Yep, something finally got caught. No, not a fish. Ron! No, not by a hook. By the Fish and Game Warden! Things have been going amazingly well this summer. We haven’t done the usual stupid things we’ve done in the past and we’ve been feeling pretty smug about that. We are sophisticated, experienced RVers. The last couple of days have reminded us that we’re not as slick as we thought.
Ron, Mike, George and Lee Ellen traveled upstream to do a little fishing on the Shoshone two days ago and, lo and behold, for the first time ever a Fish and Game Warden came to check the fishing licenses. Ron was first up and opened his wallet and searched for his Wyoming license. It was not to be found. The guys said he turned from tan to white. He tried offering the Warden his CO, AZ, ID, and MT licenses, both current and years past, but to no avail. The Warden kindly said to keep looking while he checked the others. Finally Ron found the WY one and handed it to the Warden who then turned it over. Oops! Ron didn’t have a Conservation stamp. That’s a $110 fine! Ron told him he’d bought the license in a bar just before we got to the Hoback River and that the kid who sold it to him never said anything about needing a stamp. Fortunately, the Warden must visit that bar on occasion as he knew exactly where it was and mentioned they shouldn’t be allowed to sell licenses as they don’t know what they’re doing. So he said he would sell Ron the stamp rather than fine him and just issue him a warning. $12.50. Ron had no money and the best the other three could come up with was $12. Got his stamp at a discount by that very nice Warden. I bet Ron will know where the license of the day is anytime he steps in the water from now on.
Yesterday was one of those work days in preparation for our departure today for Yellowstone NP and points west. We drove the 36 miles to Cody, WY to shop, do laundry, etc. Got gas on the way home and Ron left the gas cap dangling as we drove the rest of the way home. Last year I left one on top of a gas tank so now at least it’s attached. When we got home I left the lights on but luckily caught it about 3 hours later when we took the dogs for their late night stroll. Battery still had plenty of charge. Then we got ready for bed and Ron went to put the clean sheets in our Travelsaks and NO SHEETS! Lucky for me that Ron had been in charge of laundry while I had shopped. That was a sad moment as we contemplated driving 36 miles east in the A.M. to have to come back the 36 miles and then drive 100+ miles west to our next destination. Needless to say we got an early start this morning. The good news is the sheets were there and had been very nicely folded by the attendant. The bad news……you do the math. 72 miles at 10 MPG at $4+ per gallon. Add that to all the quarters that went in those machines and you have one very expensive batch of clean laundry. I bet we won’t do that again either. I hope????
On a positive note we had a grand time traveling through Yellowstone again. This time we traveled north through Hayden Valley where the Yellowstone River flows out of Yellowstone Lake on its way north. It meanders through the valley and then roars as it drops through the upper falls and the lower falls (photos) to run through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We had lots of opportunity to enjoy the beautiful valley as we were stopped for about 45 minutes in a Bison jam. Don’t ever think you can go the speed limit in Yellowstone.
We had a great view of the lower falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Artist’s Point.
We’ve landed tonight on the west side of the park north of West Yellowstone. The Madison River comes through here on its way out of the park. Maybe a little fishing tomorrow?
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