– September 2021-
Wyoming; land of cowboys, rodeos, and apparently, zero wind cover. Each night in Wyoming we found ourselves faced with the same conundrum: finding camp with little enough wind to allow for a popped top. Most nights, luck was with us, the gustiest evenings found us safely tucked away in a hillside or under a clump of trees. Only our third night, just west of Casper, Wyoming, did Mako really struggle. We’d made camp on BLM land in the middle of nothing. No really, nothing, I felt I could see and hear for miles in every direction without even a power line to break up the monotony of yellow grass and cow excrement. It seemed to be a harmless enough breeze when we set up for the night but fast-forward to 3 a.m. and I’m jolted awake by such a violent gale, I immediately grab hold of the roof handles to reassure myself it is not actually blowing away. It seems impossible the whole roof won’t be sent flying away like a scene out of The Wizard of Oz, and yet, despite a sleepless night on our part, it holds just fine. The thing about these situations, and others like it, is that you never know the limits of your vehicle until you’ve gone too far. Going too far is just not an option. Not when your whole life, your home, is based out of your vehicle. For a moment, let’s forget the logistical and financial nightmare this would lead to, and just imagine the painfully morale-crushing sensation of seeing your sanctuary rolled onto its side because you didn’t know it’s tipping point. Or the roof torn completely off because you thought it could probably handle that storm. These thoughts always weigh heavily at the forefront of my mind when we’re maneuvering a tricky trail or trying to make it through a windy night because we’re tired and we can’t put the roof down without putting the bed away.
My first impressions of Wyoming, were extremely positive. In every town we came to, people stopped to say hello and compliment Mako, ask us what we were doing herd how we liked Wyoming so far. In the tiny town of Medicine Bow, we stopped for gas and literally every single person within a 100 yard radius came to speak with us. After having spent the week prior in Denver it was almost unnerving to be around so many people who even looked you in the eye let alone wanted to stop and talk. In Debois, Wyoming we came across the cheapest and cleanest showers we’d encountered on our entire trip. A laundromat/ shower/ car wash facility that only charged 2.50 for a five minute shower. The coin machine was “out of order” so we spent about ten minutes scouring every dark recess of Mako’s interior only to realize that they take cards and we are idiots. In other news, I clocked my fastest shower time at 7 minutes and, never to be outdone, Austin clocked in at only three. A couple days later, Labor Day, we camped at the aptly named Ocean Lake in Kinnear, Wyoming. In mini-celebration, we decided we’d treat ourselves to a candy bar each from the gas station only 7 minutes and two sheep farms to the south. Upon our arrival, a few people ogled Mako, while a few more stared at the Alaska license plate and asked how long we’d been traveling for. Once we’d made our selections and trotted up to the cashier, she offered us the last two homemade cinnamon buns on the counter and further insisted she heat them up for us before we left. We spent the night in a happy sugar coma, marathoned the Jurassic Park movies, and wondered what on earth made the people in Wyoming so generous.
After 6 days driving through Wyoming, we eagerly arrived at our first destination, Grand Teton National Park. Every National Park Travel blog agrees that post labor-day September is officially shoulder season and therefore much less busy, to top it off, we timed our entry for a weekday. Honestly, we were kind of cocky that we had planned it perfectly, and we’d have our run of the park. It was with great surprise that our first sighting in the park was of the not-so-elusive bumper to bumper traffic we’d thought were going to avoid. Finding camp that night was an incredible feat of rare good-timing, we’d been circling the tent-packed mountainside for nearly an hour when a few rangers waved us down and said they were in the process of turning one spot into two and that we were welcome to camp here when they’d finished. It wasn’t until the next morning that we realized just how amazing our spot had been. With the smoke finally beginning to thin we could just see the rocky outlines of the behemoth Mountains that make up the Tetons. Here’s the thing about Grand Teton National park: it’s ALOT like the interior of Alaska. Any lingering homesickness was entirely cured after spending a day among such a familiar landscape. Every river, rock, and tree had us remarking to each other; “Hey, that looks a lot like *insert landmark from hometown* “ I mean it had everything, even down to the hazy wildfire smoke that obstructed what would otherwise have been a stunning mountain vista. The huge difference here is, of course, the wildlife. For once, We found ourselves slamming on the brakes and pulling over with all the other tourists, clamoring for a photo of the bison we’d been dying to catch sight of. With little fanfare our grand Teton journey was over and our Yellowstone adventure began.
Yellowstone is one of the national parks I had most been looking forward to, with so many iconic landmarks wrapped into one park I could hardly wait to start snapping pictures. Our first night in Yellowstone didn’t go quite as planned when we spotted the announcement that bear tooth rd. (Our route to Cody) was closed for construction. Last minute changes led us instead back to West Yellowstone, to the exact spot we’d camped two months previously on only the second day of our trip. We took a moment to appreciate the enormity of how much had changed in the two months it took for us to go full circle. Oh how young and naive we were, so full of expectations with every experience so fresh and new. Already it takes much bigger obstacles to shake us and we aren’t so easily impressed by everything we see (on the second day of our trip just seeing a deer was thrilling) By this point in our journey, we’ve seen our fair share of the National Parks system. 12 official parks to be exact, and yet Yellowstone stands distinctly apart from all the rest. The brightly colored hot springs and the accompanying smell of sulfur set a primeval stage for the massive bison roaming through the park. Of course bison weren’t the only mammals making Yellowstone such a stand out, and this time that’s not a compliment. The crowds at this park were unbelievable! Herded into congested lines at every landmark had me feeling more closely related to cattle than the quadrupeds we had come there to admire. Tourist trap though it certainly is, Yellowstone is one of those must-do destinations that makes for a nice cherry on the top of our American West adventure.
Our first morning in Idaho started out productively. We had a list of everything we needed to accomplish in Idaho Falls, from grocery shopping to tire rotation, planned and ready for flawless execution. Ivy was fed and Id run a few laps around the car with her to expel her endless supply of energy. We get in the car and start down the severely cratered trail when, suddenly, Austin is in panic mode. Apparently, Mako was no longer taking orders from the steering wheel. Silver Lining: we lost control of steering on a completely empty dirt trail, NOT on the interstate. Austin was able to get us up and running in about 20 minutes, however, it was clear the steering gear box was on its last legs. After balking at the $700 price tag Napa was offering we called around and found a junkyard in Rigby who could get us a used one for just $102 SOLD. Proving, once again, that he actually has super human mechanical skills, Austin removed and replaced the defective gear box in under two hours while parked at an O’reilleys. When Austin returned to the Junkyard to swap the core for a $40 refund, the man working the counter assumed Austin had come to correct an issue with the part, he couldn’t believe he’d actually managed the repair in such a short amount of time.