18 July 2012

Grand Teton NP WY to West Yellowstone MT 59 miles (TransAm 2,982)

Welcome to state number eight – Montana. Big Sky Country. The Treasure State. Land of the Shining Mountains. The Last Best Place. Where Beer Flows as Cold as The Rivers. Okay, so I made that last one up. But is sure sounds nice, doesn’t it? Very western and outdoorsy and thirst-quenching.

This day started out like no other thus far on the TransAm – with a 37 mile shuttle to Grant Village in Yellowstone National Park. It seems that the only legal way for a cyclist on a commercial tour to ride from Colter Bay to Grant Village is via four wheels. So with bikes on top, our Team was fast-forwarded from our country’s 20th official national park into its first. On a side note, in researching this order of national parks, I found that I will once again be updating my Bucket List. A few scrolls down this list and yours might need updating too. So many beautiful places to see right here in our own backyard.

Now Gina has already been to Yellowstone NP, again as part of Roadtripping With Cousin Cynthia. And Yellowstone is not her favorite national park. Her main complaint? Too many cars and RVs, too much driving, too few steps taken from car to bubbling pool and back. Gina likes places that scream “Great Outdoors” and to her, Yellowstone is not really one of those places. Not that it isn’t cool and unique in its own right, and certainly worthy of being protected and visited, not to mention accessible to everyone regardless of their physical condition, but it’s too much windshield time for our Little Gina.  Good thing this trip she was on her bicycle, fine with “lots of traffic and a narrow shoulder.”  Being a cyclist myself, this description almost makes me want to get behind a windshield instead.