Catch Up Time

MONDAY 9/26

Of course, this was the day that my computer was taken into the repair shop in Jackson. The problem was diagnosed as a failed hard drive - the cardinal sin of computer problems. They indicated that it would be 1-3 days before the repair could be complete. It took three days, and that was only because I told them that I had to leave the area on Friday. More on the repair at the end of this entry.

TUESDAY 9/27

This was our first of two days off, and the final two days off of the season. It was a gorgeous day - clear, blue skies and warming up into the low 70's. We decided to take a drive to the Schwabacher Landing in the Park which is one of our favorite locations. These photos show that we were not disappointed, and represents some of the most beautiful photos we have ever taken - anywhere:

Following our visit to the Schwabacher Landing, we stopped at the barns on Mormon Row to take a couple final shots of those famous landmarks:

Our wonderful day was wrapped up with a dinner at the Jackson Hole Brewery with our friends, Eileen and Ed that we worked with earlier in the year before they left to visit family in Washington State. They stopped here again to visit with us on their way back to Florida for the winter. Our dinner was mostly forgettable as far as the food, but we enjoyed our visit with Ed and Eileen:

We don't know when we will see them again, but they are friends that we will remain in contact with for years to come.

WEDNESDAY 9/28

We used this second day off to get some things done around the RV - Josie did some laundry while I emptied and repacked the basement in the RV:

Following our working activities, we took a walk down to the river behind our RV which we had not done since we arrived here in May. It was about 100 yards behind our site, and we have this shot of the river:

At this point, we decided to take a walk along the water. We didn't get more than about 20 feet when we spotted our friend, the big bull moose, lying in the grass and staring at us:

This is the same moose that we have seen on many occasions and lives in this area. These are a couple shots of him, taken earlier in the season:

The rest of his family was nowhere in sight. At any rate, we chose, at that time, to return immediately to our RV.

We also had a farewell dinner scheduled at the Elks Club in Jackson which was a catered meal for all the volunteers and staff at the Elk Refuge Visitor Center. It was a good time for all, as can be seen by this photo taken by Josie before sitting down to dinner:

Pictured with me are volunteers Sue and John (on the left and far right) and one of our staff and friend Charma.

THURSDAY 9/29

Our next to the last day at work for the season was interrupted by a power outage at about 1 PM. At first, we thought the Visitor Center would be closed for the day, but the power was restored just as we were in the process of closing everything.

The other significant event was the completion of repairs to my computer. I had to tell them that I had to have the repairs completed yesterday because we were leaving the area on Friday. The tech performing the repairs had to work overtime to complete everything by 6 PM when I went to pick up the computer. I must say, I am pleased - so far - with their work which cost a mere $295 for all the work, including the new hard drive and transfer of all data to the new drive. My work is cut out for me though, as almost all of my applications and programs were not transferred and I must re-install all of those. All of the data, however, was transferred. I'm sure there will be issues remaining that I hadn't thought about, but I'll take them one at a time - I'm just happy to have my computer back.

Our final work day is today.....hooray!

Back in Business

We just got home from work tonight and I picked up the computer at 6 PM before getting off work. It is getting late tonight and I have many problems yet to fix on the computer before I regain full access. They had to install a new hard drive on my system due a hard drive failure, and even though all my files were transferred over to the new drive, almost all of the programs and applications were not. That means re-installing all of the applications that I use all the time. It is going to take a lot of effort to make that happen.


I will write the normal blog entry tomorrow am, so watch for the entry that catches us up to now. It feels great to have my system back again...

Computer Problem

There will be no blog entry until I can get my computer repaired. Somehow, several system files have been removed by something which results in no access to my Office programs. I need them to access my emails and to process photos. Our final work day before having two days off is today, so I hope to get it fixed while we are off tomorrow and Wednesday. Sorry...

