9/2/10 – “Mountains Come Out of the Sky and They Stand There!”

Today we will again begin the blog with an important announcement: Wishing a very happy 74th Birthday to my dad, Wild Bill Rodman! He and my mom, Merciless Marilyn, just returned to San Jose from their fabulous annual pilgrimage to Poipu Beach, Kauai, HI. I think perhaps I’m starting to get too into this whole Wild West thing.

Does everyone have their Bucket List handy? No. OK, I’ll wait for you to go get it. Yes, you too, go get it! I’m serious! Now, please place your right hand over your heart and repeat after me: “I, state your name, [No, don’t read the words “state your name”, actually state your name] do hereby solemnly swear that I will go see the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone Park before I croak, preferably before I become infirm and lose control of my bodily functions, so help me God. Furthermore, if I fail to do so before I croak, I being of sound mind, consent to have my soul tormented in damnation for all eternity.” Now go mark your calendars and schedule this trip. Yes, it’s that good.

My patience riding out the storm in Jackson Hole, WY was rewarded with a glorious day of crystal clear blue skies with a few light wispy clouds, mild temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s, a refreshing light breeze; In short, a perfect day to ride through God’s Country. As I was loading up my bike this morning, I met a nice couple from NYC [Marjorie and Steve] who are touring the western states by car and today they were headed to Moab, CO. Then they are off to see their son in Denver, before returning home. They warned me to beware of reckless drivers who have no regard for bikers in NYC. I went next door and picked-up a $5.00 foot-long, ate half of it for brunch, and then headed north trough the Grand Tetons and western Yellowstone.

Wow! There are simply no adjectives superlative enough to describe this part of the country, you just have to see it. The pictures simply don’t do it justice. I stopped in downtown Jackson Hole on my way out of town to snap a few shots of the hillbilly bar under sunny skies. The contrasts are stark; steep jagged mountains dusted in fresh powder, rivers, streams, creeks, lakes, ponds, steaming geothermic areas, canyons, meadows, marshes and golden grasslands teaming with wildlife. It’s truly a sight to behold. There are a number of areas that were decimated by wild fires back in 1988 and there are a lot of dead burned trees, but nature is doing its thing and the little trees are coming back en masse. The raptors seem to like building their nests atop the dead trees. I ate the other half of my foot-long while sitting with a thousand people at Old Faithful. Everyone had their cameras trained on the geyser at 5:47 p.m., but the pop-shot came at 6:05. The eruption was pretty cool, but it wasn't the highlight of the day.

As I headed west, the sun was setting and the light filtered between the trees created an intense strobe effect that was hard on the eyes. As I exited the park at around 7:00 p.m., I saw a Bison grazing in a meadow by a steam and there was an elk cow that stopped traffic as it obliviously grazed on the highway shoulder. The fly fisherman peppered the streams in their waders at dusk. It was a very cool day!

Tonight I’m staying in Yellowstone, MT, which is a hollow version of Jackson Hole, just outside the Park. Tomorrow is forecasted to be a mirror image of today and I plan to see the rest of Yellowstone and then head east.