Senior bus to Cody

What an adventure we had last Thursday. I wondered why I didn't see the little white rec bus anywhere and since it was getting late, I thought maybe I had missed it. I was quite surprised when a big yellow school bus picked me up at my parking spot. John said he'd sure be glad when we got our new bus. It's been ordered for over a year and is supposed to be delivered in Oct. This is Oct. Seems the little bus had a blow out when he came down the hill and he didn't have time to deal with it. Thought about calling all of us and cancelling, but then decided to take the ski bus. It's a big 30 passenger school bus, for 6 of us.

I didn't go all the way to the back row as I wouldn't have been able to visit or hear. He told us we could buy lots of stuff as we had plenty of room. Since this was such a bigger bus it was harder to maneuver around the parking lots. We took the wider street routes and the parking was farther away than usual. We got our exercise walking to the bus. He would have come and picked us up at the door, but everyone wanted to walk the extra miles. (Maybe not quite miles, but you get the idea)

The steps are much higher than we are used to, so one lady couldn't go with us as she just couldn't manage them. At the lunch place he parked by a curb so we didn't have to step so high for the first step. Didn't do much for steps 2 and 3. They were higher than the first one anyway. Besides by the time we finished lunch the parking lot was full and he would have had quite a time maneuvering that big monster around the parked cars. Not a lot of room.

On our way to Albertson's we just missed a bad accident at the intersection. It had just happened so we were stuck there until fire department, police, and ambulance arrived and took care of things before traffic could get moving again. By the time we finished our shopping the street was cleared, but there were still cop cars with their light flashing at the corner there. They must have been measuring and figuring out which one was at fault. Have to check the paper on this one.

Riding the Senior bus is always an adventure.

Castle Gardens & Murphy Draw

Tuesday we went back to Ten Sleep to Castle Gardens. Went in my subaru this time so I could use air conditioning. Took our water jug too. Got more pics of the Gardens than the first time as we weren't in a hurry and knew where we were going this time. There was another car there looking around. Then we took the Two Mile Road as we heard there were more rock formations on around the hill. Well there weren't any of those kinds of rocks, but after about 6 miles we did run into some pretty bad lands with interesting formations and a bit of color. It was actually 10 miles from the Two Mile junction back to the highway. Don't know who names their roads.

Had lunch in Worland and I took pics of the big mammoth in front of the new Museum. He's quite impressive.

Then on our way back down Gooseberry, Gma asked if I wanted to go down Murphy Draw and come out at Little Buffalo Basin. Well, sure! She said she didn't know how the road would be as its been many many years since she was on it. But it looked good and it does get used quite a bit. So away we went. It was really pretty back in there. She told me about a reservoir that used to be out there somewhere and an old cabin. They went ice skating there one time and kept warm in the cabin. Had to chip the snow off before they could skate. Anyway we didn't see it because she didn't remember exactly where it was and its not there anymore anyway. ok. There were several junctions out there so I can see how one could get lost out in there, if you didn't know where you were going. There is oil activity out there and I suppose hunting too. The roads look well gravelled and we didn't have any trouble getting around. The pics are on picasa. There was traffic on that road too. We met one pickup.

It was kinda fun and looks like a place to do more exploring sometime. Probably in the truck though, and with someone who knows the area. Gma says those roads are longer than they used to be. She doesn't remember going on for such a long time before getting to the highway. I figured she probably didn't use the same road that is there now. They probably took off across country on a cow path or something. That would be shorter.

Tonight we went to Cody to have dinner with several friends in honor of Fendt's 59th anniversary. They go to Michigan in a couple of weeks.

Discovered I have a headlight out again. On the passenger side this time. Hope its just a loose connection again, as that's quick and easy to fix. Too many rough roads.

Tomorrow is bus day, so will stop in and get the light fixed after I get back.

Yes! Where did September go???

Shortly after we came back from our 5 generation trip to CA we went to Mt to see hay bales. We do this nearly every year. Its always fun and interesting to see all the different things those clever people come up with year after year. That was Tuesday Sept 14th.

Wednesday the 15th was the Mtse Firemen's appreciation dinner at the fire hall, so we went to that. A yearly thing.

Thursday Sept 15 we had company from Iowa and Ten Sleep. Took them out to lunch and had a really good visit.

Friday the 17th Gma had a dr appt check up on her carpal tunnel. It is healing just great. Can't even tell where they did the surgery, but she still has some tingling in her fingers now and then. Guess it takes quit awhile for that all to go away as her nerve was pinched very tight..

Sunday the 19th we took a drive down the upper Gooseberry. Went up WoodRiver to a turn off that goes up Brackney Hill, then there is a fork in the road where the county quits maintaining. One direction goes to the head of Gooseberry and the Wall Rock. The other way goes past Renner's, Larsen's, and Dickey's LU sheep ranch. That's the way we went. When Gma went on that road before it was the only road that way. Now there are all kinds of roads branching off here and there (oil roads). But it was interesting. Bumpy, but interesting just the same. It comes out just east of the Gooseberry rest area and bridge.

Tuesday Sept 22 we went to Anchor Dam. Couldn't actually get to the dam part as they had gates across the road, but we got close. There is another road out there that I think goes to Grass Creek, but not sure. Will have to explore that one some other time. Had lunch at the Pumpernickel Cafe in Thermop and I ran into one of my classmates there, and her sister, who was in my sister's class, and their cousin, and a daughter of one of them. Then we went down Cottonwood. Another dirt road that I had never been on. Gma has, but it seemed much longer this time. She didn't remember these roads as going on so long.

Thursday, Sept 23 I took the bus to Cody since I hadn't done that for several weeks. That night we went to Senior Citizens supper.

Friday, Sept 24th we took a tour of the lower loop of Yellowstone. Couldn't get from Canyon to Roosevelt Lodge anyway as there was a fire that way. So we went from Canyon to Norris and over the new Gibbon River bridge. It wasn't quite finished and we had to wait for construction. They were putting the asphalt down, so was one way traffic for quite a way. Lots of cars being held up. While we waited for the pilot car to lead us we counted 113 vehicles that they had brought through. Couldn't tell how many in our line as I couldn't see how far they went beyond the curve. The road never did straighten out enough for me to see the end of our line in my mirror. We had our picnic lunch along the Firehole River. It was kinda cool out there with the breeze by the river. The temp wasn't all that cool though. Several other people that stopped went back to their cars for heavier jackets too.

Tuesday, Sept 28th we went to Ten Sleep to see Castle Gardens, then went into town for lunch with our Ten Sleep friends. Was a fun day, but got hot before we got home. We went in the pickup as we didn't know how the dirt road would be. Last time Gma went there it was quite rutty and we didn't want to straddle big ruts in my little subaru. It was very nicely graveled now. Will have to go back again before the weather gets bad as I lost all the pics I took. When I put my camera card in the computer I got a different kind of box and when I pushed the button it erased the card. Fortunately I had already put everything before that on the computer so just lost the ones I took that day. Grrrrrrr!!! Will have to get the lunch pics from one of the others.

Sept 29th I went to Hardin to pay bills and rake sticks. The sticks were already gone, so didn't have to do that. Went to therapy with Pat after her dental appt. Got a bunch of Spuddie pics scanned, and all the housework I intended to do is done for this trip.

Now its October already. Looking back it's no wonder Sept went so fast. We never slowed down.