Cold and Wet

The storm that went through this area the last couple of days left some snow on the higher peaks, as expected. We had lots of rain at the lower elevations but the contrast was evident in these photos taken last night on our ride home from work:

Pretty soon, the snow will be all over the mountains and the ground. I hope we get out of here before that happens.

I had to follow Austin's game yesterday on my phone at work. They (WMU) played another undefeated team (Georgia Southern ) and beat them pretty good - 49-31. They are now 4-0 and will almost certainly move up in the national rankings from number 18 last week. What a season so far. We are really anxious to see his game next month against Eastern Michigan while visiting at Patty's.

We have four more work days to go and we will be leaving the area exactly one week from today. Some of the volunteers are leaving now, so that is an indication of the volume of business beginning to drop off as we get closer to the bad weather. We are still having good business days at the Visitor Center but expect that to change this week. It's been a different experience for us this year and we have made many new friends, which is what it is all about...

The Changing Landscape

We got busy before going to work yesterday and didn't have time to write the blog entry. It is now that time of the year again when we begin gathering everything we will take back to AZ and to sort through all the material we collected over the last 4 months.

It is also that time of the year when the area begins to look like a whole different part of the country. These photos clearly show that the trees are about to go bare and the mountains will soon be covered, once again, in snow:

There are 5 working days remaining. Fortunately, the forecast is for clearing and warming. Our final days off - Tuesday and Wednesday - are suppose to be clear with temps in the low 70's. That will be perfect for getting all of our things packed and ready to travel next Sunday. We also have to make calls for mail forwarding instructions and notify our AZ campground of our return on October 6. Our last week will also be filled with farewells to new friends and a couple dinners to end the season. It should be an exciting final week...

Just About Back to Normal

I think the second day off was what I needed to get over the bug that I had earlier this week. We took a drive yesterday over the pass into Idaho to check out some more of the Fall colors and just to get out from the RV.

The mountains were almost covered in clouds, but were still beautiful:

The colors were also beautiful as we are now getting to the down-side of the Fall colors. These shots still show the Aspens and the beautiful bushes that turn red in the Fall - I wish I knew the names of all these nice bushes:

I guess a little research wouldn't hurt. I believe I once knew the names of these bushes several years ago when we first started driving around this area in the Fall.

We also passed  a field that had lots of horses and they are always a favorite subject of Josie's:

Finally, we have this photo taken while driving down the Teton Pass on our way home. It shows the Fall colors in Jackson Hole:

We start our final work week at the Visitor Center today. We will work the next five days, have two days off and then work our final two days next Thursday and Friday. The end is near...

Almost Well Again

I would say that, based on how I feel this morning, I will be ready to go back to work tomorrow. We open the Visitor Center tomorrow AM which means an early rise. It will be the next to last Thursday we have to work this season.

As a result of the recovery process yesterday, we didn't do much of anything except for a trip to the grocery store. We may try a drive today just to get out and do something besides sitting around the RV.

The weather hasn't been too bad the last several days and we are hoping that it continues at least for another two weeks. I understand that rain is coming tonight, but we do need more of that. At least it appears that the fires are under control and the haze is beginning to disappear. The weather that we want to avoid is freezing, and I don't see any of that in the forecast for the next week or so.

Our last full week starts tomorrow - hooray!

Recovering Day

I did make it to work yesterday - for about a half hour - and got back into the truck and came home. It was a good thing. I wasn't home for more than 5 minutes before losing my cookies. I don't know what caused that sickness but I'm feeling better today - except for my cold. I'm so glad we have two days off now. Josie worked the day at the Visitor's Center without my company while I rested at home trying to recover.

There are lots of things we need to do to prepare for our departure which is now only a couple weeks away. When I begin to feel like doing some real work, I will start with reorganizing our basement in the RV. It requires emptying everything out onto the picnic table, sorting, repacking and placing it back into the basement storage where we can get to things we need. Also, I need to make a list of things that we need to change - like our mail forwarding and post office box instructions. In some ways, it is a chore to do all these things, but in other ways it is a sign that another chapter is about to begin in our lives. Our trip back to AZ will include some stops at places we have always wanted to see - like Arches National Park and Monument Valley.

