Yellowstone National Park 27.-28. Sept.

Next morning all beauty was gone. It was raining, the mountains were all covered in clouds and it would stay like this for the whole day – sometimes more rain sometimes less. Once we entered Teton NP the driving felt like being in a parade. Constant slow speed and no point in passing. I already learned earlier that vehicles in front may make a sudden full-stop or turn left or right without any indication (in order to take a picture or so). Maybe the bad weather scared off a few people, but then we realized that this day was the day when the park entry was for free – so much for that!

We crept through Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Yellowstone was certainly beautiful with its meadows crossed by rivers, the waterfalls, the hot springs and mud pools with the “lovely” smell of sulfur (in plain English: rotten eggs). Memories of Rotorua, New Zealand, came back and I had no need whatsoever to stop and take a picture :D

We stopped once in a while either to put on more clothes or to take a picture when it did not rain for a second. With all the road closures it became evident that we would stay in West Yellowstone overnight. The question was whether we will ride to Old Faithful and back all the way. We were both getting too wet even though wearing rain-overalls, it was chilly and Skippy was in a no-go mode. We decided to skip Old Faithful.

Grand Tetons totally covered by clouds.

Not so great riding weather.

Lewis River

Lewis Falls

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

... with bizarre rock formations.

West Yellowstone looked pretty sad.

Interesting looking winter adventure vehicles :)

The weather was much more inviting the next day. It was still cloudy and chilly but it did not rain and occasionally the sun came out. The great aspect in our current lifestyle was (or better say is) that we could do whatever and we re-planned our re-planned plan. Instead of heading straight to Helena we rode back to Yellowstone, visited Old Faithful and then rode through the park (well there was only one choice since the road between Norris and Mammoth was also closed) all the way to Bozeman where we had already booked a motel in advance.

The ride was much more pleasant compared to the previous day. Partly because of the more comfortable weather and partly because it was emptier in the park which meant faster riding :)

Yellowstone was certainly a great experience for us. We saw all sorts of wildlife (including bison so close that one could touch them - no bears though), stunning landscapes with geysers, creeks, meadows, waterfalls and cascades. The speed limit did make sense and one land-rover in front of me almost went to the ditch on a straight piece of road ;)

Yellowstone - wildlife and steam everywhere :D

A lonely bison -  we saw many of them.

The crowd is waiting for the next eruption :)

Old Faithful in action.

Interesting looking hot spring.

Silent for now ...

Ooooooohhhh puppiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeees - so cute ... :D

Nearby Firehole lake.

Firehole River.

Gibbon Falls.

Mammoth Hot Springs.

Skippy had some motoric problem with her hand .... V is good :D

The road from Gardiner (North entrance to Yellowstone) to Bozeman was boring and since we were already late we skipped the smaller parallel road which I had planned originally.

When I was in my early studies a relative asked me to go as an exchange student to Bozeman. This did not happen due to my horrible English :D (I did not get enough points in the TOEFL-test). Now 30 years later then planned, I made it to Bozeman, Montana ;)

Our track - about 530km

~ Wolfi

Grand Junction, Colorado - Moran, Wyoming (topless vegan girl walks through time) 23.-26.Sept.2014

When we arrived at Uli's house, it was almost like coming home. We knew where things were, how to operate the set of remote controls, Ludi welcomed us heavily and when I opened my PC it connected instantly to the internet :)

We spent a few days at Uli and used the time mostly in writing our blog, making the videos and relaxing. My coffee addiction became obvious and besides that I cannot remember how many episodes of Star Trek – Next generation I watched :D

Those (cute) worms ate the entire tree within the few days we were gone.

Ludi wanted to be close to his "new mom-sitter" :D

I checked my bike for any damages but I could not find anything serious. The GPS display suffered and it has now several dark spots :( The Suzi got new tires for front and back. Those Heidenau lasted very long – the front was on the bike ever since we left Finland (lasted 45000 km) and the back tire was mounted in Spain (lasted 25000 km).

Back with new tires for Skippy.

Well, we stayed a day longer because Skippy felt a bit flu'ish. More coffee and Star Trek for me - I loved it ;) (BTW I forgot to mention earlier that Sprouts had two kinds of vegan muffins - oh they were sooo tasty!). 

We left Grand Junction and rode first through the Colorado National Monument. Very scenic road with canyon after canyon and it was difficult to focus on the road. The remaining of the road all the way to Dinosaur was mostly boring. Well, we did see the mountains now from the other side ;)

Beautiful views in Colorado National Monument:

A few impressions from the Trail Through Time (near Colorado/Utah border nearby I-70).

