Big skies and geysers and bears, oh my!

Location: Bozeman, MT
Mileage: 4,029
Favorite Quote: "Slooow down, Virginia" - mean looking man we drove by in a campground at a speedy 7 mph.

We’ve been bad about updating over the last week simply because internet availability and down time have failed to coincide. It’s been an eventful week. At our last posting we were awaiting Speedblazer’s appointment the next day in Rapid City, having been referred to the Chevy dealership after the place we’d originally taken it couldn’t help us. We got up early the next morning and had the car in by 7:30. They took it right in and after a while came out and said that our catalytic converter was “dissolving.” The guy there was one of the friendliest car mechanics I have ever encountered, and said that they would charge about $800 to fix it but we could go to a place on the other side of town and have it done just as well for $200. This is a very out of character thing for a mechanic to do, but he continued to surprise me by calling the Exhaust Pro place and making our appointment, and then drawing me a very detailed map to it before charging me a modest amount for the inspection and a new fuel filter. So we quite happily went on our way to Exhaust Pros, where they fit us right in and replaced the aforementioned catalytic converter. Unfortunately it was still starting hard and idling poorly, so he recommended we take it back to the Chevy place, which we did. Our friendly mechanic was again extremely accomodating and took a look at it immediately. He said that he thought it would just take a while for it to get the accumulated backup out of it. Give it some time, he said, and it will fix itself.

Having had plenty of time to see Rapid City, SD, we hit the road. Since we’d lost some time and money we decided that Theodore Roosevelt Park would be bypassed in favor of a free campground that was right on our way to Bozeman. So we drove for a few hours, immersing ourselves in our new novel, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Tolstoy, like Austen, has been very enjoyable to read to each other in the car, although instead of adopting his literary style, like we did with Pride and Prejudice, I basically just try to guide us in developing an ability to say the Russian names out loud (ex: “oh that letter…just pretend like your coughing.”)

By late afternoon we arrived at the eerily empty (but free!) campgrounds in Southeastern Montana’s Custer National Forest. We took the afternoon to relax and get some reading/writing done before spending the evening relaxing with a bottle of wine (thanks Mr. Harway!) by the campfire. The next morning we got up, ate an oatmeal breakfast, and hit the road. En route to Bozeman we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, site of the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, one of the last efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to fight Westward expansion. It was there that Custer’s troops were defeated by a combination of Lakota and Cheyenne Indians, an event you may remember from grade school history as Custer’s last stand. We both learned a lot in the visitor’s center and had a very pleasant stroll around sun the baked battlefield. After a few more hours of driving we made it to Bozeman, where we are staying with Alina’s sister’s mother in law, Pam. She very warmly welcomed us into her house and made us a delicious dinner. She’s a very friendly and interesting woman, so we spent the rest of that evening sitting around and chatting until Alina and I, having risen early, were early to bed.

The hilltop where Custer's Last Stand took place at the Battle of Little Bighorn

The next morning, item one on the agenda was to see to Speedblazer’s persistently sickly condition. By this time we had driven over 600 miles and thought that if things were going to work themselves out they would have. We couldn’t make any reservations to have the car worked on until Monday, however, so we decided to give working things out one more chance with Speedblazer’s exhaust system and head to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. The trip from Bozeman to Yellowstone was a beautiful excursion through Big Sky country, and then Yellowstone itself was as breathtaking as its reputation had promised. We entered in at West Yellowstone and made our way down the Western part of the park, stopping at pretty views, waterfalls, and to view the geysers, mudpots, and other assorted seismic activity the park is so well known for. By late afternoon we made our way down to Old Faithful and had a great time watching the geyser, but an even better time watching the crowd of hilariously stereotypical Midwestern tourists watching it. Just imagine 15 minutes of the same people saying “Oh here it goes! Here it goes! WOW! Oh it was just warming up….WAIT, now here it goes! Look at THAT! Oh wait....”

A sulfur pot bubbles away

Despite many false starts, Old Faithful didn't let the crowd down.

After watching Old Faithful send steamy water 150 feet into the air we decided it was time for some mountains, and made our way south towards the Tetons. After a stunning drive through southern Yellowstone, over the Continental Divide, and past Yellowstone Lake, we exited Yellowstone. Grand Teton National Park is a truly stunningly beautiful part of the planet, with mountains of the classic rocky look towering over glassy lakes. We made our way to Colter Bay, where we set up camp and made dinner, and then turned in early to tell ghost stories.

