Yellowstone and Grand Tetons

I made a snow man today, for baby Elvis!
Snowy road on back mountain pass in Yellowstone.
The Grand Tetons!
The Grand Tetons with a cloud bank in front.
Me at Yellowstone Park Entrance.
Old Faithful getting fired up.
Old Faithful in all of her glory!
Old faithful ending.
I had lunch next to this lake and took a little nap.
My bike next to my lunch spot.
Bison in Yellowstone.
A water fall in Yellowstone.

Well today made up for the last few days of bad weather. I got up early and got the "Heck" out of Jackson Hole, once again just too touristy for me! I left a 7:00 am under perfect skies, it was cold only 40 degrees, I put on my cold weather gear and headed out!
What can I say about Yellowstone other than it was beautiful. I logged 150 miles in the park, and stopped to see Old Faithful. I was not disappointed. Much to my chagrin the tourist traffic was heavy, the way they have things set up, it is easy to pull off and let traffic pass. However there always a few that will not pull over even while they are impeding traffic, primarily people in rented RVs no one seems to heed the do not stop or park signs as well. Twice traffic was completely stopped to see Bison herds. The people in cars were well protected, and were not thinking that a motorcyclist is easy prey for one of these big beasts! It all worked out just fine.
I had planned on camping a night or two in Yellowstone, but once again the number of tourists was just more than I could take. The areas off the beaten path were really rugged and there has been a lot of snow here. I got out of the park around 3:00pm and decided to head on up the road. Old faithful was on my to do list, and I felt complete having seen her in all her glory. The pictures don't show it but there were literally thousands of people at the viewing area. I hit Montana, which is my 6th state and have logged over 2500 miles.
I took the old highway 290 next to the interstate from Bozeman to where I am now a town called "Three forks", it is a really nice place, small and off of the beaten path. Every town I stop in or go through I think to myself, "would I want to live here?" This is one of those towns. Not much going on, just clean and quaint. It is about 5 miles from the headwaters of the Missouri River, I plan to stop there in the morning.
I am staying at a hotel called the "Broken Spur", A nice little Mom and Pop place, there is a grocery store about a 1/2 mile up the road. I stopped there and got a few previsions and here I am. Montana has no sales tax, and when the cashier rang up my purchase, I was getting ready to hand her a $50.00 and it was less than $20.00.
Gas prices for the most part are probably about the same as they are back home, I run 91 octane and on average it has been around $4.25. Thank god I am getting 50 mpg. The bike is holding up well, it burns a little oil when I get on it for an extended period of time, today one of my foot peg bolts came loose, but I caught it before it became a problem. The heated hand grips have been a blessing in this cold weather, and the most indispensable item on my bike is my "Garmin" not only does it tell me how to get there, but I have XM radio and It is really nice when traveling down long stretches of highway.
Tomorrow after seeing the headwaters of the Missouri River, I plan to head north towards Glacier National Park. It is a couple of hundred miles from here, I hope to get accommodations next to the park, then spend Sunday in the park. From there it is into Canada!

I hope you are enjoying the ride!

Tim

Thanks to those of you who have e-mailed me, while I am busy with this adventure the pangs of homesickness are with me from time to time.