drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  529,755

Odometer (ILX):  84,086

Leg Distance:  1,307 Miles

On Sunday morning, I slid open the window of room 418 in the historic Pollard Hotel in Red Lodge, Montana around 6:15 a.m. Fresh rains had left moisture on everything in sight, and the smell was better than any “spring rain” scented laundry detergent has ever been able to duplicate. This was the real deal.

Still digesting Saturday night’s steak dinners and anxious to hit the highway, we opted out of the complimentary sit-down breakfast in the lobby and fired up the ILX for our next day on the road. Multiple route choices presented themselves, but ultimately we decided to take Highway 78 to the northwest which would link us to Interstate 90 and through Bozeman, Montana. The 49 miles between Red Lodge and Columbus passed through rolling green hills with scattered farms throughout. Every home had a red barn in the backyard.

Dad took over the wheel for the next 97 westward miles to Bozeman, then the next 80 miles to West Yellowstone via Highway 191. We admired the wildlife and the scenery as we paralleled the Gallatin River.

By the time we arrived in West Yellowstone, we’d worked up an appetite (you know, from all that sitting in the car). Outpost Restaurant had opened for lunch just 15 minutes prior, so we stepped through the antler-lined entryway and grabbed a table. Our server started reciting the day’s specials: “First of all, we have a homemade meatloaf with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies, and then we have baked chicken and…” I knew already what my dad would be ordering. We are both suckers for meatloaf. It was well worth the $9.99.

Despite having seen a bear in Yellowstone Park the day prior, we wanted to see a little more wildlife before heading back home, so we pulled off Highway 20 just west of Rexburg, Idaho and visited a drive-through wildlife park called “Bear World.” Seriously.  $16 each for adult entry gets you a ~25 minute driving tour that loops through a (secured / fenced) park that’s home to 45 bears as well as numerous elk, deer, and other critters. As the attendant swung the gate open for us, we were instructed: “Windows rolled up at all times. Speed limit is 3-5 miles per hour. Do not stop or back up.” Dad and I did oblige, mostly. It was unreal to see a brown bear come waddling out of a watering hole and shake his fur off, then mosey right alongside the ILX as if we weren’t even there.

In Idaho Falls, I had dad take the wheel and we sailed southward at 75 miles per hour toward the Utah state line.  The icing on the cake for this day’s drive was when my dad introduced me to a new (to me) stretch of road called Weston Canyon.  It’s known as Highway 36 and located in southeastern Idaho. The two-laner winds past two reservoirs:  Deep Creek and Weston Reservoir, both nestled in lush green valleys and surrounded by scattered farms.

I settled in for the night in Salt Lake City, Utah in anticipation of my trip’s long 10-hour remaining stretch for the following day.  The next morning, I was up & out the door by 6:30 in the morning and headed southbound on Interstate 15 through southern Utah, Las Vegas, Nevada, and then on in through northwestern Arizona and dropping down into Phoenix.  By the time I got home, the temperature had crept up to 110 degrees.  I wished I was back at Beartooth Pass breathing the fresh, cool mountain air, but feeling satisfied at another trip checked off the bucket list!

Here are the rest of the pictures from this third leg of one of my biggest trips of the summer so far.  Here is our departure from Red Lodge with drops of water on the car and a crisp, refreshing breeze in the air.

Columbus, Montana is the only place I’ve ever seen 85.5 octane fuel offered.

The following picture is for blog reader Carlos in Florida, who alerted me to the fact recently that this week is the 30th anniversary of the world premiere of Ghostbusters in 1984.  I noticed the “Ellen” movie theater in Bozeman, Montana was hosting a Ghostbusters movie trivia night.  Carlos, how well would you have done in the competition?

We hit road construction for a few miles on U.S. 191 southbound between Bozeman, and West Yellowstone, MT.

Soon, we arrived in West Yellowstone and got rained on by just a few sprinkles.

Meatloaf at the Outpost Restaurant!  Highly recommended.  Half-eaten, sorry.

Photos from Bear World, between Rexburg and Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Check out the lengthy Park Rules and Guidelines.  “Always give animals the right-of-way!”

Sage advice.

First elk sighting.

