October 2, 2000
Because it's my birthday (60th one) today, I get to do what I want for most the day, and that's just what I'm doing. Updating the web page.
We're sitting in Brookline, NH, at the Field and Stream RV Park. We'll be leaving here the 19th to head to Florida for our winter "workcamping" experience. Got to the east coast last Thursday night after traveling 3400 miles since Sept. 17th. Spent a day having some maintenance done on the truck and 1/2 day having some work done on the trailer. Also, took a weekend off to visit with son Doug and family in St. Louis. Too much driving and not enough playing. Glad we're here though, and Barby's family is fun to visit with. We were playing dominoes and yucking it up with 2 of the sisters and their husbands last night (way, way past my bedtime!) when at 12:15 out came Jennie with a wonderful home-made coffee cake and some candles and everybody sang happy birthday to me. Big grin. I'd kinda wondered what was going on because there was more French spoken than normal, but I'd just shrugged it off. I'm used to missing chunks of conversation because I don't speak French, so it was a total surprise to me and I'd not even thought about my birthday. Barb's mom's birthday is the 3rd, and there's usually a party for that. Matter of fact we'll be going over tonight for her birthday dinner at yet another sister's place. Barb has 5 sisters and as you can guess, numerous nieces and nephews and grand-n & n's. Family all over the place. It'll take at least 2 weeks to see them all, and we'll never be more than 50 miles from the RV park.
In fairness, I really should pick up where I left off earlier, at Sturgis. And in fairness, I'm going to break the Yellowstone visit down into phases because of the volume of pictures. I resist taking scenery shots because they never really convey the feelings of the moment, and besides, I like people and "stuff" better than scenery anyway. Yellowstone was different. I lost control because of the awesome beauty and horror of the place. It really has to be seen to be believed. And I don't recommend reading the book about all the ways the park has killed people, either. I browsed it while Barb was doing some gift shopping. Virtually every fatality was because of somebody doing something either incredibly stupid or because they had flagrantly violated the "suggestions" on the signs alongside the walkways. On to the pictures......