Yosemite (cough, cough)

We had hoped to see much of Yosemite valley on Sunday, but that was not to be. A controlled burn fire that got out of control resulted in closing some of the key roads to the valley. (I will avoid rambling on about how stupid it is to do a controlled burn when things are as dry in California as they are now!) So, anyway, we were able to see much of the eastern side of the park, shrouded in smoke, but we did not take the 3 ½ hour (one way) detour that it would have required to get into the valley. Oh well. Maybe next time.

 

Heading back to the trailer, we went up highway 108, which is a two lane road through the mountains north of Yosemite. When we drove to Alaska, we had to go up 11 and 12% grades on the Alaskan highway, and I thought that was excessive. Highway 108 has a 26% grade. Wow. Good thing we were not pulling the trailer.

 

 

Pearl sunbathing

Pearl's idea of a perfect day!

High in the Sierras

We are high in the Sierras in the area around Mammoth Lakes. Here is a shot of June Lake (which is nearby). Wifi isn't too good here, so we won't post any more for today. We are off to an exploration of Yosemite - but I do not know how much we can see. There's a big fire and some of the roads are closed....

No goose poop for me

{Pearl} - The humans took a ride yesterday afternoon out by the lake. They stopped and got roast beef sandwiches (Oh boy! I love a picnic!). We stopped at this nice picnic area right by the lake. Once out of the truck, however, I saw more delicious things than roast beef sandwiches... yes, the grass was covered with those green slimy nuggets: GOOSE POOP. I love goose poop. It's so tasty! Why, it's even better than cat pooo___________________

.... WAIT WAIT WAIT.....!!!!

Aarrgggh. I got dragged back and thrown in the truck. No goose poop for me. And no roast beef, either. 

Darn.

This is our one and only bear picture

Late yesterday afternoon a California brown bear ran down the road in front of our trailer and off into the tall grass. This is it (the brown lump in the picture below.) I guess bears don't like to get their pictures taken.

Pearl says HI from Lake Tahoe

{Pearl} Lake Tahoe is cool. We are in a campground deep in the woods, where there's a constant parade of critters for me to watch. Squirrels, mice, woodpeckers, you name it. I'm not trying to catch anything, though. Just playing it cool for now. Sitting here on the nice door mat and watching the world fly/ crawl/ scamper by.  

Soon we're going to go on a ride and see the lake. That will be fun. I like to hang my head out the truck window and be admired by the humans we pass by.

Cheers!

Me? A Moose?

I bought this T shirt in Grand Teton 'cause I thought the picture looked a little like me. Big nose, big ears, big feet, kinda dopey facial expression...

Back in electricity!

One tends to forget how valuable electricity (110v) is, until you go 6 days without it...

We are in Reno today and headed for the delights of Lake Tahoe tomorrow. We're at the Grand Sierra RV park. Grand Sierra used to be the MGM Grand.

I went to the store today and got Pearl a big new bag of doggie treats. She's happy.

This lake picture (I keep forgetting to post it) is Bear Lake, on the border of Utah and Idaho. It's very pretty, and also very crowded - boats and people everywhere when we went by. The blue color comes from suspended limestone in the water.

[D]

Tacky, even for Wal-Mart

One of the nice benefits of traveling coast to coast in an RV is that you can spend the night free (without hookups) in truck stops, some state rest areas, and some Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club parking lots. The key to doing this is “safety” and “discretion.”

 First, you never plan to spend the night anywhere that looks unsafe. Some truck stops are nice. Others are seedy little places where RVers are not welcome. There have been stories of RVers being harassed in truck stops where they were not wanted, for example, so you have to be careful. Most of the time, we won’t spend the night anywhere where there isn’t at least one RV already parked there when we arrive. Safety in numbers.

 Once you do find a spot to spend the night, you also want to practice “discretion.” (Also known as “having a little class.”) You are parked for the night; you are not camping. You are not there to call attention to yourself in any way. One does not pull in, hang the patio lights, plop out the lawn chairs, fire up the barbeque, and make a night of it.

 This is a lesson our neighbors in the Elko, Nevada, Wal-Mart parking lot have yet to learn. They pulled in their trailers door-to-door, and then put out their awnings between them. After that, it was time to roll out a rug, then pull out the lawn chairs and the picnic table. They enjoyed a nice evening picnic right here in the parking lot. Tacky.

 A motorhome nearby had a huge propane bottle (one of those that stands about 4 feet high) standing next to it in the parking lot, with a line feeding the furnace. One can only wonder how many nights that RV had been staying in the lot.

