New Updates

Greetings Friends!

I have updated the photo pages up to day 110. The Journal is up to day 90.
Please check them out at here.

I am currently in Elgin Illinois and doing Wonderful. I will be in Chicago this weekend! Under 1,100 miles to go till Boston.

Updating of the web page has been slow... but I will keep at it:-)

Day 80 Mile 1286-1306

Leaving Lusk, not easy. My tent site and swimming pool, my good eats and good sleeps; but Nebraska is just a day away and so I take one last trip to the pool and shower before setting off in to the heat. My meal is half of the half left from last nights sub supper with super apple pizza pie. I save the remaining quarter for later because I am not sure what will be available to me to eat tomorrow. I stroll along out of town passing the old Red water tower and waving to the Union Pacific Rail Conductors. The day gets hotter, there is a breeze and I survive. Big clouds ahead of me dark ones behind and one little patch of sunshine which shines right on me. I am still 3 miles outside of Van Tassell and the Nebraska border but Lightning strikes. Lightning that warms the air from 10 miles out. You can’t hear the thunder but you can feel the heat. I try to flag someone down to take me into town and out of the storm to no avail. I push on, but 3 miles will take nearly an hour and its getting dark... I sing with the lightning... knowing I am safe. I laugh with the rush that comes from being out in the storm, but contain myself... I know that the storm is attracted to loud energy so I calm myself and become serene as the rolling hills. The storm will stay in the buttes. I come across a bridge that goes over railroad tracks and think of camping there but too much train traffic is going on and I keep going and find a narrow cattle crossing which goes under the road. I use my walking staff to clear the tumble brush from infront of the culverts opening and I set up tent with the rainfly half on - half off just incase the storm comes near I can put it on quick but leaving it half off so that there is some airflow to cool my sweaty body as I lay down to rest. Its dark now but the air is hotter than it was when the sun still hung on the horizon. The lightning warms the air and the tent blocks the breeze, yet I keep it zipped up to keep the ants and other crawling things out.

Day 79 Mile 1286

To my good fortune, just as the sun beams absorbed into my little home the RV in the tent site next to me pulled out so that I could move my tent behind the bushy tree and sleep a little longer to regain my self after yesterday’s Dino Trek. In the dreams of second sleep I envisioned myself driving around Venice Beach looking for parking where I would be in the shade and I saw the future home of a new center that I am developing (details will be divulged after the walk). So I got up and started drawing the blueprints. Headed back over to the truck stop cafe where I ate last night with the Dino Team and had the same wonderful Garden omelet with extra hashbrowns and side salad all the while dreaming and sketching the future:-) Walking around Lusk on a 96 degree day. Paid 3 bucks for pool privileges at the neighboring Covered Wagon Motel. By the pool I Tried to use Google Sketch up to draw out my ideas... wow I need computer 3d graphics training... I better stop in at an Apple store to brush up my skills:-) As the battery drained and flies tickled (nice way of putting it) my feet... I decided I better cool of in the pool. Anyone who’s ever swam with me knows I have to plug my nose when I go underwater... but no longer!!! I taught myself to swim underwater:-) Now for the first time in my life I can dive in head first and swim around below the air. Now I can water wrestle with Ethan with out having to stay in the four foot section:-) Got back to camp just before the rain to cover everything else. The rain lasted a mere matter of minutes and back to heat. The birds continued to play in the lawn sprinklers and shower to keep cool. Got a few fried mushrooms for lunch and settled in to writing web updates while I listen to the future songs of Mr. Justin Bilancieri. I just ordered a vegi sub and desert pizza from the pizza place and they will deliver it right here to my camp site! Wish you were here:-)

