Scout - To the Mountain

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Scout here everybody!

Really hope you are enjoying our travels and stories of everyday life and people. I have a few hours to just sit here at the RV Tire Replacement Center. Too hot to drive thousands of miles under the austere conditions of extreme heat. But I don’t want to talk about tires, I have some pondering thoughts I want to run past y’all ~

I can’t decide if I was born into Frenchy’s world to be just hanging out to make sure she’s all good or to experience THE GREATEST ADVENTURE of the 2023 summer! Or maybe more like a traveling circus? Not a single minute goes by that we aren’t having fun, listening to an eclectic blend of music, visiting a different city every day and spreading the awareness of TAPS.

I will tell you though, these past 4 days have been memorable, intense, and kind on the heart. She has let me into her inner world a bit and now I understand so much more. I knew that in her own time she would climb a mountain and it would be big, what I didn’t understand was that all these days we drove and drove through the Tetons, Yellowstone, and every other random mountain in a 4-state radius, that there would be feelings and they would be so hard to capture in words.

It didn’t start out as a plan; we had the hail in South Dakota, stayed in Gilette Wyoming for three days for repairs from the hail. It was too late to go brief in Cheyenne, WY, so she took a detour to look for the history of her grandfather. She really wanted to do something meaningful on the 22^nd of July. For 20 years her heart has been sad, and she has made this date a martyr date for the entirely messed up parts of the 17-month deployment to Iraq. Enough…Now she is in search for the highest peak. Almost like she wants to deliver the messages to heaven if she can just get close enough.

As we are cruising up the mountain and around the corners, I am mystified by the beauty and how nature looks when driving by at a normal clip. She is very skilled at taking pictures and driving. She tells me that our view will be through the windows. No stopping or hiking or exploration. She just drives and snaps wildly and often, hoping that one pic turns out. Frenchy is fascinating, but every once in a while, I send out a woof message, “I will look for the Bighorn Sheep and you keep your eyes on the road and focused on all the hairpin corners.” She glares at me and then just does what she wants anyway.

I always know when things are gonna get really good. She starts to whisper about a new mission and with the quietness of the message I always feel like maybe we shouldn’t be doing what we are about to do. We were somewhere around the edges of the Bighorn Canyon, and she spotted a little sign about Devils Canyon. Oh gosh, here we go! The sun is starting to set and we walk around the giant viewpoint and she sneakily looks around and makes a statement, “we are going to sleep on top of this mountain, I have a feeling that there will be no park rangers! I am not sure that she is correct, but she reassures me, “there is no way they will get a tow truck way up here at nearly 10,000 feet before I wake up in the morning.”

I feel l like we are on a mission of solitude and silence. She is doing a lot of thinking, a few dribbles from her eyes and just a head bob to herself occasionally, like she is understanding and acknowledging her own thoughts. The evening was very quiet until the wind started to blow. Not just blow, but gale force gusts! I can feel her heartbeat as we are hanging out and I think she is a little unnerved. She gets up and sets the parking brake, explaining that if a big gust comes, she would really prefer not to fall into the canyon. I’m going to tell you that we didn’t sleep much that night, between the energetic wind and her busy head, it was probably a good thing in the end. The reflections from the sides of the canyon were so reflective in the river below. The sunrise was a blessing!

After the sunrise on the 22^nd she seemed to be relaxed and non-cholent about our days activities. All I know…We will be driving around those corners all day. Slow driving and then quick stopping and lots of sign reading. We are going through the rest of Yellowstone National Park and heading towards the Teton Mountains of Utah.

Driving through Yellowstone is an exercise in patience. There are so many of those rental RV’s, most of those drivers just learned how to drive three days earlier. Which basically means that parking is a challenge for them, they drive over the curbs when turning corners, and usually there are about 12 people jammed inside. The other patience point is when people don’t follow the instructions on the signs. Everything from don’t leave your food out to please don’t get out of your vehicles near the animals. Frenchy is usually yelling at this point, “Don’t get out of the car. Stop, get back into your car. C’mon, the sign says don’t get near the bears or buffalo. Geez, get back in the car! Here comes the buffalo!” She always gets the last word in when she makes a statement into the air, “I suppose if you want to be the lunch for a bear today, just keep taking those pictures up close.”

