I went to bed at midnight, long after everyone else. I was up too late posting photos and writing
my blog. I paid for it today. After I got to bed, a huge storm swept
through the valley and the RV started rocking hard, the wind was whipping and
the rain was coming in horizontally through the open windows. I had to get up and shut everything down,
while Kory slept through the entire thing.
I could hardly sleep, so worried we’d tip over, which was a real
possibility.
I got less than four hours sleep so my eyes have been
burning all day. I was up at six again
this morning, getting breakfast ready and packing up lunches for the day. We headed out early in hopes of seeing some
wolves in a different part of the park than we’ve been to before. Trying to get
a car full of kids up and out the door slowed us down a bit. We took the Robert’s three oldest kids with
us today because Jim and Joni had to go into Bozeman to get some building
supplies for a job Jimmy is doing. It
was fun to have the extra kids along, though.
We all played the “spotting wildlife” game where the first
person to spot an animal and yell out it’s name, gets a point, but it has to be
verified by another person. I was the
scorekeeper, and I won the game both yesterday and today, although today I tied
with Emma for being the first to spot 11 creatures. We saw so many today it was hard to keep
count, but most of them were bison, pronghorn deer and osprey. We didn’t see any wolves, however. But we did see two tiny baby black bear cubs
and their mother – from a pretty close range.
Kory got some great photos of them, as he did of some of the bison we
passed. We saw two huge bull elk as
well, which made for more great photos because the traffic jam around them
allowed us time to get out and take pictures, too. Joni jokes that even a squirrel crossing the
road in the park will cause a mile long backup.
She’s not kidding.
Our goal today was to see the Canyon with the beautiful
waterfall, and we made that by 1:30 so we had lots of extra time today to stop
for photos. We took plenty when we were at
the falls, too. It was a much calmer day
today, as the heat was tolerable, and we didn’t have as much ground to
cover. It was in the 70s, but the winds
were very high all day. We passed a car that had been smashed by a falling tree
as it was driving on the same road we were on.
There were gusts up to 60mph and several trees came down over the
roads. God had his hand on us and we
were fine, but it was a brisk day in this neck of the woods. Even I-90 shut down in Livingston, an hour
from here, as the big rigs were in danger of being swept off the freeway. The wind kept us from having a BBQ down at
the beach tonight, as the blowing sand was relentless.
We left the park by 3pm and stopped for ice cream for the
kids. We’d promised them that, if there
was no bickering in the car. We had five
kids and four adults in a suburban all day and the chances of things getting
out of hand were pretty high – but they all did fine. The boys sat in the back and had these hand held
propellers they loved spinning in the wind of the open windows. It was better entertainment than electronics,
and I was glad for that.
I had time to clean out the motorhome and get ready for the
next leg of our road trip before Jim and Joni came back from Bozeman. I would have preferred a nap, but that wasn’t
going to happen with only so many hours in a day and so much to do. Kory repaired a few things in the RV that broke
on the way to Montana, so hopefully we’ll make it home just fine. On the way here, the motorhome was sucking
air going over the passes, so Kory was worried about the amount of power we
lost, but Kory didn’t downshift so I think that was the problem and now he
knows better. We were pleased with how
comfortable the RV is for traveling in and how much room we have for everything
we need – even with six people packed in there.
The trip home will hopefully be uneventful.
After our BBQ dinner tonight the boys got the ATV going and
they spent hours taking turns and going around and around and around the big
field between the house and the river.
Kaleb was getting a bit too confident on it and turning corners way too
fast for my liking, but it sure put a smile on his face. Daniel thought it was pretty cool, too. This is the life of country kids and I’m so
glad Daniel got to have a taste of it.
Are took some amazing close up photos of the kids tonight with lively
expressions on their faces. He has all
the fancy camera equipment and the know-how on using it. He won’t soon forget this trip, that’s for
sure, as it’s as well documented as a trip can be.
Everyone was so exhausted after dinner we all crashed
earlier than usual, thankfully. It’s
been a wonderful adventure in so many ways and we are certainly thankful for
the chance to see our friends again. The
animals and natural beauty of Yellowstone were just a bonus.
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