We are so looking forward to the trip to begin....

Feeling Down

I started to feel lousy yesterday AM with cold symptoms. It got worse during the night last night and I was up and down feeling nauseous along with having sinus congestion. Since we open this AM, I have to go in at least for the first hour until another of our staff comes in at 9 AM. I think I can make it through the first hour or so, but will come home to take care of my cold. We are off tomorrow, so that is good news.

Hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow to write a full blog entry...

Boring Day

Maybe the end of year drop in business has started. It was very slow most of the day yesterday and we only did about $5100 in business. Time goes slow when we are not busy, and yesterday was one of those days. With less than two weeks to go, it could be a real drag.

The good news from the day yesterday was the result of Austin's game at Illinois. WMU won, 34-10, and it was the second Big-10 school that they have beaten this year. Their record is now 3-0, and it looks like they are for real this year and will set all kinds of school records. We are happy for Austin to be a part of the history of his school's football team. We are excited to go be able to see one of his games when we visit Patty and her family in October. Go Broncos!

I have caught a cold recently and am fighting the effects from that. I take medication for the cold, but it creates a listless feeling during the day. The best thing is rest, but it is tough to get any with our schedule. In two days our weekend will be here, so I have that to look forward to...

Marching Along

Yesterday marked the two week point. That is, two weeks from yesterday our commitment here ends for another year. The time seems to go slowly at this point as we look forward to moving on to other activities.

We have been surprised at the volume of business at the Visitor Center for so late in the season. The business volume is higher now than it has been all year. There are probably several reasons, but we are now getting our generation of visitors since the kids are now back in school. It has to slow down soon as we get closer to potential snow days and bad weather the closer we get to winter.

While driving home last night at around 7:30, we caught the setting sun shining on the Sleeping Indian mountain that is visible from everywhere in the Jackson area:

The likeness is amazing.

 Our second consecutive day of closing is today and we follow that with two days of opening before getting more time off. The big problem with that schedule is getting home late on days we close when we have to get up early the next morning to open. Fortunately, it is only a couple days each week for the rest of the way.

Soon, we will begin organizing the RV for our departure...

More on the Drive

Sorry for the short description of our drive in yesterday's entry. We were rushed to get out of the RV to make it to work on time. Anyway, the drive was beautiful through the areas we usually visit at this time of the year. It was too bad that we had lots of rain as the colors would have been even more brilliant in sunshine. We had more clouds yesterday, but it didn't matter as we were at work. This is the shot of the Tetons as we drove to work yesterday:

Not much to see in that shot.

The clouds cleared out by the afternoon and this morning we have a crystal clear day. That's the way it goes.

Today, we close at the Visitor Center after opening yesterday. That means we work until 7:15 PM tonight. Our final day at work is two weeks from today. We are looking forward to that...

Beautiful Colors

Don't have much time to talk about our nice drive yesterday - some of it in pouring rain - to see the Fall colors. Below are photos of the spectacle:

Absolutely beautiful!

Also saw these Pronghorn Antelope along the way:

Running late for work, so will catch up tomorrow...

Crazy Day

Our schedule included a morning appointment for Josie at the Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor in Jackson which went OK. She received a prescription for medication and we were on our way to Idaho Falls.

Our day began in pouring rain to make our trip to Idaho Falls. The rain was actually snow at the higher elevations as seen below:

The pass from WY into Idaho was also a challenge in the rain:

The skies cleared once we got over the pass and we went directly to the Ford Dealer that performed our truck repairs to pick up our final check for the reimbursement of the car rental. Of course, the check wasn't ready yet, so we went to Walmart before our next appointment at my dentist.

I should be set to go now with my teeth, and we made one more stop at the Ford Dealership and got the check before heading home.

