Friday, August 28, 2009

Out West Day 30...Thursday, August 20, 2009...Biking in Grand Teton...A Damsel in Distress




More so than Glacier or Yellowstone, Grand Teton has got some great bike paths/trails. The weather is beautiful again this morning...so...I'm going to bike some of those paths/trails.
I'm relaxing with my morning coffee when one of my fellow campers, Lynn, stops by to ask for help. She's left something "on" overnight in her Prius, and the battery is dead. The camper's creed being "help one another", I don't hesitate for a second. When I drive over to her campsite, however, I see that this is not going to be easy. In order to get next to her vehicle, I'm going to have to go in from the side over some big rocks, some logs and through some trees. I have to be careful not to catch any of that on the bottom of the Escape. On the third try, I make it in and ease up nex to Lynn's Prius. Thanks to Mark Birnhart, I've got a Ford Emergency Road Kit with jumper cables. I hook those up, but the Prius still won't start. It's got a single positive pole for jump starts and the negative clamp is not getting a good ground. But a few tries with different spots, and we've finally got it. Thus started, Lynn heads for Jackson, figuring the drive will charge up the battery.
Now back at my campsite, pack up my coffee stuff and bungee my bike to the cargo carrier...and I'm off. About four miles down the road, there's a nice bike path that follows along the highway. Three hours later, I'm hungry...it's lunchtime. This time, I head over to Jackson Lake Lodge for lunch. It's got a big dining room with a great view of the mountains. I order a "Game Burger" (2/3 Buffalo and 1/3 Elk meat) medium-rare with cheese and bacon...very, very good. And for dessert, some Huckleberry ice cream...better than good!
I pick up more ice for the cooler, and then spend the afternoon reading...I'm almost finished with the second book in the Teddy Roosevelt trilogy.
Before I know it, it's almost 7:00PM...dinner time. I'm not particularly hungry after a big lunch, so leftover Thai Curry is an easy meal. Soon, I'm sitting in front of the campfire enjoying a glass of Oregon Pinot Noir as the sun sets. Ten I'm off to bed early...tomorrow, I want to do a little driving around before packing up to leave the following morning.

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