Salina, UT

It must've been the late 1980s. The company I worked for was acquired by Novell, and I visited Provo for business shortly after. The big grey mountains made an impression on me then. And the children running around the company cafeteria; this is a Mormon country.  It must've been in the winter time too. I remember skiing on one of the many skiing resorts here. I think it was Snowbird or Alta, I'm not sure. It was a long time ago.

The plan was to drive straight to Salt Lake City from Logan after refueling the car at Tremonton supercharger and make it a easy day. Then I looked at the map and found that Antelope State Park is on the way and that it crossed the Salt Lake. I had to make a stop. And I'm glad I did. Not only did it provide the view of the vast Salt Lake, but it was also the home of 600 free-ranging buffalo. A great photo opportunity.  After that, a brief stop at Utah State Capitol and Temple Square.

Then the rear passenger tire leaked again after refueling at Tesla Center in Salt Lake City. I had to turn around and come back to the Tesla Center. Fortunately, the Discount Tire store was right across and the good folks there patched it up for free. A nail got in, probably while driving through that nasty Moose-Wilson road to and from Teton Village.

The route from then on took us through the Utah Valley past Provo on Route 89. The sun was setting by then and made the desolate stretch more desolate.  By the time we got to Salina, it was way past 8 PM.  This time I booked for 2 nights to make sure we get some rest, in yet another roach motel named Rodeway Inn. And yet another bedbug problem. Wife's got bitten again, we had to move to another room. So much for resting.

Teton Village, WY

I sure would've liked to stay for another day and rest in West Yellowstone. But this is an expensive country so we decided to soldier on till we get to Utah. And I ended up with a cold sore on my lip. It is yet another sign that I'm recovering. I'll have fully recovered if I start catching cold regularly. (Yeah, as strange as it might sound, I enjoy saying that I used to get sick often before I got sick).

The route took us back into the Yellowstone National Park and out through the south entrance. Shortly after, Snake River and Teton Mountains appeared. The tall granite mountains soaring above the desert basin and the lake would've stunned anybody except my wife who slept through it. But the majestic mountains appeared flat and hazy in the midday sun unfortunately. The famed Jackson Lake Overlook on Signal Mountain did not provide a better view either.

I aborted the plan to go up to Snake River Overlook and then stop for charging at Jackson. I was too tired. We instead went directly to Teton Mountain Lodge from Moose.  I still have 100 miles left in the tank and we'll go back up tomorrow and then move south after a fueling stop at Jackson.

Belgrade, MT

So much for avoiding cold and snow. Yellowstone sunny and scorching -- the heat from above and heat from below, it was Colter's Hell alright. I left my hat and water in the car at Midway Geyser Basin and I almost fainted. I guess some years it gets cold early. This year certainly wasn't one.

There are four ways to enter Yellowstone. None are more impressive as the Eastern one. From Cody, it looks reminiscent of Yosemite. It is the entrance to Buffalo Bill State Park to be exact; you have to go through it before you get to Yellowstone. The original access road to Yellowstone is still hugging the cliffs of Shoshone canyon around Buffalo Bill Dam.

Past Buffalo Bill Reservoir it meanders through Yellowstone mountains till you get to the Yellowstone Lake. We took this route to arrive at Old Faithful after 1 PM stopping at various vista points. We plugged our car behind Snow Lodge and went for the 2:14 eruption. It apparently was not as regular today and went off after 2:19.

Black Sands Basin near Old Faith was not on the Reader's Digest route. But it provided the most interesting color among all. Then we went on to the Midway, Fire Hole Lake and Fire Hole Canyon. Yellowstone is famous for hot springs and geysers, but there are lots of cold streams and rivers meandering through meadows and canyons. They regularly meet each other at the river's shore. I'd love to dip in the hot spring and flow into the cold river, but you probably will scald quickly in reality. The spring water is boiling. Lots of sulfur too. The name Yellowstone probably come from the sulfuric limestone. You can smell that suffocating smell while you walk among the springs and geysers.

There is no yellow stone in Fire Hole Canyon. It is a granite canyon with Flatbed River running through it. It is the look of Yellowstone many people don't know. And Fire Hole Canyon is the preview of Yellowstone Canyon that we'll visit tomorrow.

The day ended with 15,000 steps registered on my fitbit. Add all the driving and getting in and out of the car, it is one of the most active days since I got CFS. It's practically a recovery. We took a day off here in Belgrade to recuperate and I just feel fatigued, not sick. It is the post-exertional fatigue, flush with happy chemicals. Tomorrow, I'll probably get post-exertional funk -- it has been a regular pattern lately in this trip. But I'll recover in the afternoon. That has been the pattern too.

Cody, WY

A skinny biker with full beard pulled behind me as I pulled over to take picture of the town of Cody. He asked where I would charge an EV around here. I told him he could charge in RV park. He went aha! and said that someone was asking where she could charge in Cody. It must mean that EV is becoming mainstream if a redneck biker in the wild west knows something about it.

