Yellowstone Adventure - Day 12

  Well I worked the early shift today and believe me it was hard to get up this morning after working the late shift the day before.  I don’t know which shift I like better as they both have their advantages, but for some reason I am leaning toward the late shift.  I think being able to sleep in is the main reason I like it.  Got the day started today with a big bowl of oatmeal, as my body has been urging me to get some nutrition.  I did have a couple of slices of bacon with it just so it would be more palatable.  They wanted me to be into work by 7am even though we do not open until 7:30am.  After I got my till squared away I proceeded to help bring more stock up from the catacombs and to arrange the clothes in order of sizes on all shelves and hangars.  We were pretty busy trying to replenish all the stock that was sold on Friday and Saturday.  Believe you me those two days were unbelievable profitable for Delaware North and the park.  I hoped that today would be a slower day as I was thinking that most Memorial Day visitors would be heading home today.  I was glad to see the day was only steadily busy and not mad busy as Friday and Saturday were.  It was pleasant to be able to talk to customers a little longer and to be able to look out the window at Old Faithful every once in a while.  Speaking of looking out the window.  Today I scored another of my license plate hard-to-get plates, as I spotted a Vermont plate.  Don’t laugh it is hard to get that plate on vacation too.   Today our store had a special visitor.  It seems a Pine Martin had snuck into the store through the back loading dock and had somehow managed to get through into the main store.  He was spotted behind the shelves near our grocery area and the upstairs in our hunting and fishing area.  A pine martin looks to me like a long version of a weasel.  They hang out at the store because they can find food in our stock room to steal.  We have a live trap set up by the loading dock and if caught we will call the rangers to relocate the creature. 

    My favorite foreign tourist story today happened when a man came up to me and I immediately knew he was from France.  He ask me something in very broken English that I could not even make out what he was asking.  So then he tried to do some pantomime and broken English to make me understand.  Try as I might I still could not understand what he was wanting.  It for the life of me sounded like he wanted a “shelf of tacks”.  After about the third try I called over Patrick, as season store worker, and asked him to help me out.  Patrick listened twice to the man and witnessed his arm motions.  On the third time a lightbulb went off for Patrick and said to the man you want a “Selfie Stick?”  The man then nodded his head in agreement and repeated “Yes a shelfy stick”.  Patrick and I both laughed and told the man unfortunately the general store does not carry one of those.  Patrick tried to give him directions to a photo place down the road that might, but I highly suspect the Frenchman did not understand much of the directions even though he kept nodding his head that he understood.

  After a grueling five days I get two days off and I was beginning to think I would have to use those days looking for a dentist, as my tooth ache is not getting much better.  My co-workers told me to try the clinic a couple of doors down by the ranger station.  The clinic is what part of my paycheck pays for.  So I decided to walk down there after work and see what they could do.  I was surprised to find them opened and staffed.  The people in the office were very friendly and after some initial paperwork I got to see a nurse.  I explained what was happening and they poked at the tooth and looked over the gums around it.  They then said they would prescribe an antibiotic for now and see if the pain goes down.  They told me they thought it was a temporary solution but that the antibiotic may keep the tooth from flaring up and causing pain until I could get home in a few months.  In case it did not they gave me the name and number of the dentist in West Yellowstone that they deal with.  Because I have insurance with them through my paycheck the office visit and the antibiotics only ran me $33.  I think that was pretty good and the group seems to be very efficient. So please say a prayer that the medicine works and I thank God we have a local clinic to go to here in the park.

  I have two days off and I have yet decided where I will go.  I am leaning toward a small hike around the Norris Geyser basin and then head up north to Mammoth Hot Springs for another short hike.  I have put in my order for peanut butter and jelly take out sandwich lunches for the next two days, so I should be all set to explore the park some more.  I hope to have some great pictures and some great blogging in the next two days.  By the way several of the tourists told me that up north a gray wolf killed an elk and they saw it feeding on the carcass.  Seeing a gray wolf would be great and seeing it take down an elk would have been interesting too.  I heard later that a bear came by and scared the gray wolf off so it could feed a little on the carcass.  Ahh, the great outdoors and nature at its best.

   On a side note we are supposed to be getting in 18 more workers on June the 6th, so my days of having a room to myself may be coming to an end.  I hope and pray I get a good roommate as that really impacts how life here is.  I do like coming back to an empty room where I do not have to worry about the lights bothering someone or if my late night typing is bothering someone.  I am hoping all of those 18 are already paired off as friends and that they can get them into 9 existing empty rooms we have.  On a personal note there are people in this dorm now who I really would not want as a roommate for the duration.  It seems alcohol and not hiking or enjoying the park is their way of life and I don’t know how I would react if I was forced to share a room with someone that just likes to drink. 

  Well that is all for now and I hope you are all doing well and I am glad you are reading this.  Please make any comments/questions below or you can just drop me an email at Bret.Hobbs@Outlook.Com and I will be happy to reply to any questions.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 11

  Well this day was pretty much the same as yesterday.  We were incredibly busy and I barely had enough time to converse with any customers.  The next day will be hard as I have a turn around shift.  Today I went in at 11:25AM and worked until 9:30PM and tomorrow I go in at 7AM and work until 5:30PM.  I have two days off after that thank goodness.
  On a personal note can you say a prayer for my tooth.  It seems I am getting a tooth infection.  I appreciate it.  That is all for now as I have to finish this up before breakfast as the Internet around here quits working around 8AM.  Thanks for reading and take care and be good to all.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 10

   Well today I got a feel for what it will be like at peak season here at Yellowstone. It is Saturday Memorial Day weekend and the place was packed with tourists.  Our store was busier than Wal-Mart at Christmas time.  The boss said we did $40,000 worth of sales before the 5:30PM break.  He also said we did more sales than the Yellowstone Canyon store, which is our rival store in the park.  Once I stepped behind the cash register at the start of my shift the traffic never stopped.  I was very glad for my mid-morning break as I needed a nap.  Once back to work after dinner the activity seemed to slow down some as there were actually times I could take a breath.

  I am writing this on Sunday because the Verizon cell tower was going up and down all day Saturday.  Some think it was the massive amount of tourists that were hitting the internet through the tower that did it, but I do not know. 

  I met a lot of people Saturday from outside the U.S. with Australia being the most interesting.  I talked to them about my brother Dirk being stationed at Ayres Rock and how he and his family coped with being there for duty.  I also managed to meet a couple from New Jersey that were very pleasant, because during my Navy days mostly all the people I met from New Jersey were rather hard to deal with.  So it was good to know that there are pleasant people from there. 

  Well that is all for now and I hope I can get this uploaded before the tourists take over the tower.  Take care and stay well.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 9

  Well today I worked the late shift 11:25 to 9:50PM, with a three hour break for dinner.  It was a good day in that it was payday and I received my first check from Delaware North.  A whopping $174.05. So to all those pundits out there that thought I could not earn a wage at anything besides the federal government.  All I can say in “Neener Neener”. 

  Work was fairly uneventful except I have been seeing some pretty strange behavior from Chinese tourists.  Tonight we had a young lady purchase a bowl of ramen noodles and proceed to put it in our microwave without putting any water in it.  I do not know what she was thinking as I figured it was pretty much universal knowledge that dried noodles required water to cook.  Well needless to say she stunk up the place and if it was not for a stock guy walking by she would have probably caused a fire.  I am getting real used to counting out the change for many foreign tourists as our coins are sometimes beyond what they can translate.  This does not bother me at all as I did the same thing to the cashiers in Belize when I went there my first time.  I am glad God is always watching me as I know some unscrupulous cashier could easily take advantage of counting other people’s money.   With God over my shoulder I try to do the best at getting all the change back and forth as honestly as I can.  I also tried my hand a more foreign names and I am doing pretty good with the Chinese but the Indian first names are really tough.  All the people are generally happy that I tried to pronounce their names and they repeat it for me so I can learn and get better through the summer.

  As I worked the late shift I looked out the window behind me and saw a coyote walking outside my window next to our sidewalk.  The lady I was waiting on ask me if it was safe for her to walk back to the Old Faithful Inn and I told her that the coyote is pretty skittish and will not bother her but if it was a grizzly all bets are off.  She did not seem to be reassured by my statement, but hey I cannot guarantee anyone’s safety once they leave the store.

