We met at our usual time of 8:00 and walked across the street to MacDonalds for breakfast. During our trip they had a special of two Egg MacMuffins for two dollars. Carol's and my breakfast totaled $2.75. Such a deal.
We began driving on a two-lane road to West Yellowstone, a town just outside the park on the West side. We saw our first road sign "Range Cattle" but didn't fully appreciate the point they were trying to make until we discovered cows on the roadsides along the highway. Apparently the sign meant that cattle in this area were free to roam the highway. Maybe we're too ingrained in C4 dancing, but we don't understand how a novice is supposed to understand this message from just those two words on the sign.
| I read a passage (pages 190
to 195) from Hamilton's Blessing about a Flat Tax. The author
was trying to make a case for a Flat Tax as opposed to our present
income tax system with all its deductions and exceptions, and as opposed
to a Sales Tax.
The author uses an example of the Flat Tax: Assume a $10,000 personal exemption and a 20 per cent tax rate on all income above that amount. He shows how this has some progressivity built into it. He believes this plan would curtail the power of politicians to dispense political favors and make political bargains by granting loopholes and exemptions to special interests. This is one of the things I like about the author, John Steele Gordon. He's realistic, and sees government for what it is rather than what we want it to be. We four political analysts in the car want to know how John would handle corporate income tax, if any. The book isn't entirely clear on this subject. |
As we approached West Yellowstone, we saw a moose alongside the highway in the bushes beside a river. We stopped the car, wandered into the woods until we were about 30 feet from him. Surprisingly, he didn't seem impressed by the presence of challenge dancers but kept eating. We took some pictures and gawked for a while as a crowd of people from about 10 cars also stopped to watch. We learned quickly that when traveling in the West and you see a car or cars parked along the highway, there's a good chance they're spotted some wildlife.
| We drove through a beautiful area in the mountains with a scattering of some lovely homes. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of living in such a remote area. |
We did a quick run thru of the town of West Yellowstone to get acquainted, then checked a motel with relatively new log cabins to rent. The owner took on us on a little tour, but in the end we decided the price was too steep ($120 a night) and checked into the Three Bear Lodge at $60. Later I discovered that Carol had not voiced her opinion and was unhappy with the decision. She really wanted to stay in the log cabins. The rooms at Three Bear were very nice with the door alongside a interior hallway. They looked to be adequate size, but when our three suitcases arrived, the room shrunk. As a matter of fact, I ran into one of them when I got up in the middle of the night.
We had lunch at Mike's, a very small cafe in town. Carol and I had Chili.
| During lunch we discussed abstract reasoning, trying to come up with a good, simple example of it. |
We entered Yellowstone only to find that the Madison/Norris road was closed for repairs. This meant a trip around the southwestern/geyser section was our only alternative. It also meant that to return to our motel, we had to double back over the same road. This is probably a price we had to pay for scheduling our trip after the peak of the tourist season, but it was worth it.
We, and several other tourists, stopped a couple of times to observe herds of buffalo crossing the road and grazing in the fields adjacent to the road. It was thrilling for me to see these creatures I'd only read about, and to see them so up-close and personal. They acted completely natural and unaware of us. We stopped at a cutoff on by the bend of a creek and watched a herd of elk in a meadow. Couldn't see the bull, which made us a little nervous. Continuing on, we spotted three elk cows relaxing in the grass, about 20 feet from the road, alongside the Firehole river. We stopped and walked closer to take pictures. They watched us, but didn't seem alarmed at our presence. It's really fascinating to get this close to wild animals.
Continuing on, we pulled off the main road onto one which drove through a savannah towards a geyser. There were hundreds of buffalo grazing, and we passed a spot where they just wandered across the road as if they had been informed that they have the right-of-way. As we left this area, we spotted a coyote crossing the road, pulled over, and watched him for several minutes.
We visited a few geysers, including Old Faithful. The weather was in the mid 40's as we sat for an hour to view the eruption of Old Faithful (Old Faithful, my ass!). In my humble opinion, these geysers are the most overrated natural "wonders" I've ever seen. They look like toxic waste dumps, and smell awful from the sulfur. We entered the Lodge for a drink, and Carol bought earrings at the gift shop.
We stopped along the road to view an historical marker commemorating the Chief Joseph campaign - this Nez Perce chief in 1877 took his tribe on a journey, eluding the US Calvary for some 1,800 miles through some of the most inhospitable terrain in our country. As Paul and I were reading the marker, a man joined us and proceeded to enlighten us with more background. He noted that Chief Joseph surrendered just 40 miles from Canada, his ultimate destination, and supposedly uttered the famous line, "We will fight no more forever." As we walked back to our vehicle, I noticed a woman in his car and said to her, "He's really knowledgeable." She told me that he should be, "He's a retired American History professor."
Back to town for a quick supper at a restaurant on the street across from the old train station. It was set back from the street. We sat in a large booth on the far right side. Paul thought the place was very hot. We left and went to the Imax theater for two shows, Wolves and Yellowstone. I really love these Imax theaters with their screen that's six stories tall.
There was a kid taking tickets who came into the theater between shows to collect tickets from the few of us who were staying for the second show. We engaged him in conversation for about 10 minutes.
| He's 19, living in Idaho, and
will return home in October to begin his Mormon two-year mission.
He informed us that he can be sent anywhere in the world (except China),
but can request a location. He is not allowed any home visits during
the duration, but can return if a member of his immediate family
dies.
We were surprised to learn that he has to pay his own way up to a maximum of $450 per month. Women can go on these missions, but they're usually a little older, maybe 21. Although good taste prevented me from mentioning this to him, I remembered our friend Penny's observation on this Mormon practice of "The Mission". Penny had been a Mormon for a period of years to appease her husband. In the old days, Mormons practiced polygamy. Penny believed this Mission idea was instituted by the elders of the church (exclusively men) as a way to get rid of the younger men (their competition) for a critical period of time so they could woo and marry the eligible young ladies. Very interesting, and from my point of view, a very plausible explanation. I'm reasonably certain that the allowing of women to participate in The Mission is a relatively modern concession. |
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