Leaving Yellowstone

We had a wonderful week in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone but alas it was time to move on. We had some of the worst and miserable weather of the trip along with getting our campsite robbed but the beauty and experience of seeing this place with our own eyes more than made up for that.  I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

It was far too short of a time to take in everything. We will have to come back again some time. Alaska and Canada is still in our future, perhaps we’ll stop here on the way.

I’ve read many travel sites, motorcycle travel blogs, and threads on ADVrider.com and picture threads elsewhere and was a bit puzzled why so many travelers proudest moments was getting a picture of this stone arch.  There was never any description or location as if the object itself was enough like the Statue of Liberty. I didn’t know what this was 4 years ago when I first saw its picture, but now I do and here I was standing before it.  It almost brought a tear to my eye, here I was standing in the footsteps of some of the most epic motorcycle adventurers I’ve ever read in a place with so much history.

This was where it all began, this simple arch made of hexagonal basalt blocks and inscribed “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”   The Roosevelt Arch is the original main entrance to the countries first National Park.  This is where the national park movement started.  Without the foresight to put aside and preserve some of our magnificent lands so our children and grand children can see what once was America the United States no doubt would have wound up like Europe where the natural beauty was destroyed and developed or held in private hands by the wealthy.

We had to get a picture of this run down gas station on one last ride through Mammoth Hot Springs on our way out.

A funny sign in Gardiner where we stopped to pick up some soveniers.  I had found one great motorcycle related Yellowstone shirt but when I went to put it on two days later I had bought a small! I had looked at the hanger and hadn’t bothered to actually check the tag, woops.  So Cece wound up with my killer shirt and we searched every gift shop on the northern half of Yellowstone for another one and never found one.  Even though it doesn’t seem like it would take too long to go back and get another one all of the speed limits in Yellowstone max out at 45, throw in constant tourist stoppages and road jams and animal obstacles it takes a longer than you would think to get anywhere.   After all of this time I didnt have a yellowstone shirt! so we had to stop in Gardiner and check out the tourist traps.

Yellowstone HD is not too close to Yellowstone at all, there are actually 2 other dealerships closer to the park possibly 3 if you count the one in Jackson WY on the other side of Teton.  We ended up getting here 5 mins before they closed to get a shirt and all of the employees were already tearing out of the parking lot and the doors were locked.   If they want to close early I guess they wont mind a Yamaha parked on the sidewalk in front of the door to get a picture 😉