Jackson, Wyoming

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We drove from Butte, Montana, to just south of Jackson, Wyoming, yesterday.  We ended up staying at the KOA just south of Jackson since the park where we'd hoped to unhook was full.  We're a little stacked in like cord wood at the KOA, but it is a nice setting along the Snake River with a stairway where you can get down to the river.  Nice.

Before I tell you about the rest of the day, I wanted to update you on our little awning adventure.  This next image gives you a clue about what might have happened to it.  We had driven down a residential street when we first arrived in Kalispell.  There were some low-hanging tree limbs that we did our best to avoid.  We were trying to get turned around in order to stop in to the local Subway for lunch.  We thought we had avoided the branches, but maybe not.  This is only speculation, however.  We really are not at all sure what caused this near catastrophe.

Below are the tattered remains of our awning.

But never underestimate the reparative power of a man with a roll of tape.

We stopped at a rest area a while later and met up with a man who had been behind us by about 20 minutes.  He said he had seen a part of our awning in the road, and no wrecked cars.  That was good news.  The road was lightly traveled, but we were nevertheless concerned that we might have caused a wreck behind us.  It's amazing, but this all happened without our knowledge.  We didn't hear a sound or experience any unusual bumps or thumps.  It's hard to believe.

While we were at the rest stop, Mike decided to climb up on the roof just to be certain nothing had been damaged and no holes had been ripped in the top of the trailer.  He found no damage, but he did come down with this branch.  It lends more credibility to the possibility that something happened back there in Kalispell.  Mike explained that the awning has a ratchet mechanism that allows it to unfurl or rewind back against the trailer.  He thinks possibly that got flipped over by a tree branch, which allowed the awning to unfurl.  It's surprising that nothing happened earlier.  It seems the most logical explanation, and it's the best one we'll ever have.

We looked at our RV insurance policy this morning, and it looks like the repairs will be 100% covered by insurance with no deductible.  Thank goodness.

The rest of the day was a lot less exciting, although we did drive through some pretty country.

We crossed over the Continental Divide twice, and also crossed over the borders of two states.  This is the sort of thing you'll see driving down I-15 in rural Montana.  You'll also see a lot of bug guts on your windshield.

Yep.  Now we're back in Idaho.

I just took some random shots as we rolled down the highway to give you some idea of what we were seeing.

I don't know what the signs in the image below were telling us.  In fact, I didn't even see them until I uploaded the pictures from my camera.

Here's where we crossed over the Snake River.  There were lots of rafters in the river all along the way.

The river was dammed at Palisades, and the Palisades Reservoir was right behind it.  The dam generates hydroelectric power, but the reservoir was huge.  This is a recreational area.

The hillsides are starting to change color, and we saw patches of red everywhere.

You can see more of it on the other side of the reservoir.

Wyoming was so happy to see us that the sign just couldn't hold still to have its picture taken.

And here we are.  We haven't driven into Jackson or Grand Teton National Park yet.  We'll do that this morning, stopping off at the visitor center to pick up a hiking book.  We'll probably drive the scenic road through the park today and take in Jenny Lake.  We have signed up for four nights here, so there's lots of time to see the sights.  I'm just betting there are quilt shops in the area too.

Oh, and point of reference:  The Grand Tetons were named by French explorers who visited the area during pre-settlement days.  Do you know the translation of Tetons?  Hm?  Care to guess?  Here's a hint:  It's a part of a woman's anatomy.  Or if you prefer, it's the part of a cow that is grasped for milking.  Somehow I have an idea that the French explorers were not referring to the cow.  Bawdy Frenchmen.