Hello, from Beaver UTAH

Well one and all, I've started home, and am actually already half way there. I drove nine hours today, which actually was not that bad. I didn't really get tired until about 8 and half hours in, which I found surprising.

My last week at the Campfire was good. I actually was able to work a bit, which funded my trip home. I really loved the people there, and miss them all already.

I think I miss the whether of Montana most (it was 93 when I pulled up to my motel at 5pm MST!). It was about 40 this morning when I woke up, and got the joy of watching the temperature go up a 50 degree difference in one day.

I am looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone. They've all missed me (so they have told me many, many times), and I've missed them equally as much.

I was offered a job back at campfire if I had a free summer, as well as a place called the bar-n-ranch. But, who knows where I'll be with life next summer (hopefully on my way to getting my degree, as I have planned!), but if I am available, I know I'd love to return to Montana.

I thank all of you who frequently checked on this blog. If I proceed onto another adventure with life, I shall inform all of you via this site (depending on where I go, I may start another blog). Thank you all for your support, and I can't wait to have more personal conversations about my time in Montana with any of you who ask me.

~JD

Update on Yellowstone.

I will not be going to Yellowstone, because they have "Since then however we have completed our hiring for the summer season and no longer have any openings". So...keep an eye out for whatever I'll be doing next!

Another Animal Sighting, Bad News, Changes Coming

Well hello one and all from West Yellowstone...for the last time!!

That's right. As of today, I WILL be going and working for Xanterra, starting next Tuesday (hopefully, if they still can accept me). Today, after work, my boss of the Campfire Lodge Resort cut me down to two days a week because the business has become so slow, and he had to let my other co-worker go. But all is well because I have another job lined up with the park, and if not, I'm going to look for another job around here or maybe even in Seattle! As the next week passes, I will know more.

Okay, animal sighting. I was sitting down in one of the campsites on Friday morning, reading "Decline and Fall" by Evelyn Waugh (great 20th century British Author that I highly suggest reading), and as I finished my chapter, and headed up towards my bunk house, a baby Cinnamon Bear was walking down the road! I stopped and waited for him to see me and for his reaction. He did see me after a few seconds, and then ran off down the road. It was really exciting because when my dad and I first got up here we were told about him, and a month later I finally saw him. I was excited.

Okay, time for the bad news. My clutch has stopped working. It didn't fall out or anything, but the clutch plate is stuck to the spline. In other words, I can't put it into gear when I start it up in neutral, and I can't start my car if it's in gear. I'm having it towed to the Toyota Dealer in Bozeman tomorrow. Hopefully they'll be able to fix the problem by next monday! So pray for that.

That's pretty much it for me. Check in again soon to see what happens next (I sound like a Saturday morning cartoon show...).

Au Revoir

PS-As I was cleaning a cabin today, a lady walked in asking to just look around because "it was interesting to see the other cabins". She recognized me and say "You're the young man with the blog aren't you? JD right?". I was quite tacken aback and told her I was and that I was curioud about how she knew about it. Apparently, it was posted on this website run by the park, and the pick up any blogs about yellowstone they find around the net, and that my site was posted on there! It was actually quite sureal. So miss, if you read this again, thank you for telling me. Bon Soir!

Cold, Very Cold

No, I'm not speaking in reference to the weather up here (it has actually been on the warmer side, although we did get our first rain in a week and a half last night). I am speaking, however, about the lake that I and 4 of my co-workers went to and swam in yesterday. I can't remember the name of the lake, but it is one of the most gorgeous lakes I've ever seen. The water was absolute crystal. We hiked along the edge of the lake on a path for about a quarter of a mile until we came to a rope swing. At first, my friend Mike and I were tentative about going in, let alone using the rope swing. But we eventually got in, me going before Mike. I didn't test out the water first, because I would much rather submerge myself entirely instead of sticking my toes in and going in slowly, so I went off of the rope swing first. I wish I were able to have stopped on the water, and run back to shore the second my toes hit the water, but sadly, that was not the case. I went and, and immediate struck for the surface, seeing as the water must have been at least 50 degrees. I soon, however, became acclimated to the temperature of the water, and began enjoying myself. After going off of the rope swing a few times, I grabbed one of the inner tubes we brought with us, and lallygagged about in the lake. It was a great start to my weekend (my weekends are Thursdays and Fridays, just so every one knows).