The drive home was a lot better than the drive there. The rain had disappeared and the roads were clear. This first shot is of the drive coming down the pass into Jackson:

This is a shot of all the cattle that were grazing in the fields just southeast of the Tetons:

As we approached the campground, there were a lot of vehicles on the side of the road which always is an indication that there is wildlife in the area. Sure enough, the moose family that we see around our campground all the time was grazing along the side of the road near the river:

This morning I have been dealing with very slow response times which is the main reason the blog is late. It is probably an effect of the weather which is sour again. The rains are here again, but we look forward to our final day off this week...

Smoke

We could not see the mountains yesterday AM while driving to work at 7:15. The smoke from the fire that had flared up as a result of high winds blanketed the entire area. It was also very evident while breathing. The road is closed to Yellowstone at the north end of the Grand Teton National Park once again with no projected re-opening.

We had people waiting at the door for the opening of our Visitor Center which was at 8 AM. The main purpose was to get information on the fire and to get maps for alternate routes to Yellowstone. It was tough to go through the same process we did a couple weeks ago the first time the road closed. There is no telling how long we will be going through this awful experience with the fire, but life goes on.

Today is our first of two days off and we will be going to Idaho Falls - again - following Josie's local doctor's appointment. We don't particularly like going there again, but it will, hopefully, be my last visit to the dentist to have an adjustment made to my new bridge. It is raining now - great news for the firefighters - and we can use all of the rain we can get. That's about it for now...

Surprise Visitors

As we drove into the parking lot at work yesterday AM, we spotted two moose - a cow and her calf - walking around the grassy area outside our building. It is a very unusual location for any moose to appear as the area is loaded with people driving by and also walking in and out of our Visitor Center. It didn't seem to bother them:

Eventually, they ran into the bushes at the edge of the Elk Refuge.

We got word yesterday afternoon that the fire that closed the main road from the Tetons to Yellowstone flared up again. The same road is closed again and we will find out more information this morning about the situation and how it will impact us. This has truly been the worse year ever for fires since we have been coming to the area. There has not been much precipitation, so that doesn't help.

Today is our "Friday" for this week and we are looking forward to our "shortened" weekend of only two days this week. Josie has a doctor appointment in Jackson in the AM tomorrow, and I have one final appointment with my dentist in Idaho Falls at 2:30 tomorrow...

Roller Coaster

We did a little more than half the business yesterday as we did on Friday. It's hard to predict the kind of business day to expect. Today, we have the annual bike ride from Logan Utah to Jackson Wyoming which brings in millions of dollars in charity each year. It may be another slower day, business wise, or it may go through the roof again. We like it a bit slower than on Friday, but maybe a bit better than yesterday.

The Western Michigan University football game wasn't televised yesterday, but I saw the results of the game - WMU beat North Carolina Central, 70-21. Of course, it wasn't a big school that they beat, but it shows that they are ready for the big schools. Their 2-0 start this year is very impressive. Way to go Austin!

We are ready to open the Visitor Center this morning at 7:45 after working last night until 7:15 to close. This is the toughest part of our schedule where we close one night and open the next. No rest for the weary...

Schedule Change

When we walked into work yesterday AM at 10:45, we were shocked to see the Visitor Center so crowded with customers. The Grand Teton Association (GTA) decided to put lots of shirts and hats on sale for the year end clearance of inventory, and the word was out. We did almost $8k in business for the day where normal is around $4k - $5k.

The result of the increase in business and the projected higher volume as a result of the sales is that we are going back to a 5 day work week the rest of the way. The 4 day work week was good while it lasted. We can manage the new schedule with only 3 weeks to go. The bummer is that on the final day of the season - September 30 - we are scheduled to close which means that we will work until 7:15 PM on our final day. That upsets us a bit as we are scheduled to leave on October 2 and we were hoping for the schedule to have us off on the final day so that we could get a head start packing up for our trip south. That would have been easy to do as many of our coworkers are remaining until the middle of October and working September 30 would not have made any difference for them. Oh, well, it is what it is.