Lyra and Ulpu sought shade.

Real dinosaur fossil.

Amazing nature.

Do you find our bikes?

It was HOT and walking in straight sun was additional cause that Skippy went topless :D

The campground in Dinosaur did not look inviting at all, the Terrace motel had a big fat sign “no pets” hanging there and so we went to HiVU (I am not sure whether that was the name of the motel) – 40USD per night cash and dogs for free!

40USD/night - our cheapest motel in North-America up to now!

Looked shaky from outside - all fine from the inside.

Plenty of saurus- street names in the village of Dinosaur :)

Next morning to Dinosaur National Monument...

Fossils, where ever you look.

Wolfi touched a dinosaur's bone :-o

The ride to Rock Springs was somewhat monotonuous not as bad as Nebraska but getting close to it. The Koa Campground did not look at all inviting. All tent space was in direct sun light no shade and no fun. We ended up in Motel 6 and I got a discount because I was so old – imagine that! Well I did not care, whenever a room got cheaper I am happy.

Somewhere along the road (Hwy 191)

Break at Aspen trail.

Caught :)

Beautiful autumn colors.

Juniper berry bushes - Juniper berries make a good spice :)

Happy Skippy :)

A bit later ...

Flaming Gorge Reservoir

Nice looking flowers, but they stunk so much  that I almost fainted!

The road to South Pass was really boring – very close to Nebraska style! We stopped at South Pass City only to realize that it was not a ghost town (somehow I got that impression from reading article in the internet) and the officials even wanted an admission fee. No thanks. I checked with Skippy whether she would be up for the 100km of gravel road to Pinedale. I think she had a bad day since she was all grumpy. Furthermore she did not get enthusiastic about that idea of riding a gravel road. We went to Lander instead.

South Pass Overlook.

South Pass City.

The search for accommodation felt really difficult this time. Campground was once more all in sun, the first motels charged 10USD/pet extra, the next place was fully booked, then there was nobody at reception and also in the next place where I left after waiting for 15min that somebody showed up (which did not happen). The last motel of the town was too expensive for our budget. Those are the moments in our life where I get really frustrated. After riding a day in hot weather, searching for accommodation and grumbling from Skippy instead of support! (Because Wolfi can't drive according to the traffic signs! - claims Skippy ... and she does not get that I have only one pair of eyes )

In the end we went back to motel #4, as finally there was somebody at reception. It was yet unbelievable how disorganized one can be. Of course there are zillions of disorganized people in this world but they typically do not run a motel. After intensive(!) search, the lady found a room which was non-smoking and had one bed. Once I entered the room there were two beds – who figured? I really did not get that logic, neither did I care as I was dead-tired both mentally and physically.

Since we did not know where we will end up the next night we did our grocery shopping in Lander. When we entered Safeway one guy came to us and asked us whether we were the ones from ADV-rider? I was really confused ... yeah I am on ADV-rider, so are thousands of other people. We were already used to it that people recognize our bikes especially my sidecar but this??? We really felt like celebrities and that boosted our morning energy sky high. In all this mysterious moment I forgot to ask the guy's name, so whenever you read this – please say hello :) we were really overwhelmed by the moment. Thanks!

The riding was rather boring for the first hundred kilometer and after that the route became a little more scenic not too much though. In the morning before we left, I checked for motels and had to realize that Tetons/Yellowstone was not for budget travelers. The weather forecast promised once more low temperature during the night of about +5C which meant that it would be in reality freezing again, so camping was out of question.

Impressions during another break ...

... :)

We rode over the scenic Togwotee Pass and enjoyed to see the Grand Teton. The next motel was the Hatchet Resort and they had a room for us in their hostel. Not cheap for what you get (room with shared bathroom) plus there was a 25USD pet fee (even the internet would have cost extra!). Well, I knew what to expect in the next villages so we decided to stay and swallow the price. The scenery was really nice; great for hiking, jogging and being close to nature.

Rude parking. I wanted to take one picture, Skippy wanted a break :D

Grand Tetons on the left side. A prescribed forest fire on the left half of the pic.

Interesting way to deal with road closure. Better have enough gas with during winter!

Yep!

yep ... sure ... no worries ... we still have not heard that a bear attacked a vegan ;) Anyways, Skippy had an evening run all alone here in the sunset....

Spooky looking sky - better get back to hotel ...

Our track - about 870km

~ Wolfi

P.S. if you miss our travelogues let us know! :)