Getting access to the bear zone.

And there he goes.  Right off the bat, there was a brown bear (fresh out of a nearby pond) sauntering across our path.

Our last diversion for the day:  Weston Canyon in southern Idaho.

Great roads – we saw a few motorcyclists out this way.

Selfie!  From the passenger seat, too — not a place I’m sitting very often.

Check out this fuel economy over the 750 miles from Cooke City, Montana to northern Utah!  All those 45-65 mph roads really translated into some great MPGs.

In central Utah, speed limits are 80 for most of the time so I set the cruise control accordingly.

Quick stop in southern Utah – back in red rock country.

Onward into Nevada.

And home sweet home!  Thank you all for being a part of this trip.

Odometer (Legend):  529,752

Odometer (ILX):  84,031

Leg Distance:  229 Miles

“Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play.”  Surely the 1873 poem “Home on the Range” was written about Yellowstone National Park!  In fact, it happens to have been written just one year after then-U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant named that 3,500-square-mile area as the country’s first national park.  In the couple hundred miles driven in my Acura ILX on Saturday, my dad and I saw hundreds of the massive animals for which the park has become famous.

Saturday was the long-awaited day for our trip on the Beartooth Highway. By the time the morning sun had peeked over the eastern horizon, my dad and I had already made our way to Jackson, Wyoming’s best breakfast joint: The Bunnery. Known for its “OSM” (oat, sunflower, and millet) bread, the Bunnery serves up French toast that ranks as one of my favorite breakfast dishes.

Highway 89 beckoned as we set our sights on the towering Rocky Mountains. Grand Teton, at 13,700 feet, stays snow-capped and glacier-covered for the entire year. There are half a dozen or so turnouts where people can park alongside the road and admire the mountain range.

We paid our $25 entry to Grand Teton National Park (which also covered us for Yellowstone) and continued on. Though the speed limit through much of the parks is only 35 mph, the slower pace allows for more appreciation of the scenery all around. The winding two-lane road travels through a variety of landscapes – from densely wooded and immensely tall lodgepole pine forests, to grassy rolling hills, past rivers and lakes and always in sight of those magnificent mountains. My dad was on wildlife watch. “Be Bear Aware,” advised the roadside signs. We did see a bear at one point – and so did dozens of other visitors who had pulled off the road and set up their tripods for the occasion.

Yellowstone is a famous place for studying geologic activity.   Today, over 3 million people visit the park each year. Their first destination is usually Old Faithful, a famous geyser which erupts every 91 minutes. Yellowstone even also has an active volcano called the Yellowstone Caldera.  We visited Lower Falls, at 308 feet, which are the tallest falls in the park.  The sound of the water crashing down was loud even from a distance!

After probably driving within the park for 100 miles, we finally made our exit out the northeast entrance. The town of Silver City wasn’t more than just a few buildings, but within 4 miles we’d arrived in a settlement nestled at the base of the peaks in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness: Cooke City. My dad is always intrigued with places like Cooke City and asks: “What do people do here?” Due to seasonal road closures, the city is essentially isolated for the better part of a year. No doubt the hot place in town was Beartooth Café, where we ordered burgers and talked with the locals about what it’s like to live in such a rugged place.

Beartooth Highway first opened on June 14, 1936 after a painstaking construction effort. Its lesser-known name is U.S. Route 212. From Cooke City, we’d be dipping back into northern Wyoming for a stretch, then re-entering Montana. I put on my sunglasses, buckled up, and gripped the steering wheel tightly. We were ready. We were about to experience a road that’s a favorite of motorcyclists and sports car enthusiasts from all over. Over the course of one specific 12-mile stretch, we rose about 3,000 feet in elevation. At the summit, Beartooth Pass, the elevation tops out at a whopping 10,947 feet. Weather conditions are volatile at best – with severe thunderstorms, heavy winds, and snowstorms common – even during the summer! We lucked out and didn’t encounter any of that. Annual road closures take effect from mid-October until Memorial Day.

