Since this is supposed to be an adventure blog, I wanted to start off with explaining the trip that relaunched my life back into the wild. So over the next few posts, I will be breaking down our 2023 trip to Yellowstone National Park. A little over a year ago my brother, Nick, got himself a Ford Bronco (Bucky), that was the beginning. He wanted to do a road trip and Yellowstone became the destination. We live on the East Coast in the Mid-Atlantic. A trip to Yellowstone is 2,000 miles one way. So we were about to spend a lot of time in this Bronco. We crossed 8 states in 48 hours and ate an insane amount of gas station food.
This was the very beginning of the trip. Somewhere on the PA turnpike and things were looking pretty good. This of course was when the playlists were going strong. The early morning caffeine and excitement of the trip was still going strong. The reality of driving 2000 miles in a little under 48 hours had not yet sank in. That wasn’t really the case until Iowa. In fact, Iowa is a very important state to us because of this trip. Iowa, as it turns out was as far as we could reasonable drive in a single day. Having originally planned for 4 people… it was a lot harder with just two splitting up that drive.
Mom, if you are reading, just skip this paragraph…. Okay now that she totally isn’t reading, this is where we stopped in Iowa to take the sketchiest nap of all time. We pulled in around 9pm in the middle of the State Fair. To say that we encountered some characters would be an understatement. One woman tried to get us to approach her all tinted window white van to purchase t-shirts… for a penny… at 11:30pm. We left on 4 hours of sleep around Midnight and immediately drove directly into a powerful Great Plains storm. It was here we decided: Iowa would divide the country into the “Doable in a week’s trip” East and “better take two weeks” West.
Another important state: Nebraska. If you are looking at Nebraska on a map and thinking, “I can do that, no problem” – then you too can be as dumb as me. While Nick slept, I became determined to do Nebraska in one go. While I was able to do it, we made it to this gas station in Wyoming just in time. I was never so happy to see a state sign (or gas pump) in all my life. Little did I know what Wyoming had in store for us…
No, that is not snow. It is about 6 inches of Hail. Which I swear fell all at the same time. As we traveled through Wyoming it presented us with an amazing variety of weather, but this was probably one of the craziest things I have every seen. When they say “watch out for Mountain Weather” -they are not kidding. The storm felt like a test because shortly after, we were given some of the most fantastic views I have ever seen. After traveling 2000 miles, encountering storms, and sketchy truck stop naps we stood at the gates of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Next stop: Grant Campground and West Thumb…
Notes to Future Self:
- Yes 2,000 miles is EXACTLY as far as it sounds…if not farther.
- No, Nebraska is not a single tank state.
- Western Weather. Wow. Just…wow.
- Spring for the room because sleeping in a truck stop parking lot is not “adventurous” its a cry for help.
- If asked to do it all again: SAY YES.
UnBEARable Adventures 
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