Monday, October 5, 2015

August Adventure the Good and the Bad

August started off good, we got a call from our friends Tammy and Chuck Randolph back in Texas telling us they were going to fly into Jackson Hole Wy and could we meet up with them to visit Yellowstone Park and the Grand Tetons. Of course we were excited, we had not seen them since last October. Now folks I tell ya these are some good friends… they were taking their vacation to Ireland BUT changed their plans to come spend their vacation with us. How awesome is that? We were still in Yuba City California getting the repairs done on the MH when we got the call. We headed to Wy. the day after the repairs were completed. The first travel day was pretty exciting, we drove through Donner Pass where the elevation is 7227’ at the summit… Ed handled the, up and down, steep grades and curves like a pro. Good job Honey. Even the truckers say this is a white-knuckle drive for them.
Now we are rolling towards Wy and all is well. The flatter ground was a welcome drive form all the mountains we had been experiencing. Our first stop was in Winnamucca Nv at the Frontier RV Park an Escapees park FHU w/50 amp for $32.00 a great park. Our second stop was in Wells Nv at the Angel Lake RV Park which was a Passport America park FHU w/50 amp $28.00 a good park. Our third stop was at Ft Bridger Wy an Escapees park FHU w/50 amp $31.25 a night and a very nice park.
Here is where our sweet baby Cricket started showing signs of of getting sick. She was walking and just fell down. Ed was outside so I called out to him to come quickly cause I knew something was wrong. In the days to follow she slept a lot so we thought she was just having some altitude sickness. So we kept going and tried to get to lower altitude for her.

We had no time to stop in Utah but drove through and enjoyed the wonderful scenery. The Salt Flats were really nice to see.
Our fourth and last stop before getting to Yellowstone was at the Twin Pines RV Park in Lander Wy a Good Sam park FHU w/50amp, just a small just OK kind of park right next to the highway which made for a pretty noisy night. While we were there we met some very interesting people from Germany and France. They had some very unique RVs.
The people from France left very early the next morning so we didn’t get a picture of their RV but it was very similar to the German RV. The German folks drove their RV from Munich, Germany to somewhere in Russia where they caught a cargo ship to bring it to Alaska. Then driving through Alaska into Canada and were making their way down to Mexico through the USA. The French folks had their RVs shipped over here and then store them until their ready to go onto their next adventure. One of the German people said they were on a  60,000 mile plus trip before heading back home. That is so AWESOME….
Traveling on the last leg of our journey to Yellowstone where we had reservations for 8 days at the Yellowstone Valley Inn in Cody Wy to the tune of $400.00. Which is a bit pricey but to be expected because it’s just a few miles outside Yellowstone Park. This is a Good Sam Park but NOT in peak season which is the time we were there, but it was worth it to see our friends who had just rearranged their whole vacation time to be with us.

We arrived on a Saturday evening and poor Cricket could not hardly walk. The next morning she could not even stand up. We found a vet in Cody, Dr Blessing, who was nice enough to meet us at his office after I explained what was happening to Cricket, he said he could be there in 30 minutes. What an awesome thing for him to do being we were from out of town and all and on a Sunday morning. He put her on oxygen, and a IV with strong antibiotics. He said now we just have to wait. She made it through the night which gave us hope but after the Dr did some more test the results were not good. So we had to make the decision to let her go. Ed chose to hold her as she slipped away, I could hardly stand it. It turns out she was suffering from kidney failure, which was caused from that Turkey Jerky out of China. We had her to the vet a couple of years ago and almost lost her then. I guess the damage was just too much for her small body. She was 14 years old and we had had her since she was only 6 weeks old. Losing her was like losing a child. We had her cremated and she rides in a beautiful Urn on the dash of the motor home along with us.
Forever and Always in our hearts.



We spent the first day in Yellowstone Park doing a lot of the park in just 15 hours. I’m thinking this is a record for speed sightseeing in anyone’s book. After all, our friends only had 5 days to explore so we had to do as much as possible to get everything done that they wanted to do. A great time was had by everyone and folks let me tell ya, if you have ever been to Yosemite National Park you would be a little disappointed in Yellowstone. Although is was awesome in it’s own way, with all the volcanic action, Old Faithful and the buffalo roaming around, the whole park can be done in just a few days whereas Yosemite takes longer to see everything.

Well folks until next time when the adventure continues with more about Yellowstone Park including pictures which will include our trip to Jackson Hole and the tram ride from The Teton Village to the top of Rendezvous mountain.

Then it's on into Montana and down through Kansas and Nebraska…

Happy Trails and Safe Travels!

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