2,200 Miles Cross Country in Three Days

Leaving Sun City Hilton Head on May 14, 2022, we traveled some 2,200 miles in 3 days in our Highlander, choking back the ever increasing cost to fill up the tank.  Starting at $3.94 at Sam's in Bluffton we ended at $5.99/gallon at the Bodega in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  A painful exercise in capitalism's excesses when supplies are tight. Yes, indeed ladies and gents we successfully accelerated through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and finally Wyoming to find ourselves in Teton Village in Jackson Hole.  

Stopped in some quirky places along the way you would never recognize like Hardy, Arkansas. Spent a not so resplendent night at a Day's Inn.  That being said, the small town has it's quaint aspects, and the Spring River Bar and Grill fit the hunting motif, as we soaked in the ambiance of the bar with all it's colorful advertising lights aglow within.  We were serenaded by a cute 20 something couple (just recently married) who regaled us oldsters with nostalgic songs from the 60's and 70's.  Speaking of Now and Then, the lyrics are noticeably upbeat and naive when viewed through today's worldview lenses, but a joy to return to for an evening at the bar with deep fried catfish being served up as their specialty.

When traveling as hard and long as we were with 10-12 hour driving days, we had to pick out resting spots on the fly, predicated on when the exhaustion factor was expected to kick in.  That calculation came up with Gothenburg, Nebraska for the second night's stay.  Little did we realize that while the accommodations at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge (yes they really do exist and didn't go bankrupt - just sold out to Wyndham), were just fine, there was no place to dine on a Sunday evening.  I expect all the good citizens were home and not serving out of town folks. Still, we were ready to relax with a little ETOH and decent food, so I asked Andrea to enter the Centex gas station in Gothenburg for a dinner recommendation.  She asked the girl behind the counter, but din't come away with much that was useful.  However an assembled crowd of farmers were present, overheard Andrea and all volunteered readily that the best place to grab some great grub was 12 miles down Hwy 30 in a small town called Brady.  Our destination was the Hitching Post Bar and Restaurant.  Off we drove, and sure enough, there was a hitching post outside the wooden establishment in the little town of Brady (population 427). Men in their cowboy boots and hats were lollygagging outside, and bid us welcome, which I took for a good omen.

By the time the evening closed for us after a ribeye steak sandwich and onion rings chased down by a local Nebraska brew and a few corn whiskey's (most of which were on the house), we had had a rousing good evening, having learned all about delivering mail from Heather the mail carrier lady, the sand hills north of town where the prior owner lives on 1,100 acres and occasionally shoots Sand Hill Cranes for a meal (ugh!), the sorry state of the billboard business from the current owner of the bar (due to the fact everyone is using their phones for information and not paying attention to billboards (I secretly thought that was grand that there would be fewer in my future), and the current high costs of farming land and making a living out of it.  All that being said, they were welcoming hosts, and intent on learning all they could about out current adventures, and plans for the next 12-18 months.  In the end analysis we were made to feel like a small part of the family for an evening, and thus decided to send the mail carrier a few postcards C/O the Hitching Post as we travel through space and time in the ensuing months, just to provide our new friends with something unexpected from the couple from SC that blew in of a night. On the way back to our accommodations we stopped to marvel at the lunar eclipse in progress and the beauty of it set against Gothenburg's grain elevator.  

After a final 10 and half hour drive through some desolate parts of Wyoming including Laramie and Raw
lins, we rolled into Teton Village, our first destination.  I visited Jackson Hole first in the winter of 1971 having attended the Rose Bowl on the return trip back to Michigan.  Accommodations then was a place on the floor of an ancient mobile home located somewhere on the outskirts of the ski resort where my friend Conrad had friends from his fraternity.  I "skied" the mountain in Levis and most remember the beer awaiting us at the end of the day in the mobile home.  Said beer was being brewed in a 55 gallon trash can with a bare 40 watt electric light inside the lid to keep it at fermenting temperature!  

It's now May 16th and we checked into The Hostel at Teton Village where we were welcomed by young, smiling desk clerks and provided with information on rafting etc.  Our accommodations surprised us.  Surrounded by beautiful condos and rental units overlooking the famous ski hills, there sits right behind the famous Mangy Mouse Restaurant and Bar, The Hostel, constructed of cedar, and offering up a private room with a king bed for us.  True, the views are limited, but what a great deal in this high rent district at $97/night.  Most accommodations near the ski hill run in the $300-400/night range!  

Today, May 17th, the weather was bright, sunny and beautiful, so we took advantage of the conditions and toured Grand Teton National Park.  Note to self, a number of businesses and attractions inside the park are not yet open including the Rockefeller Preserve, Signal Mountain and Teton Pass.  Everything will be opening up by Memorial Day. As we toured, we noticed signs directing new employees to staff dorms etc. Those few currently serving in the restaurants had a distinct deer in the headlights aura:).

The 3.1 mile hike around String Lake was exceptional; the aquamarine glacial lake gracing the panorama of Grand Teton Mountain in the background.  We had to negotiate large portions of the trail yet covered in snow with multiple boggy stretches. With good reason, they call this the "mud season" around here, due to the snowmelt.  We saw a marmot, hawk, 3 common mergansers, heard the yellow warblers above us in the pines, marveled at the aqua marine waters of the glacial lake and just stood in awe of the majesty of the snow covered Tetons that towered around us like sentinels of the earth. 

Was interesting to see a type of Fritillary butterfly feeding off Moose dung.  Go figure!  The males of that species require the salts found in the dung to be able to better procreate. Viagra for butterflies??

Over the large expanses of land not covered with rock and pine you see a lot of wild Sagebrush, which is exceptionally fragrant when crushed.  Can any of you astute naturalists tell me which one species of animal can consume and digest Sagebrush?  It is poisonous to all other species (answer at the end of the Blog post).

My new (somewhat odd looking) Altra hiking boots, with a flared toe box worked exceptionally well, keeping the feet dry with no sore spots. Yea!  

Returning to Jackson, we took in the Snake River Overlook which Ansel Adams famously took a picture of in 1942 to advertise the National Park system.  We encountered a large herd of bison calmly grazing  unperturbed by the human species gawking at them, photographed the Mormon barn (most photographed

barn in the U.S. apparently and a testimony to the carpentry skills of the Mormons who lived there until the early 1900s when they relocated to Salt Lake City), and Elk who were taking a siesta in the National Elk Preserve just before you enter the town of Jackson.  We retired to an Indian restaurant in Jackson (The Teton Tiger) for a wonderfully flavorful meal of wrapped lettuce leaves with Tofu, and an entree of butter curry over Tandori chicken.  Thereafter it was home to the hostel where the sun was already behind Tetons casting a shadowed grayness to the remaining snowfields hanging on the cliff above us.  

Answer to puzzle question: Pronghorn Antelope are the only species that can digest Sagebrush which accumulates toxins other animals are not able to tolerate through their digestive systems.