Grand Tetons & Dubois, WY

Thursday, June 8th, we managed to safely get out of our tight site at the West Yellowstone KOA and navigate through their equally tight roads. Gary’s getting expert at getting out of tight campground spaces.

We head off for a 225 mile drive to Dubois, WY. We are driving back through parts of Idaho and on into Grand Teton National Park and camping in Dubois, Wyoming. We drive through the Tetonic Scenic Byway in Idaho…. one of the most magnificent drives we’ve ever experienced. Absolutely gorgeous. Lush brilliant green crops over rolling hills set again a backdrop of the Tetons on 3 sides. No traffic… one lane each way… over gently rolling hills. I was brought to tears. Magnificent.

That’s how the day went. We went from one scenic drive to another. We drove through National Forest land and on into Grand Teton National Park (Teton Pass)… and 10% grades. Now that we’re towing I’ve learned to pay attention to grades. Dan, our RV instructor, informed us that Federal law mandates a max of 6 or 7% grades on Federal highways. States roads can vary. The Tetons have some 10% grades at 9,500 ft. elevation. If you don’t think there’s much of a difference between 6 and 10%, try doing it when you’re towing your house. Holy crap. Gary says “isn’t this beautiful scenery?” Me: “Yeah, yeah, beautiful…. should the rpm’s be that high. Isn’t that dangerous?” Once I realized the revving engine was normal, and the exhaust brake was working, and we weren’t going to roll back down the mountain or have to use one of the truck runaway lanes that they had every few yards, I was able to relax and take in the amazing scene around me.

We stop at the Glacier Point Overlook to view the Tetons, stretch our legs, and let Kya have a pee break. There happens to be a tour bus parked full of Chinese tourists. They are in the process of doing a group photo, and based on the hooping and hollering, they’re having a blast. We meander past them to the lookout point, and they converge on Kya. It starts out they pet her, then they want pictures of her. They don’t really speak English but through the universal language of smiles and pantomime, we get the idea. Then they’re having us in the pictures with them. This went on for a good 20 minutes. We couldn’t get away. Finally I break away and leave Gary and Kya. I had to… I was laughing to hard to stay. Gary mouths to me “take a picture, take a picture.” Sooooo I snapped a few pictures of the Chinese taking pictures of Gary and Kya. It was one of our absolute favorite moments of our trip thus far. Priceless. Gary and I had taken a selfie and one of the nice Chinese men said “I’ll help you.” He took the phone from me and took great pains to get a few pictures of Gary and I with the Tetons in the background. So sweet! People are awesome!

After that treasured few moments, we continued on our way and eventually left the Tetons behind and got into Dubois, WY. Charming Western town. We had reservations at the Longhorn Ranch & RV Resort with mountains in the background. My dad would have approved. It sits on the Wind River, which upon check-in, we learn is flooding because they had 300% more snow than usual this past winter. Our site is not near the river so we don’t have to worry. The clerk realizing we’re from NH, asks “where in NH?” We tell her and she relates that she lived in Franconia until she was 18 then wanted to head west for college, went to Montana State University where she met her husband and she’s stayed out west ever since. She said even when she was younger, she craved wide open spaces. She’s in the right place!

We head to our lovely spacious site and enjoy a leisurely afternoon, and chat with our neighbor who is from Tulsa, OK. The next day I see the same Oklahoma gentleman in the morning after an early morning walk with Kya and he says “did you see the 4 elk at 6:15 this morning? Darn! No, I didn’t. Kya got me up at 7. Drat… just missed them.

We decide on a leisurely day for Friday, June 9th, and head into town to do some shopping. Even though Dubois (pronounced Dew boys) has under 1,000 people, they are loaded with galleries and a charming historic wooden boardwalk. Gary sits outside on the bench seat in the shade with Kya while I do some shopping and chat up the local clerks. One is a photographer who needs a website. We exchanged cards and I’ll reach out to him when we’re back home. Another owns a lovely gallery with work from local artists. I add to the Dubois economy and spend a few dollars. After I’ve exhausted all the shopping opportunities, we head back to camp and see four deer flittering back and forth through the campground for the remainder of the day.

I did some laundry in the afternoon and chat with another gentleman from California. Heading back to our campsite with laundry in hand, our new neighbor, who has just arrived, flags me down and says “are you the other part of the NH twosome?” I said “yes, I am.” Turns out he and his wife used to live in Bow and Manchester at various times. They moved out West about 10 years ago because of a job opportunity. They were traveling with friends to Yellowstone, and wanted to hear what brought us out this way so we told them and that launched a conversation of various travel tips they had for us. Neat couple.

A relaxing couple of days spent in Dubois, WY. Tomorrow we head to Custer State Park in South Dakota.