My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Clay.......that may be but you can still buy tee shirts that say Jackson Hole and I think that's what counts right ?

Park.......it's really difficult to meet on the road. I figured out that out when I tried to meet up with Vic Hanson. I think when we get on the road we don't like being tied down to anything or anybody.......the bear picture you posted here is amazing ! You need to protect your pictures somehow cause someone is going to be using them (if you care about that stuff). So the area that I referenced is east of Teton National Park. You take Route 26 towards Dubois, Wyoming. Once you reach the Brooks Lake area, you're there. I was on Forest Service Road 513. The area is known as Teton Wiiderness Area and Shoshone National Forest. This was not the first time that I've been told about that area. The funny thing is I haven't seen a bear there yet (including this year). I saw plenty of deer. That being said I spoke with some elk hunters the morning I was leaving and they saw (6) Grizzlies, black bears, wolves, deer and lots of elk. I heard the elk bugling at night, and I heard the wolves in the night and the morning. The hunters said that the wolves were right outside their tent and they had fired a shot through the tent ceiling to scare them away (these were good ole' boys for sure.....camo truck, trailer, clothes.....you get the picture). Also, tent camping is not allowed in that area due to the bear activity.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We're now into our fourth month on the road and we're getting tired. I was looking at the odometer and we've traveled nearly 12,000 miles so it's no wonder that we're beginning to feel the pains associated with it.....

Anyhow, we left the national forest and continued east on Routes 26, and then 20/26 passing through towns such as Dubois, Riverton and finally got into Casper, Wyoming. It was late and I thought about staying at the Walmart but I just couldn't do it. We got onto the interstate and drove south. I needed fuel so we made a stop in Douglas, Wyoming. I asked the attendant about a place to overnight and he pointed to the town park. What an amazing little park this turned out to be. It was right on the North Platte River and was set up for campers. It had a (2) day maximum stay and it had free hot showers. I love it when I stumble onto places like this. They're were great trails along the river for walking so we took a night walk and another long walk in the morning.....



I actually took lots more pictures but I think my camera has finally died. All my pictures were lost and I haven't clue why. I'll finish this trip with my iphone5. My friend tried to convince me to get a new camera prior to going to Nepal in the spring and I really wish I had listened. The quality of my pictures continues to decline (and then I compare it to Park's pictures and, well, you get the picture !)......

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We left Douglas, Wyoming and continued east on Route 20, into Nebraska, and headed for Agate Fossil National Monument (I'd never heard of the place either but I saw it on the map so.....). It's located in northwest Nebraska in the middle of nowhere. I don't have much interest in fossils but there was nothing else on the agenda so I decided to see what it was all about. It has some very nice trails which we loved and I guess if you're into dinosaurs it's the place for you. All the pictures I took were lost with my malfunctioning camera. I decided to take the back road out of the park.......(25 miles of gravel roads). Our timing couldn't have been worse since they just had a cattle drive down the first part of the road. I knew nothing about cattle drives prior to this but what I can tell you now is that cattle must **** the entire time they walk. The road was green with **** ! Of course it's all over the jeep, truck and camper......and Yukon's face since she insisted on hanging her head out the window as all dogs love to do. The scenery was great along this road and I wish I had some pictures to share with you but, oh well......

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We continued on Route 2 heading east and south and ended the day in Alliance, Nebraska. I stopped for dinner at the local Arby's and while I was ordering my meal I heard the woman working the drive up window squeal. She looked over and said "does anyone own a dog cause there's a dog trying to climb in the window". It was Montana......about a month ago maybe he had started jumping out the window when I left them open. I almost left him in Jackson, Wyoming at a gas station. Just as I was pulling out I looked in the back seat and he was gone. I found him at the door of the gas station looking for me. That dog wants to be wherever I am always......

The following morning we left Alliance and continued east on the Nebraska secondary roads......



I've never spent much time in Nebraska and to the best of my knowledge, there's really not much going on here. But I still decided to stay on the back roads and see what we could get into. But it turned out to be a real challenge cause Nebraska has these sticker things that grow all over the place. They're deadly in dog's feet and deadly in people's fingers when you pull them out of the dog's feet. Therefore, every stop we made seemed to really suck. They looked like submarine bombs as shown in this picture......



