Two States twice, One state Thrice

Once we left the Dakota’s, I was back to thinking that daddy needed his compass fixed again!

We went into Wyoming, then Montana, then back into Wyoming again, then back into Montana again, then Idaho and back into Montana one more time and then back into Idaho!  I had no idea what was going on!

Then daddy said to me, “It’s all about the journey Youk, not the destination.”

I was like, “Really daddy???  You finally figured that one out?  It only took 52 years of you rushing here, there, and everywhere before you finally figured out how to slow down.  Just make sure that you don’t forget that the next time that we’re walking and I want to stop and smell something and you’re all worried about the pace of our walk on your Map My Walk app.  You better not forget that it’s all about the journey, not the destination or our pace!”

Our first time through Wyoming, we crossed the state line right around dusk.  We stopped at the Wyoming Welcome Center to grab a snack and go potty.  Mommy also grabs all kinds of maps and books when we stop at those places.  Then we drove until about 11 PM to a Wal-Mart in Sheridan, Wyoming.  We were going to sleep there for the night and go see daddy’s friend from high school, Ray Schell the next day.  Mommy and daddy and Ray hadn’t seen each other for almost 30 years and that was too long.

When we got to that Wal-Mart, it was like a campground!  There were at least 20 other houses on wheels in that parking lot.  It was really cool, there were ones that were much bigger than ours and ones that were much smaller too.  It was so neat to see all of the other houses on wheels that were staying at the Wal-Mart that night, I don’t know why, but I just thought that it was neat to see them all.

After we got up the next day, we went to Petco to get some food for me!  Yep, food for me!  I was so happy, mommy and daddy made sure that I was going to be able to eat for a while.

Then we stopped and did some laundry.  None of that laundry was mine though.  It was all mommy and daddy’s laundry that we washed that day.  That’s pretty much the way it is every time that we do laundry, I never need to have anything washed.  Every once in a while, mommy will wash one of my toys, but that’s her idea, not mine.  I don’t even need those washed, but she does it for me anyway because she loves me so much.

When we left Sheridan, we started our drive up to Tongue River Reservoir State Park.  That’s the state park in Decker, Montana that daddy’s friend Ray runs.  We were going to be staying there for two nights.

As soon as we got to the park, Ray came out to greet us.  He was a neat guy.  Mommy and daddy and Ray had real big smiles on their faces when they saw each other.

Once we got set-up, mommy and daddy went up and had lunch with Ray and his wife Judy Rae.  Once again, they came back and didn’t bring me any leftovers!  Ugh.

Our three days there were really fun.  The one morning, daddy and I got up to see the sunrise and took a three-mile walk.  Mommy slept in that morning, but she went on a walk by herself later in the morning.  She also got to walk more when her and daddy and Ray went on a little hike at another one of the state parks that Ray is in charge of.

Mommy and daddy had a lot fun while they were visiting with Ray and Judy Rae.  I could tell how happy they were because they always had big smiles on their faces whenever they got back to the house on wheels after visiting with them.

It was sad when we left because I know that mommy and daddy really enjoyed their time with their old friends.  I only got to meet Ray and Judy Rae for a short time while we were there because they have cats in their house, but Judy Rae knew exactly how to pet me when I met her.  Even though she had cats, I could tell that she could easily be a dog person too.  Ray liked me a lot too, you can just pick up on the positive vibes that some people give off, I guess that’s why mommy and daddy liked them so much.

Daddy calls people that he really connects with, “his kind of weird.”  I’m daddy’s “kind of weird” too and I’m glad.

After we left Montana, we went back down into Wyoming.  We were going to a campground in Cody for the weekend.  On our way there, we went through some of the biggest mountains that we have driven through yet and they were just breathtaking.  They were called the Bighorn Mountains, and they were REALLY BIG!

They had a bunch of places for us to pull over and look at the views and I think that mommy and daddy stopped at almost all of those places.  Mommy and daddy have really learned to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation on this journey.  I’m glad because I’ve been trying to teach them this stuff for a long time.  Sometimes humans take a while to learn things, but you can’t give up on them, you just have to keep showing them the right way.  It can be frustrating sometimes, but eventually, they’ll catch on.  Just like daddy finally catching on to take time and enjoy the journey.

We were at a KOA in Cody, Wyoming.  Cody was named after William Cody, who was better known as “Buffalo Bill.”

It was a neat campground, we walked around each day and a couple people would come up to me and start petting me.  I’m sure that I had made their day when they did that.

After Cody, we were heading into Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Tetons.

