Too Cold for me!!!!

 The etch-a-sketch has been bounced around a lot the past few days, the plan to spend some time in Lima MT was scrapped when we found out the friend we were going to visit was working out of town. A plan to meet him at the house he is building was foiled by bad cell service and worse directions. So we drew up new plans on the etch-a-sketch, a visit to the Grand Teton National Park was sketched in.

 It was late when we returned to the rig after a nice ride around earthquake lake where we couldn't find our friend so we elected to spend one night in Yellowstone National Park. We weren't impressed with Yellowstone 4 years ago when we were there, and not much has changed so one night was stretching it for us. They were very help full at the CG, even offered us two sites for the price of one so we would have room to park the jeep. (it turned out we didn't need the extra site).

 At the CG we met Mark and Lidia, they have been full timing for 5 months.( I remembered we had been full timing 4 months when we visited Yeller Stone the first time.) We had a good time talking with them, and hope we meet up down the road to compair stories. When I crawled out of bed the following morning it was 55 degrees in the rig, and outside it was right around the 30 degree mark. That is just too much below the 70 mark for me to hang around,  so we packed up and headed SOUTH.

 We didn't go far enough south the next day to escape the frigid overnight temps. We stopped at Colter Bay in the Grand Teton NP where class mates Bobbie and Sal have been all summer. We checked in at the CG and they told us Bobbie was on a three day hike that was ending today, and they contacted Sal by radio for us. As we got the rig set up Sal came by, (it was GREAT to see him), he was having a busy day so we made plans for dinner later. I had to ask Sal where we could see a bear since he had been here all summer, and he directed us in the right direction.

 We had several hours before we were getting together with Bobbie and Sal so we went bear hunting. Loaded with our cell phone cameras we headed in the direction we were told that the bears had been sighted. We drove up one dirt road to find a horse stables at the end, another dirt road ended at a day use area near the twin lakes. By now it was around 2 pm and a perfect 74 degrees with plenty of sunshine.

 As we headed back to the main road we got caught in a "bear jam" a bear jam is where someone spots a bear and stops in the middle of the road, and then someone else stops to see why the other car had stopped, and before long there are 50 cars blocking the road and most get out and watch the bears. (this happens with almost any animal in the park).

 We were lucky enough to be really close to the bear and three cubs. we watched as they ate berries and migrated on around the hillside. We did get some pics on our cell phone cameras, and I'll post them someday.  The fed-ex guy wasn't impressed with the bear, he really wanted to get through the traffic so eventually all the cars were moved to one side of the road so traffic could pass, and since we had to move and the bears were past us we decided to try and find some moose or elk.

 OK I'm sorry, this is TMI (too much information) after all this is a blog not a book. We meet up with Sal and Bobbie later, had a terrific dinner, then Sal drove us around looking for a moose that we couldn't find. When it got dark we sat in the Kountry Star reminiscing about the past few years, and the next few months. It was really a thrill to spend some time with them, and I would have enjoyed spending a few days with them, but the lows were too close to the freezing mark for me to hang around another day.

 We were able to see a wolf, bears, elk, eagles, osprey, and other smaller animals but no moose would let us have a peek. We left Friday AM and wound up in Ogden UT where we will rest a couple days at a PA park before we wind up in Moab UT..............