ROAMING IN WYOMING

(and Idaho... and South Dakota)

4 Oct. 2010

(Click on the thumbnails to view a larger image.)

This newsletter covers September 6-16 but is being written while on the cruise ship as we explore the Saguenay Fjord on October 3rd. Yes, we are in leaf heaven … the colors just keep getting better and better.

On our journey across the U.S., we continued to miscalculate – e.g. trying to find a campsite on Labor Day weekend in the Sawtooth Mtns. just north of Boise. Judging by the traffic and the lack of space, the entire city of Boise was completely empty and if we had gone to the center, it would have appeared like a ghost city in a sci-fi movie. However, in general, the crowds at the main sites are about 1/10 of what they would be in summer.

GENERALITIES:

• least desirable phrase from driver – "it's raining bugs!"
• new disease exhibited by Ted – the opposite of cabin fever = "open sky fever" characterized by silliness, fascination with straight roads, and incessant (but creative, ed.) jokes about Saskatchewan
• concrete roads are noisy – at first they were interesting and we referred to them as singing highways; that soon changed to whistling, then squealing, and finally screaming … plus they have a particular bumpiness to them that would definitely lead to motion sickness to those so prone
• strangest little town with the most highway billboards (65 signs in 40 miles) inviting you there - Wall, South Dakota
• we saw over 300 live deer in one day going through South Dakota
• each highway specializes in its own type of roadkill for 100+ miles, e.g. deer, skunk, raccoons (all the way from Iowa to Kitchener, Ontario)
• least desirable Amerindian names: "Young Man Afraid of his Horse" and "Low Dog" (who was also severely cross-eyed in his photo);
• new birds – Greater Prairie Chicken and Blue Jay, count is now up to 3
• there are lots of huge ravens everywhere; since I believe that I was a raven in a previous life, does that mean I am a raven lunatic?
• Attention Single Women: ad in a South Dakota free paper

  GIRLFRIEND WANTED, 20s to 50s. I am loner type, handsome man, never want kids. 1-888-012-3456

• the well-equipped home in eastern Wyoming comes with RV, boat, one ATV per family member, snowmobiles, and of course, a big, strong pickup truck
• favorite town – Ten Sleep, WY – which has the Crazy Woman saloon right across the street from Dirty Sally's Restaurant
• smallest town – Emblem, WY – population 10 (and they have their own post office)
• most interesting rock sculpture – Crazy Horse – started by one man in 1948 who refused all government funding; has now been taken over by his family

Crazy Horse Monument

• second most interesting rock sculpture – Mount Rushmore (apparently they have run out of funds due to the recession so had to resort to a natural formation to represent a fairly recent president)

Mount Rushmore addition

• we saw all of the Wyoming BIG SIX: buffalo, moose, deer, elk, bear and pronghorn antelope
• the most illogical store name – Nature in Action Taxidermy Shop
• Iowa corn – sweet corn is harvested while green and is for people; field corn is harvested when brown and is for animal feed, ethanol, syrup, plastic, etc.
• simplest meal on the trip so far – 2 cobs of corn, 1/2 bottle of wine, 1/2 Twix chocolate bar each
• Iowa used to be 85% raw, natural prairie; now the prairie is less than 0.1%
• In Illinois, hitting a worker in a construction zone generates a $10,000 fine and 14 years in jail (doesn't seem to differentiate between a bruise and death!); in Michigan, it's a $7500 fine and 15 years in jail
• there are more highway signs for private health care facilities than for all the fast food restaurants combined
• saw a new product for sale in Nebraska – storm shelters – look like large plastic igloos which are then almost completely buried
• messiest mess – the broken jars of oranges and my special Brazilian honey that flew out of the top cupboard when we went through a large pothole

ANIMAL WORLD:

IDAHO FALLS MUSEUM - THEME – "WOLF to WOOF"

