Wednesday, April 11 - Sunday, April 15, 2001

Well, what can I say, Jackpot is not a big place. We drove into Twin Falls, Idaho, a couple days just to get away from the casino for a while. We stopped at the library there and checked our emails. It was quite a shock to find a Pollstar update indicating that Dan would be playing in my home state in June!

We drove up to Shoshone Falls because the information we had before we left indicated that they were incredible. It took us forever to find them! There was so little water going over that we kept driving by thinking that we were in the wrong place! That was probably the biggest disappointment of the whole trip.

During the cocktail show on Wednesday night, Wendie and I were moved to tears when Dan stepped up to the mike and said the next song was for two ladies that drove over 1800 miles to see them and that this song was for Wendie and Vickie. He then proceeded to play "One Friend". The amusing part was that before the show when we were standing in line, we got to talking to a couple from Iowa. Just as they opened the doors to the showroom, she asked our names again so that she could remember them. When Dad said the song was for us, we could hear this voice in the back of the room going "ALL RIGHT!".

It seemed like time flew during our stay in Jackpot. We didn't win on the machines, but gave them a pretty good try. Before we knew it we were attending the last show. Afterwards, when I went up to talk to Dan, I told him a handshake just wouldn't do it after having sat through 12 shows. He gave me a big hug and thanked me again for coming.

Monday, April 16, 2001

Well, knowing that the guys were leaving the same morning we were, we decided to get on the road ahead of them. Wendie went down for breakfast while I showered and finished packing. She ran into Duke and Porter in the café. When she got back up to the room, we hauled everything down to the main floor and piled it up. I stood there "guarding" our possessions while Wendie went to check us out of the motel. While standing there, Duke and Porter came along on their way back from breakfast. We visited for a bit and wished each other a safe trip home. Wendie and I packed everything into the car before we realized that we had no clue what roads we needed to take to get us headed home. We got out the map and were checking it out, using the trunk as a table, when Duke came out to get their rental car. Once again he wished us a safe trip and drove around to the front of the casino. We decided to read the map later and just get going before they did.

We weren't much more than ten miles out of Jackpot when they passed us. Unfortunately, we ran into road construction about that time and ended up following them almost all the way into Twin Falls, Idaho. So much for the best laid plans!

We stopped in Twin Falls to replenish our supply of potato chips and soda, then hit the road. We stopped for the night in West Yellowstone, Montana. After checking into a room, we asked for a recommendation of a place to eat. They suggested Bullwinkle's. It was a combination of bar and restaurant and quite small. The food, however, was very good.

Because of the time of year, that entrance to Yellowstone was still closed and the few tourist things we wanted to do, were also closed. We went back to the motel and watched TV.

Tuesday, April 17, 2001

The car was acting up this morning. I drove around town a bit to try and work out the problem, but it didn't seem to want to go away. We decided to try for Bozeman, Montana, and a Buick dealership. About two miles out of West Yellowstone, the "check engine" light started flashing at me and the dash started beeping. I made a u-turn and drove back into town, this time to find a garage. We drove around the town but couldn't find a garage that was open. When we stopped at a red light, for some reason, the car settled down and started purring like a kitten again. Once again we headed out of town, but this time nothing stopped us. The drive from West Yellowstone to Bozeman was absolutely beautiful. We saw a moose and a pair of wolves. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures on the moose but did get some of the wolves.

When we got to Bozeman, I did stop at the Buick dealership and explained what had happened and that I was driving a rental. The fellow there was extremely helpful. He hooked up a computer to the car and found that our problem was an "engine misfire". He said it could have been just a particle of dust on one of the fuel injectors that cause the problem. In any event, he saw no reason to not trust the vehicle and we hit the road again.

From Bozeman, we drove to Livingston on the interstate and then headed back south to the north entrance to Yellowstone. Once again, the drive was gorgeous. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon when we got to Gardiner, Montana. We found a motel room, then headed into the park on what roads were open. Basically, we went from Mammoth Hot Springs to Cooke City, Montana, and back. During the drive, however, we saw tons of wildlife. There were, elk, antelope, deer, buffalo, wolves, eagles and a grizzly bear. This was probably my tenth trip to Yellowstone and it was the first time I saw a bear! Of course, when we stopped to take pictures, the ranger was kind enough to tell us to keep moving. We did. Shortly after that, we saw a HUGE herd of elk. We stopped to take a few pictures. While there, we visited with another couple of tourists. As we were talking, a "dog" started stalking the herd of elk. They started running. What a sight that was! It was like a river of animals flowing up the mountainside. At that point another ranger (not the same one that asked us to keep moving) stopped to see what was going on. He acted like it was our fault for scaring the elk. After all four of us told him we had seen the "dog" he finally believed us, but he never saw it. The next morning, while visiting with Cathy in the Gold Strike Gift shop, we found out that the "dog" was a wolf. When we saw it, we weren't sure if it was a coyote or a wolf. According to Cathy, a coyote wouldn't bother the elk, but a wolf would.

Click on scenic photos to see enlargements and descriptions

West Yellowstone area

Heading into Gardiner, Montana - north Yellowstone

View from the Gardiner, Montana motel room

A rare site

The Elk were everywhere

The Elk herd moving after a wolf harrassed them

So sad....