Yet another motorhome had a cooler and baby stroller sitting next to it, in the parking lot. A dog was tied to a chain that was staked out in the flower bed.

 Wal-Mart has been very generous by allowing RVers to park overnight for free in many of its store parking lots. Tacky people like this threaten this nice freebie that the rest of us benefit from.

 (Terri said I could write about these people, but that I should not use the words red***k or hillb***y in this post. So I did not.)

 :)

{D}

Snakes and scorpions

There was one Utah rest area along I-80, with this friendly warning for people new to the area. Pearl got out and sniffed around a bit. Thankfully she did not uncover any new crawly friends.

 

{D}

Negligent driving...

We left Salt Lake City on Sunday morning (which, you would think, would be a good time to get out of town – since one would assume most Utah people are in church half the day on Sundays). The stretch of I-80 west of town is long and straight – skirting the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake and heading west toward the Bonneville Salt Flats. Just across the border in Nevada is – CASINO GAMBLING!, LIQUOR!, and SHOWGIRLS! – and those few Utah people who are not in church on Sunday seem to enjoy driving very fast across I-80 to reach the Nevada attractions.

 

The state has posted these signs to warn people about driving drowsy. And, indeed, we passed two accident scenes where drivers had left the road (both were eastbound) and torn through the highway median. We came upon one wreck just minutes after it had happened. A guy in an eastbound Dodge Dakota drove through the median and then rolled on the westbound of the road. It appeared he may have been thrown from the truck; there were a lot of drivers stopped giving assistance when we passed by. There are no towns on this stretch of highway, so we had gone quite a distance down the road when we met the ambulance passing by on its way to the wreck. This highway is NOT the place to get into a wreck, given its remote location and lack of assistance for those who get in trouble.

 

Another place to NOT drive fast is in the national parks, by the way. We passed by this scene on the way to Grand Teton. Some moron driving too fast hit and killed a full grown female bison. We did not see the vehicle (it had already been taken away - I imagine it was heavily damaged.) Yeah, that's the dead bison being loaded into a dump truck with a bulldozer. Yuk.

 

{D}

We're so cosmopolitan

I keep forgetting to list all the cosmopolitan places we have visited on this trip. Here's a partial list:

Paris

Peru

Cuba

Geneva

Vienna

Nassau

Genoa

Paris, Idaho

Peru, Illinois

Cuba, Missouri

Geneva, Idaho

Vienna, Virginia

Nassau, Delaware

Genoa, Wisconsin

:)

{D}

Left this place feelin' older

On our way from Grand Teton across southern Wyoming and into Utah...

We stopped in Montpelier, Idaho, to take a look at the 'National Oregon Trail/ California Trail Museum.' It's a series of exhibits that detail what the settlers to this area endured as they came here by wagon train in the 1800s. The basement has a whole bunch of different exhibits. One of them featured an old manual typewriter from the early 1900s. The museum docent was explaining to a girl of about 10 how the typewriter worked. The girl was fascinated - as if she was seeing an object from outer space. The manual carriage return was especially interesting to her. (Of course the typewriter was probably from the 1940s or 50s - hardly an exotic thing for anybody over 40.) So it was just another opportunity for us to feel much older!!!

Many of the people who settled in the Bear Valley area of Idaho were Mormons who were fleeing religious persecution in England in the mid to late 1800s. I did not even know there were Mormons in England at that time. (One of the couples featured in museum exhibits was Mr. and Mrs. Albert Ashley. HA HA)

Oh, yeah, Pearl was in the trailer while we enjoyed the museum. She was thrilled - as you can see from this "Help! I'm in prison!" expression.

Bison in the road

There were LOTS of bison in the road and the roadside meadows in Grand Teton. We did not see any bears, however, despite the numerous warnings to keep all belongings "bear safe."

Pearl, squirrel stalker

Here's a picture of Pearl at our camp site at Grand Teton. She stood at this tree about 20 minutes, watching a crafty squirrel that had eluded her (it ran past her and climbed the tree). Dang those crafty squirrels.

Not a great day for Pearl

Here at Grand Teton, there are lots of places dogs can't go. Much more so than at Yellowstone and other parks. I guess the argument is that dogs can spread disease which can then transfer to the wild animal population.

So we went out today and had some fun. And Pearl stayed home.

And tonight we're out doing laundry. And Pearl is... you guessed it. Plus, we're washing her blanket, so the "doggie smell" will be gone. Yikes! Not a good doggie day...