Day 78 Mile 1286

Setting up my tent last night I was so distracted from reality by the awe inspiring milky-way sky with (sans city lights) that I did not think about where the sun would be rising from in the morning and as a result had zero shade and had to get out of the tent at like 6:30. Pulled out my sleeping pad and bag and found shade behind Toms house and half slumbered until JP also got up and started preparing for our days Dinosaur excursion. We were meeting Nolan and his son Zack at Stan’s Ranch where we would trounce all throughout the canyons and dried up river beds and hammer and brush into the ancient exposed layers of our Earth’s crust. JP (Jean Pierre) came out to Wyoming from Lexington Massachusetts and just fell in love with the wide open space, canyons, and the abundance of Dinosaur fossils. He is a Paleontologist and works at the college of Wyoming. He has been taking people out on digs for years. Nolan and Zack actually had their first dig with JP five years ago and decided to that on their summer vacation this year they would meet up with JP again and go on another adventure. We went way out into the middle of nowhere in north-eastern Wyoming. We could see the black hills of South Dakota off in the distance. We met Nolan and Zack from Milwaukee and headed off to our first of three dig sites. Zack goes to the University of Wisconsin where he plays trumpet in marching band and is hoping that UW’s football team will push on to the finals this year so that he can travel out to the Rose-bowl. The three of us tore up the back county roads and and arrived overlooking a canyon. JP gave us our chisels, hammers and brushes and off we went down into the gullies. We started chiseling into the layers from the late Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. This area was actually a coastal region back then as Nebraska was submerged in the sea and only as the middle country rose and the sea levels fell did Nebraska become dry land. The Triceratops and Tyrannosaur-Rex were the largest dinosaurs in this region and several have been found. We were also looking for the teeth of Hydrasaurs, and reptiles like Crocodiles. The most common dinosaur out here is the Chunk-o-saur... a chunk of unidentifiable dinosaur bone mass. up and down and in and out of the canyons we roamed occasionally stopping to work an area that we felt was promising. I found chunk-o-saur, and several teeth from hydrasaur. I also excavated prehistoric turtle shell and work very carefully to remove it from the rock bed with out it crumbling to dust. I would apply a special solution that would soften the soil around it and bond the bone together loosely so that I could brush away the sand stone and rocks from around it. Nolan and Zack were a great father son combo and got along so well and were just a joy to go trekking with. JP is very kind hearted and has a great sense of humor and can identify bones on site. Zack and I cut up and ate some of the Pear Cactus and struggled to pluck the little pricklys from our fingers. The Cactus is juicy and delicious with a great consistency... Zack had the idea of make a guacamole out of it and I think we should give it a try. All around on our trek I road rough rider all curled up on a burlap sack in the back of the suburban with all our gear around me as the truck bounced and rocked over the uneven terrain... yeeha! At out second dig site I climb up top a lone faithful sentinel stone and balance a stack of rocks. I started with the little ones at the bottom and put the big ones on top... counter-intuitive but it allows for more subtle adjustments to the balance and creates a more interesting and challenging project:-) As I explored I also studied the different kinds of dessert vegetation. I found five different varieties of sage and I would feel the texture, smell the leaves, and examine the visual attributes of each, as I got in touch with this most sacred of native plants. The Native Americans knew of the healing and guiding wisdom which is the nature of sage. I just read the book Sacred Sage Spirit Medicine by Silver Wolf which I highly recommend. At the third site, I found a perfect natural rock chair and sat overlooking the canyon and my friends excavating below. Cleared my mind and sat bewildered by the silence. Absolute silence... so silent that your brain hears an imaginary hum or perhaps that is the sound of silence and stillness in the eardrum at its natural un-stimulated frequency. Water... I never drank so much water in one day... the air was so very dry... the next time I blew my nose there was dried blood. Buffalo were the primary livestock on Stan’s farm and we were sharing their pasture. We drove threw their herd on our way out. On the way back to Lusk JP filled me in on the culture, attitudes, lifestyle, economy, and politics of Wyoming. The Ranchers are the cultural heirs of Wyoming and are no non-sense firm decent folks... The younger generation however... what do they stand for and strive for? JP says that their only concern is raising enough money to buy their next big truck. Casper Wyoming is also the first Town to be afflicted by the nationwide epidemic which is Meth. We all were over-ready for food by the time we got to the Lusk Truck Stop Cafe. Zack however, almost forgot to eat as he was so into cataloging his bones, teeth, and scales:-) I enjoyed the Garden omelet with lots of hashbrowns and a side salad. We all exchanged our contact info, JP took me back to my campsite and we bid farewell. Thank you so much JP for your kind invitation and the wonderful experience.