The next morning the cold woke us early and we got up, thawed off with some hot oatmeal and tea and a tiny little fire, and then packed up Speedy to do some more touring of the park. The morning was sunny and gorgeous and we pulled over after a few minutes of driving and took a nice hike through some prairie flats along Lake Jackson, with the mountains towering over the other side of the lake in front of the crisp blue morning sky. After that hike we drove down to lake Jenny for another short hike, this time through an evergreen forest that offered the occasional view across the glacial green waters of the lake to Grand Teton, the peak that gave the park its name and apparently some lonely but imaginative French explorer some excitement (the name means “large breast” in French). Having hiked our share, we made our way back up to Colter Bay and made a little picnic lunch before renting a canoe and paddling for a few hours on Lake Jackson. I think for both of us this was one of the highlights of our travels so far, the day was still very beautiful despite a few moments of scattered rain, and the mountains on the other side of the water offered a constant stream of dramatic views.

View of the mountains during our morning hike in Grand Teton National Park.

Canoeing on Lake Jackson.

By the time we finished canoeing it was getting to be late afternoon so we decided that we had better make our way up to Yellowstone quickly so that we could partake in the dusk wildlife that Yellowstone is so renowned for. The drive up the east side of the park was even more beautiful than the drive down the west side had been. Along the way we were able to observe lots more seismic activity, stunning views, and some cool wildlife including lots of elk and bison, and even a few black bears. We were less impressed with the herds of deer, but apparently we were the only ones who had seen them before because people kept jamming the roads to get lots and lots of footage of Bambi & co. We forgave the people from LA of this transgression, they don’t know any better, but people in Wyoming, the least populated state in the country, should really get over deer. At any rate, the wildlife was fascinating and abundant, and along the way up north we got to stop at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, one of the most beautiful parts of the park. We took in the stunning views of the brightly colored canyon walls and the river below for a while. The weather, however, was worsening, and while we were enjoying the view the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and it began to rain. Then we began to see snowflakes so we jumped back into the car. Though we’d originally thought we would camp in Yellowstone, the bad weather and the prospect of the comfortable beds at Pam’s house in Bozeman quickly changed that decision, so we kept driving north, stopping only for a few views and to make a pasta dinner before arriving back in Bozeman later that night and retiring after a very full day

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Us with aforementioned canyon.

Making dinner at one of Yellowstone's many scenic overlooks.

The next day, Sunday, we spent the morning relaxing after our extremely full days at the Parks. In the afternoon we went to Montana State University’s Museum of the Rockies, which was offering free admission. The museum was very enjoyable, particularly the exhibits on paleontology (they have the world’s biggest T-Rex skull!) and Native American cultures. After the museum we returned back to Pam’s and just spent the evening with her, enjoying a delicious salmon dinner and relaxing.

Monday we got up early and took Speedy to its appointment, where the mechanics were very friendly and asked for the story of our car problems in meticulous detail. Leaving our chariot in their *hopefully* trustworthy hands, Pam took us out to Townsend for a corn maze, appropriately named the Maize!, that we had seen an article about in the Bozeman paper. We had a great time winding through the 15 acres of 11-foot tall corn and then found the designer of the Maize who was working the admissions stand to be an exceedingly friendly and fascinating woman. We talked to her for a good while and learned a lot about the importance of doing original things (like the Maize) to getting by as a farmer. We left the Maize and headed towards Virginia City, which suddenly came into being when gold was discovered in the area in 1863 and just as suddenly turned into a ghost town when the gold deposits of the surrounding hills had been fully excavated (some $100,000,000.00 of gold was found there at 1860’s prices!). On our way we had lunch at a little café in Ennis, and then had a good time walking around Virginia city, enjoying sweat treats at both the old fashioned candy store and then the homemade ice cream shop.

Alina atop the Maize with our generous hostess Pam.

Virginia City

Having fully satiated our appetites for adventure, history, and sugar, we made our way back to Bozeman. Along the way we could see towering clouds of smoke from nearby prairie fires, which have been the most severe fires to occur in the region since fires ravaged Yellowstone in 1988. It was quite surreal to come over a hill and get a view of Bozeman below with huge plumes of smoke in the background behind the mountains. Also on the way home we got news of Speedblazer, which having had most of its fuel injector system replaced was now “running like a dream” A very expensive dream, but at least we’ll be on our way. At any rate, we made it back to Pam’s house and enjoyed another night of good food and conversation.

Smoke rising over the mountains from a huge prairie fire.

This morning we are just trying to get things packed up and in order for our trip to Missoula. Soon Pam is going to drive me to the shop (I can’t believe we're going to double our credit card debt at a place called Mr. T’s) and we’ll be on our way. We hope to be much better about posting regularly after this, so that we keep in better touch and don’t have to write mammoth sized posts when we do get around to it. So more to come soon!

Cheerio,
Paul