The drive home was quite pleasant. It’s about 200 miles from the Norris Campground to our house in Pocatello and took right at 4 hours. We had a major half-hour delay waiting for some bison to clear the road as we were driving to West Yellowstone. This must be the time of year that the bison migrate from one part of the park to another part as that waiting-for-the-bison event happened several times, mostly to traffic going the opposite direction. As I mentioned, this was the first time that Nina and I have been in Yellowstone by ourselves. I can’t count the number of times that we’ve visited Yellowstone and each of them have been delightful experiences.

Many years ago, shortly after we bought the Volkswagen camper when we were living in Indiana, we went out to Idaho in August and drove through Yellowstone on the way back. We camped in a forest service campground just outside the park on the road to Cody, Wyoming. A massive thunderstorm came through that night and the lightning and thunder was just awesome. Interestingly, all the kids slept through the storm!

Another trip to Yellowstone was made in conjunction with a family reunion in 1981. The year sticks out because just before we left on the trip to Idaho, I was notified by TRW that I was being laid off at the end of August. We had debated about doing the trip, which was around the 4th of July, but decided to spend the time and money as I was pretty sure I could find another job. Eileen and part of her family (along with her first husband Larry) met us in Yellowstone. We were in a small trailer and they had an older motorhome. Larry and I both had to leave for a couple of weeks for business, but Nina and Eileen vacationed together for more than a week in Yellowstone and Jackson before I flew back and we headed home to Chardon, Ohio.

Just before we moved to Japan in 1995, Nina’s son (she had given him up for adoption before we met) tracked her down. He was living in Connecticut and flew out to meet with Nina. They took a short trip together to Yellowstone to get acquainted with each other before Nina left for a three-year stay in Japan.

Our last trip to Yellowstone was for a small family reunion in August, 2000. Dawnmarie brought Trevor’s granddaughter Kendra with them, Trevor drove up from California, and all the kids except James and Jared were there for the week. We had a great time and took not nearly enough pictures. There’s one special picture of Trevor and Kendra that sits on the nightstand by Nina’s side of the bed.

Yellowstone is a place of wonderful memories for us. I expect we’ll make several more visits over the next few years. We scouted out camp spots at Canyon campground for our next visit — perhaps in the late spring next year? We also want to figure out how to take mom and dad with us on a visit to Yellowstone. Dad might enjoy the fishing! Meanwhile, we’re home, unpacked, and resting up from the trip. The accompanying pictures might bring back memories for someone in the family — if that person remembers to look at the web page??

We’re on our way home from Yellowstone National Park. We’ve just passed Rexburg, Idaho. The Snake River plain sure is flat! After being up in the mountains for a couple of days, the flatness down here is quite the contrast. It’s also quite a bit warmer here as well. The SprintPCS wireless card picked up a connection in Ashton, but lost it again between there and St. Anthonly. It’s been pretty solid since then. I was trying to read home e-mail using GoToMyPC, but the resonse time is just too slow.

We were definitely disconnected in Yellowstone. Too much so, actually. There doesn’t seem to be even analog cell service anywhere we were in the park. Both Nina and I needed to make a couple of phone calls and had to use pay phones to do so. Maybe the park makes money off the pay phones? I’d vote for having reasonable cell service at least at the larger campgrounds. On the other hand, it was nice being completely out of the loop on everything. We’ll get home around 2:30 this afternoon and then we’ll see what’s been happening while we were vacationing.

This will likely be the last use of the RV before winter. Since we bought it late last year we’ve used it several times, but mostly for non-vacation activities, such as relocating from Colorado Springs to Pocatello! This was the first time that we’ve been camping in the RV just to go camping since we bought it. It’s also the first time we’ve been camping just to go camping since Memorial Day 2003! We’ve spent a lot of time in the trailer and then the RV since then, but always with some other agenda in mind, such as the family reunion for Nina’s side of the family last summer. This is also the first time Nina and I have been to Yellowstone Park without family with us. We had a very relaxing couple of days and enjoyed being together.

We left Pocatello about 6 p.m. on Thursday evening and drove to the campground at Norris in the Park. It took a little under 4 hours door to door. We found a campsite, parked, and went to bed. The next day we moved to a little better campsite where we spent Friday and Saturday nights. In a later post (when we get home), I’ll put up some pictures and other details about the short vacation.

Today would have been Trevor’s 33rd birthday and later on Nina and I will release some balloons in his memory. There’s a pretty good wind blowing today so the balloons should get a long ride before coming to the ground.

However, rather than being 33 today, Trevor will be forever 29. Somewhere around 2 or 3 a.m. on Thursday, January 18, 2001, Trevor and John (aka Fred) Adamson were driving up Mill Creek Canyon on the east side of Salt Lake City. Trevor was driving the car, failed to negotiate a turn, and both of them were killed. Details about the accident and funeral are in the "Trevor G. Smith" link on the right.

We didn’t know that Trevor was in Salt Lake City that day. I had tried to reach him on his cell phone the day previously without any success as I was in California on business and could have arranged to fly back to Colorado Springs through Los Angeles and perhaps see him at the airport. The accident intervened and Trevor stopped getting any older. It is still a very tender wound that will probably never really heal. Trevor loved Yellowstone Park and the last time we spent any significant time together was at a family reunion at Yellowstone Park. He drove his old, brown Volkswagon bus (there aren’t many of these old busses around anymore, but whenever I see a brown one I’m reminded of Trevor). So Nina and I will go to Yellowstone this weekend on a small camping trip and will remember Trevor while we are there. Thanks for calling, Jim, and remembering Trevor’s birthday!