Day 77 Mile 1271-1286

My timing is perfect! I seem to come to towns right when big things are happening. Cody on the Fourth of July and now I find out that The Legend of Rawhide Festival is going on here in Lusk tonight... You might almost think that I was planning this trip:-) I came into town and inquired the rates at the hotel with the swimming pool and fast internet advertised... It was a bit too much for my blood but I can use the pool and shower for 3 bucks... can’t shake a stick at that. The gal in the lobby was downright friendly and very happy to have me in their town for the Legend of Rawhide. She told me I could camp next door at the BQ Corral. The BQ Corral is an old fashioned drive up broaster chicken and burger place and they have a few camp/RV sites out back behind their house. I head on back there and set up tent. I take the rain fly from my tent and prop it up between the fence, the picnic table, and my walking stick to try and make some shade in the early afternoon. Under my shade I lay down to read my book Sacred Sage Spirit Medicine by Silver Wolf, which my mom bought for me from the gift-shop at the Buffalo Bill Damn back in Cody. My camp neighbor was John Lohr who was an original member of the Legend of Rawhide cast from when it first opened back in 1950. He has lived in Lusk all his life and just in the last few years lost his wife. He sold the house and bought an RV which he now lives in here at the BQ Corral. After finishing my book I head out to check out the town. Market Time! I buy two nectarines, two plums, a peach, an avocado, a cucumber, a tomato, some rye bread, some coleslaw, green tea, and orange juice and I go to the park to have lunch and watch children play while their families picnic. I spring for the 2 bucks to go and peruse the local museum... Triceratops, two headed calf, an old Model-T Ford, and some interesting bits of hospital history and social commentary on little boys and girls. Now its parade time and after that Pool time. I get my towel and shampoo ready and go sit on the Hotel’s corner to watch the parade go by. I use my towel as a cushion. First comes the Calvary and the flags, followed by the wagon trains. Then, several dozen crazed white men with wigs and body paint galloped after the wagon train yelping and riding in circles... they were supposed to be the Indians. Maybe a little too stereotypical but they did there best and put on a good show (but the red haired kid should have been more careful to tuck his red locks up under the wig:-) Classic cars putted on down main street and then the fire trucks. In 15 minutes the last siren had passed me on the parade route and I was off the deep end! Right in to the pool which got up to 9 feet deep. I swam and showered before heading over to watch the Legend of Rawhide. There was a charity auction and a speech by the Wyoming Rodeo Queen prior to the presentation of colors while “I’m Proud to be an American” played. The show was narrated by a small cast up above the arena while the hundred plus person cast acted out the action down in the arena. Basically, the story is about a wagon train heading west and one lone doof in the wagon train is Indian crazy and goes out in the middle of the night and shoots the Chief’s daughter in the back. When the Indian warriors come looking for answers to what happened, the doof (named Clyde) stay quite about what he did and the whole wagon train is now at risk. If he would have given himself up the wagon train would have been sparred, but at nightfall they get attacked and only when he sees that the girls he loves has been injured does he go out and give him self up to the Indians who then Skin him alive. Aside from the gruesome plot-line, the show include lots of humor and antics depicting life in the old West, with the drunk hiding from his wife, to the men all hiding out at night to play poker without letting the women get wise, to the wagon full of prostitutes heading out to San Francisco while all the other women just hissed at them all the way west and hit their men for looking. After the show, there was a barn dance and wow can these Luskites dance. Young good looking dance couples were going at 4x speed and yeeha... lookout! I visited with Germane from Denver who had come up for the Legend with her mom who grew up here in Lusk. I then met JP and Lisa who invited me to go out dinosaur hunting tomorrow and I said sure... why not... So at 11:30 at night I headed back to camp and packed up all my stuff and jumped in the suburban with JP and Lisa and headed off into the night towards North-Eastern Wyoming for a Dino Hunt! I set up tent on the lawn of their friend’s house and its so quite and the stars so bright and clear... milky milky way

