Day 55 - Casper, WY to Yellowstone

By the time we arrived at our campsite yesterday, the camp staff had gone home and we just picked a site to park the RV. Since we left early in the morning today, the staff had not yet arrived, so we still had not paid the camp fee. We could have just left and nobody would have been the wiser, but we left a note in the entry vestibule and someone called us a few hours later to take care of the payment.

Before getting on the highway, we filed up the rig at the Loaf'N Jug station and cleaned the windshield. This was pretty much standard procedure, but today we wanted to take extra care since we knew this was going to be a long drive day.

We had ben steadily climbing in elevation for a couple of hours and Kristen was not feeling well so made a pitstop in a small parking lot next to an Old West Saloon called the Left Tackle Bar and Lounge. We hung around for about 20 minutes and pulled out some snacks. Kristen started to feel better and then we moved on.

About an hour up the highway, we ran into some road construction and had to wait a few minutes for our vehicle escort to take us down the single lane road.

Continuing to climb the mountain, we stopped in the town of Dubois to text the RV and stretch our legs. Kristen was now feeling worse than before, so while the rest of us ate lunch in the RV she went for a walk. Next door, she walked around at Dubois Hardware, where she discovered that you can buy guns over the counter. Yes, this is Wyoming for sure. After a short time, we gathered together for a stop at the coffee shop and loaded up on some caffeine and pastries.

It was not long, before we started to see the peaks of the Teton Range rise out of the west. What an unbelievable sight to see for the first time.

We stopped at various locations to take pictures of the Grand Tetons.

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At the Grand Teton National Park Visitor Center.

After leaving the Grand Tetons, we continued to climb in elevation and crested above 10,000 feet while passing the Continental Divide two or three times. Then, it started to snow and the kids peeked their heads out the side window to watch it fall.

Now in Yellowstone, but before reaching our campsite, we spotted a couple of Elk roaming around.

It took a while to get check into the Fishing Bridge campsite, but we eventually got our site number, settled in and cooked our dinner on the Volcano stove. After dinner, we were entertained by one of our neighbors as we watched him through the back window. He was an older guy, who first caught our attention when he arrived at dusk and had a lot of trouble backing in his RV. At one point his wife got out to help guide him, but nothing seemed to work. He hit the same tree twice and parked right on top of the sewer connection. Eventually, after about six or seven attempts he came to rest. Then a short time later it started to rain and he decided that was a good time to light a fire. The only way he was able to keep the open fire lit was drowning it in lighter fluid. He must have used two full bottles just to keep the fire going. It must have been 10PM by this time and we had had a long day so we called it a night.

#Wyoming #Casper #Yellowstone #Dubois #GrandTetons #LighterFluidGuy