I pulled the ILX off the road for several breathtaking photo-ops. Fresh snow runoff had created dozens of waterfalls all around us. The higher in elevation we got, the higher the snow drifts alongside the road – sometimes towering above us at 3 or 4 times the height of the car. I cannot imagine what a chore it must have been for the snowplows to first blaze their way through the pass a couple of weeks ago for the first time this year. While temperatures only dipped as low as the mid-40’s Fahrenheit, it would have still been a very chilly ride for the few motorcyclists we saw along the way. Each turn presented a new dramatic vista. Clear mountain air allowed us to see many many miles into the distance.

At one point we pulled over and watched from a distance as some daredevil skiers rocket down the hillside on what appeared to be a totally vertical slope. We also were able to see “the” Bear’s Tooth for which the road was named. From there, it was a white-knuckle descent for about the next 20 miles. Switchbacks had been blazed through the hillside but it was hard to believe just how technical the road was about to get. Some of the hairpin curves made almost complete circles as we made the 6-8% grades. I used my 6-speed manual transmission to brake the car rather than ‘riding’ the brakes down the grade.

After what seemed like a forever-long descent, we finally found ourselves at ground level and continued the remaining 15 or so miles into the town of Red Lodge. Our hotel was the historic Pollard Hotel on Broadway. It was the first brick structure in the town, dating back to 1893. The Pollard (and its associated ‘friendly ghosts’ that haunt it) has been a long-time icon in the valley. There’s an entire room located at the southeast corner called the “history room” – chock full of pictures and newspaper articles related to The Pollard’s past. That room, incidentally, was at one time the town’s post office.

Dad and I enjoyed the chance to stretch our legs and wander around the historic downtown district. An old movie theatre had been converted into a gigantic candy store.  We ate dinner at Bridge Creek Restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel, then called it a night, leaving the hotel room window open and enjoying the breeze.

Here are the rest of the pictures and a short video from this segment of the trip!  Come back tomorrow for Part III!

“Million Dollar Cowboy Bar” in Jackson, Wyoming – dating back to 1937.  I asked the hostess at the gift shop why it was called the Million Dollar Bar, and she told me that it had cost that much to build or renovate.

Antler arch at the entrance to Jackson’s Town Square.

Entering Grand Teton National Park.

My dad told me an interesting statistic:  99% of people see only 9% of the park.  I don’t know how true that is, but I tend to believe it.  There is so much uncharted wilderness.  Here’s a sulphur pond.

Distance sign.

Yellowstone Lake is huge.  It covers 136 square miles and is the biggest body of water in the park.

Typical scenery.

Sign for Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Distances after exiting the Northeast entrance to the park.

Arrival in Cooke City.

Beartooth Cafe:  Our lunch spot for Saturday.

“Top of the World.”  Contrary to what you’d think, this place is not at the summit of Beartooth.  The road continues its ascent well beyond the site of this convenience store.

Nearing the crest at 10,947 feet.

It will be awhile before all this snow melts.

Love the scenery.

The “actual” bear tooth-shaped formation in the mountain, for which the road was named.

Pointing my finger at the bear’s tooth.

Welcome to Montana!

Postcard we bought that shows the zig-zagging highway as it makes its descent.

Arrival in Red Lodge, Montana.  (Population:  2,125)

Checking in at The Pollard.

Nice store name!

Enjoyed this article in The Pollard’s “History Room.”

We saw the charred remains of an SUV that had caught fire earlier in the afternoon.

Candy store!

The place smelled like popcorn.  Bags of popcorn were available for sale for $0.25 each.

Old service station, still in use.

For kicks, I decided to compare Red Lodge weather with my hometown weather.  There was a 40-degree difference!

Odometer (Legend):  529,750

Odometer (ILX):  83,995

Leg Distance:  1,009 Miles

I’ve got a super-sized helping of road trip mania for you this week!  Here’s the lowdown:

• Five days: Thursday through Monday
• Six states: Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana
• Two national parks: Grand Teton National Park & Yellowstone National Park
• Total miles:  2,545
• Total time in the ILX:  Estimated 45-50 hours
• Other Acura sightings:  Legend, 0; ILX, 1

There are a lot of “bucket list” roads I’m systematically crossing off as I experience them.  Earlier this year, I learned of a road that was an absolute must-see:  Beartooth Highway.  I took one look at my Rand McNally 2014 road atlas and saw this squiggly line straddling the Montana / Wyoming border.  “What is that?!  I must experience it!” I thought.