Day 76 Mile 1251-1271

Orin Rest Stop heading to Lusk.

Beautiful day for walking. Bid farewell to my friend Mike who took off on his motorcycle. I cleaned up at the rest stop and pushed on out. Thank you to the family who gave me another bottle of water to go. Walking and enjoying trains. Fell in love with a For Sale Ranch and pushed on to my camp site for the night.

Day 75 Mile 1237-1251

Douglas to Orin Rest Stop
Walked along the freeway today, listening to Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. Got to my rest stop for the night and stopped in at the truck stop convenience store to get some juice, tea, cambell’s Tomato Soup, a sandwich and some chips and dip. While I was scouting out my tent site, up road another traveller on his Harley and we chatted it up for nearly 3 hours till it was after dark. Mike is from Phoenix and he works nine months of the year as a handy man and then goes on the road for the summer. His father had passed last february and he talked about him some. His dad had a lot of money but it didn’t define him or his family... it was the joy of doing business and meeting with people. His dad ran a big commercial electrical outfit but retired early and would buy and sell cars, boats, trucks, bikes, anything really. He would fixem and move and quick. Mike has a son too and just became a grandparent. He looks around him and just doesn’t get how people are suppose to live these days. People should give more of themselves and be selfless. He looks at the world and doesn’t see that... He filled me in on what has been going on with the bees. On the day that I started the walk back in April I heard on the Radio that the Honey bees of north America have been disappearing. Well know Mike tells me that reports are coming out that its the cell phone frequency that is disrupting the bees. Without bees a good portion of the worlds food supply does not get pollinated. Anyways, I checked on this later on-line and may scientific reports are coming out linking cell phones to bee disappearance. Mike talks about the big change coming in 2012 and the accuracy of the Mayan Calendar and the predictions of Nostradamus from the 1500’s.

Day 74 Mile 1210-1237

Douglas
Beautiful Oak lined Boulevard connecting the west side to the east side of town. Yellow ribbons tied around each tree remind you of the world we live in. Some of the homes have small businesses ran out of them. The streets of downtown are eerily quite at the 7:00 hour. I am staying at the historical plains hotel. the plains complex includes the hotel, cafe, museum, giftshop, and icecream parlor. The cafe and hotel have been open continuously for over 30 years... 24 hours a day 365 days a year. I had dinner at the Plains Cafe and I made a new creation which I recommend you all to try... instead of a BLT sandwich ask for a ZLT sandwich... Zucchini, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich!

Day 73 Mile 1185-1210

Casper to GlenRock
Oil wells and natural gas refineries stretch out from Casper for a while. The railroad and other industrial yards and some Haliburton warehouses line the road. Wyoming’s economy is booming with many workers coming out here to work in oil, coal, and other kinds of mining and refining. Wyoming ran a $900 million dollar surplus and is a very tax friendly state for business. Glenrock has lots of trees and is green. I stayed at the historical Hotel Higgens. I heard that the hotel is haunted... I was hoping to meet someone but no one came to visit me. I had fish and chips for Dinner in the Paisley Shaw restaurant and enjoyed the history of the Paisley Shaw building and their gallery. My room had beautiful hand crafted antique furniture and and old fashioned tub and fixtures.

