Old Faithful
It was another driving day, but we did get to do something special. Checked out of the Best Value Inn and headed south. At mile 4490 we entered the Yellowstone National Park west entrance and crossed the Wyoming border very shortly after that. Within an hour we had made it to Old Faithful.

We got there just half an hour before the next eruption so we had time to walk around a bit and find a good viewing spot. We're surprised by how crowded these places have been mid-week. There have been a lot of European tourists on this trip, as well as Americans on summer vacation.

After watching the geyser erupt, we headed for the eastern gateway to the park. Unfortunately, this turned out to be quite a headache. There were long delays because of road construction, but it paid off after we got through it. The drive from the east entrance was just stunningly beautiful.

The rest of the day was spent traveling east across northern Wyoming. This could possibly have been the most beautiful drive of the trip so far. After that gorgeous drive from Yellowstone, the town of Cody was a nice surprise. It's always interesting how you can have nothing for miles, and all of a sudden there is this city in the middle of it all. Cody was very nice town, it had a kind of vibrancy to it. They were advertising a rodeo in town later that night. Wish we could have stuck around for it. Then as abruptly as Cody came upon us, it was gone as we continued east. When we got to Bighorn National Forest, we took the Bighorn Scenic Byway traversing the mountains via Shell Canyon. Wow! The canyon is just amazing! A rushing river with sheer rock walls and the Shell Falls were fantastic! It quickly got dark as we got to the other side of the mountain and we soon found our way to Sheridan, WY where we found free wi-fi at Burger King. We posted on the blog and then went a little further and camped for the night.

Random Thoughts
A lot of driving today so more random thoughts:

• It seems like the post office is almost always the nicest building in town. Even these tiny little stops, with populations under 100, always have a really nice post office.
• The mosquitos seem to have disappeared ever since we got into Montana.
• Country music isn't that bad, ya'll.

Dave's Rant
(Editors note: I have been trying to do this blog somewhat from Hapa's point of view, or at least a generic point of view, since it is his blog. But I just had to tell this story.)
I have been finding myself really losing patience with people on this trip. From the idiotic tourists who go into areas that are clearly prohibited, mucking up the scenery that other people trying to take pictures of. To the inconsiderate RV drivers who can't seem to drive over 45 on 65 mph single lane roads. Either they are cluelessly oblivious to the line of cars behind them, or they just couldn't give a rat's a**. (Sorry for the censorship, but my parents are reading this blog too.) The phrase "people suck!" could be heard emanating from this little SUV quite often. I had found myself losing faith in people as they continued to prove to me that most of them are self-centered, inconsiderate morons. Then last night, I bumped into this girl in the lobby of the motel where we were staying. Actually Hapa bumped into her. I knew I had him around for a reason. We started talking and she asked me what I was traveling for. I told her that this was a post-layoff trip and explained all that had happened with my job. Not knowing me from Adam, she handed me her card and told me about her company, and said that they were in a hiring frenzy. By the way, visit them at www.backcountry.com. Now, they are based in Park City, Utah so it might take a lot for me to move there,. But I was taken aback by her generosity to a perfect stranger. There ARE still good people out there. So thanks to Kristin for restoring my faith in people, or at least reminding me that there is a balance in the world. And it had nothing to do with the fact that she was gorgeous! Thanks, Hapa.

I thought when I first posted this rant, I would regret it later. Now that I go back and read it, I don't. People still suck, but there are still just as many people who remind me that there IS a balance.