West '05 Trip - Day 25

Posted: 2006-05-04
By: Randy Cochran

Today I was nothing more than a tourist.

It was too windy, rainy and cold to do much fishing, so instead I opted for sight-seeing.

Got some good pics of scenery and wildlife, something I neglected to do last year through no fault of my own. I mean, really. A wet mouse crawls up your pant leg while wet wading an Iowa spring creek. You don't notice the mouse as you're catching a brown at the moment. You turn on your camera, snap a pic, then feel a sharp scratching as if a burr or 3 has somehow found its way into your pants and onto your right thigh.

Then the burrs move. Startled, you jump up, kicking the still-on camera into the water as the spiky wet bastard falls out of your pants and crawls back into its hole.

So there, now you understand. Totally not my fault.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China. Now I only have to tell you that I left the park and journeyed to W. Yellowstone for a room. Normally, hotel rooms at this stage of my excursion excited me, but after much searching I could only get a smoking room for $71 a night. Since I don't smoke, you can understand my lack of enthusiasm.

Still, I enjoyed the crappiness as best I could, considering a cold and wet tent would've been much worse.