The setup......

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7:27 am - Tuesday - 55º F, 76% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the east southeast......sunny with scattered clouds.....forecast high for this day is 86º F with a 40% chance of rain.

I had been looking forward to Monday since we arrived here at YRVP (Yellowstone RV Park) last Thursday.  Monday would be the first day we have not been traveling, orienting and working since June 10th when we departed TVC.  We had not had any time to really set up our camp for the next 3.5 months and we were especially eager to get our 'grass' out of the trailer......

......normally we would have left this artificial turf at TVC awaiting our return the following season, but returning ending up not being in the cards so to speak, and we were determined not to abandon it.  We were able to fold it up in such a manner that would could drag it into the trailer and then drive the VW into the trailer on top of it.  I was skeptical that it would work, but as usual TLE, whose idea it was, has very good spacial talents.  It did work, and Monday was the day to drag it back out and begin enjoying it again.  There is something about this artificial turf beneath my feet which makes me feel I'm at home again.....

.....I also put out a small awning mat in front of the trailer door.....having this mat in front of the door helps prevent me from tracking dirt into the trailer, and it works!

Once our site was beginning to look more like home than a temporary location we decided to get in the VW and take a tour of downtown Gardiner and the surrounding area.....

....our first stop was the Roosevelt Arch, which I wrote briefly about yesterday.....we had yet to take our own personal pictures of the arch.......

......of course, Yellowstone National Park was the first such park created by Congress on March 1, 1872 at the urging of President Grant.  The arch, marking the northern entrance of the park was completed in 1903, and became known as the Roosevelt Arch when then President Teddy Roosevelt dedicated it while vacationing in Yellowstone.

The obligatory 'usie'

 

I took this shot on the original road one would have taken into YNP back in the late 1800's.....you can see the Roosevelt Arch in the background.

We snapped this picture of three female Elk, which can be seen everywhere around Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs grazing.

On our way back to YRVP we stopped off at the Gardiner Market to check out their inventory, and to buy a few things.  As it turns out they have many of what I would call staples we use on a regular basis including Snap-E-Tom and TLE's favorite potato vodka.  They have a very adequate meat counter, and many of the other staples we prefer.

We were back home by 1 pm.....we had decided that we would not do too much exploring Monday preferring to set up our camp, and just relax on our first day off from traveling, orienting and working in over 8 days.  I spent the rest of the afternoon continuing to set up the trailer by getting my tools out, the bicycles out and putting some of our chairs out.  Finally about 4 pm I sat down outside in one of the anti gravity chairs and just relaxed......it was actually quite a warm day getting close to 85º F, so sitting outside was preferable to being inside.  

Around 5:30 I turned on the Sea-B-Que in anticipation of grilling a filet mignon for our dining pleasure.....TLE had me roast two ears of corn, and she also added some asparagus with hollandaise sauce.....it all turned out wondefully....

....we sat outside enjoying the early evening air until the sun managed to move around one of our shade trees chasing us back inside for the evening.  Monday was a perfect day off, and we are now basically 'setup'. Tuesday will see us doing some exploring in YNP proper....stay tuned!

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YNP: Day 3 - Our 'Friday'......

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8:31 am - Monday - 53º F, humidity 70%, wind 2 mph out of the east......high, wispy clouds, but mostly blue skies.....forecast high is 83º F!  I know.....yesterday I write that I have a hard time sleeping past 7:30 am, and the very next day, today, I don't wake up until after 8 am....lol!  Kind if nice though.....after 4 days of learning a new job my brain is ready for a break.

So, Sunday was our 'Friday', and we had the 'MID' shift (11 am to 7 pm).  After a leisurely morning we got in the car about 10:30 am to make the 5 mile drive up to MHS (Mammoth Hot Springs) to begin our work day.  There was a pretty long line at the Roosevelt Arch......