  Well that is about the extent of my day.  I hope you all had a great day and until tomorrow “Keep your Powder Dry”.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 8

  Well today was a back to work day.  After 2 days off to do some exploring it was hard to get up and know that I have the long shift to do for the next four days.  I stayed up and read until late last night so I decided to sleep through breakfast today and just made it to lunch before starting my shift at 11:25.  I brought several books with me to read.  The Bible being one of them as I have daily Bible reading and some devotion studies to accomplish.  But I also brought several books of one of my favorite authors Clive Cussler.  I am reading “Havana Storm” now featuring Dirk Pitt and Al Girodino.  If you have never given Cliver Cussler a try I would recommend him to anyone.  They are clean and can be read to my grandsons without any issues.  A couple of his books have been made into movies.  “Raise the Titanic” and “Sahara” are the two.

   The shift went pretty well and I was put on the grocery side of the store.  It is always busy there during the day as many come to get food and stuff as eating in the park is pretty expensive.  Ramen noodles are a big seller as well as Hot Pockets.  Unfortunately alcohol is a big seller too.  I do not have any issue with an occasional beer or glass of wine, but the amount of hard liquor that is beng bought is pretty startling.  It was very busy up until my midday break.  I went back to the common room to watch a little TV but the crowd was watching some BBC program and I just could not maintain interest.  So it was back to the room for a call to Cathy and a nap.  Seems like Linton had a nice storm come through today.  Here it has been sunny most of the day.

  After the midday break I went back to work and as it was pretty slow I got to talk to some customers at a greater length and had a great conversation with four guys in from Birmingham England.  They really liked the park and said their adventure here has been enjoyable.  I told them I would love one day to visit England and see what real history looks like as their cities and towns go way farther back than anything the U.S. has.  They agreed that they have some very interesting castles and buildings to visit.  I guess one day I will have to make that a bucket list Item.  That is if I can get Cathy to get a passport and on a plane again.  :)  Business at the store slowed down to a crawl and the boss wanted to know if Bob, they fellow I worked with, or I wanted to leave an hour and a half early.   Bob said he wanted to stay as he needed the money and I agreed to leave early.  So here I am updating the blog with not much going on at all. 

  I still am happy that you are reading about my adventure and I am pretty sure I will have more routine days like today than exciting adventure days.  So I hope you check back occasionally as I promise that there will be a good nugget or two to read about.  Take care and be well and do good things for those around you.   

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 7

   Well I have been here a week and I am beginning to lose track of what day it is.  I have to check my watch every once in a while to remind me what day it is. I talked to the other workers about this and they said the same thing.   The days sort of get forgotten when you start getting into a routine of working a shift and have rotating days off.  Today I woke up with a good amount of snow coming down and it was really big flakes and almost no wind.  So it gave the world a snow globe kind of look.  The cars were getting covered quickly but the snow was not sticking to the ground yet.  I decided that I would do my laundry this morning as I did not want to travel in that weather.  So after breakfast I gathered my two ditty bags up and headed downstairs in the dorm to where the laundry room was.  In case you do not know what a ditty bag is, it is a holdover from my Navy days.  The Navy issued all new recruits a white canvas bag that we were to use to put dirty laundry into throughout the week and then hand it over for washing.  The bag would have our name and unit number on and once the laundry was done the bag would be returned to us.  I used my old ditty bag for a few years until Cathy decided to make two new ones for us to use on our vacations.  She is a very talented person for sure as the bags have held up longer than my old Navy one did.  The group here provides a laundry room for the workers that is free of charge.  We just have to provide our own laundry soap.  They even have an ironing board and iron to use if we need it.  The group expects us to have clean outfits for work so I guess providing us with free washers and driers is a good thing.  I finished the laundry and folded everything back up like a well taught husband.  Cathy would be so proud of me.  J

  After laundry was done I looked out the window and saw that the snow had turned into rain/snow so I decided to read a book for a while.  Around 11AM I decided to head to West Yellowstone instead of going too far north as I did not know what the roads would have been like higher up in the mountains.  I picked up a few things West Yellowstone and used McDonalds Wi-Fi to update my phone and upload some pictures.  Have I ever said how much I appreciate McDonalds and their free Wi-Fi.  J  I also went to the store to pick up a few items before filling the tank with gas and heading back into the park. 

  Once in the park I decided to visit Firehole Canyon.  This is a place just into the park and traces the Firehole river through a fairly nice canyon.  The park set up a one way drive through the canyon and the drive goes on for about 2 miles.  The drive has several places to stop and take pictures or just explore the river and the canyon.  It is very nice and there are several water falls as the river cuts its way through the canyon.  Once you get to almost the end of the drive there is a place to park and there is a place where a person could go and swim in the river’s collecting pond.  I would imagine that when the weather warms up that there will be several people dipping into the pond to see how cold or warm the water is.  If I were to guess I would say the water stays fairly cold most of the year.

  After visiting the canyon I decided to head back to the dorm and wait for dinner.  After dinner I walked over to the Old Faithful Inn for a look see.  The inn is not too far from where I work/live and in fact there are three places to stay around Old Faithful, besides camping. You have the Old Faithful Inn, the Old Faithful Snow Lodge and the Old Faithful Lodge.  I walked into the Old Faithful Inn through the back entrance and into the main lobby.  I was taken aback by how beautiful it was.  The whole interior is made up of large and small logs that have been carefully joined together to create three floors of space.  The lobby has a massive fireplace jutting up through the roof three stories up and a very nice clock on the chimney that is about two stories tall.  It is an old fashion clock that has a pendulum and weights to make it run.  There are chairs available to the guest surrounding the fireplace.  The lobby is open up to the roof and you can climb stairs to the second and third floor and sit on chairs facing down into the lobby.  I headed to the third floor and sat on a couch facing the fireplace below.  What a view and very comfortable.  There also was a person playing the cello and violin and piano to entertain the folks going to the large dining hall for dinner. After a few minutes a couple sat next to me and I asked them where they were from.  Well wouldn’t you know the husband and wife were from Ohio and he was a graduate of Purdue University and she was a MP in the Army reserve.  He knew a lot about Indiana and even new about Crane where I used to work.  We talked for several minutes then they excused themselves as their dinner reservations were coming up.  I also got up and went down to the second floor as the inn had a balcony out the second floor that extended over the main entrance.  This balcony faced Old Faithful and has several old wooden table and chairs so the guests could watch Old Faithful going off.  I looked at my watch and calculated that she should go off in about 20 minutes.  So I joined the group and talked to a few people who were on a bus tour.  We conversed about places to see and places we had seen and they all seemed to be very happy with their bus tour.  Well Old Faithful was faithful after all and went off as planned.  You see she goes off every ninety minutes plus or minus ten minutes. The sun was just going down behind the inn and Old Faithful looked great as usual.  After she did her thing I got up and explored around the inn more.  It is a very very nice place and the price to stay there seems to be contingent upon where you want to stay in the inn as some rooms are more primitive than others. 

  I left the inn and headed back to the room to watch a little TV and to update the blog.  Not a very busy day but saw some pretty neat stuff.  Tomorrow I am back to work for the next four days.  I have the 11:25AM to 9:30PM shift.

  Well as always thanks for reading my musings and I wish you all well and have a great night’s sleep.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 6

   Well this was a day to head out and explore.  The only decision was what direction I would go.  I decided to head east and to the town of Cody Wyoming for a little trip to a Wal-Mart.  I intended on stopping at several places on the way out of the park.  Now for all those that think this is a short trip, well it takes around an hour to get out of the park and another hour to get to Cody.  The trip took me around Lake Yellowstone and over Sylvan Pass to get to the east entrance of Yellowstone.  The two hour trip took me four and half hours because I stopped and saw the beauty of the park along the way.  My first stop was just down the road at Kepler Cascades.  Now I do not know what the difference is between a water fall and a cascade as they are both impressive and boy was the water running fast.  There is still much snow up here and it is melting gradually.  So the streams, rivers, falls and cascades are running very fast.  When I stepped out of the car at the cascades the temperature was 41 degrees but the sun was out and it was a very clear day.  I also found out by leaving after breakfast that I would not have much traffic to contend with and not many tourists would be at the stopping spots along my route. 

