When it's over, it's over. Friday, Aug 5, 2016

Jimmy and I have been at home in Nevada City for close to two weeks, and we have been as busy as those proverbial bees, possibly busier.  I discovered these pictures in my camera last Sunday and wanted to share them with you.  All, except the last two, were taken from Tergel as she cruised along, and because every bug in a sixteen-mile radius had smooshed themselves on her windows, oh-my-gosh, those windows were a mess.  Sorry.  But, the scenery was worth the try.

We left Livingston, Montana on Friday, 7/22.  From Bozeman, we followed the scenic Gallatin River south to West Yellowstone, a most stellar drive, though we both wished for turnouts on the west side (river side) of the road.   It would have been nice to pull in to let the speed jockeys zoom by, and we could have taken our time to admire the surroundings without feeling the hot breath of a SUV or pick-up truck on our necks.  Heck, we also wished we could drop a fishing line in the Gallatin -- we know there's trout in them-thar waters!

Rafting must be good on the swift Gallatin.

Aside from those unused (above), we spied plenty of colorful rafts in the water.

This picture makes my eyes crazy.  If it looks fuzzy, it is, because you're looking at a lot of dead trees obscuring the rocks.  Looking at, but not really seeing -- that's what makes it fuzzy.  Bark beetle damage in some areas we've been to is extensive.  

We made our way into volcanic territory in Idaho, zipping past weird piles of black rock, dotted with sagebrush ...

... and descended from mountainous terrain to ranch lands.

With a quick shot of the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls from Perrine Memorial Bridge on Hwy 93.

On Saturday, the 23rd, we left any pretense of trees altogether, dipping into Nevada's dry, rocky and barren landscape, traveling on I-80.  Still, there's lots to look at, I think.  These jumbled-up rocks appear like they could tump right over, but you know it ain't gonna happen.

I always wonder (and usually voice it) if Tergel will fit inside these tunnels.  I think I duck my head, too!  Well, you see I'm typing this post, so you know Tergel fit and we made it home safely.   The yellow sign declares that the tunnel may be icy if lights are flashing.  It was not icy.  Think HOT -- it's summer!

Sophie looks perky! 

Son and DiL, Matt and Jenny, came up from Sacramento last Sunday, the last day of July.  Lucky them, they picked the coolest day of the week.  We've had scorching, blistering temps since our return to NorCal.  Today (8/5) is the first day that Nevada City hasn't been over 90, and most of those were in the 98 degree range!  Seriously dislike!

Maggie, the photo-bomber!

I tallied up some numbers the other day, it being too hot to go outside.  In our ten weeks on the road, we put 7,307 miles on Tergel, to Boston and back.  That's a bunch of miles!  Tergel consumed 932 gallons of gas, for a total cost of $2,052, at an average price of $2.24/ppg.  Thus is much, much better than previous years when gas prices hovered around three bucks/gallon and, worse, when gas prices actually averaged over $3.50/gallon!

Circumstances, as well as hot weather dictated we park in campgrounds where we had electric hookups after temperatures soared.  We really enjoyed our Harvest Hosts stays and plan to use them much of the time when we can.  It's been our experience that they're located in interesting places and/or feature intriguing sights.  They also have HH sites in Canada, which we hope to check out next year.

So, that's the deal.  It's over.

Golden Spike Tower, Nebraska, 5/22-23 2016

We dashed through rainy Wyoming, dodging storms and 366 miles later, we stopped in Laramie. Tired, and with a thunderstorm overhead, we pulled into a Wal-mart parking lot and quit. All we wanted was to be off the road.  The only other gig in town was a KOA right-smack on top of I-80, no thank you.  This Wal-mart was a mile away from the freeway and afforded us a quiet place (honest!) to overnight, along with two other big rigs.  Hoy -- t'was chilly the next morning at 36 degrees!  We pulled up the jacks and took off for Nebraska, straight up a mountain, with a summit of over 8,500' -- and boy, were we glad to hit the downhill!  Hello, flatland!

Our aim for the night was a Harvest Host location, called Golden Spike Tower in North Platte, Nebraska. Give a look at their website and even their live webcam.  We never imagined such a place existed.  Union Pacific's rail yard (called Bailey Yard after a former Union Pacific president), is the world's longest train yard.

Here are two sentences off their webpage:  "Covering a massive 2,850 acres, each day Bailey Yard manages 10,000 railroad cars.  Of those, 3,000 are sorted to make sure the cargo reaches its final destination."  The yard reaches an unbelievable total length of eight miles!  A guided tour of those eight miles would surely be interesting, but -- alas -- this busy place doesn't offer tours.  Easy to figure out why.  We were grateful for the tower, allowing us to see a tiny portion of the yard.

I took this picture from a road as we approached the Golden Spike Tower,
crossing over a section of the train yard.

The tower gives you a bird's-eye view of the yard, at least as far as a person can see. Above is a view toward the west "hump." (A hump is used to separate railway cars onto one of several tracks).  This yard is the only one in the world that has two "humps."  Everywhere is train movement (and noise, of course).  The seventh floor is open for observation "to experience the sights and sounds" of the yard, and the eighth floor is for enclosed viewing.

Dining car dinnerware display on the eighth floor.

Extraordinary!  If you like trains or are interested in seeing all the train goings-on, a visit to Golden Spike Center is a must.  Most of the movement here is computerized ... no doubt that's the only way to manage the volume of train traffic at such a ginormous yard.  It's mind-boggling to consider how many rail cars have to be sorted and steered onto the correct rail.  Wow.

Where East meets West.

