We woke up early anticipating the worst. We ate breakfast and Nick asked if I was ready for a test drive......we both gulped, quietly got in the motorhome, and rambled down the road slowly and carefully. Nick applied the brakes......everything was ok. He went a little faster, still ok. He tried a small mountain......perfect! It was just what he first suspected....the brakes had gotten too hot. We were on the road again!
We didn't realize how close we were to the Idaho border and actually found a campground we wish we had stayed at....oh well, next time! We rode through Idaho for about an hour-an hour and a half. Idaho is beautiful country. Montpelier is amazing and would be a great place for a motorcycle ride. I loved the welcome sign: welcome to Montpelier. Beware of the bears! Hey, no problem!
We're thinking they observe blue laws because everything was closed.
We rode for s while on the Oregon trail and then entered the caribou national forest. The mountains became grassy and moss covered with pine trees. Their shape took on a rounded form and they appeared smooth.
We crossed into Wyoming at 10:45 am. The first sign we saw read: open range, loose stock. No problem there either!
One forest goes into another and we entered the Bridger National Forest. RV parks and farms Were sprinkled along the way. Houses (mainly log cabins)were tucked into mountainsides. Wyoming appears to be much flatter. Towns have populations of 100, 200,550. The next forest was the Targhee which had tall, thin evergreens. The steel blue water of Snake river slithered its way through the forest. The nest forest was the Bridger-Teton. It was there that we saw snow capped mountains!
Our next stop was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Nick stopped for lunch at El Gordito's Mexican Restaurant. He had soft tacos with rice and beans. The food was so good that he contemplated running away with the waitress!
From there we went to town and spent the afternoon shopping. The town of Jackson Hole is quaint,nicely decorated and had plenty of friendly shop keepers.
We left there around 3 and drove up to the Grand Teton Mountains. Coming out of Jackson we went through the National Elk Refuge which serves as an annual winter range for 5000-10000 elk. In the spring local boy scout troops gather and auction off the antlers that are naturally shed and donate 80% of the proceeds to buy winter feed for the elk.the top buyers usually come from Asia, where antlers are considered to have medicinal purposes.
Signs along the way:
Go slow-that bull moose is some cow's Beau
Elk, moose, buffalo crossing
Buffalo- danger! Do not approach wildlife!
Be bear aware-food storage required
We pulled up to the Jackson lake lodge in the Grand Tetons and about 20 cars were pulled over to the side. Everyone was out of their cars, so Nick pulled over too so we can see what everyone was looking at. It was a young bull moose eating lily pads along the creek. We drove up a few miles to Colter Bay campground, registered and pulled into our site for the night. The campground was sparse, but had full hook ups. There were no outdoor lights, and it was very quiet. We met s couple from Palm Springs California and talked with them a while.
So.....we planned on seeing the Tetons because Nick was in search of the cabin from the Western movie, "Shane". We couldn't find it and no one, even the several rangers we encountered had never heard of it! That was pretty disappointing!
Oh well.off to bed to prepare for our next adventure!
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