Take care of your Horse

6/20/08 Spalding Bay, Jenny Lake, Teton NP, ,WY

A campsite at the end of a dirt road, at the edge of a lake, sounds wonderful - and it is. Until about 0530 when the local fishermen begin arriving in their pick-ups dragging their boats to the ramp. S'ok - after seeing 34degrees on my thermometer/watch I didn't go back to deep sleep, I just kept wondering how Emily was doing. She didn't sleep well either, but it wasn't because she was wondering about me.

We finally accepted the fact that the day had begun, and got up around 0700. Morning light was absolutely beautiful, spotlighting that which had been backlit and bringing out indescribable colors in everything. And, as yet, no bugs. Not having a breakfast strategy, and wanting to view as much of the park as possible, camp was struck and the bike kicked into life (there's another passing expression - kicking a bike to life. It's all on the battery, and God help you if it fails) for the trip up the dirt road. Aside from the beauty of said road itself, lined by tall pines and fragrant sagebrush, we had tantalizing glimpses of the Tetons through the breaks in the trees, and the anticipation of wildlife (only one LARGE deer so far).

The main N/S road was empty at this hour, so we traveled at our own pace back to Signal Mountain Lookout for a vista of the area. Yesterday's toll was still heavy on Em, as evidenced by the noises she made getting on/off the bike, and her reluctance to even take the helmet off, but again she suffered Dad's enthusiasm and even smiled for the camera. Once.

Things perked up a bit when we stopped at the Jenny Lake lodge for a sticky doughnut in an unusual shape, and got recommendations for food in town. I was unable to talk Em into an hour's hike to Hidden Falls and unwilling to press the issue (recall that the objectives for this ride are: Time with Daughter, Move the Bike, See the area), so into town we went to arrange hotel for us and storage for the bike. Once those were accomplished I promised Em we could just walk around the square for the rest of the day.

My hopes for a hostel were crushed as it was full, and the next alternative was a 99$ 10x10 room (King of the Road? NOT), or, as Em put it: Half the room for twice the price. I let her off to explore and eat, and then began to search through my list of storage units to care for the bike. As in many newly 'discovered' tourist towns, the local populace and all their businesses are being pushed out of town center by developers and outrageous property values. Try to find a real hardware store, for example. Orvis, Pendleton, YES. Ace, Plumbers Supply, NO. At least not in town. The real 'folk' have moved 30 miles away, taking such things (and storage) with them. Of the 3 U-Store-It's I'd googled, all were closed, and the only storage left was 5 miles south of town - climate controlled 2 story and 145$ per month! Well, I spent most of my afternoon tracking down and procuring a spot for the bike (horse), then separating the "leave-its" from the "take-its" before locking up the bike and taking my 20$ cab ride back into town (which is still, I found out the next day, 30$ from the airport!!).
When I got back Emily was taking a nap, and it seemed like a pretty good idea. An hour or so later we wandered around as she showed me the various shops she'd perused, and visited an animal adoption store. They find the animals abandoned in the area, tend to them, then walk them around with little jackets saying "available for adoption". Good idea. Dinner was at a deli where my 7$ Italian Hoagie weighed (no fooling) 2 pounds!!! Then back into town to get some money for the ride to the airport.
Uh-oh. ATM card no workee. Hmmmm. A quick call to MG and it's a mystery unsolved. There was money IN the account, and she'd added to it that day, so WHY can I not get it? Scramble time. Tank bag, pockets, duffel, etc, and we come up with about 40$. It'll have to do.
Good night's sleep and tomorrow we head home.