We turned in our letter indicating our desire to return next year. As mentioned before, our plans may change, but we are at least confident that our job here is secure for another year if we would like to return...

Another Drive to Colter Bay

There was a form letter given to us to complete which indicates our preferences for next year. The Grand Teton Association (GTA) is trying to get a head start on planning for next year. Our plan is to indicate our preferences and go along with the planning process and hope to return next year unless something "better" turns up in the meantime. We don't believe anything will, but it is a possibility.

Anyway, we wanted to make sure we did not prefer the Colter Bay area over the Elk Refuge before completing the form letter. So, we took a drive to the Colter Bay Campground and to the Marina at Colter Bay which we have never seen before. The Marina is a very nice area, as these photos will show. The first one is of Jackson Lake looking over the Marina:

and this one showing the Marina:

We got all of the information on boat rentals, fishing trips and other water activities before driving around the Campground. It is not nearly as nice a place to park your RV as the Gros Ventre Campground where we are now staying. It also is not convenient to town, which gets high marks for the location we have now. Therefore, we have totally eliminated the Colter Bay Visitor Center as an option for us to work next year.

Following a visit to the doctor for Josie to get another opinion on her tongue issue, we went home and spent the rest of our final day off relaxing. Josie will have a biopsy performed on her tongue next Tuesday to see if there are any issues that nobody has discovered. She has been suffering with this painful situation that has resulted in weight loss and her inability to eat certain foods since she developed the Bells Palsy attack back in February. We will be glad to see that problem fixed, once and for all...

Reservations Made

We talked about stopping at a couple places on the way home this year. There have been times in the past when we felt like we have wasted opportunities to visit some of the parks and areas that we have wanted to visit, but have driven past without stopping. This year, it will be different.

I made reservations at locations that will be new to us - except for our first night out of Wyoming on October 2 when we will stay again at the Deer Creek State Park in Heber City, Utah. Our second and third nights (October 3,4) will be spent in Moab, UT, where we will finally visit the Arches National Park and other National Parks and Monuments in the Moab area. On October 5, we will stay in Monument Valley on the UT/AZ border which is our final stop on the return trip. Our plan was to spend two nights there, but we were not able to get the reservation for the second night. Since that is our final stop on the return trip, we may try to work out another option to stay over for the second night. At any rate, we are set for our drive back to AZ on October 2 when our commitment ends at the Visitor's Center in Jackson.

It will be a race to the finish line as we only have about 3 weeks remaining...

Start of Fall Colors

We took a long drive through some countryside that has long been a favorite of ours. It was through the Hoback Canyon and into the town of Alpine, where the start of the Fall colors was evident. These shots give a preview of the nice colors that should be brilliant in about a week:

As we were a bit early for the best show of Fall colors, we extended our drive to the town of Afton where we checked on the changes at an RV park that we have been following over the years. It is an ownership park that is a pretty good deal if you want to live about 45 miles from Jackson. That is not very high on our list of desirable locations, but who knows.

We then drove to Swan Valley where my favorite ice cream store is located and where we stop on every trip we take to Idaho Falls for ice cream. All in all, it was a nice drive and a good way to start our three day weekend.

Today is a planned "down" day as Josie wants to do some baking and I have some computer stuff to do. Once again, it is nice to have three days off instead of the two we have had most of this summer...

Mooseville

It appears that the family of moose in our area have made our campground their home. Almost every day, we see some or all of the family - the huge bull elk and the large cow and her two calves which are about fully grown now. These shots show how fearless these animals are and the fact that they aren't bothered by human activity around them:

and these where one of the calves walked right next to our truck:

The bull was seen in the field, grazing, just outside the campground yesterday AM as we were leaving for work. We didn't stop to take photos because he was a bit far away from us and we didn't want to be late for work. I'm sure there will be other opportunities to capture this huge bull on camera again.

We plan to drive through some areas today that we know have produced pretty photos of the changing seasons in the past. Hopefully, we will have some good ones to show tomorrow...