Friday September 9, 2011: Leaving Yellowstone and passing through The Grand Tetons

Dave with the marina and the Grand Tetons in the background

        It was our last day at Yellowstone and we realized that there was so much more to do, but we had to leave as we had to get to Colorado Springs before Sawyer, Rachel’s baby, was born. It was still 3 weeks before his due date, but the baby was already big and Eli was born 3 weeks before his due date, so we didn’t want to take any chances. We decided to go out the South entrance and through Grand Teton NP, if anything so we could get our picture magnet and stamp, so we could at least say that we’d been there. It was a beautiful clear day and those famous mountains stood out grandly as we took some pictures and were on our way.

The truck and trailer at the Grand Tetons

        Since it would be a 2 day drive to Colorado Springs, we decided to drive as much as we comfortably could that day and make a shorter drive the next day. As we left the Grand Tetons, we climbed up to Togwotee Pass at 9,658 feet. This wasn’t a steep climb like it was through the Bighorn Mountains, but there was a lot of road construction. We had to stop before the pass and be escorted, single file, across a bumpy and muddy dirt road for what seemed to be 10 or 20 miles. I had seen other dually trucks with mud flaps before and wondered if I should get some as the trailer is always right behind us. Sure enough, mud was splattered up on the front of the trailer, so I’ve added a pair of mud flaps to my buy list.
        From there, the road wound down onto a high and semi-arid empty plain where only little scrub bushes grow for miles to the horizon. The occasional rock out-cropping would punctuate the boredom. I remember Clint Eastwood in the movie “High Plains Drifter” and imagined seeing him sitting on his horse on one of the rises. The occasional ranch work truck or car would pass us on the 2 lane roads, but mostly we were the only man-made thing in sight. I cringed at the thought of a break down there. Each town we passed trough had no outskirts; it was desolate right up to the edge of town. We laughed as we passed trough these towns as they cleverly named the streets 1^st street, 2^nd street, etc. I don’t think anyone of the towns made it passed 4^th street! Any road that branched off from the main road was gravel. I couldn’t imagine what was down any of those roads and it reminded me an episode of the TV show “I shouldn’t be alive” when a family turns off onto a road like this as a “shortcut” and almost doesn’t make it back. We were glad to get onto I90 at Rawlings and made our way to the Wal-Mart parking lot at Laramie just as the sun was setting. We were hoping that tonight was not the night for the street sweeper and, as it was Sunday, it wasn’t.