We traveled through Yellowstone today and I was not prepared for how the fire of a few years ago had devastated the landscape. It is pretty grim.  I want to go back to the big Horn Mountains.  I want to fish the Madison on the west side of the park.  I want to roam around northern Idaho, western Wyoming and southern Montana.  But I don't think I need to see Old Faithful again.  Its still as cool as ever--- well, hot actually--- but it lacks the personality that will bring me back to the rivers and mountains of the high plains.  The Madison at the west entrance is a spectacular trout steam!

We did get charged (sort of ) by a Buffalo.  It is not easy to turn a standing Harley around and run the other way on a standard width road, but I did. I was too busy to get a photo of it, but afterward the old guy sauntered off the road and took a dust bath:

I have to say these are awe inspiring creatures when they get some speed on down an asphalt road that you're at the other end of. [OK, you put the preposition in the right place!]  I was more or less caught in standing traffic looking at this guy who had wandered onto the road ahead of me, when a bicyclist came up the road and spooked him into running down towards us.  Its one thing to contemplate meeting one of these first hand from inside an RV, probably rented anyway, and quite another to contemplate it from the saddle of a motorcycle.  So I u-turned and hightailed it faster than you could say "thank got for electric starters and fuel injected engines."

The day was uneventful, but a bit tiring from handling the MC at low speeds all day.  We'll head on down the road tomorrow, more or less making a beeline for home on wednesday.  So this may be my last post until I get home and have an opportunity to contemplate how this trip went.  Right now, I know I want to revisit some places, preferably both in the winter and once again in the fall, but this time with a fly rod in hand and a nice campground to go back to in the evening.  Also, preferably, with companionable folk to tell fishing lies to around a campfire.