September 2, 2014. Tuesday: We decided to stay two more days
here in Basalt. We met our friends, Gerald and Charlotte, for
lunch at the Outpost Restaurant. Then
drove to Mammoth park entrance at Gardiner, MT.
We took pictures of a herd of elk there and the Roosevelt arch at the north
entrance. On the way we took pictures of
an osprey that was occupying an abandoned nest where we had seen eagles several
years ago. Also, found a large bull elk
on Riverside Drive next to the Madison River.
We then headed back to the camper.
September 3, 2014. Wednesday; Moved to site 243 for two
days. We headed to
“Old Faithful” about 10:30 am and stopped at every tourist spot along the way.
When we finally arrived we had to wait for Old Faithful to erupt at about
1:40. It was well worth the wait. The eruptions occur about every 90 minutes
give or take 10. We ate lunch in the Old Faithful Hotel dining room and then
visited two of the gift shops at the site. On the way home we stopped so Ed
could fly fish in the Firehole River. He
caught a 6 inch Brook Trout after a few minutes effort. Since this was the only time he fished with
his one week license, Ed likes to refer to it as his $25 fish. Close to Riverside Drive along the Madison
traffic proved another wildlife sighting. Jeanne got out of the car with her handy
Canon G-16 and found that all of the attention was focused on yet another bull
elk. We arrived home about 7:15 pm. All of our park trips have been very long. It was a very cold tonight.
September 4, 2014. Thursday: 28 degrees this morning. Water
was frozen but not solid. Today we did the wash, checked engines and tires
on LD and jeep. Then we biked into West
Yellowstone to browse and shop, buying some presents for grandkids. Returned about 6 pm. We expect very low temperatures
again tonight.
September 5, 2014. Friday: Up at 7:15 am. It was cold and difficult to
sleep for both of us. We awakened to 25⁰ temperature with frozen water hose. We left the Grizzly CG at 11:00 am stopped
for gas heading to our campground in Provo,
Utah. Great drive on route 20 out of
Montana and into Idaho. Then on I-15 for
the rest of the trip. Jeanne took over
driving with about 130 miles left and we hit into Salt Lake City traffic on a
Friday afternoon. Took us at least 1½
hours to go 45 to 50 miles. Salt Lake
and its adjoining towns are so spread out and I-15 was in gridlock. We
left the interstate at exit 265 headed toward the campground at Utah Lake SP. The CG is on the lake. We arrived at 6:20 pm after being
on the road 7 hr and 10 min, 353.5 miles today. We
stayed in site B-02 for $25. All sites
have only electric and water. What a
welcome spot to relax. The park has a
wonderful view of the mountains and has 2 boat ramps, boat storage facilities
and a store. Each site has a table under
a pavilion. The bathrooms were clean and
fairly new with separate shower rooms.
Good local TV channels. Would
definitely return provided we plan better to avoid rush hour in Salt Lake. This was a dramatic
change in temperature and altitude from West Yellowstone. We have our air conditioner running instead
of our heater.
September 6, 2014. Saturday: Temperature 57⁰ this morning.
Alabama and Penn State football games today that we will not get a chance to
see. Off to Basalt, Colorado to meet up
with John Watkins to look at a restored
camper. Left at 9:00 am. Gas at a Philips 66 in Provo, UT. was $3.619. We passed the “Young
Living” headquarters south of Provo where Jeanne gets her essential oils. Any other time, we would stop and take the tour. We took I-15 to US 6. This is a beautiful, scenic drive that we
would recommend to everyone. Could not capture
the scenery with a camera. US 6 followed
the railroad tracks and the river from Provo to I-70. I-70 was also very scenic where we were
surrounded by the beauty of high peaks.
This was very different from the previous route. At Parachute, CO we stopped for gas at a
Shell station, $3.759/gal. We arrived at the Aspen Basalt Campground
around 3:30 pm. We met John Watkins and Dennis Bracegirdle at
DJ Custom Restorations to look at their completed Scotty Hylander travel
trailer. We also looked at a 1957 Aljo
that was restored to a point where a buyer could make final decisions about
utilities and furnishings. We stopped at
El Karita’s for chicken fajitas and margaritas, a recommendation from
Dennis. There were four restaurants next
to each other and across from Whole Foods in a very upscale area of Basalt. We will try to make a decision about the camper tomorrow.
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