TRIP - DAY 8

It was a long day. I got up and after running some errands we got on the road. Unfortunately I miscalculated how long it would take to get to Yellowstone. I did not take into consideration road closures so it took closer to 5 hours to drive to Yellowstone. 

When I woke up there was snow on the ground and then it started snowing. That was a bit of a shock. I knew there was snow on the ground from before but I was surprised that it snowed last night. 

I packed up and we took the van over for the guys to help me dump for the first time and I dumped the cassette in the toilet. The only thing I was missing was water but because it's snowed the water was turned off. 

From there we went to the gas station to get liquid propane gas. While I was there I also got gas in the van. Then we went to the post office to mail a couple of cards, whole foods for food and Target for odds and ends. 

By that time it was lunch time and I realized that there were road closures and I was going to have to go the long way to get to Yellowstone. The truck over the mountain range / pass was a little treacherous because it started raining and snowing. I made it fine but there were a few minutes of knuckle clenching. 

Hours later we arrived in Yellowstone and I had one and a half hours of driving through the park to get to the campground. now if you've ever driven through a national park you know that the speed limit is basically 45 miles an hour at the most and sometimes 25 miles an hour. That meant driving slowly to get to my destination. 

All of this was complicated by the fact that I came in contact with three different herds of bison while trying to drive to the campsite. I didn't know if I was allowed to pass them or what the rules are and because there's no internet I couldn't look it up. So I sat there until they cleared out of the way. I now know that you can sort of nudge them out of your way with your car. Not touching them but just sort of moving closer and they'll back off and move away. Although I do have to say that the way they stare at you and hold their ground really makes them look very scary. 

I finally got cell service and called the campground. They were super nice and held the registration for me. 

The spot is nice, up on a hill. 

Well I drove through the park I didn't just see bison I also had a whitetail deer run across the road in front of me, a coyote run across the road in front of me and some interesting tan and white deer-ish looking things (pronghirn) eating in a field. 

My list of animals so far this trip:

Bison 

Coyote 

White tailed deer

Elk (at both parks)

Squirrel 

Marmot

Mountain Bluebirds

Robin 

Pronghorn

I'm still looking for a moose. 

Until tomorrow...