Day: 129

Km Travelled: 22,427

Over the last two weeks, Tom and I have been playing tourist and visiting busy national parks in Montana and Wyoming, while also venturing off the beaten track to some of the prettiest spots we've camped in a while, all thanks to friends of friends who chose to share these precious locations with us.

Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons do not disappoint, even if you're far from alone. The change in landscape is pretty extensive around this area, from bubbling hot springs to wide open plains where bison graze, followed by deep canyons, huge waterfalls, farmland at the foothills of towering jagged peaks, and turquoise lakes. It's dreamy, and we were lucky enough to have two bluebird days back to back to do all the sightseeing we needed in the parks themselves.

Much like the landscape, the weather here is just as exciting and visually stunning. After walking the tourist-filled streets of Jackson Hole in the pouring rain, we found a quiet river valley about half an hour south of town and spent the evening grilling dinner because, you guessed it, the sun decided to come back out. Then, in the darkest hours of the night, we were woken by cracking, rumbling, groaning sounds and constant flashes of lightning. We were literally in the middle of a thunderstorm. The roaring clouds and lightning strikes continued for the remainder of the night and well into the morning. Neither of us said much, we just lay there wide awake, feeling very small underneath all that noise. It was by far the longest thunderstorm I've witnessed.

Unlike at home, where these specific weather episodes are less frequent, we mostly just get rain, and more rain, the physical rumbling lasts for what feels like minutes here. Constantly changing, it goes from so loud you jump in your seat, to a slow, low rumble, as it echoes through the never ending valleys.

But much like a thunderstorm, we'll move on with the story.

I've been wanting to see Yellowstone for years. After flipping through a few coffee-table books of the national park in fall season, it's been in the back of my mind for as long as I can remember. And it was everything I had hoped it would be. However, there’s no denying the crowds take away from the majestic surroundings with pull-offs stacked bumper to bumper. She's no less beautiful, but you don't get to really sit with her serenity the way we do when it's just Tom and I, parked in god knows where, away from the rest of the world, like we usually are. Regardless, I'm 100% glad we made the time to see it.

With the political climate the way it is between our two countries, many Canadians are refusing to visit the US. Even some of our close friends don't want to step foot across the border. I understand the frustration. My very career has been affected by how expensive things have gotten, and how things have changed. I can't blame AI entirely for my lack of work because I know clients are being forced to forego spending money on professional graphic design services when they're stressed about simply meeting their bottom line. But politics and economics aside, nature still matters. At least to me it does. I refuse to let the ridiculous choices of old men take away from my freedom to experience the unbelievably incredible landscape our southern neighbours have at their doorstep. So far, Wyoming and Montana are up there with some of the prettiest places I've ever seen. Our time in Alaska was equally breathtaking. Worth every moment. Mother Nature has been here long before us, and will be long after us. And she doesn't give a damn who you vote for… except if they pass a bill to cut all her trees down. But hey, that’s even more reason to see them while they're still here.

The ease with which you can camp for free in this country is equally, if not more, bountiful than Canada. The national forests and Bureau of Land Management areas of the states are free rein. There are campgrounds with toilets, just like our provincial parks, that range from $5 to $20/night. But you can also camp wherever you like outside of these campgrounds too. I half expected the camping situation to be stricter, but the Americans are the same as us, they value what's in their backyard as much as we do, and they appear to respect it with equal vigour.

Tom and I are now in the southern corner of Wyoming. We just spent the last 24 hours playing in the Killpecker Sand Dunes, where I finally started building some confidence driving in sand.

Dunes can be challenging terrain if you don't know what you're doing. Sand is soft, dunes can be tall, steep, and slippery. Having good traction means keeping the revs up and your foot on the gas. You have to watch the way the sand curves up, over, and around each dune, so you don't get caught sliding, or have an edge give way and tipping the truck. Every time the tires lost their bite and Envy dug in before catching traction again, my stomach dropped a little right along with it. I've spent so much of this trip learning tricky, off-camber terrain, rough rocks, muddy bogs, river crossings, technical trails, so sand is a whole new skill to learn. No doubt there's going to be more desert in our future, so now was a good time to practice.

After playing around in the dunes we climbed up to the top of Steamboat Mountain, enjoying a 360-degree view of the surrounding landscape. The wind up there didn't let up for a second, but it was worth every bit of the chill. We could see the twinkle of lights from Rock Springs in the southwest, the Shoshone National Forest we'd climbed over the previous night east of us, and sandy plateau ridgelines as far as the eye could see in every other direction.

We're in proper arid desert country now, and we couldn't be more thrilled. Goodbye green, coastal foliage. Hello red dirt. Goodbye rain? Doubt it.

Over the next few days we're heading west to Salt Lake City. Envy needs another routine service. You may now cross all ten fingers and toes and wish us a bison-sized bit of good luck that this service doesn't bankrupt us like Alaska did.

See you on the other side.

Daring the killer dunes

Ditches and dinner invites