Sharing the Road (Days 33-34)

The last couple of days were absolutely amazing. We left Yellowstone to drive to Bozeman, Montana, to visit two couples -- my nephew and his wife, Nate & Nikole Greer, (technically, Nate is a second cousin, but he feels like a nephew) and their adorable black and white long-haired chihuahua named "Diego el Doggo", and an old seminary friend who pastors in Bozeman and whom we had not seen in 30 years, Dave McConnell, and his wife, Sally. (See picture above.) Those two visits alone would have been well worth the drive, but the drive . . . oh, the drive!! It was magnificent!!

We have fallen in love with the Gallatin National Forest -- especially the Gallatin Mountains and the Gallatin River. The river runs alongside the highway, another of those two-lane jobbies that most of our SoCal friends rarely see. In most places, the river doesn't look deep, and the water rushes over rocks a few inches below the surface, bubbling and bouncing over the rocks as it dances downstream making music that touches the soul. I loved that river!

Bozeman is an absolutely delightful town, and it captured our hearts. We can see why people leave the crowded cities and head for those hills and the "Big Sky" of Montana!!

Leaving early yesterday in the chilly morning air, we drove back down alongside that lovely river, beside the frost-tipped Gallatin Valley to cut across the southwestern corner of Yellowstone, again seeing some magnificent creatures. We stopped to watch a beautiful bull elk drinking from the river while the five females with him continued across the river and onto the bank, grazing and waiting for him. On the other side of the road, one young female grazed not twenty feet from our van, seeming to be totally oblivious to those of us who gazed at her beauty.

As we drove on we got the thrill of sharing the road . . . with a buffalo. Looking down the road, I saw this big brown hulk moving towards us in the oncoming lane of traffic and could hardly believe my eyes! Here he comes, this massive creature, head down, plowing his way down the road -- calomp, calomp, calomp. Believe me when I tell you that nobody argued with his right of way!!


When the three cars ahead of us finished getting pictures and moved on, this great creature continued to trudge towards us, veering every-so-slightly to his left and the middle line, which meant he was heading our way. Much as we wanted great pictures, I admit to a moment of panic when all I really wanted was to get out of his way before he plowed into our trusty Toyota Sienna. As the buffalo passed our car, I believe he was close enough that Neil could almost have reached out the driver's window and touched him -- almost!!

From Yellowstone we drove through the Grand Tetons. Grand Tetons is an apt name, for they truly are grand -- tall, sharp, craggy mountains jutting into the sky with serene lakes standing at their feet. Again, we were humbled and awed by the beauty of God's handiwork.


As if the Tetons weren't beautiful enough, God painted from His special pallette yesterday, adding wild splashes of yellows, golds, and deep orange to the mountainsides as we drove on past the Tetons and through the mountains into Idaho. Since most of the trees have not yet begun to change color, the contrast of the deep greens with occasional bright color splashes in splotches here and there on the mountainsides was incredibly beautiful.


The day ended with dinner and a lovely visit with two others of "our kids" -- one of our Talbot grads, his wife, and their four children who recently moved from pastoring in Southern California to a church in Blackfoot, Idaho. Nothing like a visit with special people in our lives to top off a perfect day!

P.S. Once again, this is a "To be continued . . . ", so check the blog again in a few days to see pictures. Because for some reason the cord to download photos from camera to computer was not in our camera bag, we have to wait until we can get Kodak CD's made before we can put pictures onto the computer and blog.