   After leaving the falls I headed toward West Thumb, which is a thermal area on the banks of Lake Yellowstone.  Climbing in altitude as I drove along I got a glimpse of Lake Yellowstone and how it was ringed with mountains.  It was a very beautiful site and I decide to stop by Duck Lake for a few pictures.  I can tell you this, pictures cannot do the view justice. You have to experience the scenes for yourself to understand this.  While I stopped to take pictures I decided to look down at a meadow that was close to Duck Lake and low and behold two bears came out of the forest closest to the lake and wandered through the meadow.  I ran back to the car and retrieved the binoculars that were lent to me by Frank Gennicks so I could get a closer look at the bears.  I promised Frank that if I got eaten by a bear that I would will his binoculars back to him.  The bears by that time had crossed the meadow and were heading deeper into the forest.  So I decided to continue my travels toward West Thumb.  West Thumb is a thermal basin that borders the lake and several of the thermals are actually on the lake edge in the water.  The park set up a great walking path for tourists and I took the long route that would take me to the lake’s edge.  The view of the lake and the mountains were unbelievable at the lake’s edge.  The thermals and geysers were pretty active in the area and the smell of sulfur was pretty strong there.  The water was pretty cold but the lake was not frozen over.  The otters that live in the lake enjoy staying close to the hot thermal areas as they find plenty to eat there.

  After enjoying West Thumb I headed around the lake, which is around 20 miles long and headed to the very fancy Lake Yellowstone Hotel.  Turning off the main loop road I headed for the hotel. The hotel faces the lake and the mountains so as you approach the hotel by the road you are approaching the back of the hotel.  I took the long way around the hotel so I could park on the lake shore and see the hotel on its good side.  I parked the car and stepped out to another breathtaking view of the lake and the mountains.  Turning around I see the historic hotel front and by the looks of it I figure I could not afford to stay there, but until they threw me out I would go in and explore.  I stepped into the hotel lobby and was taken aback by the furnishings inside.  I was completely wrong expecting to see a lodge type hotel as the hotel was furnished with modern furniture, but not so modern as to take it out of the period of the hotel. I walked around acting as if I belonged there.  I went into the dining area and the gift shop.  But it was the sitting area that I truly loved.  This area was set up so guests could face the windows and see the lake and the mountains all the while sitting in some very comfortable leather chairs.  How do I know they were comfortable, well I sat down at one of the chairs with the best view and proceeded to text Cathy.  It was all I could do to pull myself out of the chair and head back to the lake and the car. A very nice place for sure and I am sure a hard reservation to get at the last minute.  I think during the height of the tourist season they are pretty well booked.

  Leaving the lake area I headed for the Bridge Bay area and saw where a person could put a boat in and have it docked on the lake.  The boats would pass under the bridge and head out onto the lake.  It was around this area that another bison was walking down the middle of the road.  I mean he was walking the yellow line like he was trying to prove he was not drunk.  I stopped the car and waited for him to pass.  The road being narrow I did not have much room to move over and just had to wait for him or her to pass.  When it came up to the car I had my window down and took a picture.  Folks I could have reached out and pulled on its horn.  I could even smell the hide of the beast as it passed by my window.  Ah the smells of Yellowstone, sulfur and bison hide.  J

  Turning off the grand loop around Yellowstone I turned onto the highway that would take me out of the park through Sylvan Pass and toward Cody.  I climbed steadily in altitude reaching around 8,300 feet.  The pass had more snow around it and some of the lakes still had ice on them.  After going through several S curves I came around a bend to a most spectacular site.  Ahead of me to my right on the other side of the guard rail was around 15 Bighorn Sheep.  I slowed my car to a stop right next to the herd and they were about three feet away from my passenger’s side window. After taking several pictures I decided it was time to move as there were a couple of cars behind me, but the lead bighorn made a most spectacular move.  With one motion he leaped over the guard rail and right in front of my car.  I decide if they were going to play follow the leader I best not move or else I will have bighorn sheep dancing on the hood of my car.  So I took a few more pictures and videos of the herd.  After a few minutes I decided that the herd was not going to play follow the leader just yet and the lead sheep moved over enough for me to pass.  I carefully moved out and said goodbye to the lead sheep next to my window.  I can tell you this when I showed the pictures and videos to the folks I work with they were amazed at how close I was able to get to them, as they said mostly the bighorn sheep are pretty skittish.

  I decide to eat lunch when I came down out of the pass and I ate lunch by a roaring stream that I think eventually became the Shoshone River.  After lunch I headed out of the park. About a half mile after exiting the East Entrance I just about hit a bear.  It came up out of the side of the river and crossed in front of me.  I put on my breaks and eased the car over to the side so I could take a picture.  I looked to my left and the bear stopped just past the edge of the road behind a boulder and lifted itself up on its back two legs.  Standing up it looked pretty neat and I hoped it would stay that way until I got my cell phone for a picture, but when I got out of the car it had gone back down on all fours and was making its way up the hill.  I managed to get some pictures of it climbing the hill but boy I would have loved pictures of it standing up.  I showed the pictures to the folks here and it was too far away for them to tell if it was a black bear or a grizzly, but one woman said the fact that it stood up makes her think it was a grizzly.

  After that encounter it was a pretty uneventful trip to Cody Wyoming.  The one thing I can say about the drive to Cody is that you can definitely tell when you leave the park as the terrain changes from woods and water to a drier terrain of sage brush and rock.  Cody has not changed much since the last time Cathy and I visited it and all I really wanted was to get a lamp at Wal-Mart and to get to a local McDonalds to upload some pictures and videos using their Wi-Fi.  Thank you McDonalds for having free Wi-Fi.

  The day was pretty beautiful when I left at breakfast but leaving Cody I could see that a front was coming over the mountains.  So I decided to not stop anywhere on my way back to the dorm.  Sure enough it started to rain on me shortly after Cody and by the time I reached Sylvan Pass it was a mix of rain and snow.  The strange thing was when I reached the area where the bighorn sheep were I had three more come down the road at me.  I took a nice video of them and then headed back to dorm for dinner.  The drive was a little slower than I liked but with the rain and snow I needed to be more cautious. I made it back to the dorm around 5:30 and was in time for dinner.  I showed my videos and pictures around to the rest and they wanted to know where I saw the bighorn at as most have never seen one before up close.

  Well that is about it for today.  Another day off tomorrow and I still have not decided what to do yet.  Will see what the weather looks like.  I still have not walked around the Old Faithful geyser basin yet and I might just do that.  Well you all take care and I will leave you with a line from one of my favorite movies. “Watch your Top Knot”.

p.s. On a personal note I saw on Facebook where Marie Bogard passed away. She was a great lady who cared and prayed for LFCC and all those in the church.  She lived to over 100 years old and I know she lived a great life and loved God through it all.  Please pray for her family as she will be missed but I know where she is now. 

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 5

   Well one of the things I feared would happen did happen today.  I was informed that a friend of the family passed away.  It was sudden and unexpected and it happened as the family was dealing with another medical issue in their family.  I figured that something like this would happen and I really did not know how I would handle it.  Of course there is the sudden sorrow for this family and the wish I could be there to give a kind word or a hug.  I talked to God several times today and asked Him if he would send comfort to the family during this time and to help them with strength through another medical issue they are dealing with.  I will not mention the family’s name out of respect for them but for all of you reading this just ask God to watch over Bret’s friends and their families during the very trying time.  God knows who they are and I know he hears all prayer.

  Well today was my first day at working a split shift.  In at 11:25 out at 2:30 and back to work at 5:30 until 9:45.  The store closes at 9:30 but I have to count my cash drawer in order to leave.  The newbies questioned the split shift but I tell you after today I am grateful for the 3 hour break as there was a major shopping rush during the first part of my shift and I barely even had time to breath.  I have been told that this is just the tip of the iceberg and to just wait until July and August when a few million people visit the park.  Can’t wait. J  The second part of my shift was pretty good and not as busy so I was able to straighten up stock and to prepare the area for tomorrow’s shift. 