The Roosevelt Arch circa 1903

A more recent photo.....it is pretty much unchanged after 114 years

.....but we were only delayed about 5 minutes before continuing on our way to the MHS General Store arriving just before 10:50 am, and within minutes we were back in the saddle.  Initially it was not a very busy day, but eventually the tour buses began to arrive, and we would go through 30 minute stretches of being 'slammed', and then the store would be virtually empty again.  I spent time retrieving various products for cashiers when the item they had would not scan, retrieving additional product from the various 'back stock' areas in the store, helping bag customer purchases, opening the various security cases in the store for customers to more closely examine knives, jewelry, etc., heating up the large salted pretzels we sell, and whatever else needed to be done.  Occasionally I would step outside to enjoy the beautiful views....

 The Mammoth Hot Springs travertine terraces

.....it's a little easy to get so involved with learning a new job that you forget to stop occasionally and just 'smell the roses'.....we work in such a beautiful setting!

TLE finished her last of three days doing her cross training in the Fountain......

.....I will be there for 5 days beginning this Wednesday......all through the day I could occasionally hear her lilting laughter.......she can have a good time no matter what she is doing!

We were off precisely at 7 pm, and on our way home with the sun still in the sky for a change.  We stopped at the beginning the 7% grade to snap a few pictures....

......we have only been in YNP for 4 days, and have not even really scratched the surface of what there is to see, but we are completely and hopelessly in love nonetheless!

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YNP: Day 2 at Mammoth Hot Springs General Store

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7:49 am - Sunday - 54º F, humidity 60%, wind 3 mph out of the southwest......cloudy....forecast high is 72º F.

As I wrote yesterday we moved to sites 17 (Newell) and 18 (trailer) and here is a picture of our new configuration.......

I was up by 7:30 am eager to begin the slow process of setting up our sites for the next few months.  It feels like we have been in a state of flux for about a month, but in reality it has been just 7 days since we left TVC (June 10th).  We have been so busy getting here, then learning a new job and meeting many new folks.....by the way 'meeting' new people is the easy part....the hard part is remembering everyone's name, but I am getting there.

The mighty Yellowstone River

Our home is about 70' from the Yellowstone River......had we arrived earlier in the season we may have been able to snag a back in site right on the river, but, nonetheless, we are happy with our location and situation.

I spent a couple of hours getting things out of the trailer, and then it was time to begin to get ready to go to work.  Our first two days have been on the 'CLOSE' shift which ends at 9:45 pm.  Our next two work days, including Sunday, will be on the 'MID' shift which runs 11 am to 7 pm, and then next Wednesday we will begin a two day stint of being on the 'OPEN' shift, which requires us to be there from 7:15 am to 3:15 pm.  We are not quite sure yet whether we will settle into one particular shift, or be moved around throughout the summer.  Everyone else seems to have the same shift each work day.

We left for work around 1 pm, and arrived a little after 1:15.....it's only 5 miles up to Mammoth Hot Springs, but you just never know how long the drive will take as the density of the traffic varies a lot from day to day.

TLE's shift at the Fountain began at 1:30, whereas my cashier shift began at 1:45 so I had to wait to 'punch the clock'.  I continued to shadow a couple of my fellow employees for the first part of my shift, then I was tasked with preparing some large pretzels for the Fountain folks as they were running low.  It's  a pretty simple process involving spritzing the pretzels with water, then dipping them in kosher salt, then  putting them in a pizza type oven to warm them up for 5 minutes at 675º.  I made up 3 batches before returning to my shadowing activities.  

Finally around 6 pm I was allowed to pull my $300 cash drawer, and sign into a register for the first time.  It was the perfect time as the foot traffic in the store had decreased, which took a little pressure off me.  As I have written previously, this POS system is very intuitive, and I only had a few instances where I needed help.  Being able to work at a register seemed to speed up the last 3.5 hours of my shift, and before I knew it was 9:30 pm, and time to close the doors for the day. 

