And my first weekend back at Yellowstone is rolling to an end. Right now we are all on a Saturday/Sunday off type of schedule till about the 18th I think, then we go back to a seven day schedule where your days off can be whatever they need them to be, lol.

So Saturday, I got talked into helping out with a competition that was taking place at the Gardiner High School. This was a Speech/Drama/Debate competition and they were short on judges and were contemplating cancelling the event because of it. I friend of mine at work told me about the problem and I decided I'd help if I could.

Turned out pretty well I think. The competition was held, and I judged three events: Extemporaneous Speech, Spontaneous Oral Interpretation, and in the finals, Improvisational Speech. I stayed till the end so I could watch the kids get their awards and they are really enthusiastic about the whole thing. Very, very talented teens all the way around.

It was a long day so when it was done I treated myself to a nice steak at the Mine Restaurant in town. Didn't feel like heading to the employee dining room. Plus, there is a bar a the restaurant, not one at the EDR, lol.

Today was a routine day and I decided to head on out to get some supplies I'd neglected to get, and needed. Went to the store in Gardiner after a stop at the sandwich shop. Got my supplies and then, yup, you guessed it, went for a drive. Spent most of the afternoon either down Old Yellowstone Trail, Cinnibar Basin Road, or up above Gardiner on the mountainside. Great views and good weather for the most part.

I got plenty of photos of Elk, Bison, Deer, and Bighorn Sheep. Some of them were actually IN Gardiner, lol. Interesting place to live I think.

Now, back to the mundane tasks such as laundry and putting things away that I've finally lugged up from the Jeep. Trying to not have so much stuff in the room this season, just not necessary. It does seem to accumulate though.

Pack Rat that I am.

Mac

What a year it has been. I am just now returning to Yellowstone for my second Winter Season. I know, you are asking, "What happened to the first one, and what has happened since then?" And I don't blame you. I neglect this blog terribly.

Last winter went great. I love Yellowstone in Winter! Fewer people by several magnitudes, it is so beautiful it can take your breath away on a regular basis, and it is just beautiful. Did I say that already? Well, it is.

I had a great winter season last winter and then extended my contract to become a Master Reservations Agent which would have put me there till mid September, and I way would have, because I just couldn't stay that long and had to leave. I gave them three weeks notice that I was going to resign and head out to do stuff in the summer, like camp, and hike, and ride my motorcycle, and, well, lots of stuff, just not sit in an office all day five days a week, or more, doing reservations. It was my second summer season and I just couldn't do it.

So I left. I camped in the Black Hills of South Dakota for about 4 weeks, did Sturgis while I was there, the 75th anniversary of the rally, so it was crazy crowded, but I had fun. Then headed west to Washington, down through Oregon, into northern California, then across through Reno to Salt Lake City in September. My beautiful niece Bethany and her fiance Allan let me stay with them for as long as I needed to, so I was there till mid November and then I had to go to Texas to get a few things done, then I returned to SLC. From there I headed back up to Yellowstone and reported in December 1st to do it all over again. I have no made the mistake of doing more than five or six months on a contract though, with as long a break in between as I want. So I should be good to go for a while.

Salt Lake City turns out to be quite the eclectic community as it were. Lots of college age young people and everything that goes with being that young. My niece and Allen run with quite the tattooed 20 somethings crowd and it can be a very exciting place to be. I tried to keep up and hang with them as much as I could, but at times, it was challenging, lol. I learned, after 59 years, that I really like whiskey. And Guinness beer. Who knew. I'm usually a Tequila kind of guy. But I'll commit violence for a whiskey pickle back, yes I will, lol. I even got a new tattoo. A good one, too.

As for my niece Bethany, she's a true force of nature. She has the personality, wit, and intelligence to do any damned thing she wants to in life, and she's as beautiful as they come on top of all that. She is truly one of the smartest people I know. She's young and does not have as much experience, but she's sharp as a tack, and experience will come. If you're going to keep up with her you'd better be on your game. Big time. I love her like she's my own daughter. Her two little girls are going to be heartbreakers as well. Just darlin'. I do feel for Allen, he is going to be in for it!

