Still Young! Road Trip!

I figured I'd start writing a Thread to share my road trip. I have been writing emails and sending them out to my family and friends by email. Since I am already over 3 weeks into my road trip I've sent quite a few emails.

 

Hello everyone, hope you all are having a wonderful time,

I know I am. It has been 3 full days out on the road. I have so far taken Route 50 from Gilbert's Corner south of my home town of Leesburg all the way out to St. Louis. I saw the Gateway Arch today.

My first stop was in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Stopped in town, looked around, bought some food stuffs which I still am eating through, then found out the campsites weren't really "camping sites" and drove on to Coolville, Ohio where I stayed at a place called Coolidge Gap Campground. It rained pretty hard until 1 so I ended up sleeping in the pavilion. The whole campground was pretty much unoccupied because all the people who leave their trailers there were busy. It "wasn't the season" as the woman said. I biked and went geocaching

Anyway, woke up at 4:00 that morning to a clear sky, hopped in my truck with everything neatly packed by 5:30 and was off. I drove until I got to Hoosier National Forest. This Forest is south of Bloomington in Indiana. I met quite an few interesting people while camping, and a number of horses. The campground was free too. I went for a hike, heard about a place called the "Fire Tower" but I didn't go there because of the distance and gas. I biked, geocached again, and talked quite a bit with a few of the local riders.

This morning, day 3, I woke up around 4:30 and was driving away by 5:00. One of the coolest times to drive was really early in the morning. The fog was pretty thick, but you could still see a good distance down the road, as the sun would come up, the fog would rise with it. At one point I passed a lake, but I didn't know it was a lake at first, all I saw was the steam rising into a cloud about 50 feet above, I thought it was smoke until I got closer.

It didn't take me long to reach St. Louis from Hoosier, I got into St. Louis at around 10:30 and immediately went to the Gateway Arch. Took a few pictures. I didn't ride it up though because of how expensive it was and I had my pocket knife on me. I parked a distance away in a lot that was free. After visiting the Arch and going through their "science building" I drove past the Zoo and thought I should have gone there. I drove out to a Campground in a National Park called Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park. It cost me $13 dollars all together to stay here a night. I may stay another night as to the time I still have. I will likely go back into town and visit the Zoo, try to see a few other sights of St. Louis, and then the day after tomorrow I will head for Kansas City or Omaha, I have not made that decision yet. Needless to say, my time on Route 50 has come to an end, for now.

 

I'm only half way through South Dakota and I wish I could come back here someday to see all the other amazing things I passed. Numerous well known car shops, other national parks, a safari, but the best is yet to come. I will be in the Badlands tomorrow. However, nothing can top right now. I am sitting in the middle of this 181 square mile grassland eating lunch. I'm going to walk down to a lake I can see about a mile away from me. I say down because these are very rolling hills. I was told by one of the couples I met that when they wen't up there, it was constant rolling hills. And some of the hills sloped for miles, they were right.

Yesterday was quite the day as well. I drove into Omaha Nebraska and was surprised to see a smaller town than I had expected. Went to the zoo there after finding a campground I ended up not paying anything for. The campground was located about 15 minutes south of Omaha and touched the Missouri River bordering Iowa. This area had many monuments erected to Lewis and Clark's expedition. I put up my tent and fell asleep quite early. Woke up even earlier and was on the road around the same time as usual.

The Zoo in Omaha was a bit more interesting (but hotter) than the one in St. Louis. I liked Omaha's zoo because of how easy everything seemed to be to get around to. The day before, after spending my first night in a Park West of St. Louis, I went to get maintenance on my vehicles (Longboard, Bike, Truck). Went to the zoo and came back to go for a very long bikeride. Just as I thought I was about to end it, I came across a boy who didn't seem to be any older than 12 with a friend of his who was 15 or so. The boy had fallen off of his bike going down the hill too fast and had scraped his elbow and knee. My first reaction was to try to calm him down by talking to him, then took out my handkerchief and tried to clean the wounds and by then, the rest of his scout troop, including the two leaders who were fathers of two of the boys in the troop came around to help out and we walked him back to their campsite. No broken bones, he was fine, just a few scrapes. That evening I said goodbye to all the great people I had met while I was there. It was such a nice place and all the people there were so friendly and great. The next morning I was headed to Omaha.

