We drove to Yellowstone via US 26 through the The Grand Tetons National Park. The drive was beautiful, but not as beautiful as Yellowstone Park itself.
Today is the first day of fall and we drove into a snow storm entering Yellowstone Park.
We almost stopped for the night in the park, but I was concerned we might get snowed in and have to go back the same way we had come.
So we pushed on through Yellowstone. We did stop to see a herd of Elk, and we walked to Old Faithful. It was so cold, we didn’t want to wait for it to go off in 12 minutes. Pokey was so cold, I put him under my jacket and he didn’t even protest. He was so glad for the body heat. He had never seen snow, and he had never seen the window wipers on. They scared him and he moved to the back of the RV. He usually sits on the passenger seat when it is just him and me. When Caren is with us he usually sits on her lap. No amount of coaxing would get him to the front of the RV with those wipers on.
We pulled off road into a parking lot area when we saw a herd of Buffalo. They were within 20 feet of the RV. Pokey was going “nuts” barking & snarling at them. They started snorting in return. I backed up the RV because I didn’t know how it would handle the charge of a 2,000 pound buffalo. But I didn’t want to find out.
We never did see a bear. That was the one animal Caren really wanted to see. We did pull over when we saw evidence of a large animal moving through the brush right on the side of the road. We never saw it, but from the snorting and crashing sound it made, we think it was a large Moose.
We stopped at the edge of west end of the park and considered staying in a campground. But, it was only 14 more miles out of the park, and I wanted to have hookups for the night.
We found an RV park in West Yellowstone, Montana and plugged in. They do have wireless Internet so I am catching up on some blog reading. And I am planning on playing a little Party Poker later tonight.
It is bone-chilling cold here. It is 32 right now and going down to 28 degrees tonight. We are expecting 2-4 inches of snow by the time we wake up. I expect the furnace will be running most of tonight
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Dealer's choice and looking for Bears!!!
Driving west I crossed Northern Illinois, then the Mississippi River and drove all the way to Fort Dodge, Iowa. A lot of driving, but I wanted to get across Iowa & Nebraska, so we could optimize our time in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming & Idaho.
After spending the night in Fort Dodge we awoke to start driving again. My destination for the night was Valentine, Nebraska.
I had planned on spending a night in a RV park in Valentine, but we discovered from a highway billboard, there was a Casino 9 miles north of Valentine, just over the South Dakota border. I called before I checked into the RV Park, and discovered they had a poker room with one table. They said the game usually went late into the night or until there was less then 5 players.
I told the RV park I wouldn’t be staying with them tonight and drove the 9 miles north to the little casino. As Caren got the RV ready for a night in the Casino Parking lot, I went in and sat down at the only table in play, in the poker room.
They were playing “Dealer’s Choice”. Whoever had the dealer button in front of them called out the game. There were three old guys, (one said he was 82). The others were maybe 10 years younger. There were 2 farmers, one salesman, one traveler, and me. I was the only one who called Hold-em when the button came to me. Finally, I gave up and played Omaha, like everyone else, except for one of the old guys, who always called Pineapple, when it was his turn.
The game lasted for about 3 hours and it was horrible play. Except for me, everyone played every hand. Even though I got only a couple of good hands, I was able to break even when the game ended. They had a crock pot, with hamburgers in it. A large bag of chips, and bag of hamburger buns and ketchup as the only condiment stood over on a table in the corner. You could help yourself to this food service if you wanted.
Most of the players were drinking beer from cans they ordered from the waitress. I had coffee and diet coke. I did have a hamburger, and when the game broke I made a double burger, to take to the RV for tomorrow’s lunch.
I wish the game would have lasted longer, but as two of the older guys got even, they quit, then the traveler, said he had to get up early. A couple more left and we were down to 3 players. They close the poker room after there are less then 5 people who want to play.
So I was in bed trying to get to sleep at 11 p.m. after drinking too much coffee and diet coke. It was a very cold night. I think it dropped down into the 30’s and there was a cold north wind blowing over the prairies. The furnace in the RV kept coming on every ½ hour all night. Caren reported the next morning she hadn’t slept well because it was so cold.
Another day of driving brought us to Casper, Wyoming. I thought for sure I would find a place to play in Casper. We drove through town looking for a place to play. I did stop at a Kinko’s and plugged into the Internet and found out the bad news. There is no poker in Wyoming!!!
