RenegadeRider

Wed: Arrived Gillette, WY. We explored the town. Noticed That a passenger train was in the station. A tent was set up and a barbeque was in progress. We inquired what was happening and learned that the train was there for a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) employee appreciation event and travelled around the route system during the summer. BNSF is one of the world's largest transportation companies. In Gillette, the business was to haul coal from the mines to the various consumers, mainly electrical generating stations. We were invited to ride the train, about three hours, and then were treated to the barbeque. We even brought home a doggie bag. We saw a lot of wildlife, mostly deer and antelope, 'playing'. Thu: We toured an open pit coal mine. Northeastern Wyoming is experiencing a huge economic boom. It currently supplies about 25% of our nations coal. It is also becoming a large producer of methane which lies on top of the coal.

Tue: We left Yellowstone, encountering a major road construction project near the east entrance. The route into Cody, WY was much the same as in Yellowstone. We were pleasantly surprised. The Buffalo Bill museum was superb. My maximum time in a museum is about two hours. I chose the firearms section and was enthralled. They have about 1500 firearms on display, and then another 1200 downstairs. We also previewed a cowboy memorabalia auction. It was scheduled the next day and we chose to not stay. We progressed as far as Sheridan.

Mon: We joined another ranger guided tour along the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We have found the tours to be extremely informative and probably better than stumbling about on our own. A common theme was emphasized in each of their presentations. The park was here and available for us today because it had been set aside and protected over 130 years ago. It appears that the park service is constantly in confllict between preservation and use. Often it seemed like preservation is winning out. I realize that my thought is not entirely correct, but I sometimes got the feeling that Yellowstone was treated more like a museum with exhibits behind velvet ropes than a park as a place to play. We are instructed to stay on paths and to not touch the features. Now I realize that Yellowstone can be a very dangerous place. Many of those warnings serve to protect us foolish and unaware visitors. People have fallen through the thin ground that is near the thermal features and have fall

Sat : Arrived at Yellowstone. Sun: We made the requisite visit to Old Faithful. While walking around the geyser basin we met some folks that are geyser watchers, a.k.a geyzer gazers. The older ones are geezer geyser geezers. They are sort of like the geyzer version of storm chasers in tornado country. They might sit there for hours on end lest they miss an eruption. They monitor, record on notebooks and report their observations. They keep in radio contact with their associates and also with the rangers. They are better able to predict the next eruption than the rangers. They told me that a geyser named Grand was predicted to erupt between 3:45 and 7:45 pm. Grand is larger than Old Faithful. It's the largest 'predictable' geyser. I decided to watch Grand. The weather was less than cooperative. It was cold and windy and began to rain. Distant lightning was fast approaching. I decided to get inside. While waiting, it rained, snowed and hailed. Approaching 5:30 we noticed a r

Posting has been delayed and running very behind. Internet connections have been where we find them. Sprint service is non-existent across Wyoming and South Dakota. Even Verizon is spotty. I'm finding that Blogger has it's layout for photos, no matter how I might want it differently. Wed - Fri: We stayed three days at Grand Teton National Park. Spectacular scenery and abundant wild life kept us in awe.

Correction 1: The name Jackson Hole refers to the valley formed by the Teton mountains. The city of Jackson is only a very small part of it. Correction 2: We have since found that there is a lot more to Jackson than the touristry downtown shopping area. We found it necessary to take Riley to a veterinarian. The service was outstanding, even though I can't recall his name.

Tue: We drove on a historical loop into Idaho, through the town of Soda Springs. It covered some of the route of some emigrant trails, including the Oregon Trail. We had seen a number of what I would consider, fairly large mining operations. We later learned that they were mining phosphates. Monsanto chemical company had a large plant that processes the mineral to produce extremely pure elemental phosphorus. While we were at a park nearby I noticed a section of the slag heap turn a brilliant red as might be seen with lava flowing from a volcano. As we were watching a truck appeared in the same area with it's load giving off steam. The truck then dumped the firey contents down the side of the slag heap. The bucket was still glowing red. I checked at the plant and was given a pamphlet describing the process. An exquisitely restored hotel was near the downtown. The first and second floors were loaded with antique artifacts and was a wonderful museum. The third floor was still operat

Sun: We drove to Jackson, WY,a.k.a. Jackson Hole. What surely was once a quaint little western town has become completely corrupted by money and tourists. Except for the western flavor, it was virually indistinguishable from someplace like Beverly Hills. It had all the high priced art dealers and expensive furniture shops. The requisite ice cream stores and tee shirt shops were also in abundance. Dianne had seen some identical items at a craft show in Reno at about a third of the price. City slickers wearing cowboy clothes would hardly have stood out more if they had been naked. The real estate brokerage brands were Sotheby's and Christies. Mon: We visited the town of Afton, WY. We toured the Aviat airplane factory. Yeah, I know. I'm dreaming about a former life. But, I still like airplanes. After lunch we hiked to an intermittent spring. It's a fairly rare phenomenon. It works on a siphon principle, much like a toilet trap. It wasn't intermittent during our visi

Thurs: We finally got on the road about 2:00 pm. Thats an early start for us. We travelled only about 170 miles stopping in Winnemucca, NV. We had dinner at the Winnemucca hotel. It's an establishment that has seen better days. The food was Basque, served family style. This restaurant was reccommended by folks we met at a Basque restaurant in Reno. As soon as we were seated a bottle of chilled red wine was brought to the table. A huge bowl of soup soon arrived followed by a salad. Plate after plate soon appeared, more food than we could eat in two seatings and then a steak. When Dianne askeer for a doggie bag, the waiter brought out so much meat that we didn't need to buy dog food for three days. A conversation with the waiter revealed that his father had built the hotel and had just passed away. The family was still operating the business and were trying to follow the fathers footsteps. I wonder how long it might continue. There are newer more modern motels in the

Do you know what they say about the post office, about the DMV as examples of governmental incompetance? Well, yesterday I had my experience with the Social Security Administration. And I know, I know. I must share the blame because I put off action much longer than prudent. But, I believe that the effectiveness of the Social Security office might be like that of the DMV times the Post Office, sort of a mathematical product. Since I am nearing that magical age when I am eligible for Medicare I learned that I must enroll in the Medicare program or possibly face reduced insurance payments. I trundled down to the local SSA office armed with a couple of unread magazines to pass the time I had to wait. I soon learned that merely carrying two magazines was grossly inadequate. My two magazines were consumed in about half the time allotted. The next hour was then spent people watching. An enlightening experience it was. I saw creatures that once were relegated to the carnival side sh