Grand Teton bound

We are on our way to Grand Teton. The weather here is sunny and hot today (78). Pearl is in the truck (again) and not happy, so that's all the time I am going to take for posting now.... 

D

Yellowstone Tourists!!

Earthquake Lake, 50th anniversary

We passed by this spot on the 50^th anniversary of the big earthquake that happened here on Aug. 17, 1959. Twenty-eight people were killed when the quake caused the mountainside to slide down onto a crowded campground. The landslide blocked the river channel and created a lake. The campground and three miles of the old Highway 287 are under the water.

Across Montana

We took these pictures as we travelled across Montana en route to Yellowstone. These are near Ennis, Montana.

"This sign tells the story of my life" {Pearl}

Every time the humans go somewhere fun, and I get to go with them... we pull up and then the back window of the truck slides open. That's my cue: NO DOGS ALLOWED.  "Stay in the truck, Pearl."

Aarrggh. If I was going back to school after summer vacation, and the teacher said "what did you do on your summer vacation, Pearl?" my response would be:

"Sit in the damn truck, most of the time."

Hi Grampa?

It is a pretty drive from Three Forks to Anaconda. It's about 60 miles. It was a mix of sun and rain today, with some really pretty cloud formations and a bright rainbow at Butte.

Then of course we had to pass this sign along the highway. Grampa's snotty little grandkid needs to ditch the spray paint and find a new hobby!

Sunday with the relatives

We spent a few hours in Anaconda, Montana, on Sunday with Terri's folks and her grandma, and her uncle Jim and his wife Mona. We went out to eat a late lunch (pork chop sandwiches, a Montana dietary necessity). 

Here's a couple of pictures.

Tomorrow, on to Yellowstone!

Talk to the hand

{Doug} - I think the only proper response to the continued complaining by my dog would be to purchase and wear this t-shirt...

Hey I need moral support here

Pearl here: Hey is anybody out there reading my blog besides Mary & Priscilla? What happened to the rest of you? I need you to tell these humans to take care of me the way I want to be taken care of. Where are you, brother Matthew, Auntie Pam, Denise...? Surely you couldn't resist making comments about the big guys hat post? I need some moral support here. I need you to tell these humans:

--To stop leaving me in the trailer all day while they go out and have fun at places that don't allow dogs.
--To stop leaving me in the truck or the trailer when they go into a store or to eat some place.
--To buy me a new ball, it's not my fault I popped my other one.
--To buy me the Science Diet dog food with the picture of one of my cousin on it instead of this veggie crap they bought cause they couldn't find a place that sells Science Diet. Don't dogs in Montana have any taste?
--To let my mommy buy my treats instead of the big guy. My mommy buys me the kind that I can chew. The big guy was trying to save money and bought me these things I can't chew.
--To let me play with all the animals I want to play with, like prairie dogs, wild horses, bunny rabbits, cats, buffalo.
--To get their lazy butts up out of bed in the morning and take me outside the first time I come in their room.
--To put my blankey back on the couch. I'm tired of sleeping on the floor.

I missed seeing my godhumans Lee & Kathy. They are my back-up offer in case I decide I've had enough of my present humans.

Pearl's friends saying "YOO HOOO!"

We drove the 36-mile loop through the southern section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Along the way, we passed 5 or 6 prairie dog towns with hundreds, maybe thousands of prairie dogs. Peal was, of course, fascinated.

On the way out of the park for the last time, I think I saw one of the prairie dogs doing the little dance that the gopher did when Bill Murray was trying to kill it in Caddy Shack.

"Yooo hoooo, toodle-ooh, Pearlie Poo"

snicker snicker snicker

Pearl's Driving Day Routine

Terri thought that, perhaps, you might be wondering what Pearl does all day while we are driving from one place to another. Well, wonder no more.

Pearl's day, summarized:

Sleep.

Look out the window.

Sleep.

Scratch.

Wake up, walk in a circle.

Plop down. Sleep.

Get up. Look out the window. 

Plop down. Scratch. Sleep.

Yawn, stretch, sleep.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Here we are at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. According to the history of the place, TR came here first in 1883 when he was 25 years old. Being from a family of means, he of course spent a ton of money to buy an interest in a cattle ranch. He then returned to New York... not long afterward, his wife and his mother both died on the same day. TR later returned to this area and said that the peace and solitude he got here helped him recover and that had he not come here, he would not have been ready to be president (which of course was much later). 

Of course, TR also died at the age of 60, so maybe the North Dakota winters were responsible for his not living to a ripe old age...