Jim and Lyndi ZR-1 Road Trip 2019 - Back to Alaska

[QB93Z]

Day 32: Drive from Livingston, MT to Pinedale, Wyoming

On Tuesday we continued our journey south. Our destination for the day was central Wyoming. From Livingston we drove south to Gardner, MT, the gateway to Yellowstone Park.

We weren't going to do any sightseeing in Yellowstone, but since it was the shortest route to central Wyoming we went this way. In Gardner we found the original stone arch that was the entrance to Yellowstone National Park:






As we approached the actual park entrance gate we spotted some Prong Horn Sheep:




This is a nice trestle bridge for the road to the east gate to the Park and to the Canyon Lodge area of the Park:




We stopped briefly at the Mammoth area of the Park to see the hot spring pools:




The central plain of Yellowstone NP is at 6,700 to 7,200 feet elevation. There are many places throughout the Park that steam rises from the ground and ponds:




We stopped briefly at the Old Faithful Inn, one of the historic lodges in the National Park System:




We left Yellowstone at the Southern Gate and drove on to Grand Teton National Park:




The Grand Teton Mountains:




South of Grand Teton NP, in Jackson, WY, we turned on to US-189/US-191 South and headed for the small town of Pinedale, WY. The scenery for this leg of the trip was fantastic. We followed the Hobeck River and passed through mountains and then beef cattle country:




Jim

[rbidwell]

Bob and his family are from my hometown of Broadus, MT. Always enjoyed being around Bob.

Originally Posted by QB93Z

Day 6 Driving to Spokane, Washington.

First on the agenda for Thursday was to visit The Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing Co.



Kirk, the owner, and his father built this business and now Kirk runs the operation. We were fascinated to get to see all of the steps used to manufacture all of the parts and pieces of the famous Sharps 1874 Rifle. Many of the steel parts are molded and machined in-house:






Thank you, Kirk for taking the time to welcome us to your shop.

We drove west on I-90 across Montana and Idaho following roughly the Bozeman Trail crossing the Continental Divide:



Jim

[-=Jeff=-]

Jim,

I am curious, Do you do all the driving or does Lyndi do some of the driving as well?

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

Jim,

I am curious, Do you do all the driving or does Lyndi do some of the driving as well?

I do all the driving. Lyndi navigates and finds places to see and things to do along the way. Lyndi also paints with acrylics or creates art on her graphics lap top while we are driving.

Jim

[QB93Z]

Day 33: Drive from Pinedale, WY to The Flaming Gorge in Red Lodge, Utah

We left Pinedale bright and early and Lyndi got this interesting picture of the landscape:




We drove from Pinedale south to I-80 then west a few miles to the turn-off for US-191, the road that runs by The Flaming Gorge.




The first view of the north portion of the Gorge was stunning.




The Royal Gorge is the result of erosion by the Green River through up-lifted rock layers. Some of the layers exposed at the bottom of the gorge are 1.1 Billion years old. The Green River joins the Colorado River and flows through the Grand Canyon.

We turned off US-191 and followed WY-33 down to the floor of the gorge. The rock formations seen from RT-33 are amazing:










The Green River has been dammed about 60 miles south of these pictures and the Royal Gorge lake extends all the way north to where we were. We found a hill to climb up to a knob that promised a nice view of the lake:




The little dot at the top of the knob is me!!







to be continued.......

[efnfast]

Thank you Jim and Lyndi, you take us on some amazing adventures and the pictures are spectacular.

[QB93Z]

Flaming Gorge part 2: After driving to the dam in the southern portion of the Flaming Gorge Reaction Area, we decided to rent a boat and cruise around the Green River. We stopped at Cedar Springs Marina and rented a "speed boat" with a 150 HP Mercury outboard:




We headed west through the canyon enjoying the water level view of the canyon walls:














We returned to the area of the Royal Gorge Dam to check out the US-191 bridge over a side stream of the lake and to do some bird watching:








Jim

[QB93Z]

After our cruise on the Green River, we retired to our cabin at Red Lodge Cabins. The cabins are located on the gorge rim at the south end. We have stayed here before and we enjoy them:






A behind the scenes look at our computer work station:




The view of the lake at the lodge:










Jim

[QB93Z]

Day 34: Drive from Flaming Gorge to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.


Thursday was a short driving day, 3 and a half hours to Steamboat Springs.

The landscape in northwest Utah was similar to that around the Flaming Gorge. The same eroded layers of rock were still present near the town of Vernal:











We headed east into Colorado and it was a easy drive to the ski town on the edge of the western Rocky Mountains:





With the part of our trip that requires driving on gravel roads behind us, we took the opportunity to wash the car:






Lyndi got a thrill to spend the night at one of the oldest motels in Steamboat Springs. The Rabbit Ears Motel was built in 1953 and has been remodeled and is a very comfortable motel:




Jim

[-=Jeff=-]

Originally Posted by QB93Z

I do all the driving. Lyndi navigates and finds places to see and things to do along the way. Lyndi also paints with acrylics or creates art on her graphics lap top while we are driving.

Jim

That is cool and WOW that is a lot of driving.. I know that from our family vacations, where I get all the driving duties