The trip to Omaha started getting different. I was reaching roads where the speeds were 60 (on back roads) and 75 (on highways). The road began as a simple one with a few hills and curves, once I passed Kansas City it straightened out.

Where the road has finally changed, after leaving Omaha, I was on the road for about 30 minutes when I realized I hadn't had to turn the wheel for quite some time. I was headed north to Souix Falls where I would then keep going to where I am now. It really is the middle of nowhere haha.

 

Since my last email. I told you about the Fort Pierre National Grassland. Since then, I have wanted to visit so many more things. A car show with the original General Lee and Elvis Presley's original car for one, there have been countless others like Crazy Horse, Black Hills, Jewel Caverns or what ever the name of that place is called, Buffalo Grassland, and many more.

My night in the Fort Pierre National Grasslands included being completely alone from about 4:00 in the afternoon when the last car drove by, till I left in the morning. It was very windy, but the tent held. Kept wondering if something was deliberately trying to shake it, but just fell back asleep after a while. Heard cattle in the distance and a few coyotes. I woke up and got on the road as soon as it was light. Woke up early, got everything out of the truck and back in organized and everything. I drove through another time zone so now I would assume I am in mountain time. Driving down Interstate 90 got a little boring so I found a backroad that ended up bringing me back to 90 right before the exit for Badlands National Park.

There was the coolest place. The Badlands have officially made me label South Dakota as my favorite State so far. Over 30 miles of the Badlands and I spent an entire day driving though it. Stopped off at the first mound or what ever they are called, climbed to the top, and ended up making friends with a few people who were traveling from Indiana. 7 of them to be exact, stuffed in a mini van with all their camping gear strapped in a box on the roof. Apparently they hadn't slept in 3 days (well, the ones who were driving, they took turns and fell asleep in the car). I told them I was headed to Yellowstone soon and they said that they had their pass that was good since the day before yesterday. If I get up to Yellowstone quick enough, I'll have my pass

Drove through the badlands. I stopped quite a few times. What people don't realize is, in the Badlands, you could go so far as to climb down any crevasse or ravine you want. You can walk anywhere, just beware of the rattlers, that's it. So I climbed a lot, walked and hiked a lot. I went to a Fossil exhibit at 10:30 where a Ranger came out and gave a talk on some of the fossils found in the Badlands like aquatic dinosaurs and such. For those who didn't know, almost the entire West Coast was under water during the dinosaur era. There were a lot of really cool facts he was telling us about, but right around the time we were about to finish, a young girl passed out from probably not staying hydrated. Of course, 1 wasn't enough, while the Ranger and the girls parents were attending to her, another girl passes out. The Ranger said that had never happened to him before and he'd been there for something like 20 years. So, for all those of you out there planning on going somewhere hot; STAY HYDRATED! I sure am.

After the 30 miles, I turned onto a dirt road, drove about 6 miles to a campsite that was considered "primitive". I mean really people? Primitive? It had an outhouse which was, according to one of the rangers, just a hole in the ground, and park benches with awnings over them. Primitive, please. If I wanted primitive I would have stayed in the Grasslands for more than one night, which, by the way, I would absolutely love to do. Anyway, even so, staying there, it was called Sage Creek Campground, instead of paying 18 bucks to stay at the campground all the way back next to the visitor center. I stayed at Sage Creek. It was so cool. Met a lot of really really nice people. A Canadian Family who'd been there 5 years ago and said really nothing had changed except for the number of people at Sage Creek. I then talked with 5 kids (my age, also in a mini van) who were traveling from Chicago. Great kids, apparently they had decided their trip would happen the day before it did because everyone was trying to compare work schedules. We went to Sage Creek which at the time was no more than a 3 foot deep slow moving river filled with mud. Mud facials and covering the shoulders helped a lot with bugs and sun. Plus you look absolutely fantastic ;D Talked with them literally till the sun went down. Also never saw any rattle snakes (until I went to the Reptile Garden, but that's later). Their route was originally going to be going to Yellowstone but they didn't make it so they picked Badlands and were done.

The next morning I slept in. HA Nope. I woke up at the crack of dawn, even earlier and was putting away my tent when I looked across and there were people putting away their tent with immense speed, it was kind of funny, as if they had to be the first ones out or something. Anyway, I looked past my truck to the other side and what do I see? A buffalo. Only 1. I was excited yet kind of disappointed. You know? Usually they travel in herds. I felt like he was watching me the entire time I was packing up. He didn't even offer to help. Just stood there and snorted every once in a while.

As I drove away, the sun was coming up and boy was it a beautiful sky. Orange and yellow filled the East as I drove West. I made it to Mount Rushmore at 6:30 in the morning. Still watching the sun come up on the rock faces. There were people already there who had been waiting for the sun to come up for quite some time. Devotion. I took countless pictures, walked the presidential trail and toured the monument museum nearing the end of the trail. By then it was 8:00 so I took off for the Reptile Garden. It's this little place just South of Rapid City. They have some of the best collections and connections with international conservatories to collect reptiles and other species. I saw the alligator/crocodile show and the snake show. Two of the coolest things. Rachel, you would have loved the snake show, they have every snake imaginable. They also had a 50 year old Giant Tortoise from an island near Madagascar I believe it was. Their other largest reptile was a 14 foot long Alligator from Australia who's still growing! His name is Maniac and he has quite a unique story for being brought from a place that didn't allow international removal of species. He was an exception because the place he was in was closing. Spent some time talking to him, felt bad for him. They also had a bald eagle, a few types of vultures, and a couple other types of birds, but I just wasn't as interested in them as I was all the reptiles. My favorite still is the Birmese Albino Bal Python. Wish I could own one of those haha.

After all of that, I made my way through backroads and windy twisty mountainous gravel roads through another park into Wind Cave National Park. Such a cool tour. I just barely made it to the 2:00 Natural tour where we went down the route that was originally discovered. Something like 150 stairs. Ended up being with a boy scout troupe, again hahaha. No stalactites and stalagmites in this cave. Why? Because there isn't enough water in the cave. 6th longest in the US/world I believe. What's interesting to me is they measure that they have only discovered 5% of the entirety of this cave judging by readings from air pressure. I would love to know how that is done. I'll look it up when I get good enough service. The other interesting part for me was the fact that the humidity was close to 100% 24/7 and yet the cave lacked water. The only lakes/pools are 500 ft deep. The lowest it goes (so far as they know is more than 600 ft deep). Tip: This cave is not meant for people over 5'3" according to our guide. =P

After a couple fun little hikes, and some immense sightings of buffalo herds. I am now staked out at a campsite in Wind Cave National Park and tomorrow I will head to Colorado.

The drive to Denver was shorter than I imagined. Once I got here, I did some laundry and am now sitting in a Starbucks. I'm not tired, yet. Haha. I'm going to go check out Rocky Mountain National Park at sunset, it's about an hour from here and the campgrounds there are open 24 hours a day so I believe I could just go in any time.

 

These past few days have been quite a blur. After driving down to Colorado, I did some laundry, found a coffee shop, hung out for a little and went to the Aquarium, and then went to a campground in Lakewood. The next day I let myself wake up a little late. Got up, hung out and met a few of the people at the campground who were there for some concert, then took off to a Starbucks where I ended up finding something to do for the rest of the day. I did a little work and then found out that there was going to be some people going out to Mount Princeton to hike up to the top. It was a fundraiser kind of deal. I ended up meeting 3 new people. We all got in my truck around 8:00 and took off for Mount Princeton on Friday evening. The drive was 3 hours. A German, a Belgian, and a Dutch and myself. We finally got to the base of Mount Princeton, what I had read was that there were 3 trail heads. One was at the base where quite a large number of cars were parked already, the other was a little ways up the mountain, and the last was a complete offroad trail up to 11,000 feet. For those of you who don't know, Mount Princeton is 14,197 feet at the top. After driving all the way up to the top, and it taking almost 2 hours just for that, we talked with the other people who were there for an hour or so, and then went to bed. The reason it took so long was because there was a Subaru in front of us. Nothing against Subaru's, I was quite amazed she was making it up this, but they were taking it slow and moving larger rocks out of the way while going up the mountain.

After finding a place to bed down, we didn't get a huge amount of sleep. People were getting up to take pictures of the sunrise from the cabin we were in. It faced the East. The sunrise was quite beautiful. Brilliant shades of orange and red as it crested the mountain. People got up, took some picture, and were out cold again. Only a few of us stayed up. A few people took off up the mountain at around 6:45. They still weren't the first ones up there. I took off with the group around 8:30 or so. It took us quite a while to get up the mountain, as for some reason, it was someone's brilliant idea to hike a keg of beer to the top. Kegstands at 14,000 feet. Whoo too… =P

We got to the top in patches. Some people had hiked up there two hours ago just to wait for the beer. I got up to the top around 12:00. Spent a little time up there, and then took off with someone right back down the mountain. We got back to the cabin by 2:30 or so. Everyone else got back around 3:30 or 4:00. By then, I hopped in the truck with the three people I had brought and we drove our way back to Golden Colorado where I had met them all. Hilariously enough, everyone was tired but me. What a surprise =P I will admit, the hike up was tiring and I was extremely winded, stayed hydrated though. The Rockies can keep their 14,000 feet and higher mountains. I like my Appellations back home. Found a parking lot to sleep in my truck for the night and the next morning I headed straight for Devils Tower.

After reading some of the history on Devils Tower, I'm a tad upset that they didn't name it Bears Tipi or Bear Lodge as the Native Americans wanted it to be named. Instead, an explorer who had no ties to the Tower what so ever declared it Devils Tower and the name "stuck". Cool name, bad connotations.

Got to Devils Tower on Sunday afternoon, went for a 4 mile bikeride up to the Visitor's Center and then biked back down. That evening I talked with all the interesting people in the campsite at the base where I was camping at Devils Tower National Monument. A family heading back home to Minnesota with their older daughter, another group of 5 old friends each with their dog haha. Another couple from right around here told me about many great mountain biking trails back in Colorado that I should go do someday. Slept pretty well that night.

The next morning I got up and went off to see the tower. I hiked up this trail from the campground up to the trail that goes around Devils Tower. Did that, and then hiked back around the longer trail to the connecting trail back to the campground. Seeing the Tower in the morning sun was just too cool. I learned more about how it was formed too, that was pretty cool. The basic idea is that it was formed by molten rock as it tried to erupt but couldn't, so it built up underneath the Earth's crust 50,000,000 years ago, and as erosion and the ice ages took place, it finally appeared. The Rangers estimate that every little rolling hill nearby as you drive into this park will be like Devils Tower in a matter of 40,000,000 years. If anyone wants to stick around and watch that, I'd be glad to keep you company. Though I don't know if we would see all this happen. xD

Went for a bikeride in the afternoon. Found out at the Trading Post that Sturgis doesn't actually start up until about August 1st and then doesn't end until late August. So I beat that crowd haha. After tasting some great Sasperilla, I biked back to the campground and started to pack everything up. As I looked to the clouds, these big rainclouds started to form. Sure enough, while I was sitting in my truck waiting for the rain to pass, it started to hail. 3 times it hailed. Hard enough to put little dents in the cover over my truck bed. Not enough to do any harm. But 3 times!? That's too much.

After the hail stopped, I talked with a Ranger and they said that the weather looked like it would be clear for the rest of the week. I had to laugh, but she told me seriously that that's what happens. Also, thankfully, that night was a full moon. So another Ranger did a moonlight walk. Giving us a little more history and yet another story. "As long as it involves a Bear chasing about 3 or more indians into the heavens", she said, "Then the story still has some validity in accordance with the old indian tales." Seeing the moon hit the East side of the Tower as well was extremely beautiful. I wish I could have had a picture of that. It was fairly bright. I went walking around the tower after dark with a family to go see the East side of the Tower, and what do we run into, a Rattlesnake. It jumped out at us from about 3 feet away. Shaking it's rattle violently. Of course, we wanted to go see the moon hitting the tower so we snaked our way around this guy through some of the rocks nearby and kept going. He soon slithered off in another direction. I then went back to my campsite and had another good nights sleep.

