Bison and Elk and BEARS Oh My!

Day 15, 16, 17 and 18 ~ When we rolled in to Yellowstone for a three day stint in America's first National Park I wasn't sure how my lovely bride was going to like my plan of touring the park on my Harley. "What if we run in to a buffalo? Or a Bear?" Well we got to see both and several Roosevelt Elk as well. As it turned out the rides were spectacular!



The Grizzly Bear was off in the distance in a meadow pretty much intent on getting from point a. to point b. but the Bison was right up close and personal. More than a little intimidating. He actually almost T-Boned a red Hundayi that was right in front of us heading the opposite direction from the Upper Yellowstone Falls.

While we saw several Bison the funniest thing we saw was as we were leaving the park via the West Entrance and came upon the usual traffic jam caused by a wildlife sighting (in this case a cow elk) and then we drove past a 4+ mile long bumper to parking lot of people that were just driving into the park. It was gonna take a couple of hours to clear the mess caused by the folks that were just parking their cars in to road and hopping out to snap some photos of what I pretty much think of as roasts and hamburger on the hoof.

The two days of riding through the park were not nearly enough. We stopped at many of the usual spots but for Kristie, as it was her first trip to Yellowstone, it was all very new and exciting although she didn't really much care for the stinky sulfer hot springs and she especially didn't care much for the hords of tourists.

We were able to find a quiet little picnic spot that we had all to ourselves for about 15 minutes and then the Clark W. Griswalds rolled in and unloaded two suburbans full of whiney little kids and sullen teenagers who decided that this little slice of heaven was the perfect spot to tell their parents just how much their lives sucked.

THAR SHE BLOWS!

                         

What, Me Worry?

Who knew when we started out on our month long road trip that the number one worry every day would turn out to be whether or not the dogs had pooped yet today?

The first three days out Helen, our female Boston Terrorist was adjusting to life on the road and had Kristie worried about bowel obstructions. Oliver, the male, seemed to have no problem getting his poop on but he was definitely on his own schedule.

It was a big celebration when Helen finally cut loose. She couldn't quite figure out what all the whooping and fist bumping was all about as Krisite and I rejoiced after this important event.

Here we are at the two week point and we are still not quite on a schedule. As we roll down the highway we have all the comforts of home in the Mondo Magic Bus but we still have to make the regular stops to walk the dogs in hopes that they not only pee (which they are very good about) but that they have their once a day BM that will let Kristie rest a little easier.

For the most part the pups spend the day either sleeping or sitting on the dash of the Magic Bus watching the scenery roll by. We made the mistake once of not paying attention to Helen as she practically screamed at us to pull over so she hopped up on the dash and pissed on the blanket we had laid out for them. I guess she showed us. 

All it takes is the slightest bit of agitation or even just a sideways glance from our canine road warriors and I get the regular refrain of, "Dave, pull over! I think he/she needs to poop!" Unfortunately the pups are not so regular, but we pull over at the nearest convenient spot and walk the dogs. Hoping that the time is upon us...

...please oh please won't you just take a dump so we can get this show back on he road.