Had an interesting Thanksgiving Day as well. Torn in about 13 different directions, was on the road coming back from Texas, needing to get to SLC in time to pick up my trailer with the motorcycle and head on north, so I wasn't really counting on having a Thanksgiving Dinner, per se. But I was in the vicinity of my fathers home, in Farmington, New Mexico, on that day, so I thought I'd just drop by and see everyone on my way through, especially since my brother Shawn and my gorgeous sister-in-law Julie were there with one of my other beautiful nieces, Eliza (cute as a bugs ear, one year old and already running the world, lol). To say the least, I would up having a GREAT Thanksgiving Dinner, but had to move on afterward due to, ahem, a misunderstanding, and hell, I needed to get on down the road anyway, so there's that.

And now, I'm back in Yellowstone. I'm not sure what it is, but I seem to get news of friends passing away more while I'm here than any other time of the year. Whether it is former brothers and sisters in arms, whether in police work of the military, or friends I've met in the motorcycling community over the years, people seem to wait till I pull in and report to Yellowstone, then POOF, they're gone. Two this week. I know I'm getting older (try hanging out with a totally 20 something crowd for three months to make you feel OOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDD) and so my friends are all getting older as well, but man, it is coming in waves sometimes. Some I knew better than others, some I knew very, very well. But each one hurts and brings home my own inevitable time table to the end.  How can you have people close to you, of your age, or even younger, pass away without thinking of your own mortality, at least a little bit.

When I was 20 something, the thought never entered my head. I was gonna live forever.

Mac

Winter is coming. Well, actually, it's already here, and so am I. I am now back working at Yellowstone for my first winter season. It turns out that the winter season up here is quite nice. Yes, it's cold at times, in fact, it can be quite cold. So far I've experienced -19 degrees one fine day recently. So it does get cold but it's still really, really nice up here.

For one thing, it's almost as if you have the whole park to yourself. You don't, of course, but it sure seems that way some days. Plenty of snow and animals, but not very many people. I just love it. I've been driving around in the mountains of Montana just north of Gardiner and a little town called Jardine. Lots of snow up that way but, once again, few, if any, people. But talk about  beautiful scenery! It is just almost too awesome for words. I just can't get enough of it.

Thus, my most recent decision. I have decided to just move up here and get it over with. I have to take my time and build up my finances a bit after the break from October 6th to December 16th because I spent WAY too much money. But once I'm all caught up, it's on. Just getting my stuff out of storage will pay a third of my rent around here. I've talked to the folks here in the park about a job that I more full time and year round and they seem to think it can be done, so there's that. Once my Army Retirement money kicks in I won't actually need this job and I can start thinking about doing other things. Till then, I'm still here.

It would be hard to describe my life at this point. For one, it might just make people mad at me, more out of jealousy than anything else I'd think. It is laid back and so relaxing here it is not even funny. I am meeting so many great people and having so many wonderful experiences that there is almost no way for folks to NOT be jealous. Hell, I'd be jealous if it weren't me!

I was sitting on the hood of my Jeep out in Lamar Valley the other night and the moon was so bright you could see almost like it was daylight. The moonlight reflecting off the snow just made it even brighter and I was able to actually take pictures without a flash. As I sat there I just couldn't help comparing my life just over a year ago to my life today.

Anyone driving by at that moment would only have seen a laughing madman, because they just couldn't know.

Mac

Winding down......

It has been quite a while since I last posted anything and I'm no sure why that is. Many things have happened, I've gone places and done things, and life has just gotten better and better. So, why no new posts?

I'm not really sure. On the one hand it could be that I have been too busy and just having too much fun to mess with it. Then again, it could be the lousy internet connection we have here and the fact my laptop crapped out and I had to acquire a new one (or at least new to me, lol #pawnshopspecial) and that kept me from posting for a bit as well. But it all comes down to not really having a good excuse for such a long pause in the action.

The season is almost over as I have about thirty days left on my contract. I do not know where the summer went. It has flown by so quickly and I am hurtling toward October 1st in a headlong fall toward the end it seems. Soon I'll have to start packing things up, put the bike in my trailer, and start planning for some trip to take for a while.

Somehow, I've talked myself into coming back for a winter season. I've always wanted to see Yellowstone in the winter and now it seems I will. My new contract will last from December 16 of this year, till April 3rd of next year. By then I'll have either gotten a new summer contract, or made a decision to move on and do something else next summer.

So, on October 1st, I'll once again be in the wind. I'm thinking a ride down the coast highway. Head west from here to Seattle, then head up and around then down on highway 101 along the coast till it turns into highway 1, then on down to San Diego before heading to Las Vegas to my brothers place for a while. I have a new niece to meet and get to know, then maybe head east to see more friends and family all over.

