Blogs from Lander, Wyoming, United States, North America

wGreat flights from Ft Lauderdale to Dallas and Dallas to Denver. Picked up rental car at National Car Rental which was a breeze. Great rate from Hotwire and we got to pick from a nice group of cars. We ended up with a Chevy Impala. Roomy and yet small enough for great gas mileage. We left Denver around 1:00 PM Off we go. 367 miles to Lander, Wyoming which was a stop over before reaching Grand Teton, National Park. The drive took approximately 6 hours including a stop for lunch. Very nice scenic drive, with different terrain around every turn. We saw lots of wild horses, bison and deer along the way. Lots of fields of windmills. At least some parts of the country are utilizing some clean energy sources. Arrived in Lander at 7:00 and ... read more

...is the connecting flights area for international arrivals in JFK. After a 7 1/2 hour uneventful flight from Heathrow, I found myself in a small, sweaty, crowded room that had everything but the padded white walls. It was a zoo, simply put. This was the place where the "problem" people go. I gathered from my recon that it specialized in missed flights and families of unusual size. There were at least three or four huge Arab families who had missed their connecting and now threatened to make everyone else miss theirs. 20 pieces of luggage, plus 6 children or more, plus various defeated looking adults, per family. I kid you not. And unfortunately, the stellar communication skills of the JFK check-in staff didn't help much that day. "Imma need to speak to my manager" was not ... read more

To briefly reflect on the last 48 hours, I must say that it is nice to have a normal bed to sleep in- to say nothing of AC and running water. Yet, as I lay here watching various media drivel on TV, occasionally gagging at all the fawning over Obama, occasionally puzzling over the "going out of business" sales of herds of cattle...I am incessantly leafing through various guidebooks and planning what I will pack for the next leg of the journey. To celebrate Stef's birthday we went out to sample the local cuisine of Lander. Fortune was with us (me) as the restaurant she selected was within walking distance from our motel. I wish I could say that the walk was pleasant- but the 100 degree temperatures gave me a gripping desire to hurl my ... read more

Today is Stef's 23rd birthday, hence we are in Lander, no longer residing in a tent-- for a couple nights at least. Happy Birthday!!!... read more

It would seem that I spoke prematurely about our "solution" to the rodent issue. We got our rations raided twice more and that was more than I could handle. I did resort to cursing loudly and repeatedly but that, seemingly, did nothing. I staked out the car as well, and the little buggers (field mice) were running in and out of the car (via passages in the undercarriage) at will. I tried to poison them with bleach soaked oatmeal--which they devoured and then returned unharmed to ransack other various goodies. Thus ended our time at Vedauwoo. Our climbing ended on a rather low note as well due to the fact that the guidebook showed the 3 pitch 5.4 (easy) starting from a location that was perilous to say the least. It started on the top of ... read more

7/13/07 Having been out of internet range for many days, I will catch up with the first week’s highlights as we leave Yellowstone and head for Cody, Wyoming. (Disclaimer - pardon the shift of tenses in the telling. I’m copying from some of my notes and writing from memory. Please excuse lapses in my grammar - especially my crit group. I’m on vacation!) Day 1 7/6 Mile 0 To Bill’s satisfaction, we actually left the house at 6:30 am. We left I-90 at Vantage and took smaller roads towards our first stop in Pullman. Stopping for lunch in Colfax, we dined well at the Top Notch Café. Our waitress was 12 going on 40 and had obviously grown up helping her parents in the restaurant. Her self possession was remarkable - an old pro wearing ... read more