BUFFALO! BUFFALO! Holy buckets, lots of BUFFALO! We turned a corner and we hit the jackpot. Buffalo hanging around a small Geyser that is just oozing steam from the ground. I had to ask what these steam spewing things were and if there is a purpose for them. People where fascinated with the steam coming out even though the entire area smells like a rotten egg! Yummy!

Again, she never stops, and we keep going to the next exciting animal sighting, where people will disembark their vehicles and the street turns into a street fair as big cameras with long lenses are almost knocking people over trying to get the perfect shot. Not us. We have average pictures with bugs viewable from the windshield. There is an elk by the river and now there is a stand-off with a fisherman standing in the river with all his fly-fishing gear on.

We have been putzing along all day and are excited to start our journey through the Teton Mountains. The jagged mountain tops are different than most mountain ranges, and that makes them so unforgettable. I never dreamed that between Montana and Wyoming, the views would be so familiar and gregarious in their exquisiteness. I am one lucky puppy!

The sign came into focus quite quickly as she made the brakes screech just a bit while negotiating a turn that was absolutely at the last minute. It wasn’t even a big sign. What could be so exciting about “Signal Mountain”?

The other part of the sign read: No Trailers. Hmmn? She again, has surmised that she is an RV and not a trailer. We started our 4 mile climb on a very narrow road and every time a car came down the mountain, she would pull over towards the edge that was so close to “tumbling off the mountain”. She makes me insane and a little scared, but I must believe that all her years of driving those army vehicles must have qualified her to drive anywhere she wants! Another elk! This time I got to bark while she was taking a picture. Those furry horns look like they would be fun to catch a ride on! Oh wow! Another BUFFALO! I love this day!

By the time the calculated drive up the narrow mountain road was finally over, it was nearly sunset. We had stopped passing cars and at the very end of the road was a parking lot and not another vehicle was around! She parked right on the edge so I could see straight down into the valley! She turned off the engine and it was an instant acknowledgement. We could hear a flute. She commented on the flute and just sat in silence as the sweet melodic sounds filled the air. I had heard this sound just last week while we were at Mount Rushmore. I believe it is a Native American Prayer being played. The music stopped and she looked around. Not a soul to be seen. We walked to the highest part of the lookout and still could not see where the flute music came from. I believe we heard it because it was July 22^nd, and she was totally convinced that everything is connected to this day. Suddenly, a man with a flute walked up a trail and came into view. I was kinda relieved that we weren’t just hearing things! We walked down to greet him, and he told us a story while Frenchy held me in her arms so the snakes couldn’t eat me for dinner.

He was a Veteran who served in the Iraq War and after years of trying to find a balance of the memories of the past and the commitments of living in today's world, he searched for a positive outlet. He wound up teaching himself the ways of the American Indian Flutist. I could see Frenchy was hanging on his every word as he said there was a group of Veterans who use this outlet to edge out some of the PTSD. Sometimes I don’t understand what she is talking about, but right then, in that moment I could feel a relief in her sadness. Can’t explain it, but she took a deep breath, and, on the release, there was a warm sigh.

The sun was now setting, flute playing in the background, and it was movingly magical as we sat on the edge of the mountain top with the peaks of the Teton Mountains shining in the background. She did not need to tell me that we would spend the night on the mountain. She wasn’t jokin and smokin like normal, she wanted to be present for once. Taking in a special sunset, on Signal Mountain on 22 July was needed. It has been a long 20 years and I think that we just had some kind of moment. You can’t do this and come out with your emotions unscathed.

Tomorrow is here and yesterday is an amazing memory!

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