I also had planned on going to a Barnes and Nobles or Border’s Bookstore tonight to do a little poker reading. There weren’t any of those either. So we settled for a Buster Bar at the Local Dairy Queen.
Then we settled in at the Super Wal-mart parking lot, to do a little research with my mapping program and the road atlas to figure which way to go through Yellowstone tomorrow or the next day.
I need some serious poker time and it looks like I won’t get any for a few days.
I did read a few of my favorite poker blogs while I was on-line checking my email. Oh, well, a week from Saturday Caren will be flying home from Portland, and I am going to be logging some serious poker time in Casinos from Seattle to San Diego.
(8 hours of sleep later)
Well, it has been another cold night in the RV, but the sun is shining it is warming up and we are all about the beauty of nature today.
So onward & upward to Yellowstone National Park.
After spending the night in Fort Dodge we awoke to start driving again. My destination for the night was Valentine, Nebraska.
I had planned on spending a night in a RV park in Valentine, but we discovered from a highway billboard, there was a Casino 9 miles north of Valentine, just over the South Dakota border. I called before I checked into the RV Park, and discovered they had a poker room with one table. They said the game usually went late into the night or until there was less then 5 players.
I told the RV park I wouldn’t be staying with them tonight and drove the 9 miles north to the little casino. As Caren got the RV ready for a night in the Casino Parking lot, I went in and sat down at the only table in play, in the poker room.
They were playing “Dealer’s Choice”. Whoever had the dealer button in front of them called out the game. There were three old guys, (one said he was 82). The others were maybe 10 years younger. There were 2 farmers, one salesman, one traveler, and me. I was the only one who called Hold-em when the button came to me. Finally, I gave up and played Omaha, like everyone else, except for one of the old guys, who always called Pineapple, when it was his turn.
The game lasted for about 3 hours and it was horrible play. Except for me, everyone played every hand. Even though I got only a couple of good hands, I was able to break even when the game ended. They had a crock pot, with hamburgers in it. A large bag of chips, and bag of hamburger buns and ketchup as the only condiment stood over on a table in the corner. You could help yourself to this food service if you wanted.
Most of the players were drinking beer from cans they ordered from the waitress. I had coffee and diet coke. I did have a hamburger, and when the game broke I made a double burger, to take to the RV for tomorrow’s lunch.
I wish the game would have lasted longer, but as two of the older guys got even, they quit, then the traveler, said he had to get up early. A couple more left and we were down to 3 players. They close the poker room after there are less then 5 people who want to play.
So I was in bed trying to get to sleep at 11 p.m. after drinking too much coffee and diet coke. It was a very cold night. I think it dropped down into the 30’s and there was a cold north wind blowing over the prairies. The furnace in the RV kept coming on every ½ hour all night. Caren reported the next morning she hadn’t slept well because it was so cold.
Another day of driving brought us to Casper, Wyoming. I thought for sure I would find a place to play in Casper. We drove through town looking for a place to play. I did stop at a Kinko’s and plugged into the Internet and found out the bad news. There is no poker in Wyoming!!!
I also had planned on going to a Barnes and Nobles or Border’s Bookstore tonight to do a little poker reading. There weren’t any of those either. So we settled for a Buster Bar at the Local Dairy Queen.
Then we settled in at the Super Wal-mart parking lot, to do a little research with my mapping program and the road atlas to figure which way to go through Yellowstone tomorrow or the next day.
I need some serious poker time and it looks like I won’t get any for a few days.
I did read a few of my favorite poker blogs while I was on-line checking my email. Oh, well, a week from Saturday Caren will be flying home from Portland, and I am going to be logging some serious poker time in Casinos from Seattle to San Diego.
(8 hours of sleep later)
Well, it has been another cold night in the RV, but the sun is shining it is warming up and we are all about the beauty of nature today.
So onward & upward to Yellowstone National Park.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
A funeral, a burial, a riverboat & a "Cubs Game"
So much has happened since my last entry. I have been with family, been to a funeral, a burial, a "Chicago Cubs" home game and driven across six states. I will see if I can remember to pickup where I was after leaving Council Bluff, Iowa, and the Horseshoe Casino almost a week ago.