  I got to meet quite a few people from different countries today and the newest one was a couple from Italy and one from the Czech Republic.  I did have a nice experience with four Chinese girls that came into shop.  You see one of the things we are supposed to do with all transactions is to call the customer by their first name if we could get the name off a credit card. It seems that satisfaction of shopping goes up 11% when you are called by your first name.  So the first Chinese girl paid with a credit card and I looked at the card and then asked if her name was pronounced such and such.  She giggled and said I was close and she repeated it to me.  The next girl paid with a credit card and I tried again to pronounce her name.  Well she said I was pronouncing it better than most and that gave me more confidence for the next girl.  Well she paid with a credit card and I tried her name out and she laughed and said it was ok but I felt it was not as close as it could have been.  She repeated it back to me and believe me I was about 20% close.  The last girl looked and me and said she was going to pay with cash but decided I need to try her name out.  I looked at the card and after 3 girls’ names I nailed this one and she let out a laugh and told me I did pretty good.  I thanked them all for their patience with me and to have a great time in the park.  They all laughed and wished me a good day too.  It is those types of interactions that I make my day. 

  Well I have the next two days off and will be either traveling up north to see some bear or traveling to Cody Wyoming for a trip to Walmart.  The trip up north will depend on what the ranger tells me as it is still snowing here occasionally but not sticking too much.  The second day off will be a trip south to get a glimpse of the Grand Tetons.  I have put my order in for lunch for these two days as the group here that feeds us will make us a sack lunch to take with us on our tourist journeys. I ordered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, cookies and a root beer.  I cannot wait until the weather is warm enough to picnic up on the mountain for lunch with a view from 10,000 feet up.

  Well thanks for reading and I will leave you with a thought from Will Rogers “All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.”  Until tomorrow.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 4

   Today was my first day off.  I was contracted to only work 32 hours a week.  So however they arrange my time is up to them, but I have today off and then work tomorrow and then have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Tomorrow we begin our summer hours where the store will be open 9AM to 9PM.  So we are going to start working what they call split shifts.  You basically come into work and work for a few hours then off for a couple of hours and then back to work for a few hours.  Tomorrow I work from 11:25AM to 2:40PM and then back to work at 5:30PM and work until 9:30PM.  So basically it is close to 7 hours of work.  Myself and a few of the other workers have asked why they do this, but have yet to come to a good reason.  The only thing I can think of is that I basically have to eat lunch before work and eat dinner before going back to work.

   I got up early today and ate breakfast quickly so that I could get on the road to West Yellowstone.  I planned on attending the First Baptist Church there and their Sunday school started at 9AM.  It takes me about an hour to get there from my dorm and I wanted to start a little early to ensure I found the church in time.  Stepping out of the dorm to go eat I was snowed upon.  After breakfast I headed for the car and was rained on.  The weather in the mountains is pretty interesting for sure.  As I drove to West Yellowstone the sun came out but it was still only 40 degrees.  Always on the lookout for wildlife I drove the speed limit and much to my surprise a herd of Bison were attempting to march down the highway coming my way.  I reached the area where traffic was stopped and on my lane it was just one car in front of me and a few behind me.  On the other side of the road was a tour bus and several cars behind it.  We were all stopped admiring the Bison and their marched up the road toward me.  Some would follow the highway and some would just keep crossing over one side and then back to the other.  I rolled my window down and took several pictures.  They were close enough for me to be able to reach out and touch one or two as they passed me by, but I did not for safety reasons.  I looked at my clock in the car and calculated that I really needed to get moving so that I could get to the church on time.  At last all of the Bison passed me by except a mother and its calf.  Well wouldn’t you know it the calf decided to nurse at that time and just stopped the Mom in front of the tour bus on the other side and started to feed off of Mom.  Now it would not have bothered me as they were on the other side of the road but the guy in front of me decided to go to full camera mode and would not get moving down the road.  God was teaching me a lesson about patience.  So I decided to take a few pictures of the nursing calf while I waited.  Finally either the Mom had had enough or the calf was done and they moved passed me on the road and the car in front started moving.  I made it to church with 10 minutes to spare.

   The church was small but located in town and I parked on the street and entered the church.  I knew what would happen I would enter in and get the look from all in the church to a new visitor.  You know the look, it is the same look an old west bar group would give a stranger walking through the batwing doors with the sheriff’s favorite gal by his side.  Well I did get the look but it only lasted a second and the folks greeted me warmly.  Sunday school was very good and the Bible passages we studied were very good also.  After Sunday school I got to meet a few of the folks who were regulars of the church and they all seemed very friendly.  The morning worship was next and they played the old songs that I knew growing up and used a piano as the main music.  I really enjoyed singing the old songs.  Not that the new songs are not good, I just like to listen to the old songs as they take me back to when I started attending church in Vicksburg Indiana.  The morning message was pretty good and after the service was over I shook more hands and left to try to get my phone and computer updated using a better internet than the park can provide.  By the way about one third of those attending the church today were visitors like myself and I think the church really enjoys it when the tourist season starts as they get a real bump in attendance.

  I managed to get my computer and cell phone updated and went in search for a light that I could attach above my bed so that I could read.  I found a place in town that was a Radio Shack once but when they went out of business the store just converted itself to an electronics shop.  They had what I needed, so I will be able to read in bed tonight.

  I headed back into the park and worked my way up north to find a small but interesting hike I could take to get my legs back in shape.  I found one about thirty miles north of where I live called Artist’s Paint Pot.  I pulled over into the parking area and looked at the sign detailing how far it was to the geyser area.  It said it was about three quarters of a mile to the area.  So I calculated about a mile and a half hike.  Which sounded good so I put on pullover sweatshirt that I had in the car and headed up the path.  The snow and rain had stopped but it was still around 40 degrees. The walk was pretty good and there were only a few other people hiking that day.  Most of the walk was through the woods but I knew we would come upon the geyser basin soon as I could smell the sulfur smell that comes from most geysers.  Sure enough the woods opened up and there were plenty of geysers all around the path.  The signs said to stay on the path and not approach any water or geyser.  Most of the water coming up will pretty much burn the skin off as it is very very hot.  The trail soon came to a loop around the basin and I took the path to the left that would lead to a short climb up around 200 feet.  Once at the top of the climb you could see the whole geyser basin and I could see why they called in Artist’s Paint Pot as an artist could create a pretty beautiful picture of the area.  You not only had the geyser’s going off but looking down the path and up you could see some very nice snow covered mountains.  I continued on the trail and it soon started to descend, but not before coming to a unique little geyser called a mud pot.  This thing made a noise like a burp/flop as the geyser just pushed up mud and spewed it out.  The trail had a sign post that you could read about the mud pot but I did not approach it because the mud pot was occasionally spewing mud on the platform and the sign.  It was just covered with hardening mud.  A pretty neat site for sure.  Well I continued down the trail and back to the car.  I can tell my legs need work and I also can tell my lungs are not exactly used to high altitudes yet but given time the legs will get better and my high altitude breathing will be just fine.

  I headed back to the dorm for dinner and watched part of the Cubs loss to the Giants on the TV in the dorm gathering area. The Cubs have been on a little losing streak since I have been gone.  I hope they perk up when the face those dreaded Cardinals later this week.  Well I will get this posted and try out my new reading light.  You all take care and I hear the weather in Indiana was pretty good today as Cathy said she mowed today.

p.s. Today was my wedding anniversary.  Cathy and I have been married for 34 great years.  It was pretty tough being away today from her but talking to her on the phone helped a lot.  Thank you Lord for a great wife.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 3

  Well today I worked the early shift at the general store and for the most part I ran a cash register but a couple of hours I helped in the stock room getting the stock unboxed and put on stock shelves.  It was pretty much all hands on deck for that job as there were several pallets of merchandise delivered that needed to be unboxed and put in the stock room or as we call it the dungeon.  The thing is I have worked on a submarine, so the underground close quarters of an overstocked storage room does not affect me much. 

