And visiting Craters of the Moon National Monument.

Fishing . . .

We also took 4 days out of our transmission mourning to visit Jackson Hole, Wyoming as well as Yellowstone . . .

We waited around 20 minutes past the scheduled eruption time to capture this image of Old Faithful . . .

 Escapees, That's Us                                                    August 20, 2002

Escapees!!  That’s us!   We finally made it out of California.  In retrospect, I’m not sure that it was a good idea.  In leaving Fremont, we made another trip through Lake Tahoe hoping to connect with our Windjammer buddy before heading out for the great unknown.  Unfortunately, she had discovered a new casino game called “sofa roulette” and was busily exchanging the 4th or 5th sofa she had purchased and had delivered in as many days.  Life must be pretty boring up in the mountains to foster such behavior . . . or it just might be the altitude.  We made a speed run through Nevada on Highway 50 before turning due north toward Idaho.  I think that Nevada is the desolate piece of west Texas that was dislocated and moved during the glacial age.  If you don’t gamble, there isn’t a darn thing to do but eat and drink . . . and there aren’t many decent restaurants either!  We stopped at the Star Restaurant in Elko for a pretty good Basque meal.  You really have to be hungry to eat all the food they set before you.  The next time I do that I’m not gonna eat for 3 days before going!  You may have noticed that I haven’t included any pictures yet?!   Blame Nevada!   We made it to southern Idaho and spent a couple of days at our local Elks lodge in Rupert.  This place is on a golf course and you get to “camp” on real grass among the trees . . .

 It seems that in recent years, Old Faithful has drastically deviated from its normal eruption time of once per hour and now erupts once every 1½ or 2 hours.   In light of it’s current less-than-faithful behavior, the National Park Service is considering renaming the geyser in honor of our 42nd president.   So . . . the next time you’re in Yellowstone be sure to look for the signs directing you to “Ole Bubba” . . . ’til next time, hugs, Chuck and Kalyn.

Upon leaving Rupert, our intention was to head off to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.   We only made it about 50 miles before our transmission began leaking fluid.   We arrived in Arco, Idaho (the first city in the world to be lit by atomic energy), ahead of an oily cloud of smoke as a result of the transmission fluid leaking onto the exhaust pipe.   We were saddened to learn that our transmission was DOA in Arco and we have been stuck here for the last two weeks waiting for a replacement to be shipped from Sandusky, Michigan.   It was shipped 8 days ago and was supposed to be here in 4.   Oh well, we’ve adapted to our new surroundings and have spent the time four wheeling . . .