1999 Teardrop
Adventure - Page 5
by
Teri Fahrendorf
24 DAYS ON THE ROAD
In the morning after a quick shower, I went up to the Café to warm up with hot French toast, potatoes, and scrambled eggs. Today would be the longest driving day of my trip, and I wanted to get to it.
Drove Hwy 89 through the Charlie Russell territory of Montana, from the eastern edge of Glacier, down into Yellowstone Park. My 11-hour drive was not helped (time-wise) by all the teardrop tours I had to give each time I filled up with gas. Montanans, or those who travel through Montana, seem to be very interested in small silver campers. Had a really beautiful drive through big sky country. I watched the most interesting flat clouds as they continuously stacked up on the blue horizon. The endlessly changing portrait of golden fields was interrupted by Lewis National Forest between the towns of Monarch and Neihart, where there were beautiful rocky bluffs along a river. Monarch was different from the other Montana farm towns; nearly all newly constructed homes. I wondered if this was where the Hollywood types lived.
The last gas station I visited in Montana sold fried chicken, which made me happy as I didn't want to cook once I arrived at camp. Only a little pooped and light headed, I pulled up to my reserved campsite at Madison Junction in Yellowstone about 9:30 pm. Yikes! Although my site was a pull-through and near the bathrooms, which was nice, it wasn't level. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, as I would leave the trailer hooked up to the car, which had brakes. However, tomorrow I would be picking up my college buddy at Jackson Airport, which meant I had to disconnect the trailer. I placed wood blocks around the tires, as usual, and then jammed some RV leveling wedges under the blocks on the downhill side. I also ran a 20 ft cable and lock from the trailer tongue around a tree. If this baby were to start rolling, I wanted a tree to stop it. I certainly wouldn't throw myself in front of a rolling 1000 lb plywood and aluminum mini-tank! And I didn't think my insurance company would appreciate paying for the damage caused to one of those fancy SUVs. I gingerly cranked the trailer off the car's ball-jack and onto its little wheel, and, yes! Minimal movement! We did not roll that night. Went to bed and enjoyed another cold night.
Up at 8:00 am, and on the road at 9:00 am. Got to Jackson Airport in 2.5 hours. My goodness the roads in Yellowstone were terrible! Not only that, any human pointing in any direction could cause a "Bear Jam", even if there were no large mammals in sight; "Bear Jam" being a local euphemism for a traffic jam caused by tourists gawking at uncaged wildlife.
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6.
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
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