'12/#37 Blogging Is Hard

I'm glad there are those of you out there enjoying the blog & I'm sorry I don't blog more often. I have a profound respect for those bloggers & other writers who publish with more regularity than I do. Coming up with ideas & material to write about on a regular basis is hard. I love the writing part of it because that comes easy to me but fresh ideas don't just grow on trees. I found that out when writing my column for the union newspaper when I still worked for the Post Office & that was only once a month! So I hope you will bear with me as I try to keep this blog going & hope you all stay with us on our travels. With that said......

Work(if you can call it that) has been BORING!!! The summer tourist season is over & the fall tourist season has not yet started. Cabins are not renting & the gift shop is a ghost town. It's a good thing the shop is haunted or there would be nothing going on. Yes it is supposedly haunted. Apparently there was a "ladies business" being run upstairs around the turn of the 20th century. It's very possible because there were a number of these "ladies businesses" being run in Cody at the time. It was still the wild west then & the cowboys needed to be entertained(wink,wink). We also have some furniture from a local mortuary in the shop that has been repurposed as display cases. With lights turning off & on by themselves in the display cases we figure some of the deceased's spirits may have tagged along. Then we have the bumping, banging, & footsteps from upstairs behind padlocked doors from the working girls(???). Add the merchandise that is moved during the night while the store is locked & the easy explanation is ghosts!!! It also make for some good stories & fun when there is little to do.

This past week we decided to add a little excitement for ourselves & headed up to Billings. Remember that Cody is a beautiful place but with limited things to do. So we went to the big city for a little R&R. Also it just happened to coincide with Red Lobster's "all you can eat shrimp" promo. With no real seafood available in Cody, & Mary's & my ability to eat shrimp by the ton ..... Let's just say we got our money's worth out of this trip. We also did a little shopping at stores that are not available in Cody & roamed around the mall a bit. "Mall" is 4 letter word in Cody. One, two, three,.... Oh, I guess mall is a 4 letter word everywhere. Well you know what I mean.

It was back to Cody & the Buffalo Bill Village routine. Then we wait for the next wave of tourists to come. The "blue hairs" are expected now that the kids are back in school & family vacations are over. I don't know if this is good or bad but at least we will have guests on property & hopefully something to do. It is time for us to get ready for work so I will sign off for now from our home here in Cody Wyoming because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#36 Going Back To Work For Some Rest!

I said in the last blog that things were not going to be boring for long & I was right. This past week we had some visitors. Monday evening there was a knock on the door & there was Daisy, Suzie, & Jen. The fun was about to begin. These 3 mature ladies should give lessons on how to enjoy life. There are no rocking chairs for these women. Add my wonderful bride to the mix & you have a whole bunch of crazy that will surely be loads of fun if I survive the next few days. This will be a long blog.

Day 1 started with breakfast & the laughing commenced with the 4 of them going from mature ladies to little girls in the time it takes to get Mary laughing & give Frank a milk shower. Thanks honey! I should have sat at my own table. The rest of the day we spent checking out the local sights in & around Cody. We started with Buffalo Bill Dam & worked our through Cody. Then we went to Powell for lunch. After a power nap we went to a workcamper pot luck & introduced our crazy family to the people we work with. We didn't linger after dinner because we had tickets to the Cody Night Rodeo. Mary & I had planed this ever since we knew they were coming to Cody. Pre rodeo you can go to the gift shop, meet the rodeo clowns, & get you picture taken on a bull. Yes, a live 2000lb rodeo bull named Hollywood! There was no doubt in my mind that the girls would do this. My only concern was for the bull. Everyone came out of it unharmed, including  Hollywood, with pictures suitable for posting on line! The rest of the night was a blast but we had to head home & get to bed because 5am comes awful early. Day 2 we head in to Yellowstone.

