Mountain Sheep and Rolls Royces

Tuesday, 9/19/2023

I awoke C-O-L-D again, so we got Porsche into bed with us before the alarm went off, and the three of us cuddled together in the sleeping bag to warm up. We got up before dawn to have breakfast and pack up our tent. We were sad to leave, but we were almost immediately in Yellowstone National Park upon leaving the Grand Tetons.

The beautiful Lewis River ran alongside the road. It ran clear and fast, running through a dark rock canyon.

We stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin on Yellowstone Lake. Incredible! There were geysers, paint pots, fumarolas, and a gorgeous view of Yellowstone Lake at 7,733 feet above sea level. We continued to drive alongside the lake, and the weather was absolutely perfect!

We had a picnic lunch at the Lake Butte Overlook. We enjoyed the stupendous view of the lake, forests, burned areas, and mountains. We climbed to the top and were wowed by the view of the huge lake! We were at 9000 feet and it was 57° and breezy.

We saw some mountain sheep along the roadside. The mountains continued east of Yellowstone as we drove along steep rock bluffs. Eight Rolls Royces from different years drove past us on the highway. That’s about as common a sight for us as mountain sheep!

The landscape became drier. There were trees by the rivers below, but otherwise it was dry scrub brush dotted with small pines.

We entered the Shoshone National Forest. We saw a group of horses, and I wondered if they were wild mustangs, because there were no buildings or ranches within 10 miles of there. There were rare campgrounds and once in a great distance we would see a ranch. We also passed an old mine.

As we got closer to Cody, Wyoming, there were expensive, large homes and green pastures. There were also ranches offering trail rides.

We stopped at the Buffalo Bill Reservoir which was really beautiful. The state park there looked really nice … we would love to come back there to camp sometime!

We stopped for gas and an oil change - our second of the trip. Just past Cody, Wyoming, it was suddenly barren, high plains with yellowed grass, tumbleweed, and no trees. There were foothills about 40 miles in the distance and we did not see one single house for 24 miles .

At 4 PM it was 77° and we could see for miles and miles. There were no cattle and no horses , but mountains far off in the east.

We passed the town of Emblem. Its sign said, “Population 10.“ The speed limit through that “town” was 70 mph. We drove through foothills for another 40 miles.

We began to see herds of sheep and drove past a field with mothballed large planes and jets. North of the highway there was an area that looked much like the Badlands. We turned north at Graybull, population 165.

We had low expectations for our Airbnb in Shell, Wyoming, population 74. However, the cabin was really cute and we both liked it a lot. We unpacked and watched the news from the day before. We haven’t seen much of any news on this trip.

We were able to cook our supper outside on a picnic table in front of the cabin and then walked Porsche around the area, enjoying a beautiful sunset - the end to a beautiful day!