It's a tough life, I know, but someone has to do it, LOL.

Mac

Well, there comes a time in every mans life when you just have to admit that maybe you were wrong. It looks like this is going to be one of those times.

The whole last post about the Yellowstone experience - just never mind.

It turns out that once you get used to the altitude, and the attitude, it just isn't bad at all. Everything I hoped it would be, it now is.

It seems I was just having a great deal of trouble getting adapted to the altitude after all of the years down there near sea level. I just couldn't get very much sleep due to feeling like I just wasn't getting any air at night. Now it seems, that issue has resolved itself and I am sleeping much, much better.

Sleep will cure many ills. I've gotten to where the job doesn't bother me (except for the part where I'm in an office all day instead of out in the park), the food is actually tolerable and I am losing weight hand over fist, I finally got the motorcycle out of the trailer and that has helped, and I've started to take off on my days off and get out and about to see the countryside outside the park as well as inside.

This has resulted in a whole new attitude for me. I feel absolutely great. I probably feel better than I have in ten years. Since I have my diet under control and I'm starting to lose weight, I'm going to add some more physical activity and hiking to the agenda to speed it up even more.

As for the liberals, well, they're still liberals, but most of them are not bad people, just intolerable of any opinion than that they believe in. Some of them, like the kid and the star wars trooper shirt, turned out to just be a huge star wars fan, and liked the shirt, no hidden agenda whatsoever. So in my lack of sleep induced grumpiness, I may have been a bit overly sensitive in that arena.

None of this really came easy now, I had to make a few changes. I put up their lousy blankets and sheets and got myself a nice set from the Walmart with a set of twin sheets (with a fitted bottom sheet) and a nice comforter. In addition I got a foam pad that fits the twin bed which made it much more comfortable. It was way to stiff and caused me pain in my hip joints till I got the pad. All together it made sleeping a LOT better in addition to getting used to the altitude.

I rented a storage place in Livingston, Montana for all the stuff I had in the trailer so it's a lot lighter now. I got the bike out on a Saturday in the middle of a snow storm of all things, lol. So it was a few days before my first ride in the park. I may ride out the northeast entrance these upcoming two days off and ride over the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody. It is a spectacular ride, done it many times before.

So, things are looking up in most arenas. I even bought my roommate a six pack of his favorite beer and he's been pretty okay since. Okay, he's still a bit bitchy still, but he's much more tolerable than he was. So it's okay.

I'm living and working in Yellowstone National Park. And finally, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Disallusions, but what can you say?

It's been a while since I posted and several things have taken place since I did. Last time I was in here I was still in Henderson, Nevada at my brothers place and was about to head north to Yellowstone. So let's update, shall we?

Headed north and stopped off for the night in Salt Lake City to see my niece Bethany. She and her daughter Emma met me for breakfast and had a wonderful time. It was over all too soon as I needed to get back on the road and we parted ways. Bethany always gives me the best hugs ever, lol. You never doubt you are loved after one of those.

Heading north into ever increasing altitude began to take a toll on old you know who. After some 37 years at altitudes of no more than about 400 feet above sea level, at most, heading into thousands of feet was very telling. At first, not that bad, just noticeable as I found it harder to get enough air, lol.

I stopped in Bozeman, Montana for the night, at the Holiday Inn there, very interesting place, then the next morning headed to Gardiner, Montana, just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. I was scheduled to check in with Xanterra, the company who hired me, the next morning so I stayed the night at the Best Western in Gardiner. I got there pretty early so I unhooked my trailer from the Jeep and spent the rest of the day riding around inside Yellowstone, or at least the Mammoth Hot Springs area. It was good to be back.

I checked in the next morning and got all my job materials, headed on into the park and got a room assignment and found out where I was supposed to report for training the next day. I also met my roommate. I did not win the roommate lottery. That's all we'll say about that for now, more to come later.

Yellowstone was beautiful, as if I need to say that. It is just unbelievable. There was snow on the ground when I arrived, then it went away, then it snowed again, then it went away, and even up to today, that has been the pattern. No snow yesterday, then we woke up to a nice layer of snow on everything this morning. I have taken a series of pictures that I am going to name, "So you think the weather changes a lot where you're from???? HA!". It is something else every day. But beautiful nonetheless.