I am so impressed with the Interstate Highway System in Iowa. Each of the rest stops have free wireless Internet. Just pull off the National Highway Network System and log on to the International Network System. Why can’t all States do this? The default webpage that comes up has current road construction, locations of rest stops, and much more relevant information to the traveler.
I also discovered a few major intersections in Des Moines that also have free wireless service.
We were even more impressed with the Des Moines area then the Omaha area. I think it really reveals there is a lot of civic pride and future hope for the people who live here then in the big cities. The former looks healthy and prosperous, the latter looks decayed and dying.
We stopped in Altoona, Iowa. It is a N.E. Suburb of Des Moines. There is a large race track located there and about two years ago they got permission to develop a “Vegas-Style” casino. I really enjoyed the poker room. It was quiet, and plush, with friendly staff and about 7 tables. I joined a N/L game with a number of young men, some of them college students from the University nearby.
The level of play was fairly good.
It happened to me again.
One of the first hands I played was Pocket Aces. An Ace flopped, along with a 7 & J. I led the betting to the river. My three aces were ahead of three 7’s until the river. The river brought quad 7’s for the caller. I had Aces full of 7’s when I went all-in when the board paired. When he called me I assumed he had 7’s full. I could hardly believe it when he shouted four 7’s. Not even a bad beat jackpot. Just a low percentage bad beat on the river. He was drawing dead to every other card in the deck except that single “case seven”.
I was able to say “wow, and nice hand” with some sincerity.
The next three hours I enjoyed myself and played as well as I knew how, but was either “card dead” or my hands never improved. I left about $300 down consoling myself that I was up $600 from the day before so I still had a net gain of $300 on the trip so far.
We made our evening dinner in the RV and then I started driving for the Illinois/Iowa border. My plans were to play at the “Isle of Capri” in Bettendorf, Iowa on the Mississippi River. It was about 9:00 p.m. by the time we were at the border, and I had already let my family know I would be in Chicago by noon tomorrow. I decided it was a better idea to keep driving until I was about 2 hours away from Chicago, and then get a good night’s sleep. I wanted to be “ready” for my family tomorrow. So that evening we went to sleep in the RV in Rock Falls, Illinois, two hours west of Chicago.
The next morning we drove into Chicago and had lunch with my mother and brother. They filled us in on Donna’s last hours. It was pretty amazing. She had told us a few weeks ago she wanted to make it to her son’s 30th birthday, but she didn’t want to die on his birthday. She died at 12:03 A.M. (three minutes after her son’s birthday ended.) There is so much we don’t know about the human spirit. She was pretty much in great pain, no real ability to communicate with her family at the birthday celebration, in her home, but she “somehow” must have know when it was “over”.
The next day we attended the funeral. She had planned every detail of it and made every arrangement weeks before her death. She didn’t want her husband to have to do it during his grieving. She said she wanted to do that for her husband as a gift, so we would not have to do it after her death.
The funeral was attended by about 250 people and afterwards there was a dinner for all at the church where the funeral was conducted.
We spent Saturday evening just talking with my brother John and since the burial wasn’t until Monday I suggested I take him and his son to a “Cubs Game” at Wrigley Field. It was a pretty amazing game. The Cubs hit 4 homeruns and scored 7 runs in the first inning.
I had bought tickets from a “scalper” in a doorway right across the street from Wrigley Field. The tickets were fantastic. We were 5 rows behind third base on the Cubs side. I have never had better seats at any game I have attended. (B.T.W. When I was 16 I sold Beer in Wrigley Field for a few games because my grandfather was a beer vendor. I guess I looked old for my age. I just remember yelling “Beer Here!” and how heavy that case of bottles was. That was before the days of cans at the ball park).
The Cubs won 11-1 and as we were walking back to the car it began to rain.
We had Chicago pizza at my sister’s house that evening while Caren and my sister shopped.
The next day the burial was attended by about 20 family members. Then we all had lunch together at my sister’s home in Bolingbrook, (a western suburb of Chicago)
We were on the road by 2 p.m. I drove about 20 miles north and turned left on US 20. We are planning on driving US 20 all the way across the county, through Yellowstone Park, then on to Salem, Oregon. (Caren has family in Salem.)
So while the sun is dropping toward the horizon I have put the RV on “cruise control” and am driving as far west as I can today before I need to stop and get some sleep.