Just about the only cure for jetlag is sleep — and a lot of it. Today I finally feel back to normal and will probably make it all the way to a normal bedtime. That’s just in time to get ready for a short camping trip this weekend. I’ll take Friday off from work and we’ll head somewhere into the mountains. The main candidate right now is Yellowstone, but Challis also is a possibility. We’ll be working on putting the RV back in shape tonight and will probably make the decision. Bradica (the dog) will have surgery on Thursday to remove a cyst, have her teeth cleaned, and her nails done, so leaving before Friday morning is out of the question. The landscaping guy will also come over Thursday evening to show us some options for doing the yard.

I’m also having some trouble coming to grips with it now being September. This has been a very eventful summer and time has gone by so quickly it’s like there was no summer at all. On the other hand, the cruise to Alaska seems to have been an eternity ago. In less than a month we will be on a cruise boat headed downriver from Budapest and that also seems to have come up very suddenly. Time certainly is relative!

Mom and dad stopped in for a while on Monday morning (Labor Day). Dad needed a few things from Home Depot, so I went over with him to do some shopping myself. What’s a week without a visit to Home Depot! I want to move the refrigerator in the garage to the other side and need to put power over there to plug it in. I’ve now got most of the parts I need to make that move. One more trip to Home Depot should do the trick. Saturday afternoon Nina and I went to Blackfoot to the Eastern Idaho State Fair, along with several thousand other people. The fair was so crowded as to be uninviting. We were there for about three hours before coming home. We both felt we had pictures and other items worthy of entry into the fair. Maybe next year?

It’s surprising how wonderful the bed feels after being up and traveling
for about 22 hours. Just being able to lie down and stretch out is a great
feeling.

The flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake City was significantly delayed,
but there was plenty of time to catch the connection to Pocatello. Because
of the delay a bunch of people making connections changed to other flights
on America West through Phoenix. So the airplane was pretty empty. It was a
Regional Jet capable of 48 passenger with about 15 total souls on board.

Nina picked me up along with Bradica (the dog). By 11:30 p.m. I was
stretched out enjoying being back in my own bed. Life is good!

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

I’ve arrived in San Francisco and am waiting for my flight to Salt Lake City. My worry about getting through immigration and customs was completely unfounded! What a pleasant surprise! I was among the first folks off the airplane and had about a 10 minute wait to get to the immigration official. A couple of questions later I was on my way to pick up my luggage and go through customs. Both of my bags were already there and had been pulled off the luggage carousel, just waiting for me. The customs official waved me through the “nothing to declare” line and I was on my way to Terminal 1 and my flight to Salt Lake City. I was really impressed. Way to go San Francisco Airport!

On the other hand, the flight to Salt Lake City is delayed. I’ve got a long layover there, so that’s not a problem. I guess I wait either here or there. The SFO airport is fairly quiet this afternoon. It’ll be interesting to see how many people are on my flight to Salt Lake. Right now there are about 15 people waiting with a little less than an hour before we board the flight

This is the first time I’ve been able to download e-mail for several days. The Sprint PCS Wireless Card comes in handy, although it is not a real speed demon. I had 957 e-mails waiting. About 30% are spam, all of the rest from one of the two e-mail lists that I subscribe to. The e-mail should be downloaded by the time we board the airplane. I’ll do some reading of e-mail on the way to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, it’s good to be this far on my way home from a two-week business trip.

The flight from London to San Francisco crossed over from Canadian airspace
to United States airspace a few minutes ago, meaning that technically I’m
back in the USA. The 10:06 flight is about 80 minutes from landing.

Everything has been uneventful. Service has been OK and I’m only somewhat
tired. I’m looking forward to being up and walking around more than
anything else.

This routing was picked to determine if Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic
was a reasonable substitute for Business Class on Delta. Answer: No. The
seating is not nearly as comfortable and the service is essentially
Economy.

The next question was if it was worth it to have one very long leg and
three shorter legs rather than one short leg and two longer legs with one
of the long legs in economy. Answer: No. The accomodations on this flight
are pretty tight making it difficult to get up and walk around. A break in
the middle has good value. Also, it’s about a 50-50 chance of beiing
upgraded on Delta’s economy leg.

On the other hand, the accomodations in Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic are
pretty nice. I’ll want to check out the pricing.

My next trip is in early October and Nina is coming with as we’ll do the
European river cruise right after that. That trip is already booked on
Delta since we need to use some frequent flier miles to buy an upgrade for
Nina.

The next trip after that will be after the beginning of next year. There is
a very slim possibility of a trip to Manila in November, but more likely
after the begining of next year.

We’ve just flown over Walla Walla, Washington. The next big ordeal will be
immigration and customs in San Francisco. It is never straight forward and
always takes a long time. I’ll get plenty of stand-up time there, for sure.

My day started at 7 am London time, about midnight Pocatello time. If
everything goes as planned, I’ll arrive home about 11:30 pm — meaning I
will have been up for 24 hours on this return trip. Isn’t travelling
fun….

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld