Yellowstone or Bust! Reflections

Saturday, July 6, 2013. I always find the day after returning from vacation to be…difficult. It’s a comfort to be at home in familiar surroundings, but it’s disappointing not to be looking forward to new, exciting things each day. It’s nice to be able to shed the vacation routine of packing suitcases and loading up the van every morning, yet it’s wearisome to pick up my old routine, which now seems rather mundane. It’s good to be sleeping in my own bed, but I miss the camaraderie and foolishness that occurs when sharing a room with others. At mealtimes, it’s nice to be able to eat what I want, when I want, but I miss cooking for everyone and sitting around the table in a group discussing the day’s events and planning the next day’s adventures.

So today, I’m reflecting on the past two weeks and the amazing “Yellowstone or Bust” tour. It was a different sort of vacation than I’ve ever taken, involving three generations of three families and all the diversity that comes along with that type of situation. Was it trouble free? No, of course not. Would I do it again? Absolutely! Here are some random thoughts on what worked and what didn’t, and how it could be even better next time.

TRANSPORTATION

To transport seven people and their luggage, plus camping gear and food, we rented a 12-passenger van with the back seat removed. That gave us plenty of cargo space, in fact, we had much more space than we had anticipated. It may be a good thing that we weren’t aware of the extra room we would have because we would likely have just brought more stuff along! It was the perfect size for our group.

That said, we should not have rented a van sight unseen. There were a few problems with it, most notably the tires that were not suitable for a 3,000-mile trip over mountainous terrain. Two didn’t make the trip home, including one that blew out at 75 mph on Interstate 80! The brakes squealed the entire trip, there were assorted squeaks and rattles that could get really irksome when listening to them for hours at a time, and the back door was missing the mechanism that kept it from swinging wide and banging into the open

This is Carlton, your doorman.

front door if it wasn’t held all the time. One of the seatbelts didn’t work at all, and one worked only part-time.

On a lesser scale, it would have been nice to have had windows that opened for the back-seat passengers. The side windows only swung open from the bottom about an inch, which meant no photos could be taken without getting out of the van. And when wildlife is involved, that might be the only provocation needed for flight. Even a sliding door would have provided the ability to take pictures without leaving the vehicle. We would have liked to have cup holders in the back seats. A test drive prior to leaving would have alerted us that the step was too high for Deb and would require a stool.  But then, we wouldn’t have needed “Carlton the doorman” to open the door and put a cement block down every time we stopped!

Words to the wise: See the actual vehicle you will be renting in advance. And take a test drive. Seriously.

ACCOMODATIONS

For the record, KOAs rock! The cabins are all the same so we knew what to expect, the bathroom and showers are clean, and laundry facilities are available. Some have pools and miniature golf for the kids. Non-KOA facilities were a crap shoot. Custer State Park in South Dakota had the best cabins anywhere; Flagg Ranch in Moran, WY was a shock: no electricity, dirty bathrooms and showers, and a filthy sink to do dishes. The Hostel in Jackson, WY was clean and comfortable, but there were no cooking facilities so we had to eat out.

We actually waited too long to make reservations. If we had started earlier, every stay would have been at a KOA. We had originally thought we would tent camp part of the time, but on our first night out when it was hailing and raining all night, the cabins got everyone’s full support! And the logistics of tent set-up and tear-down adds at least an hour of work daily; frankly, we felt our time was better spent at other things.

Words to the wise: Book early. Book KOA.

FOOD

None of us went hungry, that’s for sure! We had a giant cooler for perishables, and Rubbermaid tubs for the other food. It was loosely organized by category: one tub was for breakfast foods and bread, one tub held mostly snacks, and one tub held food that wouldn’t be needed until dinnertime like canned goods and S’More ingredients.

Breakfasts usually consisted of cold cereal, Pop Tarts, granola bars, yogurt, sometimes PB & J, and fruit when we had it. A couple of times Dan treated us to hot breakfasts at a restaurant. We never cooked breakfast; we were always in too much of a hurry to get a fire going and wait for a hot meal. In hindsight, it wouldn’t have taken very long to scramble some eggs or make pancakes once in awhile, and I brought precooked bacon. But we always seemed to be in a rush in the morning to get going.

Lunches were eaten on the road. We’d find a likely picnic spot and pull out bread, lunchmeat, cheese, chips, peanut butter, and jelly. We also had some fruit cups, apples, homemade potato salad, and a few

Lunch on the road

Lunchables during the first part of the trip. I know sandwiches got boring, but when you’re on the move, there are just not a lot of other options. I’m going to watch for different, quick, and easily transportable lunch ideas for the next time. Pinterest?

Dinners were a mixed bag. If we were in a campground with time to cook, we’d make dinner. If it was late or we didn’t have cooking facilities, we would eat out. It was always a guess as to what type of heat source would be available. One campground didn’t have fire pits so we used propane. At another we burned charcoal. But Tim was good at getting a wood fire started fast so that is what we usually used for cooking. We didn’t stick to just hot dogs, although we did eat wieners a couple times. Some other meals were Italian Beef, brats, Polish sausage and fried potatoes with onions and peppers, ham and potato soup with cheesy bread, Rueben sandwiches, and

Polish Sausage & Fried Potatoes

chicken and rice casserole with garlic bread. I had fun putting some recipes together that were made with ingredients that could be purchased ahead and didn’t require refrigeration, or included precooked ingredients that kept well in the cooler until needed. Because I’m rather frugal, I wanted to purchase food at home, on sale, so we weren’t at the mercy of little overpriced stores in tourist towns. I enjoyed it when these recipes were well received, even by the kids. And we could put a meal on the table and have it all cleaned up more quickly – and much cheaper – than eating out.

For some reason, snacks were always necessary when driving! We had quite a few homemade cookies – Snickerdoodles, Oatmeal Raisin, Gingersnaps, Peanut Butter, and Scotcheroos. Goldfish crackers, licorice, cheese balls, and string cheese were other popular snack foods. Again, it was much cheaper to buy these things at home than on the road. In tourist areas, prices could be more than double what we pay at home.

Words to the wise: If you’re on a budget, plan ahead. Cook and bake before you go. Buy everything possible on sale at home. Purchase only the necessities like fruit, milk, bread and lettuce on the road.

ELECTRONICS

The quantity of electronic devices we had was insane! Computers, cell phones, I-Pod, Kindle, Mp3 players, cameras – all required power almost daily. Coordinating the usage of the few available outlets required a wild combination of cords strung overhead, snaking along the floor, across doorways, and through windows. Our stunned reactions when we discovered we wouldn’t have power for two days are rather funny in retrospect. But with a little creativity – power boxes at unused campsites, bathroom outlets - we made it. Unplugged? Not this group!

Words to the wise: Bring extension cords. With power strips or 3-way adapters. To avoid concussions, don’t drape power cords across doorways! LOL

CLOTHING

Try to pack light - there are laundry facilities available at most campgrounds. But it is difficult to know in advance what you are going to need when traveling to higher elevations that are traditionally cooler. For example, I packed three types of outfits: hot weather (tanks and shorts), intermediate weather (t-shirts and capris) and cold weather (jeans and long sleeved tees). As it was, northwestern Wyoming was having unseasonably hot weather so all I needed were tanks and shorts. Who knew?

Words to the wise: I have none. You’re going to bring what you want anyway. Just remember that you’re the one who is going to have to carry it all.

BLOGGING

I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously, I like to do it because you saw my daily posts. But it does take a whole lot of time. I stayed up late many nights just so I didn’t get behind. While I love having a real-time journal to capture my immediate thoughts and feelings, the time it takes detracts from other activities like sitting around the campfire and telling stories. Staying up too late left me tired the next day. So, I can’t decide. On my WIU ag trips, we kept copious notes and I wrote my journal after I got home. It left my nights free for fun and/or sleeping. Going this route works too, but then you must keep a notebook with you at all times to record everything. I’ve done it both ways, and I still can’t decide which I like best.

Words to the wise: Do what feels right for you. Blog, journal, whatever. But do record something! Those spontaneous thoughts and feelings will be forgotten in a few days or weeks, and by putting it into words you will be able to go back and recapture those moments for the rest of your life. Your grandchildren will thank you someday!

PLANNING AND PREPARATION

Some people are fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants kind of people. I’m not. I like to know in advance what I’m going to see and do. Fortunately, most of the rest of the group was that way too. Although no one had a ton of time to devote to research, each of us women had done a little bit. I had a wonderful guidebook about Yellowstone, and Gin had one for Grand Teton. These gave us directions, history and fun facts about what we were seeing and gave us ideas for what we might like to see. That said, don’t be afraid to slam on the brakes when something interesting like a cemetery catches your eye! Those moments when we struck out to find an obscure sight were a lot of fun. But it was ultimately the guidebooks and brochures that tipped us off.

Words to the wise: Do some reading beforehand. Buy a good guidebook. You’ll be mad if you get home and realize that you were only minutes away from something that’s on your bucket list. Read!

FUN

Ultimately, a vacation is about having fun. There were plenty of goofy moments when every one of us was acting like a silly kid. We photo bombed each other, and made snide remarks when others inadvertently bombed us or others. We made ridiculous Vines. Certain catchphrases made us giggle every time we heard them. (French Whore Campground. Wah! Have the convicts to do that! Quit touching my ball sac!) I humiliated the kids when I wore my mountain man pajamas in public. Yes, we had a lot of fun!

Words to the wise: Act stupid. That is all.

Photo bomb!

Mountain man jammies (with trapdoor) and a coonskin cap!

Check out my ball sac!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Not everyone would consider traveling with extended family like we did. It does require cooperation and patience on everyone’s part. But I think that what we gained by getting to know each other better, sharing the work load, and learning from each other far outweighed the few tense moments that occurred. All in all, it was a great experience!

Words to the wise: Just do it!