Day 26 & 27 – Wyoming

-Anna holding the full moon in her hand, Buffalo Bill State Park

Wednesday we awoke to the sound of steady rain on our roof and had to make one of those nasty early morning decisions about whether to get up and go on our planned outdoor activity or reset the alarm, go back to sleep and stay dry. After a bit of dawdling, Jono made an executive decision that we were to get up and go on our horse-drawn-wagon ride including breakfast (why do you think Jono motivated??) and, being that we wound up the only two on the wagon, it made for a unique experience and we were glad we went. We went three miles in to the Grand Tetons Park and saw a herd of about 30 elk up-close. Then we headed down to Jackson Hole where we did a compulsory load of laundry in town and got a reasonably cheap room in a cheesy motel smack in the center of town. The location offered us a short walk to just about everything – we walked around town, had dinner and walked to the JH rodeo! Ride’em cowboy. Let’s just say that not all the people in that stadium will be voting for John Kerry. Moving on.. we slept in today (Thursday) and headed off late-morning towards Thermopolis – retracing our route partway through the Tetons – seems as if there are only about five roads in Wyoming total! At one point we were driving on a/the deserted highway through a stretch of rolling fields with nothing more than sagebrush, tumbleweed, and what looked like the giant red rocks of Utah. We got hungry and decided to pull off along the side of the road and heat up leftover Thai food for lunch on JJ’s cute little stove. We ate it along with some ice water we had chilled in our cooler, and then closed up shop and went on our way. It dawned on us that we have everything we need right here with us – our home, our food, each other. Everything except for our family, friends and jobs, that is. But a damn good feeling. We went in the free state park mineral hot springs in Thermopolis and ate dinner at a local restaurant in town. Now we’re in Cody, WY at the Buffalo Bill State Park campground for the night, and are planning to spend the entire day and night in Cody tomorrow. This is truly the heart of the West.

PS: We’re slowing this blog entry thing down to every other day