  The day started out cold and rainy and we had a pretty good storm the night before.  After a few hours on the job it started to snow and rain and then just snow for a while.  After a few minutes it was just rain and then the sun came out and then the whole pattern started over again.  I was in the dungeon at the time and the crew patrolling the general store were making frantic trips down to the catacombs searching for light weight rain slickers and ponchos.  It seems like the tourists did not pay much attention to the weather patterns of Wyoming in May at 8,000 feet up. You would not believe how many of them were freezing their rear ends off.  It was a boon for the store for sure as we sold a bunch of foul weather gear and ponchos. 

  I talk to several foreign tourists today and mostly all of them were nice enough to communicate back to me on where they came from and how they liked the park.  I talked to people from China, France, Pakistan, Germany and England today.  I am getting better at spotting the looks from people who do not understand my special Hoosier greeting of “Hello you all and how are you doing today?” as being from other countries. 

  I also talked to several people that were tenting it in the camp ground.  I commended them on their intestinal fortitude at sleeping in a tent while the snow was coming down.  They all smiled and said they were having a blast camping, but they did say that they came into the general store to get more items for warmth.  I also sold some playing cards to a group of ladies who were tenting.  They figured that they would stay in the tent during the cold and rainy nights and play cards.  They also bought a bottle of rum and some Cokes, which I think would help them stay warm too.

  The bears have been pretty active around Madison, which is north of us and I may drift up there on my day off Sunday to see if I can spot a grizzly or two.  I will be attending church in West Yellowstone tomorrow.  It is about 31 miles from my dorm to the church and about 1 hours’ drive.  After church I plan on doing some phone and computer updating at the McDonalds in West Yellowstone, as the Wi-Fi and cellular internet here are pretty bad.  I can barely get my blog updated and some pictures uploaded.  I have turned off any downloading or updating of my cell phone and computer until I get to someplace where I have a decent connection.  I will also try to find a lamp for the room or at minimum a clip on light that I can use over my bed to read.  After that I will do some exploring of Yellowstone, but I will be keeping to the west side and I will most likely not head higher into the mountains until the roads are totally cleared off and the chance of snow diminishes.

  That just about does it for my exciting day.  I am doing well and boy are they feeding me well here.  I am going to have to skip some meals if I want to start losing weight, but then again I am doing more work and standing for longer hours than I have ever done in the past.  So maybe the exercise will do me good.  I can’t wait to get in some hiking as I know that will be exercise for sure. Well you all take care and I do appreciate you reading my blog.  Stay happy and remember God like joyful people.  So spread some joy.

Yellowstone Adventure - Day 2

   Well I made it through Day 2 of working in the general store and I can now say I can run a cash register.  Not that I did not make mistakes and need help from Bob who worked the register next to me.  But all in all I think I did pretty well.  They asked several of us to come to work 50 minutes early to help get stock straightened up on the floor and to bring new stock up from the catacombs.  The group worked great as a team and we even gathered together to make a video challenging another store in the park to a sales contest.  The comradery of the group is good and they all really do pitch in to make the store successful.  My managers for today were Garth, for Pete’s sake stop grinning at his name, and Carrie. I don’t know how they do it but they do a great job watching over all the newbies. After we set up the stock I was told to go get my drawer money and take a position on the floor.  I silently prayed that I would not be put on the grocery side of the store but when I came back on the floor my manager assigned me to, yes the grocery cash register.  The reason I did not want to have my first experience there was that it is fairly busy and mostly all sales involve looking up produce prices and most of the sales consist of many many items. After an hour of working at the register my manager decided we were not busy enough to have a full group of cashiers on the floor so he assigned me and several others to work with Michelle down in the catacombs.  Michelle desperately needed help in getting her inventory set up properly in the basement.  Myself and several other cashiers met with Michelle and got assigned different duties.  Michelle is another great manager and she has a very difficult job ensuring that the floor is stocked up with goods to purchase all the time.  I worked with her for about 3 hours and then my manager wanted us back upstairs for assignments.  Once upstairs he told half of us to get some lunch and then come back and relieve the ones left so that they could go to lunch.  He expected it to get busier after lunch as the rains had started to dwindle down and the sun was shining through every once in a while.  Did I mention it has been rainy and cold here for the better part of a week and it looks like more rain will be coming.  There is still snow in the parking lot where it was piled up and I don’t think it is going to melt very fast. 

  After lunch I went back to my cash register station in the grocery area and worked there for the rest of my shift.  It was fairly busy and I got to meet a lot of people from all over the U.S. and several other countries.  It took me a while to figure out that sometimes my greetings of “Hello” or “How are you?” go into ears that do not understand English.  I got to talk to many people at the register who were parents of a child in the U.S. and it was up to their son or daughter to interpret what I was saying to them.  Mostly everyone who does not understand me just smiles and shakes their head.  It really is an interesting experience.  I got to meet a man with the last name of Hobbs today who was originally from Indiana.  He got a kick out of our last names being the same and I came from southern Indiana.  The only issue I had at the register was a woman who bought two pickles that are sold in a bag in their own brine.  She brought them back later and said they were not crunchy but spongy.  I had to get my manager to process the return as I did not know if we could return any money for food that they just did not like.  Garth handled it well and I think the customer was happy too.

   On a side note I do see a lot of young people buying alcohol.  I asked Bob about this and he said most were workers for the park facilities who are on their day off.  He said over the years he has observed that the young kids of drinking aged tended to spend most of their money on booze and he even knew when it came close to their payday as they would start buying stuff with change that they all collected.  I told him this was sad and that I saw the same thing in the Navy.  Guys and gals would get off work and drinking would be their hobby.  The trouble with this pattern is that it will probably continue into their adult life.

  I also got my schedule for the next two weeks.  I get Sunday off and I will be going to church services in West Yellowstone.  I will also use that day to find a lamp I can put in the room so I can read at night as the dorm room does not have anything but the overhead light. After Sunday’s day off I work Monday and then I get Tuesday and Wednesday off.  I think I will use those days to start exploring the roads around the park and see what animals I can spot and get some pictures of.  I will use the car to explore for a while as I want to hike but not in the cold or rain.  I have learned something though that is a warning to you all who plan to visit.  The higher altitudes takes a lot of water out of you.  You MUST stay hydrated.  I find that I am drinking a lot of water and trying to keep well hydrated at work and when off.

   Well that was pretty much my day.  Thanks for reading and you all be well and do good.

p.s. I now know what it is like to be behind the cash register now.  The long hours standing and aching feet and knees.  So whenever you find yourself at a cash register please tell the person on the other side that they are doing a good job and give them a smile.

Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - Day 1

   Welcome to day 1 of my official working at Yellowstone National Park.  In case I never mentioned this before the place I work at is called the Old Faithful General Store and my dorm is right behind the general store. The place I park at is right by the dorm with an overflow parking lot in the back.  The place where workers take their meals is connected to the general store and seats about 35 workers at a time.  The place is referred to as the Employee Dining Room (EDR) and is run by a very lovely couple James and Kathy who have several helpers to prepare the meals.  Today as part of my first day I received an official tour of the place and it was an eye opener.  The general store sells clothes, groceries and various souvenir items.  Inside the general store there is also an ice cream parlor and a café where people can order breakfast items as well as lunch items.  After the tour of all the parts visible to the general public we were treated with a tour of the stock room located underground and attached to the general store via a nice long tunnel.  The stock room is located under the parking lot between the dorm and the general store.  In fact the emergency exit for the stock room opens up into the basement of my dorm where the recreation and laundry rooms are located.  I could not believe how much stock is located in the underground facility.  Rows and rows of t-shirts, sweatshirts, hood jackets, ball caps, and various souvenirs.  I asked Michelle how the stock gets into this facility and she informed me that they have a crew that works in the winter to travel to all their various stock rooms and put all the merchandise bought for the next season onto the shelves.  The shelves are pretty organized as the sizes of all things start with small being closest to the floor and move up in sizes as you increase in shelf height.  So all day long workers are taking merchandise from the underground storage area and restock the shelves in the public area.  There are workers whose sole job during the day is to check the public areas stock and then make a list of what is needed to be restocked.  The list is brought down into the underground area and workers there will gather all the items on the list.  Taking care to put clothing on hangers and have all hangers labeled with the proper size.  Then someone takes the stock back up to the store and restock the various areas.  This goes on and on each day and it is interesting to watch.  The reason I know so much about this procedure is that I worked for the manager in the underground for most of the day today while the trainers went through training all the new cashiers. We had 9 new cashiers to be trained, and I was one of them, but they could only train 3 at a time.  So my group was last and during this time I worked for Michelle in the underground store room.  My job was to get the list from the worker and then find the stock in the unground storage area and present it properly to the worker who would be taking it back upstairs.  For the first couple of hours it was like an Easter egg hunt.  I would go on the trail of the stock and then praise God that I found it before I turned a year older.

