Woody Cavenaugh

9/5/06

"I want to go to the crappy state park where I am the hero." Sara

We left Onterio this morning and headed in easterly direction until the point we turned due north and blazed a trail strait for Yellowstone. On the way we discovered a whole mess of state parks named for a whole mess of things and people.

The plan was to hit yellowstone and go north east to Cody Wyoming. The reality was that as we were pulling up to pay our $25.00 entry fee, we see a sign that proclaims that due to construction the Cody exit would be closed from 8pm until 8am. It was 5:13pm. On a hunch I asked the nice ranger taking my money if there was time to make it from here to there. In his own words.

"If you see a bear fighting a dragon, you cannot stop, you must press on in order to make it. Oh yeah, and make sure to do exactly the speed limit or you will lose a lot of time as you are being given a ticket."

Good advice. Check.
Bears. Check.
Not stopping for extinct animals. Check.

We saw totonka. We saw a lot of totonka.

We saw beautiful vistas, we saw hot springs, we saw mountains, we saw lakes, we saw acres and acres of burned down forest, and finally we saw from our vantage point at the front of the line a 30 minute wait at the construction zone for the pilot vehical to return from the other side. We smelled sulphor too. It was 7:30 when we could start moving again and we crossed the finish line at 7:54pm. We never got out of the car. Sara took many pictures with the camera phones from a moving car. It was sort of blitzkreig photography. Or strafing picture making.

Sara has taken a lot of pictures from a moving car this past week and a day and from these experiences I have discovered a couple of "Sara Laws of Photography".

Law One: The best shot is the one missed because of the semi truck that manages to materialize in the way at the last possible moment ruining the shot completely.

Law Two: Your digital camera's battery will die just before you get to the most beautiful part.

Today Law Two came into effect upon entering Yellowstone where it abruptly died. We charge it every night, but we take a bunch of picutres every day. Should have bought that extra battery afterall.

"Grizily bears: Different Rules Apply" <--actual sign read outside of yellowstone.

In Cody we finally mangaged to get that steak I have been going on about since day one. And no, I didn't get the 30 ounce one. Sara saw it before me and made a rule that I could have it. Steak goooood. Now for the rest of the trip I won't complain about peanut butter sandwhiches and convenience store buritos.

For those curious this is the first place I have had internet access in three days, thus my entries suddenly show up out of nowhere. Now to bed, tomorrow the Badlands and Nebraska...