Lots, and lots, and lots of animals. Bison on the lawn right outside the window of my room in the dorm. Elk along the roads, with antelope in the fields beyond. Mule deer wandering here and there, with Bighorn Sheep up on the sides of cliffs between Gardiner and Mammoth. And it's every day. All the time. When we come out of buildings we have to look around to ensure there are no bison nearby before heading on. I detoured around two of them on the way to breakfast this morning, lol. I've seen fox, coyotes, prairie dogs, marmots and a couple of unidentifiable small varmints here and there. So far, no wolves or bears, but I'm sure that's coming. Or would be.

I say, or would be, for only one reason, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to stay for the entire season as originally planned. It's great and wonderful to be here at this location, but it seems the company treats employees pretty poorly with the excuse, "But you get to live in Yellowstone" for any policy that is not to the best interest of the people. If this is what working for a large corporation is like, I'm glad I stuck with military and police work, which was by no means huggy feely, lol. So there's that.

In addition, the "greenies", or "Eco-Nazis" have taken over here big time. I don't mind recycling, that's fine, I'm able to go along with that, even to the extreme degree they are taking it, I can do that. I don't mind people having different opinions that I do about some eco-issues, I know that's going to happen, but my having a differing opinion is not acceptable to them. This is an extremely liberal crowd. An example: One of the other employees, a male about 25-27 was walking toward me from the cafeteria the other day and on his shirt it said, "I support the troops", which as I approached was kind of surprising to me as I'd seen NO such thing since I'd arrived. As I got closer I saw that the "troops" on his shirt were Imperial Storm Troopers and this was a very sideways insult since these particular troops were mindless clones supporting the evil empire who's Emperor was a megalomaniac and ruled through the use of the dark force. So, this is what I've said all along. Liberals do not really support the troops, they just pay lip service.

Anyway, that's a mild example of the constant ranting of these greenie goons. My roommate, for another example, has made the comment, several times, that people should just be killed off and turn the earth back over to the animals. Which, of course, my reply to him is, "Okay, you first." He never seems to think that is very funny for some reason.

So, between the food being just okay, the beds being uncomfortable, the hours being long, the altitude kicking my ass, still, after two weeks or so, I am seriously considering heading on out and finding something else. I will probably wait till the end of May when I had a built in break anyway for a trip I needed to take, but after that I may just not come back. I don't know yet. While the location is certainly worth much trouble to be in, I'm not sure it's worth this much trouble. If I get two months out of it I will consider it time well spent just to be up here enjoying the locale. I really do like this area, I'm just not fond of what I've found here. There may be other alternatives and I'm looking into them, so maybe I'll find a way to stay up here and also do so in a more enjoyable way.

We'll just have to wait and see.

So, it's been a while since I last posted anything, and lots has happened. I headed out from Montgomery after putting everything in storage, and went to Shreveport to see the kids once more, then headed to Eminence, MO. Rented a cabin there for a month and had a very, very relaxing time just trying to get used to doing nothing really, lol.

After a month in the Ozarks, I headed once more to Houston to get some things taken care of and issued dealt with. once free of there I went back to Shreveport to see the kids one more time and pick up the trailer. I'd dropped it off before heading to the Ozarks as I didn't need it for that time period. Once I was out of Shreveport the long trip to Las Vegas began.

It's not really a long way to Las Vegas, not really, but it seemed there was this weird weather pattern that made sure I had a very, very heavy headwind all the way there. Much slower speeds, while also experiencing much, much lower gas mileage conspired to make it a longer, and more expensive, trip than planned. But, I made it and have been recovering here at my brothers house in Henderson, Nevada.

Altogether, it has been a great trip so far. I've reconnected with family, gotten to spend some time with nephews and nieces I'd not seen for a while, and just had some great laughs so far. My brother, Shawn, and my sister-in-law Julie, have been so welcoming and gracious, I can't thank them enough for letting me stay in their home and just get to be with family again. I have about 15 more days here till time to head north to Yellowstone, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

The time is approaching though, when I'll have to get packed back up, hook the trailer onto the Jeep, and head north. I've been looking at the roads and trying to keep track of whether or not I'm going to have to buy tire chains before I take off, lol. But, it's looking pretty good at present, the roads are looking pretty clear already. Hopefully it will still be that way when it's time to go.

Off to plan a trip over to Death Valley now, take it easy.

Mac