Tergel and Smartie parked, sans hookups, at the edge of the lot in view of the tower and railyard.  The yard functions 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- yes, it was noisy, but for sleeping I used earplugs and slept well. Jimmy can sleep standing up with a jet flying 100 feet above him (no fair!), so he didn't hear a thing. The zoomed-in view above is from the seventh floor of the tower.  We enjoyed our all-night solo stay!

And on the other side was a cornfield, with teeny-tiny corn plants emerging.

The next morning this antique car showed up in the parking lot, with all its nutty paraphernalia (not Jimmy, haha).  If you enlarge the photo, you'll see what I mean!

On the road again and the sun was shining!  Above, the muddy Platte River, North and South forks, was at flood stage and over its "banks" in low areas. It appeared to be in a hurry to join the wide Missouri, 'cause it was moving fast.  Hallelujah, no rain this morning as we meander our way toward  eastern Nebraska.

YNP - It's all here - July 26-27-28

Jimmy and I are home now, two months after we left our Nevada City home.  We left Fishing Bridge C/G in Yellowstone on Monday morning and pulled in our driveway Wednesday afternoon 7/31/13.  Two great months on the road, including one month in Livingston, Montana (good friends and plenty of trout fishing!).  Tomorrow, we rest, after working our tails off the past few days.  At least that's the plan as of this moment!  I thought I'd leave you with just a few Yellowstone photos.  We took LOTS more.

Legendary Yellowstone.

Somebody didn't pay attention ....

Right of way?  From the biggest bison ...

 

to the smallest mouse ...

to the undeniably handsomest buck ...

This is Yellowstone!

 

We enjoyed both north and south rims of this Grand Canyon.

In person?  Indescribably beautiful.

 

Lower Falls.

 

Nope.  Not Old Faithful, but puffin' away nevertheless!

 

Fascinating texture to the rims of many boiling "splashers."

 

Cliff Geyser is a continuous blower-upper.  Not a technical term.

A land of contrasts:  From a lovely pair of Trumpeter Swans,

to one of a Mountain Bluebird pair in the (hot) geyser area, of all places!

The canyon near Artist's Point is vividly multicolored.

And -- it's a long, long way down to the river.

Cute face, right?  These huge beasts are everywhere!   Each one is WAY bigger than most cars.  They love to saunter down the middle of the road, which plays havoc with vehicle traffic.  Or an entire herd may decide to cross the road, in dribs and drabs, one or two at a time, to get to the other side (as happened to us when we were leaving the Park).  Well, maybe not, maybe they'll turn around.  Oops, never mind, they cross anyway.  Here come two more.  One runs, and now more run....  And so on!

The End!

On our way out of town... Friday, 7/26/13

... we stopped at Buffalo Bill Dam a few miles west of Cody. Constructed from 1905-1910, the arch-gravity dam holds a reservoir of 623,557 to 869,230 acre feet of Shoshone River water. It was designed as the tallest dam in the world (at the time) and fulfilled the vision of developer - Buffalo Bill Cody! Most of the reservoir water is used for irrigation, turning the arid high plains into one of Wyoming's most fertile farming regions. I can tell you that looking down into the breath-taking rugged canyon from the open walkway across the dam just about gave me vertigo. The old Shoshone powerplant hugs the canyon wall on the left in the photo below, just out of view. Other powerplants are located further downstream, fed by conduits.

 

Rugged is the word.

 

Great Visitor Center, sandwiched between high cliffs.

Lots of exhibits, esp of Buffalo Bill's influence on the development of Cody and the dam.

 

Situated 295 feet above the Shoshone River... whew - it's a loooong way down!

 

Boating, water sports, and fishing are allowed on the reservoir, with camping nearby.

It's quite big, approximately 5 x 7 miles.

Jimmy on the top of the dam.

This was a first.  Most of us have visited "pit toilets."  The dam Visitor Center has nice, modern bathrooms, with ... composting toilets.  No odor, which means very efficient. 

 

Look, Ma, no toilet handle, no flush!  Clean.  Neat.

(The sign on the wall sez, "Please Close the Lid.")  I did.

Next up:  Yellowstone National Park!

Day Two @ Cody - a walk along the Shoshone River - Thurs, 7/25/13

(Our 2nd post from Cody - see previous post, also)

But first... and this is a first for us... while camped at the very nice Ponderosa RV Park in Cody, we spotted the same RV set-up as ours:  a Vista with a Smart car tow vehicle!!  Their Vista is a year newer and their Smart car is red (sans flames, like ours).  People from Quebec!  In all our travels, we've never seen the combination before, so I took their picture.  Jimmy is at left in the photo below.

Pretty cool.

I hate to admit it, but we didn't even know the Shoshone River ran thru Cody.  This is another blue-ribbon trout river.  Lots of rafting, too.  We could hear the excited screams from the rafters when they hit white water!

Wyoming's natural beauty.  Thanx for the Shoshone Riverway scenic 1.3 mile nature trail which starts high on a bluff and winds down to the river's edge.

The river is swift!  Benches beg to be used.

 

Some don't.

 

You know there is a wealth of geological information in cliffs like these.  So interesting to look at.

 

Shoshone River is in the canyon where the tall green trees are.  Three horseback riders are crossing the nature trail (enlarge picture).  This river originates in the Absaroka Range in Shoshone Nat'l Forest.  Some people pronounce Shoshone with no long e, some people say sho-sho-nee.

Far above the water, all I said was, "Here fishie-fishie-fishie."  Bingo!  Both fishermen had trout on their lines!  Must be magic words!  It worked for Jimmy, too!