Wednesday morning we are up but the sun is not. It is tourist season in Yellowstone so we want an early start. 1 & 1/2 hours later we find the first place open for breakfast well into the park. Our next stop was West Thumb Geyser Basin. Nothing spouting but some beautiful geothermal features. The girls loved it. Next stop at Yellowstone's most famous feature, Old Faithful. We were able to get up in front of the crowd so we could see the eruption up close. Old Faithful did not disappoint. We checked out the Old Faithful Inn & I took pictures of the naughty girls on the Knotty Pine Porch. Get it? Naughty/Knotty? (groan) We headed north still looking for wildlife. So far only 1 buffalo laying on his side twitching his tail. The only sign that he was alive! Stopped & checked out Gibbon Falls. We looped back past the Grand Canyon area saving that for tomorrow. Entering Hayden Valley we finally found what we were looking for....brake lights! That means animals. Sure enough there were 2 small herds of buffalo. There was also a ranger there giving a buffalo sex education talk. Maybe more than I wanted to know. I'm glad I'm not a buffalo! Next stop home & in bed by 10pm.

Thursday morning came even earlier. This time we took the 2 hour drive on the Chief Joseph Hwy to the NE entrance to the park. Today we will see animals in Lamar Valley. Twists & turns through the forest then out into the open valley & what do we see but dozens, no hundreds of buffalo. The squealing from the back seat tells me that everyone can see them. Then the cameras start clicking. Farther on we see more & more herds. I can personally say the buffalo in Yellowstone are doing very well. Along the way we saw a couple of coyotes. Then suddenly a wolf runs right in front of the truck & up a hill. He stops, turns, & poses so we could get some great pics. A little ways down the road we spot some deer before getting to Roosevelt Lodge for a pit stop(wink,wink). Next stop, Canyon Visitor Center.

We check out the visitor center & head toward the canyon. The first stop is at the Brink of The lower Falls. Mary & Daisy opt for the 1/4 mile, 650' descent to the falls. That also means a 1/4 mile, 650' climb back. Suzie,Jen, & I settle for the overlook. Several days later the  adventurers return exhausted but excited about the falls(just kidding about the days but not the exhaustion). After a few more stops at various overlooks we headed to the south rim. On the way there are more brake lights. There are 2 bull elk grazing on the side of the road & so many people stopped that there is no place to park. Slam, slam, slam, & 4 giddy women with cameras leave me in the middle of the road with 3 options. #1 sit there & block traffic, #2 squeeze the truck into a spot the size of a Smart car, or #3 leave them behind. Fortunately someone left & I didn't have to go with my choice of #3. Lots of pics from a safe distance while idiots try to get too close. The ranger had his work cut out trying to keep them away. OH NO! It's the same ranger from yesterday, now giving a lecture on elk sex ed. TMI!!!!! The elk moved on & so did we.

 Lots more pictures & then we went looking for a place to eat lunch. We set up lunch at a picnic area & no sooner did we start eating another picnicker asks "do you see the buffalo?". We turn around & a buffalo walks right through the picnic area between our table and the next, maybe 25' away! Of course nobody has a camera. After lunch we make a short stop to see the upper falls & take more pictures. Then we head over to Artist Point for the best view of the lower falls & farther up the canyon. It has been another long day with lots of animal sightings so we head on home. Buffalo, deer, elk, coyote, & wolves make for a very successful trip to Yellowstone.

We leave the park & a mile down the road there are cars pulled over. We stop & we get to add moose to our list of sightings. It was the female & calf we have heard about recently. Mom is eating foliage from the Shoshone River while the calf stayed hidden in the bushes. We got lots of pics of the cow but none of junior. We move on.

We had a light dinner & called it a day. Friday morning we met for breakfast & said our goodbyes. I joke about being stuck in the truck with 4 crazy females but I wouldn't have it any other way. We all had a blast & I am sure they will visit us next year where ever we call home because......

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#35 It's Slow Now But......

The past week has been a little slow on blogging news but that will change shortly. More on that later. We talked about our trip to civilization in Billings MT & all the stores we had available to us. There was also the mention of no sales tax. All that combined with our need for a new printer had us coming home with a truck full of things we could just not live without, including a printer. Well after 2 weeks with the printer in the box acting as an end table we decided to hook it up. This printer is completely wireless & required our full concentration. It couldn't be a simple "unplug the old & plug in the new" now could it? After an all day effort I got the printer working & communicating with both laptops. If any of you out there know me that is quite an accomplishment. My computer skills are just a little better than playing a mean game of solitaire. Mary is starting to call me her computer wizard. I'm not sure if she is being sarcastic or condescending but either way she was happy that she didn't have to do the job.