We stayed at another campground in between Yellowstone and Cody for one night so that we could get an early start into Yellowstone the next day.

Yellowstone was amazing.  Unfortunately, I’m not allowed on a lot of the trails, but I could still see a lot of things from the parking area and the house on wheels if mommy and daddy didn’t get me out at a stop.  I’d yell at them a little bit if they went to see something and I couldn’t go with them, but deep down, I understood why.  I just still wanted to make sure that they knew that I would have preferred to be with them.

We spent two days in Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons and it was so awesome.  We got to see the sunrise in The Grand Tetons and then I got walk up to some horses.  I like horses.  We covered a lot of ground in those two days between Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons.  It was some of the neatest things that we’ve seen on our journey so far.  I didn’t like when we stopped at the mud volcanos though because they smelled really bad, and I mean REALLY BAD.

After our second day in Yellowstone, it was time for us to head to Idaho to stay at Henrys Lake State Park.  To get to Idaho, we had to go back into Montana again, but it was only for a few miles.

Daddy’s friend April and her husband, Justin were staying at the same campground that we were going to.  This made daddy happy.  April and Justin are from Berks County, where we used to live too.  They live in a house on wheels too and travel with their puppy.  Her name is Georgia.  I didn’t meet her because I don’t like other dogs, but I sure would smell her whenever mommy and daddy would come back from visiting with April and Justin.  This made mommy and daddy happy to get to spend time with April and Justin.  April and Justin are daddy’s “kind of weird” too.

That’s mommy and daddy’s favorite part of our journey, when they can hang out with friends and family.

April and Justin’s house on wheels is different than ours though.  Theirs is in two pieces and comes a part if they want it to.  Mommy and daddy went in the front part of their house on wheels to get lunch the one day and they left the back part in the campground.  That seemed so weird to me because our house on wheels stays in one piece all of the time.

I liked the state park, my daddy and I went for a three-mile walk on the trail loop that was there and it was really pretty.  We went through fields and woods and walked right near the lake.  I wasn’t allowed to go swimming in that lake though because the algae count was too high.  I don’t know what that meant, but I know that my daddy doesn’t ever want me to get sick.

One time when we were at the state park, April and Justin came to our house on wheels and visited me!  I liked them both, other than the fact that they smelled like that Georgia chick.  Although, while they were in my house on wheels, I made sure that I rubbed up against them every chance that I got so that Georgia would smell me when they got back to her!  Two can play that game, girl!

When we left the state park in Idaho, we stopped to do laundry again.  I’m so glad that I don’t need laundry like mommy and daddy do.  We ate lunch while we were doing the laundry.

Then, we started to drive again and we went back into Montana.  I had no idea what we were doing?  This was our third time into Montana, I definitely thought I had to get into daddy’s Amazon account and get him that new compass.  This guy was driving all over the place.  He definitely didn’t pay attention in school when they went over the whole shortest distance between two points thing, that’s for sure.

We drove for several hours and right as it was starting to get dark, we pulled into a Cracker Barrel.  I was like, “Wow!  We haven’t been to a Cracker Barrel for such a long time!”

Mommy and daddy ate dinner at the Cracker Barrel this time instead of breakfast like they normally do because daddy wanted to get up before the sun and start driving again.  He wanted to get to our friend Ron McCoy’s house in Washington, so he wanted to make sure that we got an early start the next day.

We did, mommy and daddy got up when it was still dark and woke me up too.  I went potty and we started driving right away.  I didn’t even get to eat breakfast.  Daddy said that he wanted to drive for awhile before we ate.  I know that mommy and daddy didn’t ask my opinion when they were talking about that because when I get up, I want to eat.  Poop and eat, that’s my routine.  Not poop, drive, and eat two hours later!  I don’t know where daddy came up with that idea, but that’s what we did.

We drove for two hours, but when we stopped, we were back in Idaho, and the clock said that we had only driven for an hour.  I was so confused.  We left the Cracker Barrel at 6 AM, we drove for two hours, but it was only 7 AM!  What was going on?!

Then mommy and daddy explained to me that we were now in Pacific Time.  I remembered this from back in Indiana and North Dakota when all of sudden we traveled backwards in time.  I still don’t understand it, but I knew that my belly was telling me that it was past my breakfast time.

We got into Washington state a little while later and then stopped for lunch and got the house on wheels washed before we stopped again for mommy to go food shopping.

We are slowly getting close to Ron’s house and the Pacific Ocean and I was getting so excited to see it!

Daddy said that we’d get there the next day and I can’t wait to tell everyone about my Pacific Ocean adventures in Washington state!