Yellowstone

Yellowstone had a Disney Land feel to it. Even though we hit the park after the high season had ended, it's still full of wacky tourists. We do our best to not fall into that category, though sometimes I'm sure we fail! Buffalo crowd the roads, using them as convenient trails to move within the park. This creates traffic jams and ample opportunity for people to do dumb things like walk up to the buffalo. When talking with a young ranger about the buffalo jams, he told us a story of a bull that got stressed in a jam, then turned without warning and rammed the front end of a small sedan several times. The power of his impact sent the sedan backwards several feet. Radiator was punctured. Had to call a tow truck to move the vehicle. I wonder if the insurance they had on the rental covered buffalo damage ... ? After I heard this story, I was darn glad to be driving through the park in a diesel pickup truck, and not a motorcycle!

We did see one grizzly bear, and, again, this caused a traffic jam. The bear was dark chocolate brown below, fading to golden brown on his shoulder hump. He was just minding his business, digging up an old stump. There was no shoulder on the road, but this didn't stop people from pulling over and watching in the middle of the road. In your car maybe. But the fellow who was walking towards the bear, maybe twenty yards from him, with his young son in tow, all for the purpose of getting a picture, that guy needs to have his head examined. I figured out what a friend's 50 caliber hand gun is for now. Bear. The little 9mm that I have would just get 'em real mad. Instead of buying larger hand gun I opt for bear spray.