The next day we wanted to do something but not anything that would require a lot of driving, or walking, or exercise of any kind. We really wanted to just relax without vegging out at home. We decided to check out Old Trail Town right outside of Cody. It is less than 3 miles from our front door yet we haven't managed to find the time to go to this local attraction. Go figure??? Old Trail Town is a collection of buildings from WY that were built around the turn of the 20th century. These are not reproductions but the actual buildings. They have not been restored but are being preserved. There are stores & cabins that belonged to some of the Old West's historical figures. There are wagons, household items, & personal belongings that also are being preserved. There is also a cemetery here with the remains of some famous & infamous characters that made the wild west "wild". Add all this to the fact that it is situated on the original site of the town of Cody & you can get a feel of what life was like for the people who settled the area.


There were homestead cabins that belonged to anonymous settlers as well as cabins that belong to more well known figures in history. George Custer's Indian guide's cabin is here as well as cabins that were used by Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (aka Robert Leroy Parker & Harry Longabaugh). I think there are some some of the old Hole In The Wall Gang hanging around, what do you think? For our friends in the Post Office I thought I would include this picture that may have prognosticated the future of the US Post Office. Can you say down sized?? (Note lock on door)

The cemetery has some of the local characters that helped settle this part of the country. All of these remains have been exhumed & relocated to this site for historical preservation. The most famous of them is John Jeremiah "Liver Eatin'" Johnston who was made famous in the movie "Jeremiah Johnston" starring Robert Redford. There are photos showing the reburials including several with Redford as a pall bearer. Johnston spent some of his last years camping within sight of this location using the sulfur waters of the river to help his arthritis so the location seem appropriate. Bill Cody's grandson is also buried here & it is rumored that the picture on the headstone points to the location of Buffalo Bill's grave site, the location of that which has been in dispute since shortly after his death. More on that at another time.

I have more to tell you so I shall return soon.Now it is time to have some lunch before work so I will sign off until later from our home in Cody because .......

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#34 Still Not Civilization

Like I always say, our plans are written in jello. Our trip to Red Lodge & the Beartooth Hwy was changed at the last minute. We did go but changed our mode of transportation. The night before our departure my brain kicked into gear & important questions came to mind. In the morning I checked my mapping software for info on the route we wanted to take. My motorcycle doesn't have the best range & there were no signs of gas stations along the way. Between that & the knowledge that cell phone coverage would be spotty or nonexistent I erred on the side of caution & took the truck instead.

The ride to Red Lodge was pleasant with more of the beautiful scenery that we have seen & shared with everyone. We passed through a few small towns that were no more than a couple of houses & maybe a shop or two. None had gas available. We stopped at a few scenic overlooks & historic markers along the way. We also shared the road with a group of bicyclists. They have more guts than I, because there is no way that I would be cycling out here in the middle of nowhere! Yes they were in a group & there probably was a safety chase vehicle, but still....65 miles of peddling with almost nothing along the way!! NO WAY!!!!

Anyway, we arrived in Red Lodge, MT & found a quaint little town. Downtown is about 8 blocks long & the residential area is maybe a few blocks on either side. Red Lodge makes it's tourist dollars based on it's proximity to the Beartooth Hwy & Yellowstone. There was the usual collection of gift shops, restaurants, the historical hotel, & generic motels to take in the tourist dollars that keep the town alive. After walking the downtown area & having some lunch we headed to the Beartooth.

The road started climbing towards Beartooth Pass as soon as we left Red Lodge. That meant an altitude change from just under 5800' to almost 11,000' on twisting & winding roads. I can see why motorcyclists love theis route. It is technical, challenging, & just what motorcyclists are looking for. In the truck it was a little different. With dual rear wheels it sometimes seemed that there wasn't enogh room for 2 vehicles to pass. As we climbed higher & higher we started to see more snow. Yes snow at the end of July! It also seemed like we were at the top of the world. Everywhere we looked it seemed as if we were looking down on the scenery.