Actually, the hardest part of the job for me is counting my $300 in cash (coins and paper) to begin the shift, and then 'counting down the drawer' at the end.    What we do is simply count out $300, put in back in our  'safety deposit box', and then drop the rest of the cash in a drop box.  I was able to 'count down' my drawer in about 10 minutes, and then TLE and I were on our way home after day 2 on the job.  

The Yellowstone General Store at Mammoth Hot Springs (where we work) was built in 1895....obviously, it has been remodeled a few times over the years, but you can see the age as you walk through the basement and upper story areas.  

 Internet pictues of Mammoth Hot Springs General Store and a map of our location in relation to the rest of  YNP......

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Shifty....

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8:07 am - Saturday - 50º F, 75% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the west northwest.......cloudy and drizzly right now, but there is the promise of sun later today and a forecast high of 67º F.

Our first full 8 hour shift at the Yellowstone General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs began at 1:30 pm so we had about 5 hours to run some errands before we reported for work.  First up was our drug testing at the Mammoth Clinic (9:30 am for TLE and 10 am for moi).  We arrived around 9:20 am, signed in and then began our 'wait' in the 'WAITING ROOM'.......as Jerry Seinfeld says....."When it's called a WAITING ROOM there is no way you are not going to WAIT, and WAIT we did.  Finally bout 10:15 am TLE was called to donate a her urine sample, and then it was my turn a few minutes later.  We were out just before 10:30 and on to our next errand.....get a P. O. Box at the Mammoth Hot Springs USPS.....I guess we could have gotten a P. O. Box at the Gardiner, MT USPS, but who doesn't want to have an address that ends in Yellowstone National Park,WY?  We secured our box for a 6 month period, the shortest period available, at a total cost of $30, and were on our way to our next task.....get a YNP employee sticker for our driver's side window to expedite our passage each day through the Roosevelt Gate into YNP.  There is no charge for this, but you must provide a copy of your vehicle registration, insurance, driver's license, and employee ID card, and then fill out a short application form.  It took just a few minutes to secure the coveted employee sticker, and we were on our way back home by 11:30.

On our way home we received a call from our Delaware North HR person advising the Yellowstone RV Park owner wanted us to move our Newell, and trailer to different sites.....he felt we were too big for site 11 and wanted us to put the Newell in site 17, and the trailer in site 18.  She advised us there would be no extra charge for the trailer, which was a relief to us.  The cool thing is we have so much more room now, and the trailer is right next to us, so how could we complain?  We did, however, have to move everything right away, so as soon as we arrived back at the RV park we got busy and had everything moved within 30 minutes.

By this time it was around 12:15 pm, and we wanted to be ready to drive back into YNP for our 1:30 shift time by 12:45 to be sure we were not late.  We were back in the VW at that time and heading for Mammoth Hot Springs......it only took us a little over 10 minutes, and we arrived just before 1 pm.....better early than late, right?

Ready to work!

There are three shifts: 7:15 am to 3:15 pm, 11 am to 7 pm, and 1:45 pm to 9:45 pm.....all three shifts are 8 hours long including a 30 minute lunch break, so that comes out to 7.5 hours of work each day.  We met with our store supervisor and she gave us a tour of the store......all three levels (basement, main floor and upstairs).  'Back stock' is stored in the basement and upstairs areas, with some additional 'back stock' in the back room on the main floor.  They sell basic groceries, beer, wine, hard liquor, fishing licenses, clothing and hundreds of souvenirs.  After our tour TLE headed off to be cross trained at the 'Fountain' where ice cream, hot dogs, pretzels, soft drinks, etc. are sold.  I headed off to be trained as a cashier....I will get my cross training in the mysteries of the Fountain beginning next Wednesday.  Basically I 'shadowed' two of my fellow co-workers for my entire shift.  Watching them use the 'POS' system, which is amazingly intuitive.......completely unlike the 'POS' system we utilized at TVC.  During the course of my shift I was able to see how to completely utilize the system in pretty much every imaginable scenario.  By the end of my shift I felt pretty familiar with the system.  I also assisted customers who needed to have the jewelry and knife display cases opened to more closely examine individual items, and performed what is called 'stock recovery', which simply means straightening up the various product displays throughout the store.  Amazingly, time did seem to pass pretty quickly, and I am sure once I begin actually working a register time will pass even more quickly.