The landscape turns decidedly desert west of Gillette. Then big mountains appear as you approach Sheridan past Buffalo on I-90. It is Bighorn National Forest that you have to climb over before you get to Yellowstone.

The steep climb over Bighorn mountain drained the car quite a bit. I knew that I'd get it all back on descension, but I wasn't going to take chance the same. We skipped all points of interests and headed directly to Cody. No matter, the drive still provided beautiful views of the vast Bighorn basin. The other side of the mountain on descension was a mixture of forest, meadow, streams and desert. Then cornfield reappeared near Lovell after crossing over the Bighorn lake.  The clouds must be dumping its load  there before climbing the Bighorn mountain.

I'm glad we took 14A through the mountain to Cody rather than continuing on I-90 around the mountains to Bozeman or West Yellowstone following the supercharger network. Only thing I missed on this route was the waterfalls along the Sheep Mountain Road. And I remedied the lack of supercharger on this route by camping at Parkway RV park in Cody.

Camping is a lot of work under the best circumstance. It is not something a CFS patient can undertake for sure. Unloading stuff from the car, making the bed and then returning the car back to the drive-worthy state takes a lot of work and I was totally exhausted by the time we left Cody. Amazingly, I partially recovered by the time we left Cody after breakfast at Wild Horse Cafe across the Cody Rodeo Stadium. Yet another sign that I am recovering.

Kadoka, SD

The scenery in late morning and the early afternoon sun is not as scintillating: the high sun makes everything flat. The clear sky with overcast horizon did not help the matter.  Our journey along I-90 resumed as such this morning.

The scenery looked like a continuation of what we saw yesterday till we got close to the  Missouri River. The land turned drier and cornfield thinned out as we crossed it. Soon sunflower fields appeared and they too thinned out when sage brushes appeared. Then the cattle farms as the grass turned brown. By now, it decidedly looked West. You couldn't have told it from the Central Valley if the land were a bit more parched. Missouri River, so it seems, is the starting line of the West.

Here in Kadoka, there is no grass to be found. It is all parched gravel. Terribly hot too. The coolness of Sioux Falls is nowhere to be found.

I didn't sleep well last night despite whirlwind activities 4 days in a row. Yesterday I was pretty high.  Today I'm pooped out. It was just like June last year when my activities suddenly picked up and I was unable to sleep more than 6 hours.  Not sleeping well and not getting sick. These are the signs that I'm improving. And I'm getting a bit more confident everyday that I am recovering.

Sioux Falls, SD

The endless corn fields undulates gently, throwing shadows and lights in turn on the corn canopy. The reddish brown and yellow hue of corn husks on the deep green stalks and leaves. This sea of cornfield stretched out along I-90 all the way to Sioux Falls. Incredible pictures came and went, and I couldn't back up to capture them on the freeway that flew by at 75 mph. A real artist may have. I instead put the car on autopilot and shot while driving.

A dead wolf on the roadside shortly after Albert Lea, MN. This is the home of Timber Wolves. There are quite a few grey wolves in this part of the country since the reintroduction.

It showered shortly after we left Madison. The road got washed clean and fresh. The afternoon light poured in at an angle and the after-storm cloud floated all around. They all added to the sense of vastness. We drove on into that vast space called mid-west chasing the sun till it finally set at 9:01 PM in Worthington where we pulled in for the final charging. This town is at the edge of the Central time zone -- it changes to Mountain time after Sioux Falls. Then we drove into the night with bugs pelting the windshield just like in Texas. The humid night was palpably cooler than Texas though.

After 13 hours of drive, we were at Holiday Inn in Sioux Falls. And I wasn't too tired. Not nearly as much as I was after the drive in Texas from Albuquerque to Austin. Maybe because this one was shorter. Or maybe because I have improved since. We went for the hot tub and swimming after the check in. And I have enough energy left to write a blog. That's enough for me to believe more than ever that I am recovering.

Chicago, Day 2

Something exploded and then a burning smell ensued. The blue line train we were on then got stuck in the dark for 30 minutes. Good thing that happened shortly after we left the station. The train eventually rolled back about a hundred yard to the station and we made a mad dash to the train on the next platform. Then we got on the #65 bus in the wrong direction when we got off the train. I thought it was running a circular route to Navy Pier from the Grand station of the blue line, but it went across the town in the other direction. It took me about 10 minutes before I realized my mistake and we got off the bus. In all, it took us 3 hours to get to Navy Pier from the hotel.

The Architectural Cruise was worth the trouble though. It went down Chicago river from Navy Pier  and then back, for the total of 75 minutes. Along the way were numerous buildings of architectural significance of Chicago school and others. It's the best way to see the Chicago downtown, hands down.

We were going to hang out in Magnificent Mile in the afternoon after the cruise, but it was late, thanks to all the snafu in the morning. We left it for tomorrow and returned to catch 5:15 shuttle back to hotel.

After 12,000 steps yesterday at a decent pace, I was pretty tired this morning. But I managed OK with another 10,000 steps. And that's 3 days of nonstop activities.I'll sleep in tomorrow and start the commute at 11AM.