Then the descent back into WY started. More mountains, valleys, & snow feed lakes filled the camera cards. Eventually we came to the Top of The World. Big name for a little place that amounted to a couple of cabins, a gift shop/general store, & a gas pump. Yes, one gas pump straight out of the '70s. You know the kind with the numbers on little wheels that spin as the gas is pumped. And with only one side working there is only one grade of gas to buy, & only one price to pay....HIGH!!! At least now I know there is gas available on this route.

We finished the Beartooth & turned on to the Chief Joseph Hwy headed back to Cody. We did the Chief Joseph westbound in the early morning once before but it is a completely different view eastbound in the late afternoon. Lots more pics before we made it back to Cody after a long tiring day of driving some challenging roads. Well I will end this now that we are back in our comfy home in Cody because.....

Home is where we park it,


Frank & Mary

'12/#33 Better Planning

We have looked at our work schedule, checked our day-off activities, & compared them to our to-do list since we arrived in Cody. Things have not gone as we had planned. As most people can attest, Murphy's Law is real & we are not immune to it. There have also been some changes in our work schedule & duties that threw the proverbial monkey wrench into everything. It also takes a little time to get into a new routine when starting a new job, but as work campers/temps that time is at best short & the adjustment or learning curve must be sped up. We are at the halfway point of the season & think we have figured it out.

The Billings trip opened our eyes. Work days are for work & rest  so we can get more out of our days off. We were trying to do too much on days we had to go to work & were crashing/wasting our days off. Now we spend the work week planning our weekend & jump into it well rested. This week we will be taking the motorcycle on the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge MT. Beartooth has me excited. Not only do the locals say it is a beautiful drive but all my motorcycle magazines have been listing it as one of the best motorcycle rides in the country. This will be an all day adventure. Again this will be an excursion out of Cody.

Billings opened our eyes to the options available to us, we just had to plan better. In Billings we went to some of our favorite chain restaurants. The Texas Roadhouse had great food & Mary got a margarita the size of her head! Olive Garden allowed us to have some Italian dishes we always enjoy. And let's not forget Red Lobster....out here in the west beef is king. There is no shortage of steakhouses but good seafood can be hard to come by or cost prohibitive. Red Lobster, while it is a chain restaurant, is consistent in quality & reasonable in price.

And there were stores! Mary has more of the shopping gene than I but it is still nice to have options. On top of that there was a real mall with anchor stores, shops, & a food court! There were a couple of things we were looking for & some other things we found that we just couldn't live without(wink,wink). Add to that the lack of any sales tax in Montana & you have the perfect shopping storm. Needless to say we came home with that back seat of the truck full.

Well it is time to go to work & plan for our next weekend so this is goodbye from our home in Cody Wyoming because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#32 CIVILIZATION!!!!!!!

We have been in Cody WY for almost 3 months & have been enjoying ourselves. The history in the area has come to life. It is like putting a face to a name. Text books, museums, & movies are fine but until you see the real thing in person it doesn't have real meaning. The scenery is breathtaking, majestic, awesome..... adjectives can't begin to describe. The wild life has been etched into our memories for ever. After all that we felt that something was missing.

Mary & I both grew up near big cities. I'm from Long Island just outside of NYC & Mary is from Arlington VA just across the bridge from Washington DC. We met, lived, & worked near St Petersburg & Tampa FL. Now we are living in Cody, a city with a population not much bigger than my High School. Talk about culture shock. Since we have been traveling we make a point of seeing local attractions, eating at local restaurants, & getting to know the local residents. That has made our travels the adventure that we are enjoying, but........again something is missing.

Watching satellite TV we see all the advertisements from NY & LA. It struck us that we missed some of the chain restaurants we frequent & the many different stores that are available in the metropolitan areas we were familiar with. It was time for a dose of civilization & the nearest city is Billings MT, 115 miles away. It takes about 2 hours to get there & many of our friends make the trip there & back in a day. We wanted a break from Cody so we took advantage of the hotel's employee discount & booked a room to make it an overnight stay.

