Return Trip: Final Day

Traveling around with Tora everywhere including having him sit at my table when I eat at outdoor cafes, reminds me of a really strange guy we met in Kathmandu. He was wearing a plastic garbage bag and if I recall correctly he had one on his dog as well. The whole time we (Guy and Mikey and I) sat at that cafe, the dude carried on a conversation with himself or his dog. I wonder if I am getting like him...
The trip back was long, hot and uneventful. Made it back home around 6:45pm despite a traffic jam on the bridge.

Return Trip: Day 6

Was worried last night. There was a fire along the road into Yellowstone and there was some chance they'd close the road. Luckily, they didn't. Instead, we were left with a nice, "campfire memories" type smell.
I found the two parks on either side of Yellowstone, Shoshone National Forest and Grand Tetons, to have much more awe-inspiring. Especially, the later which are the most awesome I have seen.
To me the attractive part of Yellowstone is more like a zoo. There are wandering wildlife. Tora totally freaked twice when we had to stop to let bison cross the road. I think he screamed the dog equivalent to "Hey, watch where yous goin'!"
Old faithful was a bit of a let down. I was expecting some awesome spout. Instead, it is not much higher than a public fountain. Hell, I could spit higher than that!
Drove to Twin Falls Idaho today.

Return Trip: Day #5

It was a hard decision.
It may be the world's largest graffiti, but I cannot say that I was that interested in seeing Mount Rushmore.
That said, I was quite glad to make the trip. The site itself was beautiful, but more for the natural rock surrounding it. The Black Hills (home of Rocky Raccoon) are quite attractive.
From there I drove through Bighorn National Forest. This may be the most beautiful forest I have ever seen with dark green rolling hills and rugged stone mountains in the distance.
From there we went through some very ugly farming areas.
Along the way we passed:
Crazy Woman Creek
Crazy Woman Canyon
and
Crazy Woman Cafe

Return Trip: Day #3 & 4

I took one day off to visit with my father and his wife, Jan.
Tora also enjoyed it greatly since there were squirrels all over the place and my father's dog Erma to play with.
On Monday I started driving again, going from Minneapolis to Wall, South Dakota, home of Wall Drug. This was no surprise since from 355 miles away there were signs for their main shop and they continued the whole trip.
South Dakota seems to be the billboard heaven. There were signs for every cheesy tourist stop along the way. My favorite was the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD.
The Jeep has to have some of the worst aerodynamics of any car out there. I was blown around like crazy every gust of wind.
Today was the first day that I did some actual tourism. I went to see the Badlands. They were quite beautiful. To get into the right mood I played Ry Cooder's soundtrack to Paris Texas. It totally fit the scenery except for the fact that I listened to it twice and was still driving. Toward the end I came really close to running out of gas which is probably not a good thing to do in the Badlands.

Return Trip: Day #2

The 2nd day was quite uneventful. I drove from Toledo via Chicago to my father's place in Minneapolis. During the trip I made one mistake which cost me 30-45 minutes.
The photo with the statue below was a somewhat offensive statue of an American Indian at a gasoline station.

Return Trip: Day #1

It was so so nice to spend more than a month in the summer in Matunuck.
What added to the pleasure was the knowledge that I was getting just as much work done while there than I would if I were back in SF.
Tora also seemed to really like it. Liz said that Bella panicked after Tora left, looking all around the house for him. I am sure the feeling was mutual.
On the final morning I packed up the car. Although he normally never leaves my side, this time he would not leave the side of the car.
I got a relatively late start of just before 9am but was still able to get to my destination, Toledo OH, on time.

Last week in Matunuck

Tora Playing with his cousin.