Everything else up here is fine and dandy, and I'm loving it.

An update on what I will be doing from here out. I've spoken with my boss about possibly staying with him as long as I can, because I indicated that I would like to (this would mean telling Xanterra to shove off). However, he said that if business starts slowing down for them, it might be a better bet for me to go and work with Xanterra, although he would love to hang onto me as long as he could (he really did say this). So, we will be talking again in 2 weeks, to see whether or not he'd be able to hang onto me through mid-September, or if it would be beneficial for me to go work with Xanterra on the 26th. I will update on this after my talk.

Au Revoir, friends and family, until my next update.

PS-Thank you to my Pops for putting up the pictures for me.

A bat?

Not five nights ago, I was happily asleep at four in the morning. That was until I was awaken by a fluttering around my head. Now, being scared to the point of saying not so nice things, and ducking whenever the fluttering of whatever it was (mind you, it was pitch black inside my cabin, so I couldn't see what the devil was "attacking" me) came about my head. As I frantically groped for the light switch, still trying to avoid being hit in the face, and screaming bloody murder (have you ever heard someone actually scream the words "bloody murder"? Sorry. A rant for another day), and finally finding the lights to see a six inch long bat hanging on the adjacent wall. I moved again, and it started to fly around, looking for escape. I couldn't figure out how he got in in the first place. So I swung open my door, and as he came at me again, I scooped him out with my hat. I thought I had injured him when he landed on my deck, but I saw him leave. I then returned to sleep. And that is my bat story.

JD's Place

Hi! JD's dad here. As he posted previously, I traveled to Montana with JD, and while I was there I took a few pictures around the Campfire Lodge where he is working and living.

As you head west towards Earthquake Lake and the famous Three Dollar Bridge section of the Madison River, just after Hebgen Lake you come to the Campfire Lodge.

The small sign is definitely correct - the breakfast is excellent, and popular!

The first thing you come to is the Cafe/Fly Shop/Office. In the morning the cafe is so busy you can barely find a place to park.

Right out the back door of the cafe is the famous Madison River. Sometime in the last few years a well-known fly fisherman caught a 10 pound brown trout just upstream from here.

Make a left turn and head up the road towards the bunkhouse (aka - JD's Place).

Here's the first view you get of the bunkhouse (yes, it really is only eight feet wide inside!).

There's a large deck where you can sit and read or just enjoy the view - or sleep!

And here's the inside, all newly redone. We decided to christen the place with a game of cribbage before JD took me to the airport in Bozeman.

So there you have it - JD's temporary home in Montana.

Day Hike

I went on a hike today, up the Cabin Creek trailhead. Gorgeous hike.

Tomorrow is my other day off. May go fishing, may just stick around.

I finished a great book today called "Through Painted Deserts". It's about a spiritual journey of Don Miller, and how he road tripped from Houston Texas to Portland Oregon in a POS van with his friend Paul. It's a fantastic book, very funny, very serious, and I highly suggest reading it when you get the chance.

Update with Xanterra. I sent them an e-mail telling them that I am working here at the Campfire Lodge through Labor day, and I have yet to hear from them. So cross your fingers if they decide to let me start on the 2nd or not. If not, I'll just be heading home after my time here at CL.

Update on that, I love it here. I couldn't ask for a more beautiful place to work, and fun people to work with. I'm going to miss it here when I leave. Who knows, if I like it enough, I may come back next season!

Check back in soon.

~JD