  After lunch I got called by my cashier manager Garth, yes his name is Garth and he is a pretty good guy.  He introduced myself and Kathy and Kathy’s husband Tom to John who would be training us.  You know we have 4 or 5 workers named Cathy working with us in the general store.  John took us all upstairs to the fishing tackle section and used the cash register located there to train on.  John did a pretty good job of introducing us to the point of sale system and all the things that were out of the ordinary when it comes to running the cash register.  If all the sales were just cash and credit then the process is pretty straight forward, but alas there are some things that need special attention.  Such as a person buying the goods and wanting us to ship them (which they do) or a person paying with a traveler’s check or an underage person trying to buy alcohol or someone wanting to buy a fishing license.  All these take special care and different procedures that I am sure I will have to call for help to get them done the first time or two.

   Once the cash register training was done we were taken back to Garth, stop laughing that is his name, and he issued us all our initial $300 and a safe deposit key and box where we are to store the money.  This money will stay with us all through our employment as this is the seed money to put in our registers at the start of the day.  At the end of the day we put all but our $300 into the safe and put our seed money back into the safe deposit box.  Once we do that, then we are free to clock out.  We clock in and out using our badges.  Tomorrow will be my first day on a cash register so please say a prayer that I do everything as well as I can. 

   Just to show you that they treat us well here.  The lunch today was steak and bake potatoes and I just got back from an ice cream social with all the workers of the general store.  The ice cream social also turned into a birthday party for Carrie our manager.  They are good people and God even lead me to meet a couple named Pam and Jerald who were not shy talking about God.  They are from Arkansas and Jerald is a former minister.  Pam and Jerald are the custodians for our facilities this week and they seem to be very nice.  I also got to work with a young man named Race today.  He is named Race because his dad liked to race cars.  He is a nice young man who is trying to get his head straight on what he wants to do in life. He said working Yellowstone will give him time to think and to earn some money.  I also met Steve and his wife Leanna (not sure how it is spelled).  Steve is from England and his wife is from Mexico.  Very nice couple and it was good to pick their brains about life outside the U.S. 

  Well that is all I have for now as I am going to bed early.  This working for a living is pretty tiring.  Take care and stay well.

Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - Orientation and Moving In

   Well I got up early at the Gray Wolf Inn as I did not really sleep well. My mind kept racing around different things concerning my next 4 months. At 5AM I gave up and started to get prepared for orientation with my new employer. I arrived at Human Resources around 8AM and there was already quite a group in the building. The Delaware Group was pretty efficient in getting all the new employees organized and processed. The first step was to fill out a bunch of paperwork proving that I am an American citizen and I could legally work at Yellowstone and also where to send my paycheck. Then they moved me to a room for pictures and uniform issuing, which mainly was a smock, 5 T-shirts and a fleece pullover for when the weather turns bad. They also gave me a mug for water or coffee as they want to get everyone to stop using plastic bottles and fill their mugs with water from their free water stations. After pictures for a new badge were done they sent me to the local Holiday Inn for the classroom orientation with all the other new employees. I will not bore you with all they went over but I will tell you some highlights. One thing I found out was that the Old Faithful General Store where I will be working at is the busiest place sales wise in the park. At the start of the season they will do $30,000 to $35,000 dollars a day in sales and at the peak of the season they will hit $85,000 a day in sales. It seems that everyone wants to see Old Faithful and while they wait for her to go off they spend a lot of money. The second thing I found interesting is that the Delaware Company and Yellowstone are really pushing recycling and not landfill storage. It seems that they have created a massive compost pile outside of the park and that they use a high percentage of non-throw away items that will go into that park. For instance, all the forks, knives, spoons, cups, plates and napkins used in the park are made of material that breaks down into compost. So mostly all the waste from the dining halls, cafeterias, and hotels are composted. The rest of the waste is then split into recycling bins and only a small percentage of waste is put in a landfill. The last thing I learned that I will pass onto you is that a cashier’s job is more intense than I figured. Once I become a cashier, after training, I will be given $300 that will stay with me my entire employment. This is my cash register drawer money and at the end of the day I am to separate the stores money from my $300, ensuring that I have enough change and small bills to start the next day with. The rest of the money will go into a safe and that has to be witnessed by another person to ensure I did it. The main finance center will track how well I am doing change wise and inform my manager if things do not start adding up. My $300 will go into a lock box where I will have the only key. The money will be returned at the end of my employment. There is a lot of paperwork that I will have to do daily that I left out, but to say the least it will take a few days for my brain to get this procedure remembered.
 
   After orientation I was told to report to where I will be working and the store manager will take over the rest of my onboard processing. I reported to Carrie my manager and she is one nice lady. She just moved to Yellowstone from the Grand Canyon and she seemed to be right on top of things for all the people she would have to manage. I think she said when she has full employee hiring she will manage 85 employees at the General Store. She assigned me to my dorm room and gave me the key. The dorm is just behind where I will be working. So I am only about 25 steps from the back of the General Store. The dorm room was pretty much what I expected except for the smell. You see the dorms are shut up in the winter and that is about 5 months of being closed up. So the musty smell and dust was pretty bad. I opened the windows and left the room looking for cleaning items and such. I was able to locate a few things to clean with and went to work vacuuming and general wipe down of all things in the room. After I was done it smelled better and I went to get my stuff out of the car. I am able to park right next to my dorm as I got a sticker from the ranger station that shows I am an employee and can get free access to the park and to Grand Tetons National Park. Once I got all my stuff put up and the bed made with my new sheets the room started to look pretty good. It needed stuff on the wall and a bedside lamp but it was livable. So far I do not have a roommate but I think that will change when the next wave of new hires come in. The good news about being first is I got to pick the best mattress. The room is pretty small but has two beds, two dressers and two closets. The bathroom down the hall is set up fairly well also.

    During our meeting with Carrie we got a limited tour with most of the rest coming tomorrow. She did take us to the EDR (Employee Dinning Hall) that is connected to the General Store and introduced us to the husband and wife team that will be cooking for us. They told us when breakfast, lunch and dinner would be and if we have a day off and want to take a sack lunch out on a hike or a picnic that we just sign the board the day before and they will make up a sack lunch. They also indicated that the biggest meal was lunch and that we were welcomed to take any fruits with us we would like for snacks at a later date.

    Well that was my day and I am in the dorm now typing this up. So far the weather has been brisk but sunny and the drive to the General Store was interrupted several times by bison crossing the road. It will be nice to see my schedule for work and then schedule a nice hike somewhere in the park. Well you all who are reading this please take care and post a comment below if you want a questioned answered.

Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - The Getting There Day 4

  Well after 1,780 miles I reached West Yellowstone. I will be staying here tonight at the hotel my employer owns.  They give all their new employees a great rate at the hotel the night before reporting and believe me it is a nice one.  I think I will be sleeping well tonight.  I will be getting up around 7AM and checking out as they want me at the human resources office at 8AM on Wednesday.  I have already scoped out where the HR office is and marked it in my navigation system.  God bless you GPS. So there will be no getting lost tomorrow. 
  As for the drive today, well God saved the best views for the last day.  Even though it was the shortest day of driving, only 4 hours.  The views were spectacular.  The weather cleared up and the sky was really blue.  As I left Billings I came over a hill on I90 and there they were.  Lines of mountains with snow covering the upper fifty percent of them all.  The more I drove the bigger they became and the more beautiful they were also.  For a while I drove with the Beartooth range on my left and believe me it was hard to drive because I kept wanting to look at the mountains.  After awhile the Yellowstone rive appeared on my right and stayed with me most of the morning.  Then a new mountain range appeared on my right front and I think it was either the Bridger range or the Absaroka range.  I may not have these range names correct as their signs passed by fairly quickly. 
   Once I reached Bozeman Montana I headed south to West Yellowstone.  The mountain range that I think was around me then was the Gallatin Range and I followed the Gallatin river into West Yellowstone.  The drive was very pretty and several times I saw guys and gals fishing in the river and believe me it was running fast.  I also was climbing in altitude as I looked at my GPS and I was just under 8,000 feet.  I could tell too as there was a lot of snow still on the ground, but melting quickly. 
   Approaching West Yellowstone I started to see the all familiar roads signs that stated "Bison On The Roadway".  I knew then I was back in the Yellowstone area.  West Yellowstone is a nice town but very pricey.  The people are friendly but I also feel a lot of them are temporary summer workers just as I will be.  I am going to try to find the regular town folk and converse with them on life in the area throughout the year.  I am sure the winters create a lot of stories.
   Across from where I am staying is a preserve for bears, wolves and birds of prey.  Animals that have been found hurt and needed cared for are what is in the preserve.  I paid my 13 dollars and saw some pretty nice looking grizzly bears and eagles.  The wolves were mostly laying down in the sun but the bears were really enjoying their water area.  Two were playing in the water and wrestling for the crowd.  A pretty nice place to visit.
  Before I finish I want to tell you of a place in town I toured called "The Madison Hotel".  It is on the national registry of historical places and was created as a place to stay for those traveling in the area. It was built in 1912 and updated over the years, but it's log construction and general beauty has remained the same.  It is in the middle of town and is a two story log structure where the second floor has two openings for hot air to flow upward from wood burning stoves on the main floor.  The building is run today as a hostel and the rates are pretty fair.  The rooms are set up with period type furniture that looks great and bathrooms have been added down the hall for people staying to use.  You can have a room to yourself or you can have a room where you share with three other people.  The people running the place are direct descendants of those that built the hotel.  There have been several famous people who have stayed there, such as President Harding, Gloria Swanson and Wallace Beery.  I recommend if you come to West Yellowstone to stop and take a look. 
   Well that is about it.  Time for a hot bath as the driving does a number on my back muscles.  Thanks for reading and use the comments area below if you have any questions you want me to answer. 

Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - The Getting There Day 3

  Well I left Rapid City pretty early this morning and was still debating on how I would get to my next stop. I really wanted to go up I90 to Ranchester and take my favorite scenic route to Cody Wyoming, but I could not get a feel on how the weather over the Bighorn mountains would be because in order to leave Cody I would have to go north and head toward Red Lodge.  I did not want to get stuck somewhere where the road was closed and I would have to then back track.  The other alternative was to keep on I90 and continue over the top of Yellowstone using a route that was not so high in altitude. So in order to think more on it I decided to head to Deadwood South Dakota on my way out of South Dakota.
  Dad and I explored Deadwood in the 90's and I was curious on how it may have changed over the years as it was really the only place you could legally gamble at the time (other than Vegas).  Now a days you can pretty much gamble all the way from Indiana to Montana and then further west.  From Indian reservations to state supported gambling it is pretty much a part of American society now and in my opinion not helping as much as it was advertised. Getting into Deadwood I first noticed that there was a lot of highway construction and building going on.  It seems that the gambling money is at least improving the roads in Deadwood.  The place has sure changed in appearance for sure.  The town looked like it got a complete makeover in restoration.  They seem to be trying to get the history back into the town and trying to give the tourists something to do besides gambling.  I noticed a lot of money spent on museums and upkeep of historical places in town.  It looks like they set up a historical walk where you can explore the town and learn about its rich history of mining and gambling and general western folklore.  I drove through the town twice to get a feel of what was happening and decided to ask google for directions to the Mount Moriah cemetery (google is great for directions) as I wished to say hello to the towns leading characters who are buried there, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Arriving at the cemetery early I did not have to pay to get in as the admission stand was closed, but I did put the price of admission ($2) into their donation box and headed up the walk to where I remember the graves to be.  Sure enough they have not moved them to somewhere else, which they did a long time ago when the old cemetery pretty much flooded away down the hill toward town.  They did spruce up the area a lot and tried to protect the graves as much as they could, but people still put playing cards and coins and such on their graves.  After taking a few pictures I looked around and saw many graves from the same time period as Wild Bill and remembered a story or two about the names I was reading.  Deadwood had a pretty colorful past and there were many people who were fine upstanding people that tried to do their best to create a town where a family could grow up.  Most of their graves are there and the cemetery does its best to get their stories out as much as Wild Bill and Calamity Jane's story. If you every do visit the cemetery you will have an outstanding view of Deadwood as the cemetery is located up a hill overlooking the town.
  Leaving Deadwood I made my way back to I90 and was still contemplating which route to take next.  The weather was starting to turn colder and it looked like rain coming in from the west.  I traveled up I90 for awhile and saw a sign indicating that the exit to Devil's Tower was coming up soon.  I decided to go see the tower again as Dad and I saw it back in the 90's and I have not seen it since then.  As I drove the route that broke off I90 to Devil's Tower my mind was looking for areas that I would remember.  I did not really find one until I almost reached the tower.  The road for the last few miles was steadily up hill but as I approached Devil's Tower the grade started to go downhill for quite some distance. It was almost at the end of the downhill that my memory was triggered.  I approached a sharp bend in the road and I remembered distinctly being behind Dad's motorcycle and having to bank pretty sharply to get around the curve without going into the other lane.  I think it was the most I ever leaned over on a moving motorcycle in my life.  Devil's Tower is pretty unusual and hard to describe but for those movie buffs who remember Close Encounters of the Third Kind you will know what it looks like.  I would recommend you see it one day as the Indians in the area had some pretty wild things to imagine about the tower.
  Once back on I90 I pretty much had my decision made on the route issue.  Looking to my left at the Bighorn range I could see a lot of clouds and a lot of rain coming down.  The temperature dropped to 40 degrees so I did not want to chance that route today and just stuck to I90 and headed for Billings Montana.  Driving on I90 from Wyoming to Montana you will pass over many small and large rivers with the names of Belle Fourche, Little Bighorn, Bighorn and my favorite Crazy Woman Creek.  Each of these rivers and creeks have some great history about them and around them.  I am sure you remember the Little Bighorn as the place where Custer and his men were wiped out.  The rivers played a very important role in exploring the west and in the economy.  I used to read about these places in my Louis L'Amour books and it is exciting to see these places.
  Well I stopped at Billings for the night and will head to West Yellowstone tomorrow.  This should be a short drive and will spend the night there and report to my work the next day.  Until tomorrow.

Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - The Getting There Day 2

  It was sure nice to finally leave Iowa and get into South Dakota.  If you have never been to South Dakota it is very hard for me to describe the openness of the state.  It is what I really like about the drive through on I-90.  You can see for miles in all directions and for some reason that makes me feel good just standing by the side of the road and looking at the vastness of the land.  It also makes it great for weather spotting because a storm cannot sneak up on you.  You can see bad weather coming for miles.  I guess next to standing in the mountains and looking from one peak to another the views in South Dakota are something. 
    I stopped in Mitchell South Dakota today just to see what the Corn Palace had for a theme this year.  You see every year they create a new theme on the outside of the building using corn to make giant murals.  This year's theme was rock and roll and they called it "Rock of Ages".  Mitchell has not changed much since Dad and I came through on the motorcycles in the 90's, but the interstate exit has ballooned into a shopping, lodging and dinning mecca. Where there was just an exit to Mitchell in the 90's you now have a Cabela's, several places to stay, a Super Walmart and a bunch of places to eat.  I don't think Mitchell was too happy with all that because people may just stop at the exit and never come to the town of Mitchell.  The town has some very nice shops and such that people really should see. 
   Heading out of Mitchell my next stop was my most favorite rest stop of all time.  It is the rest stop right before you get to cross the Missouri river.  South Dakota really did that rest stop up right.  It is placed on a hill over looking the river and the bridge that I-90 uses to cross the river.  Standing up on the hill and looking down I would just close my eyes and try to imagine Lewis and Clark coming upstream on their way to an adventure that makes my summer work look like a walk in the park. That rest stop is a great place to read up on history of the area as well as get some great pictures. 
    Crossing the Missouri at that point you are in my opinion "In the West".  The landscape starts to change and they ground looks more and more like you saw in the movie Dances With Wolves.  Speaking of Dances With Wolves, just up the road (well several miles but they go by fast) is the 1880's Town.  This is the best preserved old time western town that I have ever come across.  The owner who set up the town brought in buildings from all over the area to build a very real looking western town.  He has a great saloon with batwing doors, two churches, a railroad depot, a dentist and doctor's office, a bank, a post office, etc.  He also has a section in the main building dedicated to the movie and has several pictures and props.  When Dad and I went through in the 90's we got to see the horse that Kevin Costner road in the movie.  The horse is gone but some very large long horn steers have been put outside of the town and believe me seeing them up close is something you will remember.
  I decided today to stop by Wall Drug for a lunch/dinner.  If you do not know about Wall Drug all I can say is you have to see it.  Wall Drug is in Wall South Dakota which is on the edge of the badlands.  They are known by their signs that are on the roadside.  I saw a sign for Wall Drug around 350 miles from Wall today and I am sure there are signs much farther out than that.  If you travel I-90 and get close to South Dakota then you will get an education on what is happening at Wall Drug.  It was established as a drug store a long time ago and has blossomed into a great tourist attraction over the years and a very nice place to eat ad rest.
   Leaving Wall I headed to Rapid City where I decided to stay for the night.  Once I got checked in I decided to go up the mountain and see Mount Rushmore.  All I can say about my trip up the mountain is that Rapid City has changed immensely since the 90's when Dad and I took the motorcycles up and around the mountain.  There are many more places to stay and many more family attractions.  Some of those family attractions my Dad would refer to as tourist traps and I would have to agree.  The place is starting to look more and more like Branson in Missouri. Which is good for families but kind of bad for those looking for scenery over stopping places.  I did also notice that Rapid City, like Branson, is being affected by the economy as several places were closed down and some were for sale.  A sign of the times I guess but this usually indicates a big boom followed by a big bust.
  Well that is all I have today and I will have to plan my route for tomorrow.  I am leaning toward getting off I-90 and head to Cody Wyoming because I want to see my favorite mountain overlook.  Cathy will know what that one is as I always talk about the spot as leaving the plains and heading into the mountains (the Bighorn Range).  The spot always brought me smiles going up and frowns going down as I knew that once I was down there would be no more mountains to venture across.

Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - The Getting There Day 1

    Well the alarm sounded at 5:30AM this morning and it was time for me to get ready to leave.  I quietly took a shower and shaved, not wanting to wake Cathy up just yet.  I then gathered the rest of the items I was to bring, as most of the stuff was already packed and in the car.  I entered the bedroom where Cathy was still sleeping and thought to myself "would it be easier to just let her sleep and leave or to wake her and face the tears that would probably come from both of us?"  I chose the latter because I valued my life.  Cathy was a little groggy but she went into wife mode quickly by asking me if I had remembered everything.  I told her yes but I knew she knew that I did remember what I needed to bring it is just that she wanted to hear me verbalize it.  After several hugs and kisses I went to the garage and got in the car.  Cathy was standing at the door to the house in the garage and was looking at me with sad eyes. I blinked the lights at her to say goodbye once again and slowly backed out of the garage. I could see she was just standing there looking and that made the leaving all the harder.  I closed the garage door and watched her disappear behind the slowly closing door and proceeded down the road to the highway.  I did not make it to the end of the road before I had to use a napkin to wipe away my tears. After breakfast at McDonalds I headed to Montana, or at least Iowa for the day.  I can tell you this much for the first 200 miles I would get misty-eyed every time I looked at the passenger's seat and see that Cathy was not there by my side.  I figured I better stop that as soon as I could as the truckers that were passing me were starting to give me a look.
    It was a pretty uneventful drive to my stopping point of Onawa Iowa and I was very glad to have been able to listen to the Cubs on the satellite radio in the afternoon, as it was getting a bit boring traveling through Iowa.  I did manage to stop and eat a lunch/diner at Culver's so that I could celebrate my birthday. Did I mention that I left on my birthday? 57 years old today and heading out on an adventure that may put me through a test or two.  I have prayed several times today that God would watch over me as I traveled and that I would be able to show Jesus to those I would meet. I think I succeeded on this with the cashier at Culver's because several times I thanked her and wished her a good day, as she was looking a little frazzled with the amount of people she was having to take care of.  I also prayed that God would watch over my family at home while I am gone and I know he hears those prayers.
    I drove 648 miles today and planned my first gas stop at Le Clair Iowa so that I could take a picture of two of the American Pickers place for my friends on Facebook.  I will say one thing about the drive.  My gas mileage was very very poor.  This was due mainly to the north wind that was blowing all day and as I traveled west I had to constantly keep the wheel pointing right as the wind was pushing everyone on the road to the left.  I felt bad for the people on motorcycles who were definitely leaning right as they went down the road.
     Well that is about it as I will be getting to bed early tonight.  I hope to see if there is a local church around the Super 8 that I am at so I can worship tomorrow. If I don't find one then I may stream the LFCC broadcast in the car through my phone.  Will add more tomorrow as I get into South Dakota.

Yellowstone Adventure - Getting Ready

   Getting ready for the trip west is an adventure in itself.  I have made a check list on my phone to remind me what to do before I leave and what to take when I do leave.  It seems I remember something every day to add to the list.  I am trying to get everything done that I can so that Cathy will not be burdened by a task or two that I may have forgot, but there are some things that I just cannot get done and she will have to do.  I have been able to pay all the bills that will need to be paid before I can go but I know there will be several medical bills coming in that she will have to take care of.  She has indicated she would like to mow the yard but I would imagine with her taking care of the grandkids that she will have to call someone to do the job.  I have managed to get our cars switched over so that she will be driving my van and I will be driving her Hyundai.  The Hyundai gets better gas mileage and the navigation package will come in handy for sure.  I have been loading it up with things that I know I will need to bring and trying to visualize where I will put the rest.
   I am truly grateful for Kevin and Laura Cross' small groups for taking over my job of getting the food and clothing out of the bins at the church and for John Donathan for taking care of my Goodwill runs.  Mother's Day Sunday was my last service at LFCC for awhile and it was nice to get a few hugs from some ladies and hand shakes from some of the guys.  I really do appreciate those that said they will be praying for my travels and my work.  I also know I will be seeing a few of my LFCC friends this summer as some will be vacationing in Yellowstone and they promised to look me up.
  The group I will be working with has been keeping me informed of the happenings at Yellowstone with regular emails and they also reminded me that they have a place for me to stay prior to my reporting to the Human Resources office on May 18th.  They have been pretty good with communications and I really do appreciate that.  I also have been keeping a close eye on the snow removal that has been happening at the park and I am pleased with their progress.  I should not have snow issues getting there but I have added an extra day of travel just in case I run into trouble.  The plain states seem to be having a lot of bad weather so my trip across South Dakota may give me trouble.  I have been praying for safe travel and so have others, so I am sure things will be OK.
  This week I will be packing the two totes that I purchased for the trip and getting things staged in the Hyundai to ensure I don't run out of space.  I also have to wrap up a few personal obligations so that I do not leave any promises hanging before I leave.  I will be leaving at 6am on Saturday May 14 with a stop at McDonalds for breakfast.  I hope to make it to Little Sioux Iowa before I shutdown for the night.  Since I will be leaving on my birthday I plan on having a special meal sometime that day that is more than just road food.
  On a personal note.  One of my goals this summer will be to try to lose some weight.  I am hoping to lose around 25 pounds.  It seems I have developed a moderate case of sleep apnea and one of the things I can do to combat this is to lose weight.  Also I think my knees would feel much better with less weight to lug around.   Limiting myself to dorm life and only three meals a day will go a long way to helping this out.  Not to mention getting a lot of hiking in during the week.