Vegas, Yellowstone, Tetons Trip, Days 11/12 Off to Yellowstone

We started out Friday morning bright and early with a trip to get a new tire in Las Vegas before heading out. We needed to get rid of that failed tire as quickly as possible so that we could head as far towards West Yellowstone, MT as possible. Once we got to Discount Tire, I decided to just replace all four of those original tires with “the best” trailer tires available, Goodyear Endurance. The original Westlakes had nearly 13k miles on them and although the three good ones probably would have made the rest of the trip, we were planning on replacing them on the last day of our trip on our way back through Abilene anyway.

The morning was much cooler than we had been experiencing, especially after the wind had picked up so much on Thursday night. The guys at D.T. got us all changed out and we were on the road by 9:30.

It started out as a pretty nice day and it remained that way all the way to Salt Lake City. We saw some nice scenery as we drove northward. We had no planned camping spot since it was to just be a quick layover, and we ended up dry camping at the Cabela’s north of town. They allow campers to stay the night for free, although it cost us a lot more than any other campground we’ve ever stayed at. The forecast for Yellowstone had turned to cold and wet, so we bought a few essential items to keep from freezing during our visit. Evidently we didn’t pack enough really warm clothes. It started raining just as we finished shopping, so we grabbed some fast food and called it a night.

We woke up early this morning (Saturday) to cold, damp, cloudy weather and that pretty much didn’t change throughout the day. The drive north into and across the corner of Idaho, then into Montana, was really pretty, at least what we could see through the rain and clouds. There was lots of snow still on the mountains and along the road through the passes.

We made no real sightseeing stops today because we were trying to beat some forecasted bad weather for West Yellowstone that was to blow in later in the day. Well, as per my usual, it started to rain a bit as we pulled into the Grizzly RV Resort. I managed to get in and hooked up and the weather cleared briefly. We did some laundry before dinner, during which the rain really started.

They warned us that there was a possible freeze tonight and for us to disconnect our water line from their spigot before turning in. They have heated water connections, but we are responsible to make sure nothing froze overnight. So there I was, just before sunset, outside in 37 degree weather, fillng our fresh water tank and unhooking the water connection.

Well, we are off in the morning to head over to the park for our first of four days staying here, in spite of the fact that that the high is suppose to be in the mid-40’s. I’m hoping that the weather will cooperate.