Day 72 Mile 1185

Today mom is leaving. We have had such a great time together and its gonna be a shift to be back on my own again with no company, no hotels, and not so many restaurants;-) I was all set to walk on from Shoshoni but we decided to drive out a bit to see what the road held in store for me... well at the first dot on the map, there was absolutely nothing there, at the second, there was only gas but no food, at the third and fourth spots everything was closed down. There were absolutely no services for the hundred mile stretch into Casper. The temperature was nearly 100 degrees everyday so it was a good thing Mom didn’t take off without me. The country out here is absolutely desolate. Hell’s Half Acre is the name of a shut down town out here that used to have a cafe. The name is absolutely fitting, and the landscape is marvelous. The pikes and pinnacles jut up out of the ground for hundreds of acres. When we got to Casper we had our last meal together and set me up in my last hotel for a while. I lightened my pack by giving mom all my extra belongings to take back home for me. I gave mom big hugs and she almost cried a bit at having to leave me out in the middle of nowhere. It was a great time together and I hope she will travel with me more in the future:-) She set off on her long drive home and I went up to my room for the night. I called her five minutes later:-)

Day 71 Mile 1093

Mom and I left Thermopolis and head off through the wind river canyon and past the lovely Boysen State Park. Along the road were Teepees and many little campgrounds. Just outside of Shoshoni there was a casino where we gambled for a few hours and we had dinner at the Golden Corral Buffet.

Day 70 Mile 1060

Thermopolis has some of the coolest geological features including the worlds largest mineral hot springs. They have a wonderful state park there with pools and hot spring baths for people to enjoy. We also went to the Dinosaur Museum and examined the fossils form the North American continent most of which came right of this region here in Central Wyoming. We saw triceratops, and T-Rex and Hydrasaours, and enjoyed the gift shop. We had supper at the old town Thermopolis Cafe that looked like it hadn’t changed a bit in 40 years and I had a skillet omelet where they cooked the eggs, the hashbrowns and all the fixins all right in one skillet and it was real good. We stopped in at a quaint little cottage motel and got their last cabin only because they had had a cancelation. This time of year everything around these areas is booked in advance. In our room we watched the Live Earth Concert and I got on the internet and pledged to do my part to be earth conscious and you should to! Go to the website www.liveearth.org. The concert was great and I watched all night. When I switched channels, for some reason Fox news was bashing the concert, its concept, and its organizers... I don’t know why;-) The Concert had 11 venues on 7 continents and had some of the greatest performers of our time all together for one wonderful event. The short films broadcasted throughout the program were informative, artistic, and clever. The iPhone commercials aired every break really made my day! This is how you turn it on... Yahoo!

Day 69 Mile 1027

Worland another small town lining Highway 20 on this short southward bend in the road toward thermopolis. This is natural gas and cattle country they let you know it. We drove all around this town checking out the back roads and residential areas. We would at each intersection have one of us choose a direction to go and then see what we found. This small community had a nice residential area, a hospital and other services all hidden away from highway 20 and mom found us Best Western Hotel with a swimming pool. In the pool we tried to sit perfectly still and make Ohm sounds to see if we could modulate the water with our harmonic frequencies:-)

Day 68 Mile 990

Dry and Hot day. Mom and I go to the Mountain High natural food store and I buy some trail mix and a Cambucha drink before mom takes off towards towards Greybull and I walk after her. Cactuses and long stretches of flat colored rock. I pass an aviation museum and walk into town and find mom at the Yellowstone Motel. We have diner at what I guess you would call a tex-mex diner. Greybull is a nice little town undergoing main street renovation, and has a lot of old west antiques and artwork to provide character to the town.

