This is the entry for 7/12:
In our rush to arrive at the KOA Kampground in West Yellowstone, we drove right through Jackson, Wyoming. We also beat feet right through the park and did not stop anywhere. We happen to travel the primary tourist route on our way through Yellowstone and Teton National Parks.
Today, we traveled the same route except we stopped where we wanted. Using my typical anal retentive philosophy we only stopped at the attractions to the right. That way we didn’t have to make left turns across traffic and we didn’t have to wonder if we stopped at a particular location or not.
As an aside, our primary goals for the park were not to see any particular attraction, but to find as much wildlife as possible.
Susie had not seen a hot springs before and hot not experienced the sweet sulfur aroma. At our first stop, she got both. Well, that covered those two types of stops. It also drastically cut down on the number of stops we could make.
We drove all the way through the park, down through the Grand Teton National Park and into Jackson. We parked the Excursion in public parking, ate lunch and started shopping. And shopping. And shopping. But hey, we finally found the battery for our video camera. Ever since we started this trip we have been looking for an extra battery. We have been able to recharge the battery each night but it does limit the amount of video that we can shoot. With the extra battery and a 12 volt charger we no longer have any limitations.
While we were in the camera store we were petting and playing with the owners Siberian husky. It was a blue eyed sand colored dog. Another customer came in with her two dogs. None of these dogs were on leashes. The customer’s dogs were very excitable and one even tried to nip the husky. The salesman, who was not the owner of the dog, was starting to get agitated. The husky was starting to get that look like ‘it’s my store, you can get the hell out’. I thought it was best if I took the husky down an aisle and started petting it and scratching it until the other customer had left. Once she was gone, the salesman started complaining about her lack of control over her dogs.
As we started to leave Jackson, Susie went to the restroom while I started the car. It didn’t start. Hmmmm. Dead as a doornail. I wiggled the shifter, I put it in neutral, I tried starting it with my foot on the brake and then off the brake. All of a sudden, it started with no problem. Either an odd occurrence or an electrical short of some type.
Our next stop was Old Faithful. I mentioned to Susie the fact that the car had difficulties starting. We figured that the heavily populated tourist attraction was a good place to test it out. After watching, and recording the show, we came back to the car and sure enough, it didn’t start. After trying everything I tried previously twice, I finally got it to start. We continued on but left the motor running.
We got back to our campsite late tonight and basically went to bed.