What a great way to start the day – eating breakfast on a patio in Livingston, Wyoming. I really like the wide open spaces of the western US and there are plenty of them to enjoy.

Heading due south out of Livingston on US-89 leads directly to Gardiner, WY which is the north gate to Yellowstone National Park. The morning was a little cool – low 60’s so jackets were in order. The 50 miles from Lewiston to Gardner flew by. We saw a couple of deer and some antelope. Seeing wildlife is a big part of the draw for me.

We did stop and take the requisite tourist pictures before we turned the corner to head directly to the entrance gate.

The entry process is a little more difficult than I was expecting. Each of us had our official government old man card (better knows as a “senior lifetime park pass”). There are 2 official entrance booths at the gate. There was a ranger standing between the 2 lines of traffic. It seems his only job is to wave people into the next available booth – or his best guess as to who will be next. He stopped everyone so we thought he was doing something related to virus questions or taking temperatures or ? Nope – he was handing out park maps and waving people into one of the lanes. The entry lines were shorter than I anticipated and we were only about 25 vehicles back from the booth.

Harley’s aren’t particularly suited for sitting and idling while inching ahead (neither are their riders). After a lot of stop and go (mostly stop), we presented our passes and we were in Yellowstone National Park.

The elk were in their normal position at the entrance and again at Mammoth Hot Springs. I swear the rangers feed them at those two locations because they are always there. You’ll just have to take my word for it because I forgot to snap their pictures. Ugh!

The crowds were light today which was also a surprise. We literally could have cruised through the north-west 1/4 of the park without stopping if we wanted to. Who would want to do that? I just going to add a few pictures so you can share a little bit of our adventure today.

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Lunch occurred at Bullwinkle’s Saloon in West Yellowstone before we cruised the last 80 miles on US-20 into Rexburg, Idaho.

The bikes are getting great gas mileage – we’re running pure gasoline. I’m sure that ethanol has helped stretch the gasoline supply in the US but give me that pure 91 octane for the best performance.

We chose to eat dinner tonight at Applebee’s after checking into the Quality Inn. I’ve got to stop having 3 meals a day. My bike won’t be able to carry me home if I don’t slow down on the calories. Every meal is a chance for us 3 official card carrying “seniors” to share our lives with each other. I’m sure every story is true (kind of).