Our next stop was Jackson, Wyoming, commonly known as Jackson Hole. Hole is not part of its official name, so of course I had to google to discover why. Trappers called the area a hole because they had to descend from the surrounding mountains into the valley where the town of Jackson lies, and they said it was like going into a hole. The RV parks in the area were way expensive at over $100 a day and most could not accommodate the length of our trailer. We ended up at Jackson Hole Campground which was within 5 miles of town and Grand Teton National Park. I would give it at best a two star review, and it cost a whopping $113 a night. We always waffle between the cost of the park and the time and expense involved in staying farther away. Location, location, location. The town of Jackson was cute with a park as the central square, lots of restaurants, gift shops of course and an old stagecoach giving rides.

The Tetons, viewed from the hole, are a magnificent sight that everyone has seen in photographs. It is the quintessential America the Beautiful image. Unfortunately, the smoke from the massive fires up north preceded us, so it was very hazy when we arrived and it got much worse over the few days we were there. It was really thick; at times we could barely see the mountains and it could even be seen in some of our ground level photos. I'm surprised we did not have respiratory problems. It was still an awesome view, just not what it might have been.

The Laurance Rockefeller Preserve was the #1 thing to see, so we chose it for our hiking day. I had read that you might have to wait to park at the visitors center, and sure enough we did. The lot probably only held 60 cars, so the park rangers made everyone wait in line till a spot opened. The roads into the park were too narrow for anyone to park, so there were no other options, except to go somewhere else. The Rangers were great, very friendly and helpful. The 1,100 acre preserve was once the Rockefeller family summer retreat. Laurance Rockefeller donated the land valued at $160 million, then spent $20 million removing 30 log buildings, and the two roads leading to them, restoring the preserve to its natural state, then building the visitors center. It is the largest donation to the park system on record. He believed that wildness renews people's spirit "In Wildness is the Preservation of the World". It is nice that they loved this place so much they wanted to share it with everyone.

When we started our hike at the visitor center one section was closed because there were two bear cubs up in a tree and the mama was nearby snacking on berries. The Rangers would not let anyone go down the trail where the mama bear was, but we could see one of the cubs. We hiked to Phelps Lake and got some good but somewhat hazy pics of the mountain range across the lake. The small parking lot meant there were not tons of people on the trail we chose. We much prefer it that way so we can enjoy the natural atmosphere. You would probably not be surprised to hear that we often come across people on the trail that are actually talking loudly and some are even playing their music over their phone speaker rather than using headphones. I guess they have no interest in seeing any wildlife.

As we were leaving the preserve, a group we met on the trail mentioned seeing some moose along the roadside nearby, so we went in that direction and spotted a traffic jam not too far away. Sure enough, there were two of them grazing only about 50 feet from the road. Bill luckily found a place to park our fat truck and we grabbed the cameras to join the large group of people along the road. My battery was dead, so I used the binoculars while Bill snapped away. The moose were munching tall grass as they walked along. At one point the bigger one with the massive rack wadded up to his knees into the creek that separated us from them and dipped his whole muzzle into the water. It was like watching a National Geographic show. Watch Bill's video and you will see what I mean. Awesome!!

While we were watching the moose, a lady said she had seen a grizzly along the roadside about ten minutes away, so we went looking for that. She had not been able to give clear instructions so we did not find the bear, but on our way back, we spotted the moose again and Bill took more pictures while I waited in the truck. I'm sure he had over 100 pictures.

When we were in Yellowstone, the guy parked next to us recommended we go to Bar J Chuckwagon while we were in Jackson. He said he had gone every year for the last five years it was so good. He told us to make reservations and get there early if we liked to sit close to the stage. When we arrived there was an old cowboy, on a horse named Lightning (he said his name was Thunder), giving instructions on where to park and how to line up for tickets. We got in line and paid $52 for our chicken and sliced beef BBQ dinner, seemed a bit expensive, but it covered the dinner, drinks (no alcohol), the show, tax, and tip. Actually very reasonable for such a touristy area.

A cowboy got up on stage and told us about the history of the Bar J Chuckwagon. His father had been a huge fan of the Singing Cowboys and had actually performed with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. He wanted to preserve that genre of music as well as bring people into Jackson so he built the Bar J as a Dinner Show almost 40 years ago. They are only open from Memorial Day through the end of September but still manage to feed upwards of 80,000 people a season. The father is now retired and the place is now run by his 2 sons. They are also quite talented musically and form the core of the quintet that performed.

Dinner was served trail style, meaning all 500 of us lined up to grab a tin plate and then food was spooned onto our plates as we passed by each server. Sort of buffet meets cafeteria style in a shed like building. Within 20 minutes, we were all served and chowing down on really excellent food. In addition to our meat selection (everyone who ordered chicken was made fun of for choosing that at a cattle ranch - they said chicken were too much trouble because they were so hard to brand) we had taters, beans, applesauce, cornbread, spice cake, lemonade, and coffee. If you wanted more, you could go back as much as you wanted. When you were done, you cleared your own dishes and took them out back.

The entertainment was five Cowboys called the Bar J Wranglers (we accidentally deleted our videos from the show but you can find them on YouTube), singing and telling jokes. One played an awesome steel guitar, banjo, and a couple of other instruments I had never seen before. I am not a country music fan, but these guys were fabulous. One of them had the deepest voice I have ever heard. He sounded like a foghorn when he dropped way down. I would guess his range was five octaves starting at a super low bass. They all played instruments and also sang some songs acapella. They made fun of each other and one told a story in Pig Latin style without the "a". For example: Ender Cella and her Sugly Fisters. It was hilarious. A great show that just about anyone would like. All in all a great value. So glad we went, and I would go again if we return to this area.

For our motorcycle ride we mapped a route up one of the Teton mountains, but the higher up we went, the worse the smoke got so we aborted that plan, and headed to the town we had chosen for lunch. We drove past it twice before we realized the half dozen buildings we went by was the entire town. We settled for a coke and a bag of chips and scrubbed the ride. Too bad, what we could see was very pretty. It is all so green that it is almost blue, with fields of yellow grasses and wild flowers along the shoulder.

One morning we saw what we thought was a wolf in the RV park. There were some kids playing outside, probably 4 and 6 years old. When they saw him they ran around the back of their trailer and went inside. I hollered for Bill to come look, and as you would expect, he grabbed the camera and went outside. The kids father came out, took one look and went back in (turns out it was a stray dog but it did look a little like a wolf). On the day we were packing up to leave, Bill went to take the trash out and discovered a moose in the RV park. We followed him around for probably half an hour taking a hundred more pictures, very cool! (Even though you are not supposed to approach Moose either, Dessa had no problem chasing the moose across the fields to get pictures).

Off we go, to Cheyenne for a couple of nights, then to Denver where we will park the trailer and head straight for the airport for our flight to Kitchener Ontario, via Dallas and Chicago, to visit Bill's family. We will be spending the weekend at his sister's cottage on Maple Lake for the annual summer get together and family Olympics. It's a beautiful place and always a lot of fun.
(RV'ing will resume on September 3rd.)