A bit of excitement during the day was following this paint crew and entering a new time zone......



In the evening we stopped in Taylor, Nebraska and finally we had left the submarine bombs behind. So we walked through town and noticed what looked like a garage sale. It turned out that we had entered the Junk Junket zone (or something like that). I was told that a (300) square mile area in Nebraska has a (3) day junk sale. Well I love this stuff. I met some great (soooo very friendly) people in Taylor, Nebraska. I thought about spending the night there but we continued east and pulled into the fairgrounds in Burwell, Nebraska at dusk. It turned out that a bunch of vendors were staged there, trying to sell their junk. I spoke with one of the vendors and he said of course I could camp there, and I had a blast looking at the good junk that night and the following morning, and talking with the very friendly people of Nebraska.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The next day was also spent in Nebraska as we continued traveling east on the back roads. We made a stop at a huge park along the road near Leigh, Nebraska. The dogs went swimming in the lakes (and stunk awfully afterwards.......man I miss the cool, clear waters of Montana and Wyoming). But this was another place with really nice trails so all in all it was a good stop.......



There were huge flocks of these birds (which I have no idea of their name). But they were really cool to watch......





In the afternoon we crossed the Missouri River and entered Iowa.



After (3) days and (2) nights on the secondary roads of Nebraska, I decided to get onto Interstate 80. Man.....that sucked. Everybody seemed to be in a hurry (except for me of course). But I hung in there and stayed on the interstate and hated most of the remainder of that day.



We spent the night in an upscale neighborhood in West Des, Moines, Iowa. I didn't care for that either but at least I had a quiet spot which was mostly dark. We left in the morning but I elected to get off the interstate again so we headed southeast out of Des Moines on Route 5. It was a beautiful ride through the farmlands and it's time to harvest the crops so everybody here is quite busy. Semis full of grain, corn, etc. were everywhere. Huge machinery was flying through the fields. In the evening we reached the Mississippi River and crossed into Illinois.....

 

[ABCanuck]

Not 100 percent sure but those birds look like cormorants to me. Fishing fiends.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ClayH]

Too bad you didnt explore the NE sand hills around Arthur Co. McPherson Co and Grant Co. That is truly gods land. So pretty.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We stayed on the secondary roads of Illinois, continued east, and that evening we found a nice spot at a roadside park to spend the night. So long as it's dark and quite I'm a happy camper......

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Our road finally intersected with the interstate and I threw in the towel and accepted the fact that it was easiest to stay on the interstate. And to be honest, I was getting a little tired of all the corn fields. I was ready to move on. We passed through Indiana and then into Ohio......



We made a fuel stop in this cool little town in the mountains of western Maryland. Lots of kayakers hanging out around here as there's a really nice river through town......





The weather changed fairly quickly that evening and still sucks as I'm typing this several days later......







We spent our final night with some friends that live in a town close to my house. My tenants were moving out and we were all tired from our travels, so it was time to come home. We logged (13,686) miles on the truck, about (2,000) miles on the Jeep, and we walked nearly (900) miles......

The dogs are quickly settling in......





And I'm already thinking about what's next.....

 

[johnnytravels]

Glad you made it home safe! Really enjoyed following your travels.

 

[ClayH]

Another awesome adventure!

 

[chet6.7]

The dogs look like they are glad to be home.
It was nice to ride along.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

We really appreciate you posting, I know how much work it can be! It is awesome to be able to follow along with others on their journeys in between mine. My brother and sister in law spent a month in Africa 2 weeks in Namibia to be exact, they rented a diesel hilux and drove around talking to farmers, the skeleton coast, etc. He is on expo if you would like to bounce ideas off of him( goes by pawleyk). They just sold their house and are the count down is on for the pan am.

 

[Trailboss]

Thanks for the narrative and photos. I'd love to do what you did, but I'd have to get divorced first.

 

[SulVento]

Thanks Jerry for posting your journey, really enjoyed every update!