Summer's End

Wow, it’s hard to believe our summer at Snake River Park KOA and Whitewater has come to an end. We have spent the past couple of days packing things up getting ready to head south for the winter. We have had a wonderful time here and leaving is bittersweet. We have made new friends here at the KOA and in Jackson.

The weather is changing and getting cooler and the leave have turned from green to spectacular gold and red. In just a few weeks the snow will be flying. The RV Park will be closed and we will be in warmer weather of the south west.

Tomorrow we head south for the winter. We have a place to stay and work in the California desert. We will head to our next assignment working at another RV park.

My sister's visited and we toured Yellowstone

A final visit with Chippy Victoria's best friend

One more hike- with our co-workers

The changing colors of fall

The homestead used in the movie Shane
Shane! Shane! Come Back Shane!

Fire On The Mountain

Yesterday Victoria and I had the day off and went out for Mexican before heading out to Teton Park to look for wildlife and enjoy the beauty of the park. It was a great afternoon. We went to the Gros Ventre area, pronounced “Grow Vont” of the park. We went to see the world’s largest land slide that happened back in 1925. It was so large it blocked the river and formed a lake.

The rock here is from the slide which is seen in the back ground

We wondered up the back roads enjoying the scenery and searching for animals. There were a lot of buffalo in this area back in the spring, but none were to be seen on this day. We did see some antelope and a fox.



On the way home there was a traffic jam and we knew there must be some critters up ahead. We pulled the truck over and joined the gathering crowd at a bridge that crosses the Gros Ventre River. There we found 4 moose, a whole family, a good size bull and cow and 2 calves. We hung out for a while watching them and snapping pictures.

Mama and her babies

Papa Moose

As we drove toward Jackson we could see smoke close to town. It looked like it was in the mountains behind the Snow King Ski area. A ski area in the center of town. By the time we made it through town and headed out to the KOA we could see the fire was much closer to town and the KOA then we had first thought.

That doesn't look good

As we drove we could see the hills along the highway were on fire. All of a sudden we saw a plane swoop down at the flames and drop fire retardant. And then another plane and another and then we saw 2 helicopters. Man, this fire was roaring and getting very big. We were amazed that when we passed the area earlier in the day there was no sign of fire and now the hills were a blaze.

Fire bomber dropping his load

We stopped and watched the show of the fire bombers until sunset and then headed back to the house. We are not in the path and we have no concern for our safety. There are a lot of house in the area but the fire fighters seemed to have headed off any disaster. The fire was heading up the hill into a more wilderness area.

Ring of fire

Today as I worked outside I could see the smoke from the fire. It seemed to be much less then it was yesterday. I checked the smoke though out the day and it seemed to be ok. That is until about 2:00 when I looked up and the smoke was bigger and blacker than ever. The fire had blown up again and was growing. I kept an eye on the smoke as the afternoon went on and could see it was still getting bigger.

The fire blows up again today

After work Victoria and I decided to go in toward town and see how the fire control was going. We found a spot where we could park and not be in the way of the fire crews and helicopter to watch the growing fire. The flames were heading away from use but heading closer to Jackson.



This is the view from downtown Jackson



All day long fire bombers and fire fighters have been trying to contain the beast. It is going to take awhile. We have been told that over 700 acres have burned since yesterday. That is amazing. This is now the number one priority fire in the country. It is pretty serious. We are not in any danger but this could be a big problem for Jackson and the surrounding area.