Day 12 & 13

So now we are in Cody, having got "stuck" at the musuem here, as it is too good to bypass, and very nicely, the lady at reception seemd to remember us from Friday, so let us in for free.. corker!

Yesterday we spent catching up on e mail, blog, photos etc, and then had a lovely look around Vernon and Carol's place. You can easily see why someone may just decide not to leave this area.. it gets into you real quick, and the people are wonderful. We had such a great time with the Greets, we cannot tell you.

Then just to show off, they went and organised THE MOST spectacular lightning storm you can not even imagine.. never seen anything like it. The lightning was almost continuous!! and just about hit the house.. of course we had to go out and drive to the top of a nearby hill for a better view as it approached, and with luck, you will be able to see a photo, taken by Carol (lucky shot!!!).. we did retreat to the house b4 it got on top of us.. but not by much. surprisingly, it only took out the modem and did little other damage.. everything else was unplugged!! it dropped about 1.6 inches of rain (Vernon's Dad monitors everything weather wise) and as the average in only 14 inches.. it was a LOT of rain. even our van (Boris) leaked a little in protest!

Before it got too close we went and tried out some .22 ammo in Vernon's beauty little revolver,.. great fun.. even had Ali asking for another "go" the cans were mostly safe, but did suffer one or two hits.. everyone should have a go with one of those! I don't think NZ Customs would be too happy should I have one dissasembled in my bags! bugger!

So sadly left there this am, and headed out after doing a bit of damage to Ten Sleeps "Dirty Sally's" souvinere (spellling!!) shop, which also sells HUGE ice creams.. nice!!!

Back on the highway, and through Greybull, and Worland to Cody for the night.. after the quiet of the ranch.. this place is crazy noisy!

Oh.. just for Martin, and others interested in road kill!!!! pretty much all racoons today, or at least thats what we think..

"see y'all later"

Day11

and for more photos.. check out... http://picasaweb.google.com/alivincedath/Day11TenSleep?authkey=Gv1sRgCJuvqMiumYrlPg#






Alison got to visit a lot of the places she spent time at ???years ago.. sworn to secrecy on that.. but a little over 15 years ago! So Carol (www.rimrockenglishshepherds.com) drove us out of Ten Sleep to the old National Center West Girl Scout camp. Sadly it is no longer available to the girl scouts, and is owned by a conservancy group who do not a lot with it! Stunning place.. the pictographs are very ... whats the word?? evocative! anyway.. pretty amazing looking at these markings put there by people, some of them several thousand years ago. wow! would be great to know exactly what they were portaying.

Animal action.. mule deer everywhere.. such that the locals can't understand why anyone would travel here to shoot one! they're kind of a cute pest! Then the antelope.. they're cool.. great looking animal, and a little less abundant, but you see them from the road a lot. And, saw a snake!! ok.. only a little one, and I didn't get to catch it. oh. and saw a weeny lizard! Before climbing in to the van for the night, I scanned the field beside us and counted about 7 mule deer within 200 metres.. ! pests! to see just where we are.. look at http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.9797,-107.3961&ll=43.9797,-107.3961&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Day 10 a BIG day

So, yep.. cold in the van.. and we are now in BEAR country and you get all sorts of messages about not having bears eat stuff out of you hand, tent, van etc!!! so we wake early (actually I think we were awake for hours before that!!) and having made sure nothing is out of the van b4 sleeping, we jump in to the front and... oh,.. I wonder if leaving the driver side window down all night may have contributed to the inside temp!!! oops.. and of course I had food safely stowed on the front seat!! oops!!! lucky there were no scratches on the door. and food was still there!

That sorted, head out of the camp, about 300 yards to the raod, and again almost bump into some elk.. they even posed..

Sunrise was nice (very cold though) and had lovely view of more elk, trumpeter swans (I think) and a couple of noisy Cranes.. and this all just a mile or so from the camp. On furhter, heading back to the wolf valley (Lamar) and had a couple of coyote sightings, live ones this time! one even seemed a bit miffed that we didn't actually leave the road to get out of his way.. cool!

The valley bison were in great form, and made us stop once or twice just so they could walk along the road for a bit. The day b4 we got there, a car was seriously bashed up by a grumpy bull, and two women badly injured by other ones.. Its the breeding season and they are dangerous! of course it doesn't help that people will get out and try and walk up veryclose!

Found the "wolf spotters" where we'd been told to look (kind like paparazzi, but quiet!) and so went and joined them to see what if anything they were watching.. and there they were.. about 5 or 6 wolves way across the valley, lazing around.. even had cubs (almost fulll size now) so we ended up staying there and had interesting time, as a couple of gys we got talking to turned out to be real experts. One had been there almost weekly for the last 11 years, and the other was visiting from Canada, and had been involved with the reintroduction of the wolf to Yellowstone. Of course the watcher had a hugely powerfull telescope that we used as well. Brilliant,, can't actually describe what it is like to watch wolves in the wild. Words don't really work!

They were about half to three quarters of a mile away, but the scope brought them in nicely. They are completely undisturbed by the people. From the same spot we were also watching a juvenile Golden Eagle, a badger and a Falcon.. with of course hundreds of bison as well and the lovely antelope. What a morning! Some bison we really close to the wolves, and there was a little jostling, but this pack are noted for elk hunting and seldom take on the bison.

Ok.. enough wildlife.. Left the Park, heading East.. Stunning drive over Chief Joseph scenic highway and down in to Cody. Visited a huntin and fishin shop.. again.. WOW.. for those interested in this.. it was a bit like a candy shop! you have to see it to believe what you can buy over the counter here.. A really nice little .22 revolver is about US$200. pity I can't bring one back.

The Buffalo Bill museum (sounds tacky, but completely isn't)) was too much to take in by that time, so we plan to retraceour path and go there again. On a par with the Omaka museum for those who know it. Just more diverse.

Then off to the farthest East,,.. Ten Sleep. where we are now. And we sort of expected (or I did) tofind Wyoming a bit boring, but nope.. the whole drive was just stunning.. anywa.. time to quit b4 I ge convicted of rambling..

Day 9

Funny sort of day.. kind of relaxed and the had its ups and downs.. Lovely morning, and drove in to Yellowstone just after midday, and on the "local" advice went NW up past Mammoth Hot Springs to a camp site called Indian Springs ((I thnk).. not very impressed at that stage.. just a heck of a lot of pine trees.. So, claimed a site (its a first in first served, no prebooked) and went for a drive arounf the "Grand Loop" which for most part we felt was not really that grand.. but then we met a lone bison, then another, found a beauty canyonand having jus about completed the loop, went East in to the Lamar valley.. wolf territory.. HEAPS of bison.. and a lovely sunset.. no wolves!!!! back to the camp site in the dark, just about creating some roadkill.. actually it may have been a fair fight as an Elk may have damaged the van almost as much as the van the Elk!! they really should know what lights on the road are about!

Sleep.. although not much of that, as it was zero celcius and frost on the windscreen .. Yikes.

Day 8..

Weather still just blue sky.. headed down (Eastish) on12 beside the Clearwater river.. apparently it is the route that Lewis and Clark used as they crossed the continent.. took them something over three years to complete the return.. seems pretty quick when you look at the distance. Anyway. nice drive, although as we have found here.. everything is BIG. even the roadworks.. and they extended for something over 10 miles, and included a number of stops, where you have to wait for the pilot vehicle to arrive to drive in front!!

Speed limit on the road was 50 0r 55, so as we round a corner at about 65 we get a nice friendly "slow down " wave from the law.. !!! even flashed his lights at us once we'd passed and he could see the brake lights on!! :) yippeee for Montana, as that was only a few miles further and the limit is 70mph.. much more like it.

Just before crossing the state line, climbing a long mountain pass through a cypress forest, we round a corner and heres mrs Bamby and two little bambies!!! how cute! and this is like 11 in the morning.. too slow with the camera, but just a little further on and another one (mule deer I think) stands and looks at me while I get a photo or 3.. probably thinking "bloody tourist". Nice to see. Had to wonder if the last one was going to end up in someones freezer shortly, as just prior to seeing it, a couple of guys in the ubiquitous pickup went past opposite direction going very slow.. reckon they were considering going back to "harvest" (we call it shooting) that one!!!

After the very slow trip along 12, it was great to make a few miles, sometimes having the traffic moving along at 80+mph.. chews up the distance nicely.

Now we are at another KOA just north of Yellowstone, and plan to get some supplies and maybe spend a day or three there and even get down in to Grand Teton. Have to make sure we don't have fruit and nice smelly stuff that can attract bears..!! don't fancy being woken up with a grizly trying to get into out little plastic fridge. Must include the "bear spray" in the shopping.

Had tiny little bats flying around last night.. Initially thought they were large moths.. and woke up early this morning to the sound of a couple of owls chatting to eachother quite close to our van.. nice spot. Oh.. and just had a deer trot past about 30 metres away with a border collie giving chase.. the deer didn't look at all worried!

Not much on the road kill list.. only one deer and a couple of coyotes.. in the park here, there is a tiny little mouse thing (flat version) that has nice colouring, probably a lot better prior to meeting mr firestone!

Day 7

so now we have left Oregon, and after passing through the SW corner of Washington, we headed down the Lewsi Clark trail.. or 12 if you are following a map, and are at an RV camp beside the Clearwater river about 20 odd miles east from Orphino (spelling!!?)

The scenery went from the HUGE Columbia river to open range almost desert, to massive rolling hill covered in wheat and now back to beautiful river valley.. No really interesting road kill today.. we put that down to the fields being so open, and very little cover close to the road. Ali saw a snake while going for a walk just over the road from the camp. Darn!!!! I was sitting here fighting with technology! Of course I went for a look, but whats the chance? OH.. news from the home front!!! Erin's team won the netball final for their grade.. so anyone who can should be telling her how wonderful that is, and of course flowers would be welcome. In lieu of flowers, just send her money!!!!!!! :)

Went past miles and miles of HUGE wind turbines today.. and an army base with hundreds of what can only be ammo bunkers.. oddly, just along from there, were signs every few miles saying "Evac Route".. hmmmmm not sure what you'd be evacuating from, but all the ammo would be behind you! The camp we are in is apparently part of the Nez Perce Indian reservation, but other than some signs, you wouldn't know.. then again, what are we expecting!! Kevin Costner??

As we drive we have been snacking on fresh cherries ($1US/lb) and of course seedles red grapes also about $1US/lb.. nice..

We have been having a very late lunch, quite often a subway moment.. there will be at least one distinguished gentlemen happy to hear that! but this afternoon we splasehed out and went to a diner. Tuna salad, and a chicken strip salad with all the extra salad from the salad bar you want.. bottomless coffee of course, and friendly service.. our first tipping moment! She would have been happy..

Day 5 and 6

Had an interesting day yesterday.. Stayed in Bend Or with folks we met as we had to fly them around while they visited NZ about 5 year ago.. went down to Crater Lake.. fantastic place.. wonderful weather.. very warm.. got sunburned.. didn't realise Oregon had heaps of volcanoes.. stunning geology.. huge lava fields.. quite something to see. It also seems to home to the bowhunting community.. met a couple of them.. one who was off to go hunting bear later that morning. Travelled up to Portland today via a stop on Mt Hood. skiing still in progress there. its wuite high at about 14000ft or so. Now we are in a little place called Cascade Lock.. Still Oregon.. Most likely Idaho or Montana tomorrow.. Roadkill moment today.. was actually not yet dead!!! in fact only looking like it might get dead shortly if unlucky.. a coyote with a beer can in its mouth, standing patiently on the edge of the raod, looking for a break in the traffic.. hope it got one..

Oregon

Ok.. well here we are ,, finally trying to get together with bloggin!! so far so good in the USA. Immigration was no hassle, even just about had the guy taking out his pistol just to show me it was real!!! Once we were finger printed, photographe blood tested, frisked etc, we collected out bags and expected another grilling, only to find that there wasn't any! blimey, talk about easy.. coming back in to NZ is WAY harder.

No problem sorting out the VAN!! and as you will see (with luck) its a great paint job.. headed out of San Fran over the Golden Gate bridge (photo op) and even though a little foggy, found our way over to a weeny camp ground a little way up the coast. Slept like logs.. the bed is thankfully really good despite being made up of bench seats.

Visisted the Novato airport the next day, and that may have worked out as a key meeting with an aircraft salesman.. watch this space!

Headed sort of NE and up I5 to Mt Shasta.. wow.. great road, hot day, 30+ degrees C aircon flat out. Had some tunes in the CD provided by Jess.. actually we think one of the piano pieces was maybe her own?? Jess?? yes/no? Anyway.. Mt Shasta was beautiful. could have stayed for a few days.. met our first squirrel! and a huge herd of Chipmunks.. well.. at least 6 or 7. again a great photo op.

Left there heading up through Weed (great name!!!) on to 97 and up into Oregon. started to see a bit of road kill.. noticeably different to NZ. some a lot bigger, and different colours.. lke the black and white skunk, a couple of deer (ouch!) a coyote (we think) and other somewhat less recognisable dead stuff. I think I recall Justin penning a whole article for a motorbike mag on roadkill.!!

Had to go for speed over sightseeing as we needed to get to Creswell before 5 pm again to catch up with a Pitts Special specialist.. very interesting place. for the technically minded, he's finishing a HOT special one off for Sean D Tucker (famous airshow stunt pilot) that although it looks a lot like a single seat Pitts, is similar only pumped on on horrendous steroids!! 8, yes 8 ailerons!! the roll rate would be astronomical.. the protoype was climbing through 4300ft in something like 30 seconds from takeoff! it can do 3 forward somersaults after climbing not quite vertical after takeoff.. lots of carbon fibre and titanium! enogh teck stuff. They were all laughing about out CAA pretending there is a "Safety" concern over our S2E!!! don't get me started!

Went out to a "Big R" store (supermarket thingy) and had dinner there. $US12 way to go.. good too. potato salad, chicken salad, a bit of hot chicken, and strawberries! had a "kiwi fruit" moment.. all the way from Chile!! Alison had them for breakfast this morning.. wait one.. I'll ask.... "paasable" is her response. and $US1 each!! yikes.. at least the California grapes we normally buy are cheape here! nice too.. and the peaches.. yum.. got them from the market in Mt Shasta, from the orchadist..

ok.. time to post this and see what happens.. photos next, with luck!

Okay.. so actually I din't take this shot.. just testing to see how to do all this teccy stuff.. so far so good

Sat Aug 15

Very Wet day here in Motueka,.. kind of unusual for us.. anyway.. it means I've timeto learn about "blogging" which might be the easiest way to have a diary of our imminent US trip..