Jess

Yes... we are alive!! Not lost in Montana.. as rumored. (Nor eaten/killed by Clyde)

So.. we left Missoula on Wednesday morning heading for Upper Canyon Outfitters.. where Val, Jim and Brooke are spending the summer. The skies to the East were filled with smoke. Fire season in full swing, but we made it thru. Allthough it did fog up our view.

Sooo... on approach to Upper Canyon our directions from Val said "after the Ruby Dam.. it's 12 miles of paved road.. then 12 miles of unpaved road." Now if you've ever ridden in a tin can, over vary "washboardy" roads.. you'll know exactly what it sounded like inside HaRVy on this 12 miles of unpaved road. Mom was on guard duty in the back.. holding doors closed while the plants were grabbing air in the bathroom. It's only 12 miles you might be thinking.. but this 12 miles took us 45 minutes to an HOUR to travel. You'll see said road pictured below!

But all worth it.. had a great visit with the family and the folks at Upper Canyon were absolutely wonderful to us. Welcomed us in for as long as we wanted to stay. We would highly recommend them to anyone looking for an adventure in MT!!! Here we are plugged in at their place. You can see a small piece of the beautiful view they have.

Thursday morning it was off to Yellowstone. (Of course we had to take the same road out.. that we took in!) We made our way down to Old Faithful passing numerous geyser.. smoky.. stinky.. bubbly pools of mud and water punctuated by clouds of steam. Old Faithful of course didn't let us down. We had to wait about an hour and it did start to rain.. but it was worth it. Pretty cool.

We spent that night at Fishing Bridge RV park, which looked like the mall at Christmas. We had a loooooong walk to the bath house.. and speaking of mauls... we feared going back a second time after dark!!

EARLY the next morning we packed up and did more sightseeing around Yellowstone. On constant lookout for bears (which of course we never saw) we did however see other inhabitants. Buffalo of course being one.

Leaving Yellowstone, we headed towards the Tetons. Beautiful drive.. of course offering mom numerous occasions to tense up (cower.. grab upholstery..whimper.. groan... you get the picture).

Pshew... we're outta those mountains....screeeeetch... wait.. are those the ROCKIES??? Why yes.. more opportunity for mom to do abdominal crunches!! But again absolutley amazing views in every direction! Of course we did hit road construction.. which included blasting areas and 21 miles of UNPAVED road. (see picture above).

Currently Kamped at the Dubois, WY KOA... Kool! Heading out tomorrow for Kimball, NE. 400 miles to go.. should take us only 9 hours... including Bonnie walks and road side naps.

The Road Ain't No Place For Wimps!