Day 4

The entries to the internet may become more scarce now as in these remote areas, the internets are not always available. I will try to continue to make a daily entry though and I will upload them in batch when we get internets.

Today was a bit of a better day. Those three long days of driving had worn everyone’s tempers short and patience with each other thin. It was nice to wake up a little later than normal and not feel rushed. The Cody campground was packed. We got up and Shari took Grant to play on the playground. My back was really hurting today. I was not able to sleep much and in fact could barely walk when I got up. Amy was nice enough to handle the jacks on the trailer. I managed the sewer tank dumping still as the girls will not touch that. Can’t say I blame them. As I was packing up the hoses, the gentleman in the campground behind us came up and started talking to me. He said they were actually from Alaska. His first question was whether I had a gun. I told him no. He said that everyone in Alaska carried a gun for bears and the like. He said that we shouldn’t worry in the summer because if something happens someone is bound to have a gun. He said sometimes you will hit a moose and wound it and then it goes nuts and you have to shoot it. I thanked him for the advice and continued packing. Strange, hope the bear mace will suffice. I am more worried about hitting moose than bears though. Amy went to refill the propane tanks.

My back was hurting pretty bad at this point. Amy wanted me to go to the ER but I could not bring myself to do it. I agreed to go to an urgent care if we were able to find one. Maybe they could give me some Vikes or Ultram.

We finished packing up. We ate the rest of the breakfast tacos and set out. As we were going though downtown Cody the streets were shut down. It was July 4^th and this was the parade. We decided to stop and go to it. We were able to park the trailer on a side street and walked in. The parade was very good. Very Western in flavor. There was an interesting mix of people. White Cowboys, Hispanics and Indians. I think I was the only Black guy there. The parade had all kinds of interesting characters. People dressed as Marshalls from the old West. Lots of horsed and cowboys. Calamity Jane’s great nice rode through cracking a bullwhip. The Shriners drove tiny tractors instead of race cars. Lots of the firetrucks were green Forrest service trucks as well. Grant was very happy to have an Uncle Sam on stilts shake his hand.

We left the parade and continued on to Yellowstone. Luckily we did not have to stop as it at Wal Mart as it looked like a zoo. Yellowstone must have had a record amount of rain because this is the greenest I have ever seen it. The bison were fat and healthy. It is amazing how much snow melted in 4 weeks since we were here. We continued on to our campsite at Grant village. This will be the first time we have camped dry (camping without hookups) . Hopefully our batteries and water supply will last. It is rainy and nasty as we set up. It took some maneuvering to get the trailer into the site. We got set up and then went for a drive.

We drove through the Hayden valley, which is kind of a prairie valley area that is great for viewing animals. Didn’t see much other than bison. The park is very crowded. We stopped at a general store and they had moose track ice cream. This is ice cream made by some Montana company and its delicious. We gorged on this and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the campsite. For dinner we invented some recipe to use our leftover turkey we brought along with noodles, cream of mushroom and tomatoes. It came out pretty good and didn’t dirty too many dishes. My back felt better but I reckon I will continue taking the Ibuprofen. I never did go to an urgent care.