Bison, WY

So we just have to share our experience with the Bison in Yellowstone.  We discovered that for some people in the mid-west, seeing a Bison brings the same feeling as when we Californians come across a raccoon.  But for us, we LOVED watching the Bison and were SO excited every time we found some!  We drove less than 100 yards into the park and were met by this fellow...

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This was just a small taste of what was to come.  We had heard of the "Bear Jam" that can occur in Yellowstone when somebody spots a bear near the road and stops to take a closer look. We unfortunately never got to start a bear jam, but were able to be a part of many Bison Jams! If only the commute home on the 580 was something so enjoyable. The Jams sometimes allowed for enough time to exit the truck and take a closer look, which you can see we were stoked to do!  

The second coolest job in Yellowstone, after the Geyeserologist, would have to be the Bison Herder.  They know where the herds are going at certain times of day and when it's time for the herd to cross the road, they sometimes have to use their large truck to encourage them along.  At times the feisty males would get territorial and put up a bit of a fight. But in the end, size does matter.

And especially for Roro, a Bison taking a bath.  He was still dirty when he was all done, but covering himself in dirt gets rid any bugs that are bugging him.

Mile 726 - Elk Sighting, CA

Third Stop; mile 726: Random Elk sighting!

These beautiful animals are most often hid away from sight, or darting out in pairs in front of your car. These guys were just having a siesta off the 101 when a herd of cameras attacked. I overheard one Mom telling her son that these Elk weren’t the wild kind of Elk because “they’re not afraid of humans”. While I’m not sure that’s Webster’s definition, I would agree that this guy was in no way afraid of us.

Mile 156 - The Deer, CA

It was a dark and scary night on Hwy 45. The Saaron caravan was close to their first destination, and it was much later into the night than they had intended. Aaron was in his car, Stormin’, following Sarah in the fateful lead position.  They had been communicating via walky talkies and SUDDENLY Aaron saw Sarah swerve back and forth to the left and then to the right. Aaron was preparing to deal with a quick end to their journey.

The walky talkie squalked, “WHOA WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT’S GOING ON?”

Sarah regains control of the truck and pulls over.

“I just hit a deer” she quietly responds as images of Bambi flashed through her mind.

Back near Aaron, the deer thankfully scampers off without a limp, missing only a few hairs taken by the bumper from his front left shoulder.

Saaron assesses the damage of the green machine and breathes a sigh of relief with the realization that they had escaped relatively unscathed.

Back behind the wheel, Saaron thinks of the important lesson they have learned this night. They have chosen to take to the road and leave the comforts and safety of Oakland behind them.

On the road, even Bambi can ruin a perfectly good night.