right at Old Faithful.  I had to keep shutting my camera off to save energy.  But I got some of it going off.  It was way cool  Yup, pictures on FB.

We finally made it home about supper time.  Had supper and that was the end of us.

Sunday - Another Easy Day

We pretty much planned not to wander around the park on the  weekend.  It was time for us to unwind from driving and get ourselves situated with the motor home and our area. 

The campgrounds are very nice.  The camp site are nicely spaced.  You can pull in and pull out when you are ready to leave.  We just happen to be at the beginning of the area and have to drive through the whole campground to get out.  That is fine with the jeep but we had to move the motor home on Sunday to get fuel and water.  We scraped a couple of trees on the way out.  Lesson learned - NO shortcuts!!

There are people here with everything from tents to 5th wheels to motor homes like ours.  The people are very friendly.  One couple noticed our solar panels on the top of our RV and was interested.  Then we met a young couple camped in the spot ahead of us.  They were very nice. They were in a tent.  It was in the 40's and 50's at night.  They only stayed one night. 

We are camped at the north end of the park at Mammoth Springs.  There is a town called Gardiner that is about 5 mi. from here.  We went there to do laundry and we had a couple of meal there.  It is strictly a tourist town and for people who work in the park.

Saturday- First Day at Yellowstone

 

It is Saturday.  Everyone and his brother is here in the park.  We decided to just hang out at the motor home. 

Joe did little odd jobs around the motor home.  He took a nice long nap and cooked American chop suey for supper. 

I read my book and tried to get pictures uploaded to my blog unsuccessfully.  So I put the pictures on face book and wrote the blog.  The pictures will not upload.  That may be the way I do the pictures for a while.

We figure the weekend is going to be congested so we are going to explore Monday. 

We saw some elk in our campground.  I took pictures that I will put on Face book.

Friday, off to Yellowstone - Again!

 

Here we go again, folks.  We left Billings, MT about 7:30 this morning. Needless to say we did not go over Beartooth Pass again.  We pretty much followed the same route till we hit 310 and followed that to Chief Joseph Scenic Highway and followed that to the other side of Beartooth Pass and to Cooke City MT and on to Yellowstone National Park.

Part of the highway we were on was coming down off the mountain.  It was a lot of twists and turns and up and down hills.  It was kind of scary for me. The motor home was acting the same way it was before so I guess it was normal for all those hills.   

We are camped at Mammoth campground and are settled in.  Our hope is to stay after the weekend when the park will be less congested.  Then we will get to enjoy all the sights.

We already saw buffalo and elk and deer.  The deer here have big ears and are more grey than tan. 

We went to Gardiner MT for supper and more importantly we did laundry.  The dinner was good and doing laundry was fun and expensive.  The other ladies and I decided it would be cheaper to go out and buy clothes and just discard the dirty ones.  Joe didn't think that was funny.  He got out voted by the women. 

I could not upload the pictures to the blog so I posted them  to facebook - sorry.

We are in for the night.  Good night.

 

Thursday - It is Joe's Birthday

 

 

The motor home is all fixed we are relaxed and it is Joe's birthday.  We are doing nothing.  Which means we are not driving anywhere.  We are staying right in the parking lot and watching the world go by.

We went to a restaurant called the Muzzle Loader for breakfast.  It is a combination cafe and casino.  The food is good and cheap and the waitresses are really nice. 

Then we went to Wal-Mart to get prescriptions filled and do some shopping for some things we needed. 

I got a recipe off the internet for some coleslaw and made it for Joe.  He wants the cabbage to be easier to chew.  We got some grapes that were really good.

There was no stress - just peace and quiet.  Joe did some things around the motor home like dump the garbage and set mouse traps.  We have had mice since we got the awnings fixed in the spring.  They went to  Maine with us and they are still with us.  I cleaned all the drawers in the kitchen and did all the dishes and washed the dish towels and all the utensils in the drawers.  I also had to wash all the towels and blankets.  This is fall and I found them in the drawers again.  We have been setting traps and get one here and there.  We hadn't had any in a long time and thought they were gone.   Here we go again, folks.

Just peace and quiet.

Thank you

These pictures are antiques that are around the parking lot where we were parked

 

Wednesday - the Day of Repair

 

We really took advantage of being at "sea level"  I'm sure we're not but close enough.  We didn't get out of bed till 8:00 mountain time.  It felt so good just to be where we could breathe and not feel the RV rockin and rollin.  

The mechanics  showed up just as we were getting up and around.  I had to hurry and get dressed and  Joe had to close everything up so they could drive it over to the garage and check it out. 

The generator/alternator  was really fried.  We have to get a new one which they ordered for us.  Now we have to wait for it to come in. 

While the motor home was being worked on we could stay in their waiting room.  There was a little kitchenette there, they had 2 coffee pots going, and there was a television with a WII.  All the comforts of  home.  Joe found the coffee, I found the teeny beanies jelly beans - yum.

I worked some more on the blogs and getting them posted.  I am getting better at this blogging.  By the time I finish I might be an expert ha ha.

I just want to say that the people we have met through this whole ordeal have been extremely kind and helpful.

There was the couple that took me to the emergency phone.   They stayed with me while I called for help and then they took me back to the motor home so we could help Joe.  They stayed with us till we were able to deal with everything.  There were passing cars stopping to offer assistance.  The state police from Montana were helpful and supportive.  There was a wrecker that came with the state police who offered his assistance.  He was kind and helpful but his wrecker was just for cars. 

The huge wrecker that came that night was even helpful (at the time we didn't think so).  He and Joe talked and decided it wasn't a good idea to drive it off the mountain because it could start a fire. We decided that it was a good thing that he never came back to get us because his truck just was not big enough. Even though it was for larger trucks. 

The Hanser people were very kind.  They were so helpful.  Mr. Hanser  the owner greeted us the next day when the motor home came over to be checked out and fixed.  He told us that it was his son that came to get us.  The office people worked very hard getting all the paperwork in order so that it was a smooth ending.   With everything that they did for us we are eternally grateful to all of them. 

They had the motor home all fixed up and ready to go by mid afternoon.   Thank you all very much! It was a pleasure meeting all of you - it would have been much better under different circumstances.

 

 This a picture of our home getting fixed in the garage

 Here is where we are parked and below are some of Hanser's Towing Service.