CAUTION: Thin Crust over Scalding Mud!!

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Geysers at Yellowstone National Park

Geysers at Yellowstone National Park

NNo one told me there would be no internet or cell service in Yellowstone. oh nary a warning.
But it’s all right, I am what they call a “happy camper”. We can pitch the tent in under fifteen minutes if we feel like it, and we can go for long stretches of road in Kate’s trusty ‘94 Chevy pickup. At night, the headlights have taken to turning on and off at random–Kate has to drive with her left hand on the headlight button, ready. Also, the car beeps four times when you turn off the ignition. We like to think it’s saying “Good-bye” and not “There is something wrong with me”. When we stop anywhere we haul the backpacks, suitcase and books into the seat area so we can lock them up.

Yesterday, Kate wanted to see the geysers and, especially, Old Faithful. This big geyser used to erupt every hour but now clocks in approximately every ninety minutes. Earthquakes like the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake and the 1983 Borah Peak, in Idaho, are responsible for this change. Scientists and other smart people (Kate) believe that the Yellowstone Caldera is long overdue–about 30,000 years overdue–and that the whole place could blow any minute. That’s okay…we’re ready. I suggested we might want to just stay in Yellowstone. We could enjoy a magical life, an instantaneous death–and be surrounded by wild animals.

The geysers are everywhere, in jewel-like colors. This one looks like an old lady’s sapphire brooch, that one a milky drink you can buy in chinatown. Nearly all of them steaming and bubbly. Japanese tourists with their tiny digital cameras, kanji-ing away like there’s no tomorrow (maybe there isn’t! We’re all gonna blow!), Norwegian couples in breezy linen clothes. We all want to peer into the jewel-like depths of our planet, our awe tinged with a bit of the grotesque. What was that phrase? “The lure of the abyss”. mm-Hmm, something like that. Kate and I wondered how, if the ground in some areas is merely “Thin crust over Scalding Mud!”, they could calculate where to safely build the boardwalk. In some places there are a measly four inches from the edge of the walkway to the gurgling, hot pools.

On the way back to the car, I bought a cone of ice cream. We set up camp for the night and had dinner at The Outpost Restaurant in West Yellowstone, just outside of the park. Not the best of ideas–this state has not yet been set up for vegetarians. But I needed to make a few phone calls, charge up the ‘tops, and wash my face with hot water.

Kate is still licking her wounds. I hope this trip can help her see that life is big, bigger than the both of us.

Tagged as: favorite quirks of the Chevy S10, fidelity, Road Warriors!, sadness