1999 Teardrop
Adventure - Page 6
by
Teri Fahrendorf
24 DAYS ON THE ROAD
My best buddy from college, Joy, flew in from Chicago to join me for four nights in Yellowstone and Tetons. Back in 1981 she was my first road trip buddy. On that adventure we took a Greyhound bus 48 hours from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Tempe, Arizona. Five months later we road tripped back to Wisconsin via Mexico and Yellowstone Park in an old station wagon. We slept in the back of the wagon, and sang Beatles songs from a lyric book, as there was no radio. Our second road trip along the West Coast in 1986 was made in that very same trusty Honda which so valiantly towed my teardrop on this adventure.
Joy was now happily married with two kids, 6 and 8, and with her husband's blessing, she agreed to join me on this trip. After I picked her up, we headed down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to the Snake River Brewing Company where Head Brewer, Chris Erickson, and his crew joined us on the patio for lunch and a sampler set of all their beers.
It was a gorgeous hot day. Seemed like we might get an Indian summer after all. The food and beers were fabulous, and I was thankful for the shade of the umbrella above our patio table. After lunch Joy and I walked around Jackson a bit, picked up groceries and gas, and spent the rest of the day driving back to Madison Junction where the teardrop was waiting. Grilled some boneless ribs with BBQ sauce, served with Idaho Merlot and a big campfire.
In the morning we enjoyed our vacation by sleeping in till 10:00 am. Made blueberry pancakes with the Oregon blueberries I brought for just such an occasion. We also whipped up a batch of slow-rise, homemade Potato-Onion-Pepper bread to rise all day and bake tonight. Since it had been awhile since either of us had showered, we set up the solar shower I had dragged all the way from home, and filled it to heat for showers that night.
Did the upper Yellowstone loop via Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower, Canyon Village, and Norris Basin. Saw a bull elk, crowned with a great rack, and his harem keeping cool on the white steps of Minerva Terrace at Mammoth. Checked out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and took pictures of each other pretending to fall over the edge. Drove over Dunraven Pass, looking for mountain goats and sheep, but didn't see any. We did see a lone buffalo and some of the interesting geothermic features at Norris. I bought postcards, Joy shopped for trinkets for her family, and I helped her shop. What are friends for?
Got back just before dark. Unfortunately you need a good sunny day for a solar shower to work, so we had cold water, which was an improvement over freezing water, but we decided to skip the showers for another day. Had a fabulous dinner of jazzed-up cup-o-soup with leftover boneless ribs and spicy chicken sausage added. Plus some kick-butt homemade bread, baked in a Dutch oven over the coals, and a 6-pack of mixed local dark beers. It was a balmy 54°F in the camper at bedtime and we slept well.
Click here to go to 1999 Teardrop Adventure Page 7 .
The story is 16 short pages total. You can jump to other sections of the story here:
Page
1 - Departure
Page 2 - Washington
Page 3 - Idaho
Page
4 - Glacier
Page 5 - Montana
Page
6 - Yellowstone
Page 7 - Tetons
Page
8 - Denver
Page 9 - Colorado
Page
10 - Utah
Page 11 - Idaho Again
Page
12 - Wild Horses
Page 13 - Oregon
Page 14 - Enterprise
Page
15 - Lovely Drive
Page 16 - Home Again
And here are some recipes: