Day 20

There are no pictures today. The ride was great but not of photographic interest.

We saw only one example of wild life and that was a black moose. I'd never seen a coal black moose before but I still did not take a picture of the young cow. The temperatures were dropping, we'd been riding for 7 hours and rain threatened – but never came. I just figured of the hundreds of moose pictures I have , one more would just get lost in the pile.

I forgot to mention, yesterday, that coming out of Banff on the ranger road, which happens to be Route 93, the main thoroughfare, is a town called Radium Hot Springs. The ranger road is closed when snow makes it impassable and is below Route 1, which is used by most tourists and sightseers, who come out of Calgary. It was closed when we left home but, I was glad to see that it was open when we got to the parks. It's been an early spring all around despite being one of the coldest winters on record. Climatic extremes persist! Anyway, Radium, apparently, has an hot spring grotto under, what is probably, a posh hotel. However, passes are advertised at other surrounding motels and inns and, I believe the public can buy a pass from vendors or the hotel. The hot spring spills out of the hillside below the hotel and is called Steam Stream. But, the most intriguing part of this enclave, which comprises the hillside directly associated with the grotto, the town becomes “normal” in its lower reaches, is its Alpine theme. It looks just like Baden-Baden or a village out of the Tyrol. I'll bet there was some good eating there but, we don't do lunch (so no pictures either) and just passed through. A place to come back to, perhaps.

(I just asked Bruce if I could have a peanut. He was in the bathroom and told me are “none in here, there's toilet paper”. I wonder if I should begin to worry.)

Couer d'Alene, where we stayed last night, looked like a normal western ranch town when we pulled in but on the eastern side of town we found, as we were leaving, that it's all amusement and water parks. It's the fun center of the Idaho Panhandle. Who knew? A family could spend a week there and I'll bet some do. Another place to go back to, perhaps.

I-90, yes, our I-90, out of Couer d'Alene is a lovely road, with overhanging shade trees, tight “s” curves, and the occasional switchback. Speeds are 75 so one can have fun if they want. It traces beautiful rivers, cuts through canyons, and darts through passes. Not at all the cookie cutter Interstate of the new order. I wondered why and realized that I-90 is one of the older Interstates built when there was less federal meddling. It's really a beautiful high speed boulevard that took us all the way to Boseman, some 389 miles away, where we turned south to West Yellowstone. Alas, there is construction, some of it proudly proclaiming the application of stimulus money, all along the way making the necessary changes to destroy its charm and bring it squarely into the expectations of Simpson's watching Americans.

At Boseman, we meet cold mountain air and overcast. There were two “short cuts” that I tried to convince Bruce we could take and maybe save some time. Rhonda and Bruce insisted – go to Boseman. Without seeing the other roads, I would still say, I'm glad. 191 follows the Gallatin River. It's been in the news because of the rains and flooding and it's raging. That makes it quite dramatic to watch. Any more rain, which looks likely but is not in the forecast, and there could be trouble. For now, it's a big payday for the many rafting, white water kayaking, and pontoon boats that make there living off the rapids. Those that made reservations for this weekend, lucked out. We could catch portions of their “fun” from the road as we drove up past them coming down.

We arrive in West Yellowstone a little early for a normal stop but do so anyway. Better weather is predicted for tomorrow and we want an early start on the park in the morning to get all we can out of it. West Yellowstone is very touristy but that's not a bad thing. It means lots of funky and standard eateries, shops and people. All a nice change from the wilderness.