There were ebbs and flows of customers throughout the day as one might expect.  Sometimes we were very, very busy with all three registers going with 3-5 customers lined up at each.  Soon it was 9:30 pm and time to clock out for the day.  I might add one additional positive note about our experience so far with Delaware North......they are very, very professional.  Both TLE and I had our computer usernames, and passwords when we began our shift.......we had been at TVC for almost 7 weeks prior to our departure, and TLE had yet to receive her computer codes.  By Friday morning, prior to our shift, we had both received an email with a link to their employee management system and were able to sign in and view our profiles.....this same link will be used to verify our hours worked, direct deposit status, etc.  Each Friday is payday, so we can expect to receive our first deposits a week from our start date.  Our fellow employees all behave in a very professional manner.....no gossip is tolerated.....no discussion of personal business occurs.  Everyone just works, and has a good time.....no need to say the obvious, but I will anyway.....we are very, very happy in our new circumstance.

We were home just before 10 pm, and in bed shortly after 11 pm....I awoke several times during the night to the pitter pat sounds of rain on our aluminum roof......life is good!

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Into Yellowstone.....

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7:12 am (Mountain Time) - Friday - 53º F, humdity 67%, wind 5 mph out of the southwest......forecast high is 66º F.......chance of rain.

We reported for our North Delaware orientation about 7:45 am and were each given a stack of paperwork to complete along with our employee ID card, name tag, and a nice Yellowstone fleece jacket.  In all our orientation was 6+ hours.....a lot of information was being poured into my brain, and by 2 pm my eyes were glazing over.....:-)  The one thing that was burned into my brain is the North Delaware motto......"Creating special experiences one guest at at time".

We were finally dismissed about 2:15 pm......TLE and I walked back to the coach, put the car back in the trailer, fired up the DD and began the 54 mile trek north to our final destination for the summer......

 Madison River

......just after passing through the West Yellowstone entrance to the park the views were immediately captivating....

 Gibbon Falls

Just as we reached the Madison Junction where we would turn left to continue on US-89 our friend Art pulled up to our right as he was turning right to continue on to Yellowstone Lake where he will spend his summer......we waived back and completed our left hand turn.....always a little bittersweet.....

Steam 'vents' everywhere

.....the first 34 miles were uneventful, and the traffic was not as bad as I expected.....that is, until we hit a road construction zone with 20 miles to go......we waited in line for about 20 minutes watching the line of cars building behind us.......

 I'm glad I didn't now what was coming....

.......finally, it was our turn and thus began the five mile slog through the construction zone which had been reduced to a one lane dirt road for 99% of that distance.......there were places where I had maybe 6 inches of clearance on each side of the Newell/trailer.....very little margin for error.......

 .......5 miles of this

.....finally we were back on pavement, but then the next fun zone began.......4 miles of twisty 6% downhill grades with multiple hairpin turns.....before making our 4+ mile descent we had climbed to over 7,700' elevation.......Mammoth Hot Springs sits at approximately 6,735' elevation.   At last we made Mammoth Hot Springs at just after 4:15 pm.....2 hours to traverse 54 miles.

We found a place to park, and I just kind of sat there, closed my eyes and tried to let the tension of the past 2 hours recede into the background.  Eventually we put on our good clothes and walked over to the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store, where we will be toiling the rest of the summer, to meet our manager who, thankfully, was still in at 4:30.  She told us to report for work Friday at 1:30 pm to get our in store orientation.......

Our place of toil for the balance of the summer....Mammoth Hot Springs

.....next up we walked about 2 blocks to the Mammoth Clinic to make appointments for our drug testing Friday (9:30 am) and then walked back to the Newell to drive the last 5 miles to our RV site for the balance of the summer........as we walked I called up Yellowstone RV Park to be sure they were expecting us, and they were, but they were not aware of what equipment we had.  When I told the nice front desk lady the Newell was 36' long, and we also had a 26' trailer she paused a long time.......the long pause is never good, right?  Apparently there had been a miscommunication between them and HR as to our needs.  

Well, I got in the driver's seat, turned over the 6v92, and we began the last part of our drive.  As we pulled out of our parking spot I had no idea what awaited us over the next 5 miles......

2 mile, 7% grade into Gardiner, MT......Yellowstone River on right

.....within a block we began a 2+ mile descent on a twisty 7% grade decline.......more white knuckle time for moi.....as you can see there is NO shoulder on this narrow two lane road......my clearance was less than 8" on each side.  After putting close to 56,000 miles on our behemoth over the past 9 years there is not much that puckers me up anymore, but this downhill definitely got my adrenaline flowing.

We arrived at Yellowstone RV park around 4:45 pm and checked in at the office.  I'm glad I called ahead as they had to scramble to find us a spot that would fit us.  I told them I was willing to drop the trailer in a different location within the park if we could not fit everything into our assigned site, and they gave me a temporary location to do just that.  We drove down the hill into the park and stopped by the spot where we were to drop the trailer.  We then walked down to our site, and it appeared we would fit in the 60+ foot pull through site, so we called the office and advised we believed we could fit in the site, and were given permission to try.....

Site 11, Yellowstone RV Park 

.......we did manage to get into the site with the trailer, but you know there is more, right?

Our site is a full hookup site, but it only has 30 amp electrical service.  The site they had planned to put us in (too small) did have 50 amp electrical service, and that was the last one they had.  So, we will spend the summer living on 30 amps, which we have done in the past, and can do for the summer.  Life is about adjustments, and we shall adjust to our new circumstances.  

We were partly set up by 6 pm, and I called it a day......the electric, water and sewer are connected, and the rest can wait.....time for 'Happy Hour'!

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The opposite of 'eventful'

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5:49 am (MT) - Thursday - 41º F, humidity 86%, wind 5 mph out of the west southwest.....forecast high is 63º F......partly cloudy in West Yellowstone, MT......today's sunrise......

I was up around 5:30 am Wednesday so we could be ready to roll by 8 am.....we had 270 miles to cover before the end of the day to arrive at the offices of Delaware North that afternoon, and we wanted as much time to accomplish that as possible should our trip be anything but uneventful.

The weather Wednesday was night and day compared to Tuesday's winds......there was no wind whatsoever as we merged on to I-84 east.....I just set the cruise control and hung on as we floated ever eastward towards Pocatello, ID and I-15 northbound.  The first 70 miles seemed to evaporate before our eyes.....suddenly were pulling into a Rest Area just east of the intersection between I-84 and I-86 (we merged on to I-86).  I checked the tires as I always do once a day when we are traveling using my infrared temp gun to look for any tire running significantly hotter than the others.....they were all fine this day, which is what one would expect, right?  However, in the past I have caught tires running 20+ degrees warmer than the others of like kind and discovered early signs of tread separation saving us a blowout at a later date.  If a tire is running way hotter than the others it probably means it is beginning to fail.

Our next stop was at the Idaho Falls Love's Truck stop to top off our propane tank for the balance of the summer at $2.79/gallon.....we took on 25 gallons.  Idaho Falls was also where we left the Interstate system for US-20 which would take us the final 109 miles into West Yellowstone......

......US-20 is a nicely paved divided highway for the first 40 miles before it becomes a mostly 2 way highway for the last 60+ miles to West Yellowstone.....there are adequate passing lanes spaced out every 10 miles, or so.....

