Camping with Blue - not camping!

Blue was not happy with people driving around the campground, or with the golden retriever who came to sniff at our tent. I told her she could only do the scary alarm bark or growl if there was a bear. Despite all the warnings about bears, the idiot in the site next to us left out his entire camp kitchen on the picnic table. He was also the one with the off leash golden.  

It got cold! I woke up in the night and was freezing. Luckily I had my down jacket in the tent, so I put it on and went back to sleep. I woke up again a little later and my feet were iceblocks. The only other thing I had with me was my zip up sweater, so the arms of that went on my legs and I was able to go back to sleep. 

I was smarter about tearing everything down this time. I got breakfast ready and while it was doing its thing, I packed up the tent. It was much easier when the rainfly wasn't completely soaked. We got on the road at what I thought was 9, but it was actually 8. I didn't see on the map when we switched to Mountain Time. 

Driving out of mountains was just fine, especially these not super tall mountains. Cell service returned about 45 minutes outside Idaho Falls. Lots of texts and voicemail! I noticed that there were runners on the road in Pocatello where I ran the marathon a couple years ago. Duh, it's marathon weekend in Poky. I had better weather, though. It was 75 already at 10:00 am. The rest of the drive was just long, not terribly eventful. We stopped a few times for Blue to have walks and drinks. Salt Lake City area drivers drive like crap. Mountains are tall. There were crazy afternoon thunderstorms. My phone freaked out and got stuck in a bootloop, so I pulled the battery and gave it a timeout. 

Finally arrived in St. George just before 6. Anna took me to dinner and the boy sent us both lots of texts. Blue and Paige are getting along famously. We're planning our backpacking trip to Forsyth Canyon. Since more thunderstorms are forecast for Sunday, we are planning and packing then and leaving Monday. 

Lat N 37°05'33.792"

Lon W 113°37'31.840"

Altitude 2770ft

Camping with Blue - Targhee National Forest

After nearly 11 hours, I decided to camp in the Targhee National Forest (Riverside campground). I'm still at least an hour from Idaho Falls and that's a ways from Pocatello, but the altitude is getting to me a little. 

Driving through Teddy Roosevelt was totally worth it, even if it made me late. The sunrise was pretty. The first wildlife we saw was two antelopes crossing the road. The next thing we saw was a small herd of buffalo wandering down the road. Blue started to bark until I told her to knock it off. Those things are huge! I could have touched one out the car window, except I was scared so the windows were closed and actually, these buffalo were kind of beshitted.

We had lots of stops on the way, mostly at rest stops which are pretty dog friendly. Blue developed a new quirk of being afraid of motorcycles following us. She's never noticed traffic before. She decided that the chopper behind us was so scary that she had to try to jump into the front seat. Hard to do with her being belted in and the hammock keeping her from jumping between the seats. That was fun.

The Gallatin National Forest smells like a Christmas tree. West Yellowstone smells like a wildfire. There was a pretty good plume of smoke to the south of town, too.

We are having a good time, but I am tired of driving and Blue is tired of riding. She will be happy to see her puppy friend tomorrow. I will be happy to see Anna and also to not be dirty.

I am a little worried about the people in the campsite across the way. They have a campfire going with 6 ft flames. There's wind up here, too. It is much better to set up camp when it is still light, if for no other reason than you can take note of where the bathrooms are.

Lat N 44°15'51.746"

Lon W 111°27'25.065"

Altitude 6180ft

Camping with Blue - North Dakota

Turned in appraisal appeal and then left. Got cash at credit union, then home for last minute throwing of stuff into the car. I also got some rye. For medicinal purposes.

It took Blue an hour to finally sit down in the back seat. At the 3 hour mark she finally laid down. She is crashed put in the tent that is pitched on the banks of the Little Missouri River. I have my crickets tonight! The drive to Theodore Roosevelt Natl Park was mostly uneventful. Stopped once to fill up. Cell service was good until the middle of NoDak, then it crapped out. Interestingly enough, the navigator part of Google maps now stores the entire route, instead of freaking out when you lose cell service. The creepy lady was still talking at me well into the park!

We arrived half an hour after sunset, but the campground guy was doing a loop on his bike as we drove in. First he said he hoped I had a flashlight. There was plenty of space and he told me to drive around and pick my spot.

I set up the tent by headlamp and it was OK. I might have more ideas about how to organize all my gear now that I've done this once.

My dehydrated chili experiment was tasty, if a little spicy. I am looking forward to the oat experiment in the morning.

Lat N 46°55'18.846"
Lon W 103°27'07.377"
Alt 2696ft