Woke up the next morning and headed for Cody Wyoming. I swear, this place seriously is the Key West of the West. I got in pretty early so I hung out and talked with another couple with their kids from Virginia. They became marooned here in Cody because their VW broke down and there's no VW dealer of any sort nearby so they had to have the parts shipped in from LA which didn't just mean "over night" it meant a week. But they got their VW back today and are headed for Crater Lake Oregon where their oldest son works and lives. I just gotta remember that when I go there to ask for Bobby. I met up with this other nice girl from Boston who was following a band Fish across the country. They play next in George, Washington and then down the coast a few times to San Francisco. So I may bump into her again. She and I had dinner at this little Saloon in Cody. Buffalo Bill's Saloon or something like that. I had one good 1/2lb burger.

This morning I got up pretty late and headed into town. Went and saw the Buffalo Bill Museum, a gun museum, Sierra Trading Post, and walked the streets again. Quite a different place in the daytime, like Key West. I plan on going to the rodeo at 8 tonight. This happens nightly. I'm curious as to how it will be.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Yellowstone where I plan on spending quite a few days there and slowly making my way down into the Grand Tetons and then to Jackson Hole where I will be meeting up with my parents. This will all be great fun.

 

Cool thread, how much farther are you going? You might have mentioned it but i didn't read everything yet. When i was 18 i drove from CT to AK with a friend,i would do it again if i could. I stayed in jackson for a week, its awesome there, sounds like your going to a lot of places i went as well. Have fun!

 

Let's see, the last time I sent an email out was the day before I left Cody Wy. I went to the Rodeo that night and it was just too much fun. I met up with a family who was camping next to me, great people. I hadn't remembered a rodeo like the one I saw. There was cattle roping, barrel racing, even kids who were as young as 12 years old were bull riding. I guess, when you live out there, that's what you learn to do.

The next morning I took off for Yellowstone. Took me about an hour to reach the entrance of Yellowstone, but then, because I decided to turn right and go up the North Eastern road, I got stuck in 3 to 4 hours of traffic as there was all the construction going on. Finally I made it to the campground in Mammoth Hot Springs where they had just a few spots left open. I grabbed one and put my tent up and went for a good walk. Found a spot with service, called a few people, and then the rest of the time had very very little service, if nothing. That night, after going to a Ranger's talk about how the park was formed both geologically and in terms of how the park service and everything was created, I was heading back to my campsite when I passed by an RV full of kids of all ages. Ranging from 18 to 40 at the time, they all referred to themselves as hippies. There were two girls, and 5 other guys at the time. They were camped out at a site that a guy had generously let the stay at for free. However, while I was talking to these guys, the one who let them stay said that they were being too loud and had to go. I offered my campsite as long as they payed me 30 bucks for half of the payment of 3 nights. They said sure and moved down to my campsite. They really weren't being all that loud.

I went and fell asleep in my tent that night, the next morning I woke up and the hippies said it was ok for me to wake them up to "start the day". So I woke a few of them up and, an hour and a half later, we went down to the Hot Springs where you can swim and sit and soak. I let it be because, although I'm a patient person, I realized after driving for so long, I needed some "chillaxin". So after soaking in the hot springs for almost 2 hours, we went back to the RV and cooked some food. Man, if it's one thing these guys know how to do, it's cook some "dank" food. I don't know what their vocabulary was, but I learned quite a few new terms from them. Dank is basically another way of saying tasty or delicious. After eating and messing around with the dogs, Tapanga and Katy May, we headed for the west entrance as Gerry, the only one who was just hitchhiking with them, needed to get to Salt Lake City. Gerry was a really cool guy. He is 47 years old and his job requires him to travel all over the United States so he can pick up RVs that his pal back in Montana has bought and drive them back to him. He also knows quite a number of people in San Francisco who have work constantly and if he's in that area he'll do a few deliveries or move some furniture from here to there. He was quite an interesting fellow. He drove a large leg of the journey to the West Entrance.

We ended up going a little further west, only about a mile, to the little town at the end there, it was quite a cute town. Very small, and the people there were all very nice. I ended up driving from the gate to the town. My first time ever driving an RV. Not to mention that the night before and this day were the first times I'd ever hung out in the RV. It was an 80s Ford RV. '87 I believe. It had water leakage on the roof, a great engine with only 40,000 miles on it, two 25 gallon tanks for gas, and quite a bit of space. It had a bed system over the driver and passenger, a bathroom that worked but the room itself was being used as a closet, and "comfortably seated" all of us. I put that in quotations because it was actually very cozy, but we did have 8 people in there. The driver and passenger were the only ones who wouldn't have to be totally squished because they get the front. We also soon figured out that both chairs could swivel so you could talk to everyone in the back. Of course, not while driving. Anyway, I drove into the town, it felt like I was driving a spaceship. All the people on the RV immediately said "how do you know what driving a spaceship feels like?" and my response was "oh you know, I do some jobs here and there for NASA." What was great was that some of them believed it for a minute. (Speaking of which, another term these guys used was "a minute" which, to them, meant somewhere around a year.) Driving back to the west entrance, we said our goodbyes to Gerry, or as they nicknamed him, Spartan, and headed for Old Faithful.

By now I should probably mention that these guys have no sense of time what so ever. It was already 5:30 and none of them were worried about it. I guess you don't really need to be worried when your life revolves around just living. But we made it to Old Faithful. Oh, I should probably mention why I was driving the RV so much now. Well, it was because all these hippies were too "messed up" to drive. They had been drinking since this morning and smoking spliffs (a term to describe a cigarette rolled with tobacco and i think oil) and weed and other things. At least they knew it so they said I could drive. I had one of the guys, Marko, the sort of "head" of this group ask me if there were showers nearby or at the camp and I had to respond, sadly, with no. I couldn't even remember the last actual shower I had. I know soaking in the springs was definitely good. But the last time I had a real shower was the first night I spent in Cody Wy. So not too bad, but now, I mean now, today as I'm sitting here writing this email, I'll be happy to get a shower on the 31st (when my parents are coming to meet me in Jackson). But I digress, We got to Old Faithful right as it erupted, watched it for the few minutes that it goes, and then we ended up staying there for another 90 minutes as it finally erupted again. It was so amazing. The guiser was really fantastic. Some people were saying once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen em all. That's not true in the least bit of sense. I took a walk with one of the boys from the RV, Michael, or Mango, and we talked with Fezz, another boy, for quite a while. You could see some of the pits from the sulfur. The yellow rings around them, some of the water from the springs ran off into another stream coming off of the mountain. It's upsetting how touristy it is.

9:00 comes around and we are 2 hours away from the campsite, Marko is passed out along with the other 2 girls and Michael basically fell asleep on one of the benches in the back. Jordan said that we could either stay or I could drive, I said I could. He told me that because it's an RV that we wouldn't be back in 2 hours. I told him "challenge accepted". And we were back to our campsite in 2 hours almost exactly. I didn't even have to give it gas. We just judged that, going 45 miles an hour for 2 hours would eventually get you to reach Mammoth. I was told the next morning by Fezz that my driving skills were way too good. I asked why and he said it was because I drove the 2 hours back to Mammoth in the dark with of course the brights on and didn't wake a soul. I went to bed in my tent that night after passing out on the floor of the RV for a little bit of time. Twas nice, but I don't really see myself doing it again.

The next morning it was like life was on repeat. Hot springs, spent 3 hours there instead. Then went into some of the town nearby like on the Northern entrance. While we were there we started a little dance party, then it started raining so we threw a tarp up on the roof as that was when everyone realized that the RV had a leaky roof. Jordan turned to me and said "so that's why it was so cheap". They bought it up in Montana from a guy at the Rainbow Gathering for about $1,600 or so. We went on a few little short hikes and by then it was already late enough that they were planning their next move. I told them they could follow me down to the Grand Tetons if they wanted but they had other plans. They needed to get to Idaho Springs so they were planning to go out the West entrance (I don't know why), but anyway, I fell asleep in my tent, the next morning I was up at 6 putting everything away and by 9 drove off after saying my goodbyes. I told them they had to be out of the campsite by 11 because that's when "checkout" is. I can only assume they were.

I could go on for a full book about all that I learned while with these hippies, but instead I'll move on to a place that was so much more beautiful than Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons. The moment I got here I said it was the most beautiful park I had ever been to. I dare say it's my favorite too. The hikes here are amazing. Anyway, I got into a campground called The Lizard Creek Campground and the first thing they tell me is that their is a Grizzly Bear chillin out around the campground. They told me I had to sleep in my truck because they didn't want any tents up for safety reasons. They told anyone with a tent that they had to sleep in their car and if they had a soft sided RV like a pop up that they also had to sleep in their car. Well that irritated some (which I found quite funny) as a couple a few spaces down from mine were in a pop up with their 3 kids and they couldn't sleep in their van because it was full of their stuff. I don't know where they went but my guess was they found a cabin in one of the lodges down the road. It was a hoot to watch them get bad at a park ranger. They were wondering why they didn't just tranquilize it and be done with. I found out later that tranquilizing a grizzly is basically killing it so they set up traps to try and capture it instead. After hearing all about this and finding my spot, I borrowed some bear spray and went on a hike. Boy, I'll say it again, The Grand Tetons are so much more beautiful than Yellowstone. The mountains could not be more beautiful. Beyond words.

After about a 3 mile hike, I got back in my truck and went to find some place to eat, I didn't really want to cook anything with that Grizzly hanging out right near my campsite. I never saw him though he was there. I found this pizza place at Leaks Marina and ate there. I hadn't had pizza in so long it tasted so good. I met up with the family who parked right next to me with their 5th wheel. Freakin 32 feet long and he still managed to pack it into the space there. We had pizza and then headed back to the campground. I met another family with a 5th wheel just down the way and hung around their campfire until everyone finally decided to go to bed. I cautiously walked back to my truck and fell asleep. I have 1 thing to say. When I get home, the first thing I'm going to save up for is a Shell to go over the back bed of my truck, because MAN that thing would have been useful for the past 2 nights. And i see myself camping a whole lot more and wishing I might of had one of those.

Woke up the next morning and did even more hiking. Borrowed the bear spray again, never needed it thankfully. I hiked up this mountain after following a road that said "do not enter" There was no one at the top. The sign was not your usual "do not enter" sign so I was curious, after driving up a mile of gravel there was a parking lot at the end with no one in it and a number of trailheads. I picked one and went for a nice walk. When I came back, I went, found a gas station, made some food, found a store where I got a keychain and a t shirt, and then took a nap from about 2 until 5 or so. When I got back to the campground just before I took a nap they told me the bear had been captured and was in one of the traps still and they had a scientist down there studying him. No idea why they would do that, but I let it be and went and took a nap. That night I hung out with the family right next to me and their 3 kids and their dog. They were from Golden Colorado. I laughed as I said that I was just there. They told me they actually lived about 35 minutes up in the mountains from Golden. I still thought that was pretty funny. They offered me Elk Brotwurst that the father had actually hunted himself. It was delicious. After sitting around a campfire for a little while, I fell asleep in my truck for the second time. I didn't feel it was necessary to put my tent up just yet.

 

Nice post!

Been to a few of the places you've been and think I would enjoy the same kind of road trip.

 

So I picked up mom and dad on Wednesday from the Jackson Regional Airport. I have been having a great time with them. Tonight at around 6:00 we are going to a fundraiser for a camp called Camp CityKids based out of Washington DC but they have another base here in Jackson. Jackson Wyoming is just south of the Grand Tetons which are just south of Yellowstone National Park. I still say that The Grand Tetons are much prettier and better hiking than Yellowstone.
I drove into Jackson on Wednesday, checked myself and my parents into the hotel that they had gotten a room in and later, after getting a bike rack, walking around town a little, doing laundry, and resting, I went to the airport to pick them up. It was only about 9:00 PM here but for them it was 11:00 so they were pretty tired. We said goodnight and went to bed. The next morning we spent the day exploring the town. Looked at all the cool shops. Jackson is a very touristy area. We also went and talked to someone about renting bikes which we did the next day.
Later on in the day however, we went to CityKids base camp to have dinner, greet the kids coming back from a bikeride, and see a presentation from a boy who just hiked Denali up in Alaska. He is only 19-20 years old and he did the hike with a crew of about 19 I think.
After seeing some amazing pictures and hearing the rest of his story we took off back to the hotel we were staying at. Tyrone, the one giving the presentation, and three others were going to be hiking up the Grand Teton the next morning. Randy, the guy who heads Camp CityKids, hiked with them as well as 2 guides. They started up the mountain on Friday morning and camped near the top, then hiked the rest on Saturday to the top, and then hiked down where we met them. My friday was spent getting on bikes and biking nearly 40 miles up into Grand Teton National Park and back down into Jackson. With a stop at a Art Museum of Nature just north of Jackson. We got back to the hotel, went back out to dinner, and then fell asleep.
Saturday we got up and soon went back out into town to explore a little more. Some of the shops were yet unexplored according to my parents. After a little while we went up to one of the trailheads to hike up it a little to greet the hikers coming down. We met up with another group that was also going to meet them. We originally hiked up the trail, then started back down when we met the other group, turned around, hiked up not even 50 feet and the other group was coming down. We applauded them as they came down, we talked for a short time, and they headed down to the end of the trail as we waited for the last of the people. There was a pizza party waiting for them just down the road.
Today we went for a horseback ride early in the morning. So much fun, I rode a big big horse. She was so cute and was literally just falling asleep on the trail. The trail ride was short but it reminded me how much I miss horseback riding. Later today we go to the fundraiser. Tomorrow I take my parents to the airport early in the morning and then set out for Boise Idaho and then Crater Lake. Hoping to get to San Francisco soon.

 

This has been quite an adventure and it's not even close to over yet.

 

My road trip has been completed. Since about 7:15 on Wednesday evening I have been in San Francisco California. I drove from Crater Lake National Park down route 101 to route 1 to San Francisco and met up with my roommate from College and have been staying with him for the past couple of nights. I got an oil change on my truck on Friday and I will be leaving for home on Sunday.

Since my last email, I believe I was in Jackson Wyoming. I took off from Jackson on the 5th. By the night of the 5th I made it all the way through Idaho, past Boise, into a little town called Burns Oregon. I swear, I have not been able to explore large parts of California, but I have to say, of all the states I have gone through, Oregon was the most diverse. It started out as trees, then went to desert, then went to canyons and windy roads, and then to large trees. I spent one night in Burns Oregon in a campground just outside the town. The town was very cute. I have been liking the towns that are similar to this. A 4 lane main road going through the town with one stop light, a gas station somewhere in the center, and all the buildings were 2 stories or less.

The next day I took my time but I headed straight for Crater Lake National Park. This place, I mean this place was beautiful. I'm sorry I didn't buy a coin from their shop. Would have made a perfect Geocoin. The crater was filling with smoke at times from the fires coming from the south. I didn't know this, it's the deepest landlocked lake in the United States being at almost 2000 feet deep and the lake itself actually only accounts for 7% of Crater Lake National Park. Such a beautiful place. I did a hike up to one of the peaks that overlooks the lake. I met some people that night and had smores with them. Then the next morning I got up as early as I could and was gone by 6:00. I took off for San Francisco. Basically, at this point my idea was to get there as early as I could. I'm going to be meeting someone tomorrow who I will likely be carpooling home with because she needs to be in Leesburg around the same time I do. So I got into San Fran on Wednesday and immediately hopped on my bike. Biking around San Francisco is really a lot of fun. The hills are "challenging" haha.

Within these past couple days I have gone to the viewpoint to see the Golden Gate, I've been show around most of San Fran and even got the chance to drive all the way down Lombard Street. That was too much fun. The music festival is also this weekend so parking has been an ever so slight hassle but it's still been fine. Paul McCartney is playing in the park just 2 blocks away from where my Roommate has been staying with two other friends of his from High School. Both of whom are taller and skinnier than me. It's quite funny actually. The past 2 nights we actually had up to around 8 people in this one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. It's been one hell of a lot of fun.

Today, John, my roommate, took me to the Haight-Ashbury area. It was very interesting and a lot of fun. We explored many of the shops. Had ice cream and then came back to their apartment in the Sunset District. I actually am sad to leave the West. I'm loving it out here. I can be myself in a big way. I have been so open with people, I have been able to express my emotions and feelings freely with everyone as I go on my trip. I hope to be making more trips like this one in my future. I've still got to make it home within the next couple of days. So consider this the second to last email. Also, don't consider this the last time I ever send emails for going on a Roadtrip.

Thoreau out.

 

Great write up Thoreau. Brought back memories of a similar trip I took at 21. Pics are great and thanks for including info you learned along the way .
What was the total time from leaving VA to CA?
Did you go home via southern states?