The trip write-up will be published in 3 parts.

The first leg of my drive from Scottsdale, Arizona to Logan, Utah was a 12-hour trek that I’ve done dozens of times in the past. It was the drive from Logan onward that became a new adventure. When I arrived at my dad’s place around noon on Saturday, he was outside working in the yard. His duffel bag was packed and he was ready to rock and roll as my copilot for this latest crazy road trip. My dad have road-tripped many times together before, and it’s due in large part to his appreciation for our beautiful country that I have such an itch for exploration. In 2006, dad and I drove my Legend from Utah to Alaska & back – a memorable 7,000+ mile trip across some of the most beautiful terrain I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Before I was ready to leave Logan, we had to stop at the best pizza place in town: Fredrico’s. Located near the Utah State University campus, it’s been a landmark in Cache Valley for decades. After savoring some butter-drenched garlic bread, I took the wheel as we pointed the Acura’s nose northward. Within 25 minutes on Highway 91, we’d already passed the Idaho state line. After fueling at a gas station called La Tienda in Franklin, I decided to turn the reins over to my dad for a stretch. He got in the car, hit the brake, and held the start button.  Nothing happened.  “You have to push the clutch in,” I instructed him.  We had a good laugh.  He’s gotten so used to driving his auto-transmission Hyundai Sonata.

Scattered clouds looked over us as we wound our way through the Cache National Forest. We made a pit stop in Mound Valley at a home where my grandfather lived when he was growing up. I’d asked grandpa for the home’s address a number of weeks ago. “It doesn’t have one,” he said. “Just look for the first house on the left after you cross the Bear River the second time on Highway 34.” Sure enough, his directions were spot-on. I could tell right away why my relatives had at one time settled in that area. Looking around at the views and feeling the comfortable temperatures, it was tough to believe I’d left the cactus-lined, scorching hot desert just a day prior. Dad and I stopped the historic Henry Store, dating back to 1908 and operated by a single family for more than 70 years before closing down.

Soon, we closed in on our nightly destination.  Jackson is home to around 10,000 people and nestled at the base of the massive Grand Teton mountains. The cowboy culture runs strong, and Broadway Avenue is lined with more elk and moose statues than I could count.  Traditions run strong in my family.  Growing up, each time we visited Jackson, my dad would park our truck at the same location & snap a picture.  Here for your viewing enjoyment is a sampling of the photos we’ve taken in the last 22 years.

1992 (I’m standing at center with my legs crossed)

1997 (I’m standing at far right)

2000  (I’m standing 2nd from right)

2014 (There I am!)

Look at how much those pine trees have grown!  It’s crazy what a couple of decades will do.  We checked in at the Painted Buffalo hotel and got settled in before walking up to the town center. One of Jackson’s best-known features is the elk antler arch that stands at each corner of the park. Each arch was constructed in 1960 and for decades has welcomed tourists.

We dined at the Mangy Moose Saloon in Teton Village. From our table in the dining room, we could watch out the massive back windows in the log cabin structure and see the ski slopes in the distance.  Tired and needing maximum rest for the following day’s travels, we retired at the Painted Buffalo for the night.

Next up:  Beartooth Highway in all its glory.  Tune in next time for that.

Here are the rest of the pictures from that first leg of the journey.

Beaver, Utah

Quick meet-up with my friend Branson in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Branson has a Cayman White Pearl 1995 Legend LS coupe 6-speed with 156,000 miles on the odometer.  It’s immaculate!

My dad and I departing from Logan, northbound on Highway 91 toward the Idaho state line.

Pit stop near Grace, Idaho at my grandfather’s old farmhouse.

Roadside scenery along Idaho Highway 34.

Entering Wyoming!

Freedom, Wyoming.  This garage has been out of commission for awhile.

Post office doesn’t look very modern, either.

Even the gas pumps are a blast from the past.  They’re set at $0.42 / gallon.

Final stretch into Jackson as the highway travels along the Snake River.

Gunfight reenactment in central Jackson.

See you again soon!