LA/XC-2 DAYS FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, AND EIGHT: DENVER, THERMOPOLIS (WYOMING), YELLOWSTONE AND GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARKS, IDAHO, AND NEVADA
Day Five mileage: 289
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Home sweet home If this photo looks familiar, yes, you’ve already seen it. Call me sentimental, but here I am again at America’s Best Value Inn (and Casino) in Elko, Nevada. Yup, it was so nice, I had to do it twice! When I was looking for a landing spot in this neck of the woods, I remembered how much Ricky and I both liked this place last year; it was a no-brainer. If this cross-country road trip in fact becomes an annual pilgrimage, I think America’s Best Value Inn in Elko will have to be a constant — along with Grinnell College, of course. The casino and JR’s Bar and Grill are both constantly hopping, which, I’ve got to admit, is kind of welcome after crossing the desolate lunar landscape of northern Nevada to get here. The front desk people couldn’t be nicer or more welcoming. (And yes, I felt just a little proud that they already had my vital statistics on file from last year.) The room is plenty big for full-court fetch, and brilliantly laid out. And all this for only $69!
Btw, sorry for going dark the last few days; hope nobody was worried. Had all I could do to put in my mileage and take care of my doggy. And while posting to you all is extremely important to me, mileage and Ricky are Job One and Job Two.
So yesterday (Wednesday, actually; I still consider today Thursday, even though it’s the wee hours) Ricky
and I became the first members of the Herman family to visit Yellowstone. Oh, and thanks for all of you who weighed in on behalf of Yellowstone in my “poll.” Though, as it turns out, when I left Yellowstone via the South entrance, I drove through Grand Teton National Park en route to Jackson Hole, my stop for Wednesday night — so I didn’t have to miss out on either attraction. Have to admit, as wonders of the world go, I wasn’t as blown away by Yellowstone as I’d hoped. I actually thought Grand Canyon, probably the #1 highlight of LA/XC-1, kicked Yellowstone’s butt. Old Faithful, however — now that was a story.
Here I am, wending my way, in no particular hurry, through a national park that’s the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. I come to the Visitor Center at Fishing Bridge and ask the ranger, among other questions, when the next Old Faithful “performance” is scheduled. She phones over to the site, then tells me the famous geyser should erupt again at 5:53, give or take 10 minutes. I looked at my watch. It was 4:53. “Can I make it there in an hour?” I asked. She didn’t look real hopeful. “It’ll be close. You’re either going to just make it — or just miss it.”
Damn! Why did I waste time taking pictures of forests of lodgepole pine? Why did I squander all those minutes admiring the glistening Yellowstone Lake? Why didn’t I find out about the timing of the next eruption first thing? I’d driven 2,500 miles across the country, and now I was going to miss Old Faithful’s ejaculation by, what? A minute??!!
I blasted through Yellowstone furiously — definitely not a sightseeing pace — pulled into the parking lot, left Ricky in his crate (yes, windows cracked, doors locked), and made a mad dash to the crowd gathered around Old Faithful. Arrived at 5:50. She hadn’t gone off yet. And at 5:53, to the minute — thar she blows! Absolutely amazing! Absolutely spectacular!
That was the good news.
The bad news is that my camera picked a really, really bad time to show “battery low” — and then shut down.
Many, many more stories to tell, but gotta get my beauty rest for my final push to the Pacific tomorrow. I’ll fill in all the blanks from Denver, from Thermopolis, Wyoming, and more, when I have another break in the action . . .
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- Elko, Nevada
Thanks for the great writing Hank.So much fun to read!
I agree about Grand Canyon; of all of the spectacular and awesome sights to see out West on a cross cournty trip, it is tough to beat the Grand Canyon. If youcan see only one national park west of the Mississippi, that’s it. Just had the rapture of seeing it again a few months ago when I took an extra couple of days on a business trip to Phoenix.