PT writes...
My longest day began with the least sleep as I lay awake in our cabin in Jackson Hole agonising about work decisions and details, and worked myself into a lather about it. I made the mistake of looking at the clock, realising I'd gone to bed at ten and was still awake at two, then made it worse by reminding myself that in my head it was Washington time, and so actually FOUR in the morning. Not a good way to start - but actually, looking back now, it was such a reminder that the holiday was coming right on time.
In true Lister-Thomas tradition we started the getaway with a small disaster. We took off for Florida without the daypack stuffed with cameras, binoculars and raingear - all of which we needed in our first 24 hours down south. This time I'd left my wallet at home, including my driver's licence, without which I couldn't drive at all for the whole of our three week Driving Holiday. From our first flight stop in Dallas on Friday, I'd phoned our neighbour Rula, to whom I'd given a key the day before with the words, "but you won't ever need it". She was fantastic - dropped everything, ran across the road to our house, found the licence and set off for the post office. Three hours later, I called her from the airport in Jackson to find out that the post office had said it was impossible to get it to us before we got to the RV hire centre, so she had run across Georgetown to UPS and sent it at the hugely expensive "next day delivery" rate.
As my credit card sized licence winged its way across the US in our wake, we explored a bit more of Jackson Hole. Very chic, very nice, bit too full of tourists like us, but we did our best fuelled by sourdough brunch and excellent coffees. I kept ringing the motel, and asking if the UPS delivery had arrived. It was absolutely guaranteed by 1.30pm. And after that, we'd have to go, or get behind on the holiday route, which involves four nights bookings made in Yellowstone, arranged back in February... Eventually I went into the motel again to ask in person, and as the chap at reception ushered me away with regrets that no it hadn't arrived today, a lady in the back office looked out, saw me, and pulled down a sliver of an envelope from its resting position on top of a high bookcase. Yes, the super urgent delivery, which I'd mentioned no more than four times, had in fact arrived.
Phew. Hoorah. And from then on, the day went beautifully. We got to the RV place, which was really just the drive of a roadside motel with about five vehicles lined up outside (surprisingly few in supply - R had spent ages phoning around before Christmas to secure a booking). Richard and Tom and I pretty much jumped for joy when we saw the one with our name on it, and immediately started packing it with three hundred dollars worth of groceries and treats, before even signing the hire documents.
And we were off. Heading north with the jagged peaks of the Grand Tetons rearing up on our left, the grassy valley stretched in front of us. Home for the first night was off the tourist track, at the low key campsite of Gros Ventre (GROW-vont, they tell us), with lots of space among trees, and a river rushing past swollen with snow melt at the bottom of the meadow. Tip top supper of grilled salmon, green beans, and couscous with garlic and tomato. Being nearly the longest day of the year, the blue sky was still bright when I followed Tom by closing my eyes soon after nine. I don't think Richard lasted much longer. Worn out, but really happy to be on our way.
R adds... We discovered that there are some important Knight genes running through Tom. His Granny Margaret will be pleased to learn that he can put a cherry in his mouth, with the stalk hanging out, and remove the cherry from the stone without separating the stone from the stalk. I tried it a couple of times and failed, then Tom said "I'll do it' so I humoured him, passing him a cherry, and a minute later he was handing me the stalk with the stone attached grinning. He now delights in doing this whenever he can get his hands on a cherry with a stalk. I still can't do it...
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