Travel
Travel journal for Jonathan, first version of this blog July 2025 documenting 3-week trip to Western US.
July 24, 2025
We had Emily’s company all day today, which was quite a treat. She’s just cheerful and vivacious. She walked up to the campground around 8 o’clock and we had just finished eating oatmeal and coffee. We piled in the car and made our way to Fairy Falls which was about a five-mile hike. We then proceeded on to Old Faithful, where we got to watch the beehive explode, revisit to the Old Faithful Lodge, where we heard a violin and reminisced about the first time we had been there.
July 24, 2025
July 23, 2025
Not a lot of detail on this date. The girls had prior plans going to Bozeman, Aaron wanted to get some research work done, and Tina wanted to go exploring the park. What’s a guy with an FJR to do? I headed up to Bear Tooth Pass – a road we did as a family with a 2004 Honda Odyssey pulling a Jayco Popup camper so many years ago. All the while I was thinking about the proper vehicle for such a road.
July 23, 2025
July 21-22 (Mon-Tues)
Top case for all camping gear Covering two days in this entry: July 21 (Monday)Aaron and I traveled from Lander and Dubois, WY to Canyon Village in Yellowstone National Park. We loaded up quickly from the Pronghorn Monday morning, left Lander, and made it to Dubois, where Aaron took a conference call with his research team in a neat park while I did laundry. We grabbed Mexican food, then had an enjoyable ride into the Teton region.
July 21, 2025
July 19-20, 2025
Catching up on 2 days of activity July 19 - Saturday Aaron’s first full day in Colorado. We got a reasonably early start and headed into Silverthorne for coffee and bagels at Panera. I left him there to study while I handled some logistics—transporting a cardboard box that Panera gave me to ship gear the motorcycle couldn’t carry. Frog Tog rainpants and other bulky items had to go.
July 19, 2025
July 16-18, 2025
Combined Log of 3 days: July 16 (Wednesday) It’s Wednesday evening, 9:30 local time. This is hump day for me workwise – tomorrow is my last day of work. I’ll be back at the Silverthorne library, which is just an ideal setup. But right now I’m laying in the tent and there’s a somewhat overwhelming sensation of “grittiness.” You see – all day long the wind blows a lot of this fine volcanic dirt around. It gets airborne and lifts into the tent. I’ll do a cleanout of the tent tomorrow for this.
July 16, 2025
July 15, 2025
Decision Time for Camp Site Shift I’m writing this Tuesday evening at the end of a good day, and I couldn’t tell you what time it is. But I’m laying in my tent hearing the winds whip up and the occasional rain patter down, struck by what a difference a day can make. Yesterday this time I was laying in the same tent, but I was cold, didn’t have enough water, and earlier that evening had the ironic experience of brushing my teeth with water augmented by the only other liquid I had – apple juice. I was in a shared camp spot with Phil and Lisa who had a very comfortable camper with a heater I heard turn on. Meanwhile the winds were whipping at the edges of my tent, those sounds helping me imagine I’m a kite about to be swept up into the sky.
July 15, 2025
July 14, 2025
Limon to Frisco, CO Got up at 5 AM EST this morning and had breakfast, folded clothes that were hand-washed last night, and sifted through all the crap I’ve dragged from Georgia. Note to self: learn to pack lighter. Next up was finalizing a strategy for where to camp this week. I’d done some research beforehand using Claude.AI to identify spots in Colorado to camp. The requirements were:
July 14, 2025
July 13, 2025
Sunday – Kansas City to Limon, CO This morning around 7:30 AM I woke up in the tent having slept well, aware of the nearly 800 miles I needed to make to Denver. Took just under an hour to break camp, to get everything loaded and get rolling. Thirty minutes into the day, I came as close as I’ve ever come to hitting a bird. Not just one bird, but three. Not just any birds, but Canadian geese clustered in the middle of the road. They flew right at me. Exciting start to the day—low-speed, but those birds are big.
July 13, 2025
July 12, 2025
After months of planning, the moment of departure has finally arrived. I’m standing in the safe cocoon of my garage—having pulled on full protective gear (boots, pants, jacket, gloves, ear plugs, helmet). All travel gear is securely stowed in closed panniers: tent, 2 sleeping pads and bags, my MSR Whisperlite stove and cookpots, a french press for coffee, 4 changes of underwear, pair of pants, shorts, 4 shirts, and countless other little bits required to live on the road for 3 weeks.
July 12, 2025