Continuing on our way to Yellowstone. We hit I-90 at Livingston and caught it west to Gallantin where we took a shortcut over to US Hwy 191. I believe it was at Four Corners we "dieseled up" and the place we stopped actually had pumping service. A youngish guy, probably in his 20s came out to pump and while pumping I made a comment on how hazy the sky was today. We could see the mountains in the distance very well yesterday, but today they were pretty hidden. He told me it was smoke from the Washington State forest fire. It had just now drifted its way over lower southwest Montana. It reminded me of the Los Angeles basin smog back in the 60s.
From Four Corners, we headed on down toward West Yellowstone. Now we had a decision to make...do we camp near West Yellowstone or do we keep going back down to Ashton and crash Rosie's party again. Let me tell you, Rosie was tempting, but we decided to stay at the Rainbow Point campground on Hebgen Lake and hit Yellowstone tomorrow. No picture here, but I do have a story.
The road into the campground was not paved and had many water filled potholes and puddles from an afternoon rain shower. Inside the park the speed limit was 15 MPH and any faster was really bone jarring. We arrived there well on into the evening after trying another campground closer to West Yellowstone that was full. The campground host there told us to try Rainbow Point and we lucked out, there was a spot. Not far from the loop our site was in was the lake. We had to cross the main road to get there. It was nearing dust on the way back from our walk to the lake. A family in a mid-sized motorhome pulled up and stopped to ask if we knew where any open sites were. We had already crossed the road, so I turned back to speak with him. As I walked across what one would consider the lane going the opposite way as the guy I saw a huge motorhome barreling down on us. He must have been doing 50 MPH. I held my breath, waiting for the crash I knew was coming. I was sure he was going to rear-end the fellow in the first RV. Zoom! The big RV tore passed the one with the family who had stopped. I did not know it, but luckily the guy had stopped with just barely enough room on the right for the idiot to get through. I'm sure his hurry was in trying to find an open spot before someone else got it. What he obviously did not know or maybe did not care was that not 5 minutes before, several kids were puttering around the area on bicycles. There is no way he could have stopped or avoided them. The thought almost made me ill.
But, all's well that ends well...I guess.
No comments:
Post a Comment