.....the snow pack is still pretty heavy in the local mountains, and all the rivers were flowing bank to bank (Snake, Teton, etc.).  After a completely uneventful drive we arrived at our destination, the Delaware North offices located just outside the gates to Yellowstone.  Since we will be attending a mandatory orientation meeting first thing Thursday we were allowed to park in their quite adequate parking lot where I now sit typing today's missive.......

......we are surrounded by a forest of lodgepole pines.  We arrived around 1:20 pm having taken just five hours and 20 minutes to cover the 270 miles with just the two stops.......the drive was completely uneventful.

Around 2 pm our friend Art arrived for the same purpose, and parked a short distance from us.  He joined us around 4 pm for the short drive back into West Yellowstone proper for an early dinner and some brews at the Slippery Otter Pub.......

......Yelp only gives them 3.5 stars on a couple hundred reviews......most, if not all of the complaints were about slow service.  We had no issue with that this day, and brews and food were exceptional.  We had, at Art's insistence, their Fried Wanton's stuffed with a delicious creamy jalapeño concoction.....OMG!

We spent part of the evening after returning to the Newell talking more with Art about things to see, and places to go over the next 3+ months......on Thursday he will be heading to Lake Yellowstone where he will work, and we will be heading to Mammoth Hot Springs.....these locations are about 50 miles apart, so we will have to make an effort to get together the rest of the summer.  Words are not adequate to express how grateful we are to Art for hooking us up with our jobs here in Yellowstone......you ROCK Art!

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High winds advisory.....

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6:18 am - Wednesday - 45º F, humidity 82%, wind 7 mph out of the south.....clear blue skies from horizon to horizon.  There does not appear to be any wind here at the Elks Lodge.  We'll be rolling our wheels in about 90 minutes.

We woke up to buffeting winds out of the west in the high 20's (mph) with gusts into the 30's.....the coach was rocking under the broadside.  We debated whether to hit the road eastbound on I-84 and hope the winds stayed at our backs, but we knew when we hit Pocatello we would have to turn north on I-15 and that would mean the wind would be hitting us broadside from the driver's side of the coach.  Driving in heavy broadside winds is exhausting, and dangerous if you are in a 'high profile' vehicle as we are, so, ultimately, after consulting with our friend Art we all decided to ride out the high winds advisory right here in Jerome, ID.  It is only 270 more miles from here to our immediate destination, West Yellowstone, and it is not like we are incapable of driving that many miles in one day.....we just drove 256 miles on Sunday.

For TLE and I Tuesday was a day of doing mostly nothing.....it was too windy to be outside, and we didn't want to get the VW out of the trailer to drive anywhere......we plugged in the 'fireplace' to add a little ambiance, and watched some of TLE's cooking shows (Network Star, Chopped, etc.)......  

......I napped on and off, and stepped outside periodically to help Art who was having to wire in a new plug for his trailer lights.  His plug had pulled out of the socket on Monday and was dragged along the highway for quite a few miles before Art realized there was a problem.  My job was to stand at the back of his trailer and let him know if the turn signals and brake lights were working.  The wind was soooo cold I had to keep going back inside the Newell to get warm while Art stayed outside trying to figure out the wiring scheme, which he eventually did.  

Around 5:30 pm Art and I walked into the Lodge (opens at 4 pm each day) to pay for another night, and saw that they were having their 'Taco Tuesday' dinner, so I called TLE and told her to come in for dinner.  We sat talking about Yellowstone until after 7 when we paid our tab, and went back to the Newell where we continued talking until after 8.  Art has been a wealth of information about what we should expect of our new jobs, and we greatly appreciate him taking so much time the past two days to answer our many questions.......

.....the sun set sometime after 9 pm, and we were in bed by 10.  If we had to be stuck for 24 hours the Snake River Elks Lodge was certainly a good place to do so.  Wednesday will see us arriving in West Yellowstone, and our first glimpses of Yellowstone National Park.

In closing......we were sent a picture of the snowfall in Yellowstone from yesterday.....

......yikes!

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