The Mustang packed and ready for the trip home ...
...getting photo bombed by a three year old.
She apparently had a great trip back... Ask her about it.
Back on the road through the grass plains of Kansas. Actually saw more wind generators than these guys...
Pumping crude.
Down below is this...
Something phallic to stand next to.
...as the sun sets.
Time to head for the crossroads shot... The devil didn't show up...
...and I still can't play guitar.
It's important to get off the interstate and admire the view...
Stayed overnight in a recently renovated hotel in Oakley (Yep... Home town of Annie)
It was still this bright with the lights off. Like high gloss car paint.
There's still a few quirky things to see to break up the miles. Like this statue of Buffalo Bill knocking over another BOFfalo...
Or a giant copy of sunflowers a la Van Gough...
Why? Just Why?
Managed to put up my first camp ...
(Lonely) Cold Springs campground with posing...
Chipmonks!
First climb from 8000 to 10000 feet,,,
Too easy. Time to head off to higher ground.
No fires, no smoking,
and no having fun with cleavage?
View from the campground
It gets steeper the closer you get...
Above the treeline... First time I've been near snow since 1975. And of course...
Finally made it with some encouragement from a 78 year old hiking companion and motivator. She saw me struggling about 800 feet from the top, so she led me up the mountain path...
Seriously suffering with headache and nosebleed.
Definitely not used to altitude, and this was not the highest peak. Think I'll drive up that one.
Finally, you have to admire the trail builders and maintainers. Three and a half hours up and only two and a half hours down.
Waiting for my hotel in Denver I stopped for an hour at the Leaning Tree museum...
And found a brother from another mother...
And some seriously great evocative portrait work...
Julie, you should look up this guy ... R. Brownell McGrew
Jean-Marie Zeitouni is the conductor of the Colarado Symphony. I had front row seats...
And watched him waggle his bum for two hours.
Seriously, it was really great to see a conductor actually play an orchestra. Boulder is a great place but is a little too expensive to spend any time in. I was offered a job here in 1991 but went to Derby instead so it was good to look back at one of life's forks with that perspective.
Back on the road through the Rocky Mountains National Park...
Level with my left shoulder is Pawnee Pass. This is what it looks like from "the other side of the mountain. The other side of the mountain. The other side of the mountain and see what we can see."
This what it's supposed to look like...
This is what it does look like...
After all the fires.
These guys are hanging around every parking lot. Lot's of signs saying not to feed them.
About 4000 cars a day through the park. Amazing they are still so thin.
The popular National Parks are just a bit too popular. Finding a spot to park was difficult so I picked up a couple of hikers and dropped them off just outside the Park at a town called Kremmling. By driving behind the shops of Main Street it had its own ...
Natural History.
This was the start of Wyoming. Forget about owning a cabin in the woods. For 300k AU you can buy 20 acres with a whole town on it..
A ghost town.
Hay!
The guy in the foreground has knocked up 40,000 miles in less that two years.
Not bad, however I've just ticked over 10,000 miles in three months.
First I couldn't stop where I'd planned because the roads to the forest were closed for this fire...
It wasn't me.
So I ended up just pulling over and sleeping in the car...
Only a couple of trucks went passed in the night.
Took a while to figure out what these fences were for...
It's to give the cattle somewhere to shelter in the blizzards.
The scenery is just like home. You just need to drop it down to sea level and take all the water away...
Ended up stopping the night in Rawlins. I had missed the last tour of the Wyoming Penitentiary for the day so had to wait until the next morning to see the last used (1964) gas chamber...
...and of course...
the money shot.
Back on the road and the landscape definitely opens up. Any hill is an excuse to get out of the car for a stretch...
...or a BOF.
This one's called split rock...
like the heels on my feet.
This is where I had decided to camp tonight. A power line access road. Until this came over the hill...
The weather sure is changeable.
One of the many times I've crossed this line on the back roads. Speaking of which I think you tend to see more than you do in the controlled and crowded National Parks. Like this guy...
just trotting down the forestry path. The path got a bit boggy as it went further in...
The Mustang wouldn't have driven down this road. I should check the rental insurance again.
An unrestricted camp spot in the Bridger-Teton National Forrest.
I'm sleeping in the car because apparently tents aren't a problem for the bears these days. Great fire, great stars, three rums and a good night sleep. Off to rejoin the masses tomorrow...
Jackson Lake in the Tetons National Park.
Very picturesque and filled with cars so I took an hour in the morning throwing a lure and watched them all go past...
I had to make do with this little trout.
It could be put off no longer. I joined the queue to get into Yellowstone National Park. Seriously there was three x 15 minute queues to pay $50 for your car to get in. And there are four entrances I stopped and the second siding and took a small hike to the river. Nobody else stopped. I had the place to myself...
Still pretty nice even though the pine trees have been decimated by fires and pine beetles. No one I have spoken to seems very enthusiastic about the pines being able to ever recover. An absolute shame but that doesn't interest anyone in a car. They are all heading here...
Easily 4000 spectators. As I parked and then walked through the crowd I got you this shot...
which would be better if I just bought a post card.
Seriously, Old Faithful is such a huge thing that it took me half an hour to find my car after the event. This meant I was behind all the tour buses and tour groups as we all headed off down the road in search of the lesser know geysers and hot pools...
You take mine. I take yours. Was fine for a while...
In the end I compromised.
There is however one road to Firehole pool that doesn't allow buses and RV's. It was possible to actually find a parking spot to some really neat attractions...
Mud pool with geyser in the background...
The thought of getting back in the crazy traffic on the main loop road made me pause for...
... a cooling brew.
Seriously the worst driving I have ever had to deal with. How can someone roll a car at 20 mph? Yep. Saw that. Fortunately there was no campsites in the park so I opted out the West exit to a State park just 10 miles down the road...
Box Canyon Campgrounds with just three occupants including the camp host.
With the state of the Yellowstone's forests, the fact that I'd seen the unique bits and, I just didn't have enough alcohol I made the easy decision not to go back into Yellowstone and headed South into Idaho for breakfast with the ducks...
And the bears...
This is actually part of a man made hydro electric power station in the middle of Rexall.
Pretty impressive centre piece of the town. Makes our puny attempts at tidal power look lame.
Back on the road there is a great stop for the geologically inclined called Hell's Half Acre. Basically a cooled and cracked Magma flow. In the cracks life gets a hold and...
this tree has been eeking out an existence for at least 400 years. And...
The first cactus as I head South.
Highlight of trip this week would be...
Tony Galatti better get his act together.
This was one of the best museums I've stopped at. Truly an American gem. It even includes a Guinness book of records...
for a Pringle.
The best part about it was that the Blackfoot County knew it was ridiculous but built it anyway. And they still have their tongue firmly in their cheek. The talking potato family in their bed is a crack up. A much better visitor experience than Yellowstone.
Into Utah and Salt Lake City tomorrow and then off to see if I can get removed from Temple Square...
