Monday, June 29th, evening. We left Lander this morning as I vaguely remember discussing with KC, who would join us for a couple days, plan B. He was leaving a few hours behind us and “Grassy Lake Road”, free campgrounds, was the destination, in Grand Teton National Park, right on the river. I was warned however, warned about delays due to the eternal construction zones in this area and… mosquitoes. So I lived in Florida for a while, a couple mosquitoes would do no harm. We detoured through Riverton for a stop at Walmart, some supplies and a bottle of spray that would not contain “deet”. Great ride, not much stopping, excited about the upcoming campground where I had been thinking we would stay for it’s limit of 14 days.

How about 14 seconds if that much. Thousands of the creatures were swarming, buzzing and Spirit himself crying for help with this look I had never seen before, helpless, broke my heart. Such a beautiful campsite it was, the river flowing, the Mountains topped with their snow caps, it seemed so surreal as out of a Movie with the perfect painted set. Two Eagles flying by from their nest right around the bend. A flash of a vision that only lasted seconds. What to do? No sense waiting as KC was at least a few hours behind. Back on the main road, through some miracle of technology I was able to reach him, create the vague Plan B as now meeting at the east entrance of Yellowstone Park. Fine Plan B… more water, more mosquitoes and another phone call as KC decided for himself to avoid the whole area and get on his route to Idaho. Too late for this, for us, we were about 100 miles away from the entrance, near Cody.

Tuesday, June 30th, morning. I keep thinking about “The Oasis” in Texas, where no scenario was ever bad. Day after day great weather even if only surrounded by rocks and this ground I cherish, all the comforts of Life was always so present. Never needed more. These are the bumps living on the road. To loose the ability to camp where we would like to. I never realized that these Parks would be so full, never realized such a thing as mosquitoes would hinder even taking one shot of the magical campsite we had found. We will stay here a few days, this area so desolate when away from the roads offering truly months of adventures. We have a Friend in Montana that has offered his land on his Ranch, as he calls it, “Northern Oasis”. It is far from the Parks but by planning some overnighters packed real lightly we might be able to go back and forth.

Evening. I talked to a man today camping next to us, his wife has had cancer, she is in remission, it hit home. It hit home because as we started talking about Life values I realized that lately I have not gone too well with the punches. I know I have been taking some of the obstacles presented lately a bit too hard, a bit as they should have not been happening. I know it as it has affected me a bit harder than I want to admit. So if we cannot camp where I wanted to, so if we cannot at this time of the year explore this area as I desired. We have no itinerary, I strayed from the moment passing on to another another letting go too quickly of the present one. So easy to fall into that trap where I can feel so spoiled with the giving’s of Mother Nature who truly dictates our whereabouts. How nice it is to be reminded to leave the doors open and not dwell what could have been behind it or what is ahead which we don’t even have a clue of it’s future presence. One can loose the passion of the moment so quickly only if…

Today was more riding than anything else, we pretty much stayed on the roads around Yellowstone Lake. I love the roads here and this Park is big enough, except in the “must see” attractions. Everyone is scattered and the overwhelming presence of too many dissipated very quickly. So we played tourist. I decided to go see “Old Faithful” once for all and get it over with. Us and hundreds of others. It was fine, it makes me appreciate the many other moments we have when away from it all. It was actually fun to witness such an array of our society, the hundreds of different cameras, the kids with their cell phones taking pictures, we were not alone. My first impression was of disappointment which turned around when I spoke with an employee of the Park, a teacher with a part time summer job. I found out that more than half of the World’s geysers are in this Park and considering that the sheer force of this water shooting up in the air is due to it’s temperature, well, I was now impressed. Not an unique photo by far, specially with a background a bit lost due to the dark clouds menacing upon us.

Regardless of it’s size, mostly because of the few roads throughout the Park, basically drawn as a figure eight, I feel much the presence of visitors. The space is grandiose, there are so many square miles no one can reach, but it is not calm as the many other lands we have visited. Yellowstone falls, for me, into the category of Zion, Bryce, the South Rim of the grand Canyon and a few others, well worth visiting… once, as I will not find here my Peace and serenity as I have found in lesser visited areas such as Toroweap, Whitney Hartman and a few more that were true discoveries close to my Soul.

Wednesday, July 1st, morning. I guess what I am looking for is another “Oasis” somewhere north. We striked once and I keep wondering if it will ever happen again. I have high hopes for the lands of Montana as for some reasons I am drawn to them as we have also accepted Mike’s invitation to stay on his Ranch. I have seen photos he has send me and it all looks so magical. Today we are resting, we are looking for Wi Fi and catch up on e mails and whatever else is there. I decided we will not move till Monday after the Fourth of July Holiday, never a good time to find a new spot.

The days are incredibly long here. There is a glow till about ten o’clock, and the sun is rising up early as I am. I have lost a lot of sleep as I don’t like to waste my days with always the thoughts of the short winter days that will be here soon enough, forcing us to change again from much outdoor activities to indoor ones. I am looking forward to this upcoming winter as I decided to write this Blog into a Book. “The Oasis” is a very conductive space to write, letting the Soul and the mind wonder. For now, these are my present thoughts of the moment, it will be quite different going back to day one and put it down again on paper… or screen.

There is an odd house up on a hill about 30 miles before Cody. I stopped to take a photo of it and could not help chatting with a local about it. The owner committed suicide a while back, his son died in a rafting accident and I was also told that his wife is not all there anymore. So stands this house which had another ten more years of construction to go. No one is allowed near it. I like it, it stands out against the horizon as a landmark one truly cannot miss, the locals do not care for it, shaking their heads probably wanting it to be taken down.

Merchandise on Smugmug, Photos and Free “e-card” on my new Zen  Gallery…

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 8:13 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.