Day 67 Mile 920-940

We’re up early for our 9 am river trip from River Runners! This is the first time mom has done anything like this before and she is all nervous and wants to switch to the shorter trip but I talk her into the long one. We get our life jackets and hop on the bus that takes up back up Route 20. Our trip will take us down through the Shoshone Canyon. The rickety old bus is from 1983 and the vibrations tickle my feet through the floor boards. We get to the put in spot and I lift up the front end of our boat and head on down to the water. They ask who wants to be in front and I raise my hand up so fast that no one even stood a chance! I love river rafting and have been down the stilliguamish river back in Arlington probably 30 times so I was the best choice to be up front anyways ;-) The water was low already because it had been such a dry summer so it was not bumpy, but it was just perfect for mom and we got wet a few times and I even fell out once. Up front next to us were two travelers from Denmark, Andreas and Freja. Andreas had been here in Cody working for the river runner company for the past month and Freja his girlfriend had just joined him and now he had quit the job and was starting his exploration and travels. They were going to head out to the northwest and then down to San Francisco and were asking for the best spots to see. After the trip I sat down with them and planned out a wonderful itinerary for them as I have been up and down the West Coast many times. Vancouver, San Juan Islands, Pike Place Market, Olympic Rain Forest, Oregon Coast, Red Wood Forest, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, then into San Fransisco. (I have since learned that they stopped and spent three days visiting with my parents on the farm in Arlington and had a wonderful time and were following the itinerary we had put together. They have become close family friends, and I look forward to visiting them next time I hop the pond :-) The raft ride was great... I really dug it in when the guide said to paddle and we could really move! The scenery along the river was spectacular and visiting with Andreas and Freja was a delight. After we disembarked form our raft we all had a picnic lunch together by the bus. Once we returned to town we headed over to the rodeo grounds to see if we could still buy tickets and we got some real good ones up close. We had a few hours before the rodeo started adn we went back to the museum and explored the cowboy and Native American history presented there. The art gallery was spectacular and is one of the best expositions of American art work. What a time we had at the Rodeo! The whole show opened in prayer and the national anthem as cowgirls presented all the various flags from American History. The rodeo Clown was very talented and did all sorts of gymnastics and they made fun of Democrats and especially Hillary Clinton. Great Reverence was paid to the great state of Texas and there was almost zero diversity of ethnicity or culture in the show or in the audience. This is Cowboy Country! There were bull riders, calf ropers, gun fighters, lasso tricks, horse races, and calf wrestling. Afterwards we went back to the Geyser Restaurant for the second night in a row. We headed back to our hotel at the other end of town and met a family in the room next to ours and visited for a while before going in to watch the fireworks from other cities on the TV and thought that I saw the same park in Marina Del Rey from which I watched the Fireworks last year with Sheava and her mom. Then the fireworks started in Cody and we all went out to the street to watch them go off on the other side of town. A beautiful display and such a full Western Cody 4th of July!