Well here we are in Billings just driving around & checking things out. There are restaurants galore, stores of every shape & size, & there are people...lots of people! It may sound crazy but it felt good driving around in traffic. Not bumper to bumper traffic, just the normal flow of traffic found in most suburban communities. We have scoped out a few places to eat & will do a little shopping before we head back to Cody.

I will say goodnight for now in Billings MT away from our home in Cody because...

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#31 4th of July Continued

Things have been a little crazy around here, but I will get back to that later. First I would like to finish up our own personal celebration of our nation's birth. After the parades, the craft fairs, the shopping, & the rodeo, all under the most beautiful blue Wyoming sky we called it a day. We had fun & were exhausted so it was early to bed for us. Tomorrow, the 4th, would be another day.

To celebrate the birth of our country we felt that spending the day in our country's first national park was appropriate. Having been to the park a number of times we wanted to make it special. So what better way than to do it on a motorcycle? The freedom of riding, the exposure to the open air, & the unobstructed views for photography promised another wonderful day. The plan was to get up by 7am & avoid the last parade of Cody's 4th of July celebration. So much for plans, but who cares? It's our day off & we were just going to enjoy it! So instead our day started at 9:30am.

We had a quick breakfast & hopped on the bike. We were treated to the scenic tour of Cody via detours due to the parade. What would have been a 5 minute ride took about 20 minutes but the weather was beautiful & we didn't care. Yellowstone here we come. It is 50 scenic miles to the park entrance & then another 25 breathtaking miles to the next visitor center at Fishing Bridge. There was also an increase in elevation of over 2000'. What was a beautiful 90 degree day in Cody turned into a beautiful 65 degree day in Yellowstone. The only problem was that in our rush to hit the road we didn't pack for the change in weather. A quick stop at the clearance rack in the gift shop, 2 sweat shirts later, & a fill up at the gas pump & we were on our way.

This trip to the park we wanted to see something we hadn't been to before, so we headed north with Roosevelt Lodge & Mammoth Hot Springs our destination. Traffic in the park had picked up quite a bit since our last visit. With tourist season in full swing & the holiday it was expected but it allowed everyone to slow down & take in the scenery. That's what everyone is here for anyway, right? Not as many animals as we have seen in the past but we still managed to get into a buffalo jam. It is a little different on a motorcycle. Inside a 9000 lb truck a 2000 lb buffalo is more awe inspiring than intimidating. On a 700lb motorcycle things change. There were no issues but the difference gives one something to think about.

Between our late start & the traffic it was early afternoon by the time we got to Roosevelt Lodge. The lodge is more rustic than some of the other hotels in the park & they feature activities like horseback riding & wagon rides. It is still awesome scenery in the area but with no thermal activity & less volcanic evidence around it is not as impressive as some other parts of the park. It was getting late & we were getting tired so it was time to head home. Mammoth will wait for another day.

By the time we got back to Fishing Bridge we were getting hungry & a little saddle weary so we stopped to fill the fuel tanks on us & the motorcycle, plus give a little rest to our posteriors. After 200 miles we needed to walk & stretch a bit. Every time I mentioned that we should get going Mary cringed not wanting to get back on the bike. We had another 2 hours to go to get back home & I did not want to be riding during dusk since that is when the deer start coming out. I don't want to have a deer vs truck incident but I really don't want to have a deer vs motorcycle incident. We all know who loses in that one. So on the bike & homeward bound.

Now I mentioned earlier that photography on a motorcycle is different than in a car or truck. With no roof, window, or door pillars the view is unobstructed. As anyone who has followed our travels knows, Mary is quite the shutter-bug. This day was no exception. Mary  had to switch batteries on her camera then she started with my camera & used 2 batteries & 2 memory cards. By the time we got home she had shot right around 1000 pictures. Yes, 1000, all in one day. That is a new record for her. I have to say she got a ton of awesome pictures as usual, & once we go through them all I am sure they will get posted in the blog & on FB.

Well that is all for today, so this is goodbye from our home in Wyoming because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary