Day 9

Up and out early today. Hoping to get to Yellowstone today. Not so many people on the road early in the morning so we enjoy a few scenic overlooks on our way out of the park. Head south through Montana. McDs for breakfast and coffee at 9:45 - 2.5 hours into the drive. I want to see a ghost town so Ron found one outside of Missoula. What we didn't know going in was what a crazy scary dirt road (with an added detour on an even worse road!) We would have to drive on.  Took an hour to go 12 miles. The ghost town was pretty cool though. Luckily there were volunteer guides in town to advise us to leave via the back road. Much better drive! Overall that little adventure took 4 hours! Definitely behind schedule now. Next stop Grant-Kohrs Ranch Historic Site, an old cattle ranch. Pretty cool. Except now it's 4:30 and we are 3.5 hours from the north entrance to Yellowstone. We're worried about campground availability but decide to go for it. When we get to the gate, two campgrounds are listed as open. We head for Tower Falls, 23 miles away (that's the closer one!). Several bison-jams later, we arrive and it's full. So should we head for NE entrance and camp outside the park? Yes. But then Ron changes his mind. Beautiful sunset, by the way. And then it's dark and we're stuck in the bison jam going back the other way. 10 p.m. and we have crossed the line back into Montana. We end up at the "historic cabins" of Jim Bridger Motor Court in Gardiner, outside the park's north entrance. They take dogs and they have a cabin available. We take it. Next problem - someone is shooting off fireworks which completely freaks Rocco out so he decides he doesn't need to pee after all (how many hours has it been already since his last break? He can be hesitant about peeing when we're on the road) and he drags me back to the cabin, Marmaduke style. 11:00, shower then bed. Whew! What a day!