After a good nigh'ts sleep in Rollins and few quick calculation on mileage we decided that we had time to slip by Yellowstone National Park. Going into the south entrance you pass by The Tetons and that famous place called Jackson Hole. We always wondered where that place was. When we stopped by the WY visitors center the information guide said that it was 8 hours from Cheyenne to Yellowstone. so we were 4 hours into a 8 hour trip form Rollins. Well let me tell you folks something, he was right, but that gets you to the south entrance of the park. Do you have any idea how massive Yellowstone is? Before we get to Yellowstone,our trip threw the Tetons was a little disappointing due to the weather. We did get a glimpse of those beautiful mountains but they were mostly covered by the clouds. We did stop take a picture and continue
on. Well we arrived at the south entrance and there was no one to meet us. I guess the word hadn't arrived that the Relyeas were scheduled to arrive today. Actually the park is barely open. Not due to the sequester, but the snow has barely melted up here. So we headed into the park. We didn't have to pay the entry fee so it was a good day. We drove threw the park admiring the beauty before us. We continued driving and driving and driving. We knew that Old Faithful was here somewhere. After about 2 hours we came to a tee in the road and determined to we should keep going straight. Who made that brilliant decision? The driver. You know men have a good instinct for directions. Well 2 hours later we found ourselves at another intersection, on the opposites side of the park from where we were suppose to be. Now these ain't 4 lane highways we are talking about. Our faithful navigator got us redirected and at that that point she decided that Bob needed some rest. All those brilliant decisions have fried his brain. Now it was after 6 in a federal park, you know how federal employees are-It's Miller time. So we put Sharon up on the roof of the motor home to see if she could get a bar or two on the phone to find a place to park the coach. Well she finally got a person on the phone after 45 minutes of recorded messages and found us a place to settle in for a couple of nights. It would be like camping, no power ,no water just you and the mountains. But no sweat we had everything we needed to endure the elements. We were greeted at our camp site by 4 cow bison and 3 calves!!! What a wonderful welcoming committee after we had traveled 1474 miles in 2 1/2 days!!
Not only did we see the Old Faithful Geyser, named because it is the most reliable geyser and can be predicted to within a 20 minute window of when it will erupt, but we waited out the Grand Geyser with a 3 hour window! The park rangers calculate the potential time of eruption and then say, plus or minus 90 minutes. It was a bit of a hike to the area but there were fewer of us there and we were much closer to the three geysers. The Grand Geyser is much taller and larger than Old Faithful, but you have to want to see it. We also hiked past mud pots, steam vents and beautiful sapphire pools. Getting in our exercise as well!
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