OMG we went to YELLOWSTONE!!!!

Old Grumpies with Old Faithful!

We have been to 40 of the contiguous United States! (We counted!) At this point it's easier to say where we have never been: Vermont, Florida, Washington, Oregon, North & South Dakota, Minnesota & Wisconsin. We have our passports, so we may get to deliver to Alaska (our  mentors just had such a trip!) but we REALLY doubt anyone will want to pay to ship our truck (and us) to deliver to Hawaii! 

With that many states under our wheels, it isn't surprising we would get a load that qualifies as a dream load! When we were offered a load going to Yellowstone National Park, we really did have to think about it. The trick to expediting is getting paid for every mile you move. There are usually loads that need to go to remote locations, it is just a question of whether you can get a load coming out of that area or if the load will pay enough to cover moving to a busier area. With this load, it was such an iconic destination, we decided to chance it. We were hauling sound equipment for a special event, and since the equipment would need to return to Dallas, our dispatch asked if we would be interested in the return trip. It was a win-win for the Spotted Dogs!

Lots of smells in the Wyoming grass!

Dallas to Wyoming was interesting. We usually go east or west from Dallas, so heading northwest was new territory. The first point of interest was Wichita Falls, home of Sheppard AFB, and where two old farts spent 9 weeks of their lives during 1984.We went through Amarillo (we've been there many times going east or west on I-40) then through the skinny part of Oklahoma. Somehow, I missed the only weigh station in that 30 mile stretch, but they didn't miss me! They notified my dispatch, who called me and asked me about it! Weird thing was, I saw the sign saying it was ahead, but saw ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that looked like the hundreds of weigh stations I have seen! From there, we went through Colorado. The southeast corner of Colorado is FLAT, EMPTY, and GRAY. Until we headed west on I-70, I was unimpressed with the Centennial State, however I will reserve judgment until I am able to go to the Rocky Mountain National Park and actually see more of Colorado. 

Wyoming was surprising. At first glance, it looked as gray and empty as Colorado, but then you come across the hills, cliffs and striped ground. We went across on I-80 to Rawlins, then we went north and west. After driving for 5 hours, we finally reached Grand Teton National Park, and then, 2 hours later, we were stopped at Old Faithful Lodge. 

 

Most of our pictures were taken from the truck while we were driving, because we seemed to always have a time constraint. First, we had to deliver Wednesday morning, so there was enough time for the customer to set up before their event Wednesday evening. Secondly, while we were setting there, Nick noticed that one of our tires had the steel belts showing. Time to get to the nearest truck stop. That ended up being the Love's in Idaho Falls, ID, about 150 miles away!

And third, the load we were told we would pick up on Friday afternoon, giving us a full day to explore, the customer told us they would be done Thursday afternoon, and it needed to be picked up a day early. We were a little disappointed, but truck drivers are bound by their load. We were paid to come to Yellowstone, we were paid to leave Yellowstone, but now we knew we wanted to return to Yellowstone as TOURISTS! 

This scenery had us oohing and aahing when we rounded every curve!

The traffic in the park was a completely different thing than we were used to. The main road, US 191, had cars parked alongside in various places, so people could go to the walkways and see various pools. They were visible from the road by their steam clouds rising above them. The speed limit was 45 mph along the main road, but no one was interested in going particularly fast in case they missed something awesome! Of course, there was always the chance of something awesome finding you!

We went around a curve to find all these cars slowed to a stop. We weren't sure if there was a problem or if something was drawing everyone's attention. We looked up to the left, and down to the right, but couldn't see anything other than the beautiful scenery.

 

Nick was driving, so I looked ahead to see if I could spot the holdup. Pardon the foggy smudge from our dirty windshield, but this pic was my first clue what was bogging down traffic. 

Look in front of the silver Honda!

A FLUFFY COW!

He seemed completely unimpressed with the cars, trucks and people. I, however, was ABSOLUTELY impressed by him! I sent this picture to my children, my granddaughter, and my sisters who all received the text about some guy just walking along, but no pic for another 15-20 minutes due to Yellowstone being ENTIRELY without signal unless you are near one of the lodges. That's when my phone started blowing up!

We were also really impressed by Old Faithful. We joined the queue about 10 minutes before she was scheduled to blow. 15 minutes later, she was still gurgling and burbling, but not much altitude. We were discussing with some people near us the possibility of performance anxiety or even ED (elevation disfunction). Just as we were discussing possible fixes (would a geiser appreciate a good brandy?) she started to go up, and up. It was AMAZING!

The Falls at Lewis Lake caught our eyes from the road and we had to have a picture!

We were in awe of the scenery in and around Yellowstone. We didn't have a lot of time to see anything that wasn't right along the road, but what we did see didn't disappoint.  Now we know that we really need to come back with the camper and spend at least a week seeing what we can find OFF the paved path.

THIS is what we were hoping to be able to do when we came out in the truck, visit places we have always wanted to see!