-Miranda
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We ended up staying in the parking lot of the bar Sara works at since there was a large dirt area of the lot. This afternoon, we went out to lunch with Sara and her roommate. We then headed out of town and have basically been driving ever since. We are now sitting just south of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, parked in a National Grassland which is also an oil field. We'll be back on the road tomorrow morning.
I'll post the Yellowstone photos here.
-Miranda
Old Faithful erupting.
An old geyser.
One of many very neat colored, hot springs. This one is one of the hottest I believe.
Joe's favorite area in the park. He likes his rocks. ;) This very short little road went through the rocks. It looked like giant boulders had just been thrown down to the ground.
A mountain goat that was just off the side of the highway while we were working our way out of the park.
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On Monday, it was pretty icky looking out, but we left our comfy spot anyway and drove to Signal Mountain where we planned on hiking. It wasn't raining, so that helped. The hike was about 6 miles round trip, with the middle being the summit of the mountain. People could drive up there, so that made it sort of annoying. Getting to the top is supposed to be a reward... Oh well. It was still a nice hike and the sun was even out for a large chunk of it.
We then found a different road to go down to get to the national forest. It started pouring/hailing while driving there. The dirt road got really mucky for a bit. Enough so that I was worried we were going to get stuck. Not so! After that it was insanely potholey. We found the first place we could get off the road and slept there. It was a pretty area, if it wasn't a mud hole...
We left right away in the morning and headed for Yellowstone. While there, our first stop was Old Faithful. We watched it erupt, then walked around all the boardwalks to the other geysers. Very neat area. After our hiking yesterday and now this walk, we are both pretty sore. Apparently we need to get jogging.
The RV barely started up and has been sounding awful. So, after some discussion, we decided to just get home. Yellowstone looks awesome, but we decided we shouldn't press our luck and we would just have to leave it for another time.
On our way out of the park we saw a whole assortment of animals. Tons of Elk and Bison, a wolf and some mountain goats.
We are now about an hour away from Billings, MT. We're going to stop by Joe's sister's, Sara's, work and see her. The plan is to be home sometime in the next couple days.
I'll post photos once I get home since we are currently on the road and it's not easy to upload the photos.
-Miranda
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We dropped off Jenny on Thursday and stayed overnight. Jenny's mom, Pam, fed us a very nice breakfast and even bought us some donuts and other things. We headed out and stayed in a National Forest near Bear Lake. It thunderstormed and hailed right before we found our place, so the road was pretty mucky when we drove down the hill. We really hoped it wouldn't rain because we figured we might not be able to get out if it did.
Well, it rained most of the night. We woke up, and the RV started right up. Joe let the engine idle a little to warm up and revved it some, then as soon as it slowed down, it died. We could not start it again. There was a nice, 1.3 mile hike just across the highway from the road we were down, so we walked up there and went for a nice hike. We went back to the RV and had a heck of a time starting it up. It finally started and we worked our way up the hill and back to the highway. Fortunately not getting stuck.
We stopped at a rest area/overlook not far away and could not get the RV started yet again. It got to the point where Joe pulled off the engine cover, found what he believes to be the problem and got it started again.
We have decided that this will be the last trip for this RV. We're not going to dink around as much on our way back as planned either. We're heading to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, then we'll probably head straight home.
-Miranda
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We decided not to go all the way to Dinosaur National Monument. We stopped at a small spot off the side of Hwy 40 right before Steamboat Springs. The view was amazing. There was a fire pit there also, so we had a fire for s'mores. Sadly, the only marshmallows we had were minis... It definitely made for interesting roasting. I'll post some pics tomorrow hopefully.
We then left there, and checked out the Dinosaur National Monument. The main visitor center that has the dino quarry in it is closed though, so we just did a short hike that went by a couple neat areas. One by the side of a mountain filled with dino bones. Joe could pick an area of the rock randomly and start looking for bones. He was able to fine a few everytime.
We then headed towards Salt Lake City and stayed at the last National Forest before Jenny's place. We were up near 9000 ft, so there was snow, but it really wasn't cold. It was the perfect temp and a gorgeous area.
We are now in Salt Lake City and have dropped off Jenny. We are staying at her place for the night and will decide our next move tomorrow.
-Miranda
EDIT: Here are some pics.
This is the view from the site near the highway where we roasted mini marshmallows.
The Colorado side of Dinosaur National Park. I thought the clouds looked so neat.
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