• the gray wolf gave rise to all ≈400 breeds of domestic dogs (we were only able to list 57 as we were driving)
• there are dogs trained to detect termites
• 1905 - the first heart transplant was done on a dog
• why do dogs sniff everything? ..they're checking for pee-mail
• dogs have 25 times more smell receptors than humans
advice from a dog:
1. be loyal
2. delight in the simple joy of a long walk
3. unleash your talents
4. hide your favorite snacks
5. make new friends
6. learn new tricks no matter your age
7. when loved ones come home, always run to greet them
• badgers have 2" front claws and their underground dens can have a 30 foot tunnel; they can dig faster than a person can shovel; they have a special hunting relationship with coyotes for ground squirrels whereby the badger digs them out and the coyote guards the exit
• the trumpeter swan is the heaviest flying bird in N. America and can fly 40-50 miles per hour

GRAND TETONS, WY
JACKSON HOLE VISITORS CENTER

• was relieved to discover that the family of deer, elk, and moose shed their antlers each year (hence the massive numbers of antlers forming gateways, fences, etc. do not necessarily represent dead animals!); antlers can grow 1 inch/day depending on the quality of food
• sheep, pronghorn and bison have horns
• the elk refuge allows hunting
• the Boy Scouts collect the elk antlers annually and there is a public auction
• bears preparing for hibernation need 20 000 calories per day; TIP - personal pepper spray is not effective – apparently, you need BEAR pepper spray

GEOLOGY WORLD:

YELLOWSTONE & GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARKS, WY

• were disappointed in the height of the Grand Tetons, they looked rugged but not any higher than the local mountains in Vancouver - then realized that the 'valley' we were viewing them from was at an elevation of 8 000 feet!
• saw Old Faithful (erupts approximately every 90 minutes)
• saw unfaithful – White Hole Geyser (coincidentally, erupted while Ted was inside the camper peeing)
• there is a $5000 fine for throwing coins or other objects into any of the pools or geysers
• the names of the various formations reflect their beauty: Turquoise Springs, Opal Springs, Black Pearl, Firehole Lake, Mammoth Terraces

HISTORY WORLD:

BUFFALO BILL MUSEUM IN CODY, WY

• five museums in one – Buffalo Bill, guns and rifles, American Plains Indians, Western art, Yellowstone Natural History … lots and lots of walking
• prairie dogs (part of the squirrel family) greet each other by touching teeth)
• in the late 1800s, 30% of American cowboys were black … I mean African American
• in the mid 1800s, 100 elk teeth (eye teeth only) would buy a good horse
• the gift shop was selling a white, brain-tanned deerskin dress with pony and shell beads for $12,000
• a beaded baby carrier cost $6950
• teepees always have their entry facing east to greet the morning sun

MOST DRAMATIC NEW EXPERIENCE – NEAR DEATH … REALLY!!!! … Sept 9th:

• it was a bitterly cold and windy day in Yellowstone and after glancing at the view from Inspiration Point, I proudly managed to run up about 50 steps to get back to the truck
• 6 p.m. - I opened the truck door, got in and WHAM – mega headache with dizziness and nausea – classic brain aneurysm symptoms
• a few minutes later, Ted returned and we drove as quickly as possible to the Health Center at Lake Village
• 6:35 – gave history to admitting clerk, gave history to nurse, gave history to doctor, got pain and nausea meds (cost $742 … expect to be reimbursed by insurance company)
• 7:35 – en route to Cody by ambulance (2 hour drive on a dark and stormy night with no cell phone reception so they didn't think I should go with Ted; apparently, they would have sent me to Idaho by helicopter if the weather hadn't been so awful …. darn!) - gave history to Yellowstone paramedic
• 8:35 – transferred to Cody ambulance which met us halfway, gave history to Cody paramedic
• 9:35 – arrived at hospital in Cody, gave history to nurse, gave history to doctor, gave history to technicians x 3; in the next 2 hours, had blood and urine tests, chest x-ray, ECG, CT scan and MRI; the CT and MRI tests were sent to Australia; results received within 1-2 hours; the Texas doctor was very forthcoming about how aneurysms run in his family and that 3 out of 4 have died; he was quite keen on doing a lumbar puncture but fortunately the negative CT and MRI dissuaded him (I wouldn't have consented)
• 1:15 a.m. - left the hospital to go camp at the local WalMart
• conclusion – altitude (8000 feet) problem complicated or initiated by spiking blood pressure and dehydration
• cost – unknown – our travel insurance paid them directly as this hospital is part of their network

That's it for now - and we're off to Sept-Isles, Quebec
love E&T

Self-image with short arms