May 18, 2021

Before I got started on my drive today, I decided to stop and get an oil change on the van. The manual for my van states the first oil change should be done at 7,000 miles and/or when the oil light comes on. However, my van recently passed 5,000 miles and I decided to get

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May 17, 2021

Today’s drive went through Yellowstone starting from the West Entrance and exiting through the East Entrance. While I made a few quick stops along the way in some scenic overlook areas, the only extended stop I made was to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I’ve quickly learned that Yellowstone is best enjoyed on foot by

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May 16, 2021

Everyone knows how incredible Yellowstone is, so I don’t need to explain it. My first trip was from the Grand Tetons south of Yellowstone, up north, and then out to West Yellowstone to camp for the night. Old Faithful and that entire area around it was absolutely amazing. Old Faithful was due to erupt just

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May 15, 2021

My original plan was to just go through Yellowstone and skip the Grand Teton Mountains. US Route 191 from the Grand Tetons to Yellowstone was still closed for the season, meaning if I wanted to see both, I’d need to go into the Grand Teton Mountains, turn around at the road closure, and backtrack over

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May 14, 2021

As the old saying goes, “half the fun is getting there.” Today I was headed for the Grand Tetons, but the drive getting there was epic. The vast openness of Montana is really something that is foreign to most of us. There is just absolutely nothing around except nature, some farms, and cattle. After being

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May 13, 2021

After taking a day to relax in Florence, it was time to head on down the road as I make my way towards the Grand Teton National Park. Boy was I in for a treat today. The drive was just incredible! I got used to the dense forests and trees, but Montana is much more

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May 11, 2021

Before we left civilization again, I wanted to stop by one of Cooper’s favorite places to stock up on goodies. The Petco Trail! I was really looking forward to the drive today. Route 12 across Idaho, which I heard was an amazing drive and it did not disappoint. This is a long winding road the

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May 10, 2021

I contemplated staying at Mesa an extra day, but I really needed to get some work done and internet speeds at that campground were hardly usable, so it was time to head out. There weren’t many places to camp out between Mesa and Clarkston. There were either only paid campgrounds or places that had zero

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May 9, 2021

After spending the night in a rather crowded parking lot, which was surprisingly quiet and peaceful, I walked around for just a little bit to stretch our legs before we drove around Mount Hood. Here’s the “campground” I stayed at: I really don’t want to say anything negative about where I parked overnight. No, it

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May 8, 2021

The night before I was going to drive up to Mount Rainier, it was raining where I was at and in the upper 30s. They closed the road going up but expected it to reopen in the morning, which it did. The road was still closed near the top though. So even though I knew

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