I am so impressed with the Interstate Highway System in Iowa. Each of the rest stops have free wireless Internet. Just pull off the National Highway Network System and log on to the International Network System. Why can’t all States do this? The default webpage that comes up has current road construction, locations of rest stops, and much more relevant information to the traveler.
I also discovered a few major intersections in Des Moines that also have free wireless service.
We were even more impressed with the Des Moines area then the Omaha area. I think it really reveals there is a lot of civic pride and future hope for the people who live here then in the big cities. The former looks healthy and prosperous, the latter looks decayed and dying.
We stopped in Altoona, Iowa. It is a N.E. Suburb of Des Moines. There is a large race track located there and about two years ago they got permission to develop a “Vegas-Style” casino. I really enjoyed the poker room. It was quiet, and plush, with friendly staff and about 7 tables. I joined a N/L game with a number of young men, some of them college students from the University nearby.
The level of play was fairly good.
It happened to me again.
One of the first hands I played was Pocket Aces. An Ace flopped, along with a 7 & J. I led the betting to the river. My three aces were ahead of three 7’s until the river. The river brought quad 7’s for the caller. I had Aces full of 7’s when I went all-in when the board paired. When he called me I assumed he had 7’s full. I could hardly believe it when he shouted four 7’s. Not even a bad beat jackpot. Just a low percentage bad beat on the river. He was drawing dead to every other card in the deck except that single “case seven”.
I was able to say “wow, and nice hand” with some sincerity.
The next three hours I enjoyed myself and played as well as I knew how, but was either “card dead” or my hands never improved. I left about $300 down consoling myself that I was up $600 from the day before so I still had a net gain of $300 on the trip so far.
We made our evening dinner in the RV and then I started driving for the Illinois/Iowa border. My plans were to play at the “Isle of Capri” in Bettendorf, Iowa on the Mississippi River. It was about 9:00 p.m. by the time we were at the border, and I had already let my family know I would be in Chicago by noon tomorrow. I decided it was a better idea to keep driving until I was about 2 hours away from Chicago, and then get a good night’s sleep. I wanted to be “ready” for my family tomorrow. So that evening we went to sleep in the RV in Rock Falls, Illinois, two hours west of Chicago.
The next morning we drove into Chicago and had lunch with my mother and brother. They filled us in on Donna’s last hours. It was pretty amazing. She had told us a few weeks ago she wanted to make it to her son’s 30th birthday, but she didn’t want to die on his birthday. She died at 12:03 A.M. (three minutes after her son’s birthday ended.) There is so much we don’t know about the human spirit. She was pretty much in great pain, no real ability to communicate with her family at the birthday celebration, in her home, but she “somehow” must have know when it was “over”.
The next day we attended the funeral. She had planned every detail of it and made every arrangement weeks before her death. She didn’t want her husband to have to do it during his grieving. She said she wanted to do that for her husband as a gift, so we would not have to do it after her death.
The funeral was attended by about 250 people and afterwards there was a dinner for all at the church where the funeral was conducted.
We spent Saturday evening just talking with my brother John and since the burial wasn’t until Monday I suggested I take him and his son to a “Cubs Game” at Wrigley Field. It was a pretty amazing game. The Cubs hit 4 homeruns and scored 7 runs in the first inning.
I had bought tickets from a “scalper” in a doorway right across the street from Wrigley Field. The tickets were fantastic. We were 5 rows behind third base on the Cubs side. I have never had better seats at any game I have attended. (B.T.W. When I was 16 I sold Beer in Wrigley Field for a few games because my grandfather was a beer vendor. I guess I looked old for my age. I just remember yelling “Beer Here!” and how heavy that case of bottles was. That was before the days of cans at the ball park).
The Cubs won 11-1 and as we were walking back to the car it began to rain.
We had Chicago pizza at my sister’s house that evening while Caren and my sister shopped.
The next day the burial was attended by about 20 family members. Then we all had lunch together at my sister’s home in Bolingbrook, (a western suburb of Chicago)
We were on the road by 2 p.m. I drove about 20 miles north and turned left on US 20. We are planning on driving US 20 all the way across the county, through Yellowstone Park, then on to Salem, Oregon. (Caren has family in Salem.)
So while the sun is dropping toward the horizon I have put the RV on “cruise control” and am driving as far west as I can today before I need to stop and get some sleep.
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