This is not Supposed to happen (West Yellowstone, MT)

 

There is SNOW on my truck.  Actually it is more like frozen rain.  It was cold yesterday when we toured Yellowstone.  When we were going through the higher elevations, 8900 feet, it started to show.  Since the air temps were 43 degrees, no snow stuck to the ground.

Now for yesterday’s trip.

In 1988 there were devastating forest fires in Yellowstone.  It was the worst in US history.  In the following pictures you can see the devastation from  these fires.  The fires released seeds and healthy trees have grown.  It has been only 25 years but he forest is coming back.

There are so many pictures I cannot put them in the blog.  These are a few.   From time to time I will upload more pictures, when WiFi is available, and attach a link to the end of the blog.  You may look at them whenever you like. 

Gibbons Falls

Artist Paintpot

Tower Falls

Tomorrow we will do our last tour of Yellowstone.  I will try to do one more blog.  On Monday we go up and over the mountains, east to Cody, WY.

Happy Birthday Andrew !!

Life is Super on the Roan Road…

Where the Buffalo Roam (West Yellowstone, MT)

 

We are here just outside of Yellowstone NP in the town of West Yellowstone.  Yellowstone NP is mostly in Wyoming, but a small portion is in Montana.  We are staying in a Forest Service Campground called Bakers Hole, it is just north of West Yellowstone.  It is a great little campground and with our Golden Age pass, we get a site with electric for $14 a night.

Now for my tale of woe.  When we left the Tetons I dumped our tanks and pulled forward to fill up our fresh water tank.  After filling the tank I went to pull out and heard a crunch.  I said “self, this is not good” and as usual I was right. I had pulled forward had hit a post and took out the dump valve manifold.  Which meant I could not dump my black and gray tanks.  The valves for each of these tanks were ok, but I had no way to dump the tanks.

The good news is the parts are common plumbing and RV parts.  The bad new is I am in West Yellowstone, not a great place to purchase parts.  I called the factory and they had the parts.  I had them ship them overnight.  Unfortunately, there is no early delivery to West Yellowstone.  The parts did not arrive until 7 PM the next day.  Not bad for $90.  At least I received the parts.  Today I put the manifold together and  now I can dump.   Now back to business of seeing Yellowstone.

We spent a full day touring Yellowstone.  Here are just a few of the pictures of wildlife we came across.

These are pictures of the Paint Pots.

And, of course, we cannot go to Yellowstone without Old Faithfull.  Old Faithful looks just the same as it did years ago – HGB do you remember being here!?

More to come of Yellowstone as we definitely did not see everything.

That’s it for now as I am sitting at a McDonalds and the battery is running low on the computer.

Hopefully I will have some videos in the next blog.

Life is Great on the Roan Road…

What a Beautiful View (Teton NP, WY)

 

We have been in the Gros Ventre Campground since Tuesday June 4th.  We are in a no hookup site. That means we are living self contained.  We have Satellite but no internet at the site.  Right now we are sitting in the back of the camp office, which is the only place WiFi is available in the campground.  Of coarse 4G and plenty of WiFi  is available in Jackson, about 12 miles down the road.

No picture can due justice to this place.  This is just on small sample.

Here are some pictures of the wildlife.

The pictures of the Moose were taken by Diane Hitzel, our friend and neighbor who took them in back of our campsites.

		Moose in campground VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

		Buffalo along the Road VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Tomorrow we are going north to Yellowstone NP. 

Happy Birthday to Bev.

Life is Great on the Roan Road…

P.S.  The above pictures, and all of the pictures in the Blogs, were taken by both of us.

Ears Go Pop (Afton, WY)

 

We have a lot to cover since the last blog,  so let’s get started.

The last time we blogged we were in Beaver, UT.  Since then we proceeded north up I-15 to Provo, UT.  We stayed at the Elks Lodge in Provo and did some visiting and sightseeing. 

This is the view out the back window of our site at the Elks Lodge in Provo.

The mountain views all around us were unbelievable. 

