I’m on Vacation, of course I wrote anyway.

Well, our vacation is over. As far as vacation go, our time was incredibly fun and incredibly horrible. As I wrote last week, we had vehicle trouble on our first day of vacation. Well, we had vehicle trouble on our last day of vacation. also.

The twins, Elaine and I were getting really excited about getting home when 45 miles North of Rock Springs our truck lost power again. I thought the $480(+,-) I paid in Rawlins on the way to Jackson/Yellowstone was enough to allow us to enjoy our vacation. It was not.

I was able to drive our truck the last 45 miles to Rock Springs and get to the GMC dealership exactly five minutes after the closed for the evening. We were able to make an appointment for the next morning. It looked like we were spending the night in Rock Springs.

We found room in an RV camp, checked in and went to dinner. After leaving the restaurant, I started the truck. It ran, PERFECTLY! We were committed to spending the night, plus, I was not confident the truck’s problem would not start again. Even though I was not looking forward to spending the night in Rock Springs, we decided to keep the appointment at the dealership in the morning.

About ten years ago, I lived in Rock Springs for a short time. I was building one of those nationally known coffee shops that are on every corner. Great coffee, lousy politics.

Rock Springs has really grown and cleaned up in the last ten years. I t still has a ways to go before I would actually want to spend the night there.

Before you Rock Springers lawyer up, I know what I’m talking talking about. Leaving the restaurant (a new brew pub) in old Downtown , Boy Twin said, ”Let’s get out of here before we get shot.”

After we got back in the truck I told the twins a story about when I was working in Rock Springs.

I was looking for a place to live when I arrived in Rock Springs. I stopped at a recently completed apartment complex and was told there were no available apartments. I asked the leasing agent where I could find an apartment. She said, “You might want to try the complex across the street, I read in the newspaper there was a murder there last night. They should have an apartment.”

Sorry, wasn’t I talking about our vacation. I don’t know why I drift away like that. Sorry.

Anyway, the dealership sent me to Colorado because they could not help me. We drove home without incident.

If you’ve been to Yellowstone, you no it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. So let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about tourists (of which I was one).

Realizing Mid-July is the heart of the tourist season, our vacation to Yellowstone was centered around being in the area anyway for Elaine’s Art Show. If I were you, I wouldn’t visit Yellowstone in July.

We did all the tourist things. Along with about a thousand or more people we watched Old Faithful (twice).

We photographed wildlife. We stopped along the side of the road to photograph bison, elk and moose. Along with 50 other cars, we blocked the road (just like the real tourists) to get the best photos.

I probably should take the the time to talk about the park ranger that screamed at me that I was blocking the road. I was going to tell him I already knew that, but he seemed so mad. He yelled at the others also, but I wasn’t concerned about them.

Outside of Wilson, we came up on twenty cars parked along the side of the road, The cars were there because the drivers (and passengers) were photographing a bull moose. A deputy sheriff was trying to get the people back in their cars and moving again.

For some reason I don’t think he was talking to me. I ran past him to get a photo. The deputy left the scene before I did. See, I knew he didn’t mean that I should leave or maybe I was invisible and he couldn’t see me. He made everyone else leave.