Day 66 - 10,000 Miles Traveled

We've officially driven 10,000 miles in the first 66 days of our trip. Today we spent about 8 hours driving from Yellowstone to Miles City, Montana. If you happen to make it to Yellowstone (or any national park), be sure to check the road construction/closures. We lost about an hour due to road construction within the park.

Tomorrow we will head toward North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This is a slight variation of our original route. By taking this detour, it will allow me to reach a personal milestone: driving through all 48 states that make up the continental USA. Bailey and Brandon will need only Oklahoma and Vermont. Sheri, Levi, and Seth are also missing Arkansas in addition to Oklahoma and Vermont.

Yellowstone National Park - Days 63 - 65

Yellowstone was a great experience. Most of you have heard about Yellowstone's unique features; Old Faithful geyser probably comes to mind. People come to Yellowstone to see the thermal features and the animals. There are only three places in the world where you can see concentrations of geysers and other th
ermal features: New Zealand, Eastern Russia, and Yellowstone. Of these locations, Yellowstone has more features than the other two combined. In fact, we learned that some of New Zealand's thermal features have ceased because the government decided to use the thermal energy for electrical power generation, which has disrupted the natural heat release that had occurred.
My personal favorite thermal feature are the mud pots. The kids just laughed as they watched the gas try to release through thick mud. If you ever visit Yellowstone, don't miss the Artists' Paint Pots. 

Our first day at Yellowstone was an excellent day for animal sightings. We witnessed Bison as close as 4 feet from the car, huge bull elk about 25 yards away, and a mother bear with three cubs about 50 yards from the road. We packed in a full day, which included a ranger talk about the Yellowstone Lake (ended at 10:30pm). The Cutthroat Trout is facing extinction because of an invasive species (Lake Trout). At one measuring spot they had over 70,000 of the Cutthroat Trout in 1970, but only 471 left 5 years ago. The Lake Trout invaded sometime in the 1980s or 1990s and have taken over the lake. In order to try and help the situation, they pay a company to commercial fish and kill about 300,000 Lake Trout per summer just to give the Cutthroat Trout a chance of survival. 

One of my favorite activities was hiking through the meadows. Unlike many of the other national parks, in Yellowstone you can blaze your own trail as long as you don't walk near the thermal areas. 

I really wanted to see wolves, so Levi, Seth, and I set out through the meadows blazing on our own trail looking for a herd of elk. The ranger told me that the wolves follow the elk, so the key to seeing wolves was to first find the elk. Unfortunately, we didn't see either, but we saw many bison, one even started approaching us slowly, but it turned out he just wanted to graze in our direction (whew!).  

Grand Teton National Park - Days 60 to 62

We spent three days in Grand Teton, which is just north of Jackson, Wyoming. Each National Park is unique for some reason, and the unique aspect of Grand Teton is the mountain range and its relation to the valley floor, which is about 7,000 to 8,000 feet of elevation change. Most mountains have some sort of gradual change, but these shoot right out of the ground. The highest we hiked from the valley floor was about 500 feet (Inspiration Point), and the views were amazing.

If I were completely transparent about our trip, the confined living quarters and the hours driving in the van make for many conflicts. There has been a constant need to remind the children to extend grace and forgiveness even when they believe it isn’t deserved. Despite these troubling moments, there are brief moments of true sibling community that remind me why this trip is so special. In Grand Teton, the kids worked together to build a raft out of large driftwood on Lake Jackson. Watching them be creative together as a team gave me hope that someday the warring factions will make peace.

We spotted lots of wildlife in Grand Teton: elk, pronghorn, sandhill cranes, and several hawks. The one animal we couldn’t find was the moose. We even got the whole crew up early in an attempt to spot them in the “popular viewing” area, but no luck.

Despite the warring factions, there are moments when we all enjoy a good laugh. One of my favorites was listening to Bria get tripped up on the word chipmunk. She says, “Chickmunk.” Even when we get her to say “chip” and “munk” separately, when they come together it becomes, “Chickmunk.”

Off the grid for six days

Just letting everyone know that in Grand Teton and Yellowstone I will not have internet coverage. I will have a lot to talk about when I reconnect!

Day 59 - Twin Falls, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming

If the Ford E-350 engine was ever going to fail, I would have expected that today. We climbed from about 5,000 feet up to 8,500 feet at a 10 percent grade and then back down again. Thankfully, the engine held together and the brakes didn't burn up on the way down. We've driven over 9,000 miles and have had no problems with the Ford E-350 (Praise God for that!). I estimate that we've got about another 4,000 to 6,000 miles remaining in the final 22 days.

Jackson, Wyoming is quite a popular vacation town in both the winter and the summer. The town has what is best described as an old western feel, with modern upgrades. It's very much a vacation destination for the wealthy and the town shops reflect that clientele. If you like fly fishing, rafting, or other outdoor sports, you'd enjoy Jackson.

The highlight of Jackson is the nightly shootout. Every evening (except Sunday), the local actors perform a shootout for anyone willing to watch. It's great free entertainment, and a fresh reminder of life in the old wild west. If you are in Jackson, don't miss the shootout!

Day 58 - Baker City, Oregon to Twin Falls, Idaho (Bonus: Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Shoshone Falls)

Although I made every effort to plan our trip to the fullest, we also try our best to maintain some flexibility. Today we used up all the flexibility we could imagine by leaving the campsite at 9:30 am and making it to our new destination around 9:10 pm. The actual drive time was only about 5 hours, but we used the remaining time to visit two sites that the local folks recommended: the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Shoshone Falls. The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is in Baker City, Oregon. It's something to see if you are in the area. The museum appears new and some of the exhibits are interactive. I learned quite a bit. Somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 people made the journey from east of the Missouri River to Oregon, in search of a better life. One out of 10 travelers didn't make it, most died from injury, malnutrition (or starvation), or sickness. The actual Oregon Trail route is very similar to the present route of interstate 84 route for much of the western portion of the trail.

Shoshone falls is often called "The Niagra of the West". The water falls a higher distance than Niagra, but the volume is less. The falls are very close to a stunt location where Ed Beckley will attempt to use a motorcycle to jump across the Snake river canyon in September 2014, something Evel Knievel attempted in 1974 but failed to complete (braking parachute malfunctioned and went off during the jump). If you are passing through Twin Falls, Idaho it's only 15 minutes off the interstate and well worth the visit.

Day 57 - Hood River to Baker City, Oregon

Today (Saturday), we traveled from Hood River to Baker City. Most of the interstate was built next to the Columbia River so the drive was quite pleasant. Western Oregon is wet and green, but eastern Oregon is dry until you climb up into the Blue Mountains where the dry desert looking environment changes to a high altitude forest. As we arrived at our campground, the nice lady at the reception told us about the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center (a government museum about the Oregon Trail). We'll hit that tomorrow on our way to Idaho.