We visited our sister company NACT, a company that was acquired by WCGS, my former employer when I used to work.   Work,  a word I use to describe a former life which I would rather not remember.  Now, I just live off the government handouts like social security and Medicare.  Thank you USA.

Ann and I met with Cathleen and Justin at NACT and had a great time.  Cathleen gave us some great places to see around Provo. Unfortunately  we could not connect with them over the weekend.

First stop Bridal Veil Falls.  We really liked the park so much that we went back a few days later.

Next we went to Sundance.  Yes, this is where the Sundance film festival is held.  The road is almost vertical and unbelievable.  All of the homes are hidden off the road and must be Expensive.

Next we went to the ski resort of Park City,  We didn’t take many pictures of the town as it is one expensive restaurant, expensive gif shop, expensive tourist trap after another, only at an angle.  It is built on the side of a mountain.

We left Provo and headed north this morning for the Tetons and Yellowstone NP.  We will be boon docking or dry camping which is living off the grid.  We are self contained, so you may not hear from us for few days.  We will be touring and taking pictures. 

We are sitting here in Afton, WY at about 6500 feet.

Life is a blast on the Roan Road…

What a Difference a Day Makes (Beaver, UT)

 

Remember a few blogs ago I was complaining and sniveling how 102 degrees is hot.  Well, we just pulled into a campsite in Beaver, UT.  And again I am not complaining, but it is 58 degrees.  Again I am not complaining, but it is COLD.  Of course it is 226 miles north and 3500 ft higher in elevation than Las Vegas.  It is also greener than Las Vegas. 

Beaver, UT is the birthplace of Philo T. Farnsworth and Butch Cassidy.  I am sure you know who Butch Cassidy was,  but how many of you know who Philo T. Farnsworth was.  I do.  He was the inventor of the Television.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the area, so stay close to your computer for the next installment of Roan on the Road.

Even so… Life is great on the Roan Road….

A Trip to the Desert (Boulder City, NV)

 

Yesterday we took a trip Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  It is part of the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) so we could use our Golden Age Pass.  We bought the Golden Age Pass a few years ago for $10 at the Roosevelt Presidential Library National Historic site.  It is the best investment we made.  It is good for Life.  It will let me and anyone in my car into any Federal National park.  So getting into Red Rock Canyon did not cost us anything.

The first stop was the Visitor’s Center.  As usual, as with most National Parks, it was very well done and extremely interesting.

The views from the visitor’s center were breathtaking. 

We then drove the 13 mile Scenic Loop through the park. The pictures do not do the scenes we were looking at justice.

After taking the scenic loop tour we drove south to the Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.  The park is working cattle ranch first build in the 1930’s.  One of the last owners was Howard Hughes, although he never came to the ranch.  It is now a State park.

I guess that’s all for now.  We plan to leave and head north on Tuesday after the Memorial Day Holiday.

Life is great on the Roan Road…

Hoover Dam–Part 2 (Bolder City–NV)

 

The temperature is down to normal for this time of the year in Bolder City.  85s during the day 70s during the night.  Just right for us.

If you remember from the last time we went to Bolder Dam the elevator for the Dam Tour was broken so we decided to go back another time.  They gave us a phone number to call to check if the elevator was working.  We called and called, it rang and rang. No answer.  On Friday we decided just to take our chance and show up early for the tour.  As it worked out, it was working and we were on the first tour.

We took the elevator 500 feet down.

 

This is on of  water tunnels that feed the turbines.

Walking through the Maintenance Tunnel to the Generator room.

Generator room on the Nevada side.  There is another just like this on the Arizona side.

These are the steps leading all the way down and all the way up.  They are used if the elevator breaks down.

This is one of many Earthquake sensors through out the Dam.  The Dam is built on a earthquake fault.  According to our guide the Dam is built to withstand earthquakes.  We will see someday.

We are staying in Bolder City until after Memorial Day.  We do not like to be on the road during big holiday weekends.  Then start heading north to Wyoming.

Yes, I know there is lots to see in this area, but there is lots to see everywhere and we will be back in Nevada.

Stay tuned, more adventures to come. 

Life is great on the Roan Road…