Day 67 Mile 920-940

We’re up early for our 9 am river trip from River Runners! This is the first time mom has done anything like this before and she is all nervous and wants to switch to the shorter trip but I talk her into the long one. We get our life jackets and hop on the bus that takes up back up Route 20. Our trip will take us down through the Shoshone Canyon. The rickety old bus is from 1983 and the vibrations tickle my feet through the floor boards. We get to the put in spot and I lift up the front end of our boat and head on down to the water. They ask who wants to be in front and I raise my hand up so fast that no one even stood a chance! I love river rafting and have been down the stilliguamish river back in Arlington probably 30 times so I was the best choice to be up front anyways ;-) The water was low already because it had been such a dry summer so it was not bumpy, but it was just perfect for mom and we got wet a few times and I even fell out once. Up front next to us were two travelers from Denmark, Andreas and Freja. Andreas had been here in Cody working for the river runner company for the past month and Freja his girlfriend had just joined him and now he had quit the job and was starting his exploration and travels. They were going to head out to the northwest and then down to San Francisco and were asking for the best spots to see. After the trip I sat down with them and planned out a wonderful itinerary for them as I have been up and down the West Coast many times. Vancouver, San Juan Islands, Pike Place Market, Olympic Rain Forest, Oregon Coast, Red Wood Forest, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, then into San Fransisco. (I have since learned that they stopped and spent three days visiting with my parents on the farm in Arlington and had a wonderful time and were following the itinerary we had put together. They have become close family friends, and I look forward to visiting them next time I hop the pond :-) The raft ride was great... I really dug it in when the guide said to paddle and we could really move! The scenery along the river was spectacular and visiting with Andreas and Freja was a delight. After we disembarked form our raft we all had a picnic lunch together by the bus. Once we returned to town we headed over to the rodeo grounds to see if we could still buy tickets and we got some real good ones up close. We had a few hours before the rodeo started adn we went back to the museum and explored the cowboy and Native American history presented there. The art gallery was spectacular and is one of the best expositions of American art work. What a time we had at the Rodeo! The whole show opened in prayer and the national anthem as cowgirls presented all the various flags from American History. The rodeo Clown was very talented and did all sorts of gymnastics and they made fun of Democrats and especially Hillary Clinton. Great Reverence was paid to the great state of Texas and there was almost zero diversity of ethnicity or culture in the show or in the audience. This is Cowboy Country! There were bull riders, calf ropers, gun fighters, lasso tricks, horse races, and calf wrestling. Afterwards we went back to the Geyser Restaurant for the second night in a row. We headed back to our hotel at the other end of town and met a family in the room next to ours and visited for a while before going in to watch the fireworks from other cities on the TV and thought that I saw the same park in Marina Del Rey from which I watched the Fireworks last year with Sheava and her mom. Then the fireworks started in Cody and we all went out to the street to watch them go off on the other side of town. A beautiful display and such a full Western Cody 4th of July!

Day 66 Mile 920

Oh boy! What sights we saw today. The road leading East out of Yellowstone is every bit if not more spectacular than the park itself. We went through the Shoshone Canyon and along the Shoshone river. I walked for a good part of the morning and dipped my feet in the river. We rode on into Buffalo Bill Cody Country! The Buffalo Bill State Park lines the north end of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir and there are many campgrounds and trails off the road. We stopped at the Buffalo Bill 
Cody Dam and tried not to look down. This dam was the highest ever built when first constructed in 1905. Nine men lost their lives in the construction. The reservoir provides electricity, irrigation and drinking water, and recreational facilities. Speaking with the folks there in the gift shop we learned that Wyoming ran a $900 million dollar budget surplus for the year and thus were giving state maps away for free! ;-) Wyoming is in a boom right now with oil and natural gas refining, coal mining and steel. We drove on through the tunnel that led us into Cody. Cody must be the most patriotic Red White and Blue Cowboy town in the Country and we were here at precisely the right time! It’s the 3rd. of July and the whole town is preparing for Independence Day. We get into town and go over to the motel where we had reserved a room the night before because we knew it would be tough find one near the 4th. Then back down to main street where we explore the festival tent merchants. We plan on going river rafting tomorrow so mom stops in at a local sporting shop to buy some river clothes. We head over the the Buffalo Bill Museum and sign up for a tour of cody and get a pass to see the museum tomorrow. We have just enough time to get some dinner before the tour bus leaves so we walk down the street to the Geyser Grill and I get a great veggie pizza with artichoke hearts and spinach and mom has a a wonderful trout with mango salsa on mashed potatoes! We get back to the museum and hop on the shuttle that takes us downtown to where some street theater gunfights are going on and where our tour bus awaits. They drive us all around Cody showing us the historical sites and talking about the quality of living and the low cost of home ownership and taxes. The guide is dressed up as Annie Oakley and she tells great stories and jokes. We turn in at our hotel for the night and I call around to set up a river rafting trip for tomorrow.

