Surprise, surprise!

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7:18 am - Monday - September 4th - 50º F, humidity 55%, wind 4 mph out of the northwest......extremely hazy from fire smoke....the worst I have seen this early in the morning.  Forecast high for Gardiner, MT is 79º F, and 74º F for Mammoth Hot Springs, WY.....a big drop from yesterday's high of 92º F in Gardiner!  After yesterday's 'Fountain sauna' experience we are both very glad we are off the next two days!

I really didn't want to go to work Sunday when I woke up, and even less when 1 pm arrived and it was time to make the drive up the Gardiner River Gorge once again......I knew it was going to be the hottest day so far this summer, plus the smoke from the many wild fires burning all around YNP made my head feel twice as big as normal.

I spent part of the morning taking apart my bicycle trainer to figure out what was causing a never before experienced vibration when the RPM's would get higher as I moved through the gears.  There was nothing obvious as I opened it up....in fact, everything looked quit pristine.  No unusual wear.....in fact, no wear was obvious.....everything looked fine.  So, I decided to oil the bearings using some 3 in 1 oil, and then tighten everything up.  Guess what?  The vibration went away!  I was thinking the worst, as I oft do, that I hadn't spent enough money on this eBay bicycle trainer and after just a few months of use it was ready for the ash heap.  Once again I was in error.....just needed a little TLC.

By the time I finished reassembling the trainer I decided to 'take it for a spin', so I put on my bike clothes and did just that for 30 minutes.  I've actually been doing good at exercising consistently these past 7 days.....this was my 4th workout, plus we hiked 11 miles on another day....only two days without exercise.  At any rate whatever I did to the trainer seems to have worked.....no more vibrations at high RPM's.

Exercising did improve my mental outlook enough to where I was ready for the drive to work at 1 pm......there was very little traffic on US-89, and we arrived at work before 1:15 pm.....remember, this is the Labor Day Weekend, and we have been busier than expected, so when we arrived to a pretty full store I thought we were in for a busy day......I was not wrong.

The temp in the 'Fountain' was already quite warm, and I'm pretty sure it surpassed 100º F before the end of our shift.  TLE and I had a pleasant surprise about 2 pm.....two long time readers of our blog, Jill and Gary, came by to meet us.  They had been down in Canyon and decided to drive over to Mammoth Hot Springs to surprise us......

 Left to right: Moi, Jill and Gary

......as I have said many times to anyone who would listen, I am always surprised that anyone besides my children reads my rambling missives.  Apparently Jill and Gary have been following our journey since just before the Sugar Beet Harvest days (October of 2013).  I managed to grab this 'usie' to memorialize the moment.  Thank you Jill and Gary for stopping by for some ice cream!  (I wish we had more time to socialize.....please leave your contact information in the message section....would love to meet you under less formal circumstances!  When you leave a message on my blog it is not immediately published, but I receive an e-mail with your message, which gives me the option of publishing it, or deleting it.  Your information will not be published.)

We had a very, very busy day in the General Store with sales topping a surprising $22,000+ for the day following close on the heels of Saturday's $20,000+.....not records by any means, but quite a bit more than this same time last year I am told.

As we exited the General Store to begin our drive home I saw that we had a 'blood moon' courtesy of all the wild fire smoke in the air......the picture below is my poor attempt to capture it with my camera phone......

Blood moon....result of smoke from fires

....we were home before 10 pm, and I was in bed by 11 pm......I'm not sure when TLE joined me.  Today, Labor Day, we will take another hike in hopes of breaking the magic 100 mile barrier and complete our '100 Mile Hiking Club' obligation....where will we hike today?

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.