Thursday, July 4th, 2019
Ride Report: None - planned Rest Day
Not that another Rest Day was particularly necessary, mind you, but our son, Keith, and daughter-in-law, Kerrie, will be joining us here in West Yellowstone this afternoon for what will comprise our trip thru Yellowstone and to the Tetons. Keith plans to ride with me. The reader can expect several “Rest Days” in the next week as we’ll ride one day into Yellowstone, then take another Rest Day to see what sights we can see in a day. Then we’ll ride to the Tetons and spend two more Rest Days there before they return to Boise, ID for their flight back to Kansas City. As they head to Boise, Susan and I shall commence traipsing about Wyoming. Susan and I have both been lookin' forward to spending this time with KnK - as we call ‘em.
Outside that we did some grocery shopping, I cleaned Sig up after his most recent bath - the rain we hit on the way into West Yellowstone, we moved our stuff around to make room in The Rig for KnK, looked around West Yellowstone a bit, that sorta stuff. Here’s what it looked like...
When we went "downtown" to find the grocery store we had to park The Rig on a side street. As it happens, that particular street bordered Yellowstone Park. I saw a "boundary line" sign and when I investigated further discovered that it forbade hunting in the Park. Sig was dismayed. He was all ready to roll and oilin' up the 30-06. We were both looking forward to buffalo steaks. So we headed over to the grocery store instead...
Ignore all the greenery in the basket - rabbit food. But I did find these. Surprisingly, the checker knew nothing of my contract with Hostess and insisted that we actually pay for them. Fortunately we left before the West Yellowstone PD showed up. I shall be filing a complaint with the legal department at Hostess.
Leaving the grocery store we ran into Thomas. He's riding the T/A at 78 years young. Thomas and I had run into each other a few times over the past several days starting in Twin Bridges, but always in locations where I wasn't comfortable taking a pic. Last I saw him was as we passed Earthquake Lake. Like me he got caught in the rain storm yesterday, but he elected to stop at a campground North of town. It was full, but the owner let him pitch his tent in an out of the way location. Just look at his bike - he's loaded for bear. I hope he knows there's no hunting in Yellowstone.
Susan thought maybe we should stay at a motel and catch a REAL shower for the first time in weeks. Ya hafta live in an RV to understand., Anyway, I told her I refused to patronize an establishment that was only for dudes.
Then it was off to Mountain Mama's for lunch. Fortunately, despite their name, this establishment was more broad minded than the motel and agreed to serve me lunch. I opted for the buffalo pot pie. It was savory, but the vegetables were seriously under cooked, they gave me the roasted red pepper gravy despite me asking for the beef, and when the waitress brought them out she didn't know which pot pie was mine and which was Susan's. This was unfortunate, because the place was just "kitschey" enough to be interesting with some good music playing in the background.
Rats, it's plural. We went in and talked with the owner as we browsed. Turns out that he's originally from Bird City, KS. Yes, there is such a place. I've ridden thru it on a BAK several years ago.
Holy Cow Batman! Susan was stoked when she saw this. The AK is what did it for her. (If ya don't know, Google AK 47 and then look at the sign again.) The only way I could distract her was...
...to get her to take this pic for me. She just loves taking these. I believe I can recall her exact words as she snapped the last of several pics; to give me more to choose from - ya gotta have just the right pucker or these shots aren't believable. I'm pretty sure she said, "That's it. I'm done." The reader should note the patriotic nature of the pic with the US flag in the background. Fitting given that this is the 4th of July and all.
Rumor has it (according to the antique store guy) that they put on a whale of a fireworks show when, "...it gets dark enough." We're supposed to be able to see it from the RV park. We'll check it out.
This is KnK. We're glad to have them aboard for the next week(ish). As I said earlier, we've been looking forward to this for a long time. We anticipate hearing about their recent trip to Italy, and we can fill them in on The Thin Blue Ride.
Hmmm... Shouldn't be too tough. I had to leave mine at home to make room for the scooter...
I saw this after KnK arrived. They talked us into heading to this little espresso and ice cream shop they saw on the way into town. I'm pretty sure we walked 27 miles to get there and it was closed. So we diverted to downtown to find some ice cream. We eventually met with success. I had two scoops of huckleberry. I'm pretty sure it's my new favorite berry.
Fishing is a big deal here. And I've always liked trout. This one apparently likes me.
I think I mentioned earlier that this is the 4th of July and that West Yellowstone has a big fireworks show. Apparently, like many small towns across the country, they also have a big parade. It was organizing as we walked back to the RV Park from downtown. I talked to the guy driving this bus. It's an original tour bus from Yellowstone dating from the late 30s. His grandfather (now deceased) bought it in 1960 when the Park Service auctioned them off. His grandmother still owns it and he drives it in the parade on her behalf. Pretty cool.
Let the reader be warned, as of tomorrow morning and for the next few days, we shall be entering the technological Bizarro World (also known as "Htrae") operated by the National Park system. This means no cell service. They even tout this Neo-Luddism on the Yellowstone web site as if proud of it. BTW - in an effort to improve my reader's knowledge base, I encourage those of you who skipped comic books as a kid to check out Wikipedia for "Bizarro World".
Till next time.
Till next time.
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