Day 65

We ate breakfast from the cooler today; melon, noon-e-paneer, and PBJs. Mom’s shower was cold because all the hot water had run out at the hotel. We packed up and went back into the park, leaving Montana for the last time. We went to Old Faithful and got our room and unpacked our stuff and made a reservation for dinner with the earliest opening being 9:00. We went out and around and down the south road of Yellowstone looking for bears but to no avail. Just driving and talking and listening to a Scientific American program on Consciousness. very nice to have the sun on us during our relaxing tours although my arm got sunburnt. We went back to Old Faithful and went in to have an afternoon cocktail and appetizer. We went out to the car to play card tricks and do magic and mom has some real good tricks! Our reservations were for a 9:00 dinner but were able to get in earlier because they weren’t so busy by like 8:00. Mom did the buffet that had prime buffalo meat, and I had a great black bean and corn cake dish. We went for a night-time walk to see Old Faithful blow, and then went back to our room and watched Kundun on my laptop.

Day 64

Mom is up every morning much earlier than I and she goes off in search of coffee. When she gets back I slowly stir out of bed. I don’t get to sleep in nice hotels all that often and don’t see why days can’t start at noon. We take our breakfast coupons over to the Three Bear Restaurant . I get my Three Egg Veggie Omelet and mom gets bacon and eggs. The Three Bear Lodge does not have vacancy for tonight so we pack up our car and reserve a night next door at the Travel Lodge before leaving West Yellowstone and going into the park. I put on my ipod on the car speakers so that mom can listen to some of the books that I have been listening to while on the walk. The Tao Te Ching is a peaceful track to listen to while driving on a summer day through the park looking for critters and watching birds and buffalo and rivers, and it also stimulates philosophical discussions with mom. Mom takes every chance she can to put her feet in the water. Before coming to Yellowstone she got a new haircut and she is cute and alive here. We go by a few small geysers and people like herds of buffalo are going out to see every little squirt geyser even as the sun bears down relentlessly... We are content to see them from a distance and just be together so we don’t go way out on the wooden walk ways just to turn around again... we knew we would see a real geyser once we got to Old Faithful ;-) And it was a good thing we timed it like we did because we were lucky enough to see Old Faithful’s neighboring geyser go off which they say hardly ever happens. We went into the historic Old Faithful Inn, an extraordinary engineering feet to build such a structure out of logs. The fireplace was probably 20x20 feet at its base and towered up through the lobby to the 60 foot high ceiling. We had a light lunch at the Old Faithful Inn Restaurant... They have Veggie Burgers! I went to check if by chance the Inn had any vacancies for the next couple night and they had just one which was for tomorrow night and we jumped at it. Then we went out just in time to see Old Faithful blow. We continued our loop around the park and stopped again so Mom could put her feet in Yellowstone Lake. Wow this lake is fantastic... unbelievable that at his elevation, all this water can accumulate... so blue, so big, so pristine, and offset so beautifully by the mountains and trees all around it. We crossed the Continental Divide where interestingly enough their is a pond of lilly pads. I took mom to see the Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone that so inspired the artwork of Thomas Moran, which in turn inspired congress to designate Yellowstone as our first National Park. We tried to make it back to West Yellowstone in time for the 6:00 IMAX show but just missed it so instead went over to our hotel to check in and rest before heading back over for the 8:00 IMAX show. Driving around West Yellowstone we found a grill with patio seating and a great smell coming from it and some lively patrons and hostesses so we went in for dinner. I had this great Veggie Primavera Pasta and Mom had steak. We discussed dependent vs. independent causalities, and what you would see if you were inside a sphere with a lantern and the inner walls of the sphere were reflective. Back to the Travel Lodge we went.

Day 63

I bid farewell to Jonas and packed up my bag and found a hotel room at the three bear lodge. I walked around West Yellowstone a bit and got the idea about all the tourist curio shops and then went back to the room to do some thinking and writing on philosophical and existential issues with a focus on compassion and reflective infinities. I showered and cleaned up and awaited the arrival of my Mom who has been driving since last night from Arlington to come and spend some very quality time with me on the road. While waiitng I watched 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. When she arrived we had some watermelon and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from her cooler. Tomorrow we would start touring Yellowstone on our own.