Yellowstone

[dale farley]

We've been here in Yellowstone for about 10 days now, and the weather is a little different than in Florida. When we arrived, there was 3'-14' of snow. The picture shows how deep it was in the RV Park. They had just scooped the snow off the pavement so we could back the bus into the parking spot. The snow is really this deep; this is not where they had piled it up.

It has been beautiful all week with temperature in the 60's, but it's snowed 5" today and another 10" is projected in the next couple days. It may sound bad, but it is really beautiful. Paulette and I are both working in the Lake General Store, so if anyone comes through the park, stop by and see us.

[adamdegraff]

Now THAT is a lot of snow!! I thought the bottom half of the picture didn't load on my computer.... (white on white). Have fun!

[dale farley]

Everything is not covered with snow. We went to Cody, WY to church (83 miles) and made some pictures on the way. There were 21 Bighorn Sheep Rams at the foot of the mountain just outside the park. The herd of ewes were grazing close by.

About 50% of the snow had melted by yesterday evening, but it is now looking like a winter wonderland again. All the trees and ground are once again covered. We couldn't get into the Genereal Store where we work one day this week until the Bison decided to graze somewhere that wasn't in front of the door.

[JIM KELLER]

How great it is that you guys are doing this ! Enjoy each day and keep us posted.

[BrianE]

Way to go Dale and Paulette. Yellowstone is one of our favorite places. Hope to see you later in the summer. Are you in the park or West Yellowstone or?

[dale farley]

We are working at the Lake General Store. As the name implies, it is right on the Yellowstone Lake. By far, the best view I've ever had from my workplace. The lake is about 60 miles around and surrounded by mountains, so it is a spectacular site. It is currently frozen solid and covered with snow.

There are about 45 of us who work in this store. Everyone is either retired or in college (most students are foreign exchange students), so it is an interesting mix of employees. Paulette is working in the Fountain area serving milkshakes and sandwiches, and I am in Outdoor Recreation selling sporting goods.

Our bus is in the employee campground (total of 14 sites), and our site is on the very end next to a meadow. There is a sign about 75' from the bus that says "Bear Area". Several areas are blocked off right now because the bears have come out of their dens with their cubs. I am told they like to hang out in this meadow, so we are looking forward to seeing some others.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Did you folks set that job up in advance or jump into it after arriving?

How hard or easy was it?

[Coloradobus]

RaodRunner,

I know what you mean about the snow. I lived and worked in Yellowstone for 15 years, winter and summer. I had many jobs over those years., YPSS pumping gas GV, OFI, Lake, Mammoth, OFI employee laundry, MHS bellman, Mostly tho, was YP Co-TwSevices tour bus/tourguide. And in winter snowcoach driver out of West.
You will love "Christmas in Yellowstone", August 25th. As the saying goes, Christmas comes but twice a year, once at home and another out here, meaning Yellowstone.

Its truly a wonderful experience to live and work in the world's oldest National Park. Enjoy the summer.!!
Four of us, 3 busses and a CC fiberglass will be at Grizzly RV Park in West July 15-20. Maybe we can arrange a visit.. I figured it was easier to stay there than try to fanagel our way into Bridge Bay or Madison, since we are so big.

[Darl-Wilson]

Jim/Chris & Dale/Paulette, We stayed in W. Yellowstone last August at the Grizzly RV Park, a very nice place. I think the trip from there to Yellowstone Lake is a little over an hour so you folks should find it easy to meet. We may even come through the park on our way to or from Spearfish if fuel prices are not over $10 per gallon. We didn't stay in the park since our rig is 45' and the largest space at Fishing Bridge is 40' although we were told that a 45' will fit. Just do not disclose the correct length to the park.

We envy all of you and hope you are able to meet and have a great time.

[dale farley]

Joe, We planned this in advance. It is realatively easy to find a job at Yellowstone or many other places. We found ours through Workamper.com that shows hundreds of jobs available throughout the U.S.

[Coloradobus]

Darl-Wilson,

Ya, I know our sizes are a problem inside Yellowstone. But, Having lived there for 15 years, there are certain sites in certain campgrounds we can fit in if you are willing to do some fancy manuevering, like backing up down a few roads. We have done this before in Grant village and others. The other hurdle is the campground staff who insist we can't fit where I want to go. I just make a phone call.:D

[Loc]

Dale and Paulette,

How long are you going to be at Yellowstone? We are planning to be there just before July 4th.

Loc

[dale farley]

Loc, We plan to be here until 31 July.

[0533]

RaodRunner,

I know what you mean about the snow. I lived and worked in Yellowstone for 15 years, winter and summer. I had many jobs over those years., YPSS pumping gas GV, OFI, Lake, Mammoth, OFI employee laundry, MHS bellman, Mostly tho, was YP Co-TwSevices tour bus/tourguide. And in winter snowcoach driver out of West.
You will love "Christmas in Yellowstone", August 25th. As the saying goes, Christmas comes but twice a year, once at home and another out here, meaning Yellowstone.

Its truly a wonderful experience to live and work in the world's oldest National Park. Enjoy the summer.!!
Four of us, 3 busses and a CC fiberglass will be at Grizzly RV Park in West July 15-20. Maybe we can arrange a visit.. I figured it was easier to stay there than try to fanagel our way into Bridge Bay or Madison, since we are so big.
We are planning on heading out to Yellowstone, Grand Teton areas, have reservations starting the 21st of July at
Flagg Ranch Resort
PO Box 187
Moran, WY 83013
800-443-2311
Near Jackson lake for 1o days.

We were thinking of heading from there over to Fishing Bridge in yellowstone or over to Grizzly Rv park.

Do you have any recommendations, we have never stayed out this way and want to be near Kayaking, biking, hiking etc.

We will be heading out of Maine this week and would appreciate any ideas on places to see and a route along the way.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Dale & Paulette, your fast coming to and end.
Are you thinking of re-upping for another turn at paradise?
How can you leave for all that hot humid FL weather?
:) JIM

[0533]

Dale & Paulette, your fast coming to and end.
Are you thinking of re-upping for another turn at paradise?
How can you leave for all that hot humid FL weather?
:) JIM
We are in Maine for now, heading to PEI for a few days then back West, no Florida until November 15th for us, too much to see.

Regards,

Bruce

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Good to here that Bruce.
On your way West try to pass through the 1,000 island area of NY if you can. Lots of neat stuff there. Antique boat museum at Clayton, NY, and Bolts Castle.

http://www.boldtcastle.com/

http://www.abm.org/boating-links.asp

JIM

[0533]

We are in Maine for now, heading to PEI for a few days then back West, no Florida until November 15th for us, too much to see.

Regards,

Bruce
That is interesting.

We spent a week at Wellesley Island State Park in the 1000 Islands a few weeks ago. Missed the Boat Museum, but plan on going back this fall if time allows. Great location and great Park

[merle&louise]

I suggested to my mother-in-law to visit the 1000 islands - I said spend a week on each island!:D

[tdelorme]

I suggested to my mother-in-law to visit the 1000 islands - I said spend a week on each island!:D

That's funny, Tuga. Why don't you offer to drive her from one island to another and see if that floats.

[merle&louise]

Hey Mel, I would but the price of diesel is too high. It looks like it is coming down a little though, I bought some from my jobber yesterday for $4.37/gallon. I was very happy with that price. Sorry for the thread creep.:eek:

[Coloradobus]

Plans I guess are made for change. Well, our merry group of 4 coach heading to West Yellowstone, is now down to just 2. And we are delaying our departure by a day and driving straight to Grizzly RV park since we have to wait for a bus part that was shipped late.
So, this is how it stands for now.:D

[dale farley]

Pam/Bruce & Jim/Chris, Paulette and I are at the Lake General Store until 5 September, so if you get anywhere close, look us up. We are only a couple miles from Fishing Bridge. We have a land line (307-242-7428) in the bus, so if you have any free time, give us a call, and maybe we can get together for a while.

[JIM KELLER]

Dale, Looks like you and Paulette have extended your stay. I assume everything is going well and you guys are enjoying your jobs. Tell Paulette we said Hi.

[dale farley]

Jim K., We did extend our stay. They've been asking us to stay until the store closes on September 4th, but we weren't sure we wanted to. So far, we've had no problem with any system on the bus, so that has added to the pleasure of the trip. It has turned out to be an enjoyable job, with great views out the front door, and plenty of time to see things, fish, and hike when we are off work, so we have extended until the store closes.

The Lake General Store was built between 1918-1922 and is the oldest store in the Park. The frame is contructed from rough-cut lodge pole logs, and the foundation was just rocks laid in place. It's about 60' tall at the center of the store. They are closing a month early this year, so they can lift the entire building 6' off its foundation and construct a new foundation. The constant tremors and age have damaged the foundation, so they want to restore things as much as possible without changing the original architecture.

In addition to all us retired folks, we have about 12 exchange students from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Columbia and China. It has been very interesting learning about their customs, but I've decided I'm too old to learn much of their languages. Aside from working with a great group of people and having great scenery, the weather is the next best thing about being here. It usually drops to about 35-40 degrees every night and gets to 65-78 in the day. The sky is so clear and the air so clean, the temperature warms up as soon as the sun rises between 5 and 6 a.m., so I usually wear a short sleeve shirt to work at 7:30. I could keep on about the good things about the total experience of being here, but I'll stop before I bore everyone to death. On the down side, we have missed our family and church in Pensacola, but "HAVEN'T MISSED THE 100 DEGREE TEMPERATURE OR HUMIDITY AT ALL."

We went on a 5-mile mountain hike today and saw entire mountain sides covered with beautiful flowers of various colors. We also saw many wild animals. The highlight of the trip was seeing a grizzly bear playing in a lake all by himself. He seemed to be training for the olympics, just swimming back and forth in the lake. Don't see much like that in Florida.

[Lee Bornstein]

Just left West Yellowstone last Sunday. We stayed at Bakers Hole (Natl Forest CG ) just north (3 mi) of W Yellowstone. Had 50A - No Water or Sewer. $12.00/day with Golden Age Card. Grizzly gets $44.00/day with hookups and Mosquitos.

We're now in East Glacier heading to Calgary Tomorrow.

Lee & Barb

[dale farley]

Lee, Thanks for the info. I'll add that to my list of places to stay in the area.

[Coloradobus]

Dale,

We will heading into the East Gate on the 16th. If we get our act together leaving Cody, we should be in the FB/Lake area by noon. If you see 2 Marathon "H"'s around Lake Hotel, that Chris and me and Alan and Diane Neff.

We will try to give you call once we hit the road. Our bus part is in town at UPS, so but will have to put a finger to the wind as what time they will deliver it.
:D

[dale farley]

Jim/Chris--We look forward to hearing from you and/or seeing you. We will be at work in the Lake General Store from 11:45 to 3 P.M. and from 6-9:30 each night this week. We are off until 11:45 each morning and from 3-6 in the afternoon. The weather is great, so hopefully, you will have an enjoyable stay. Have a safe trip.