Cody and Eastward... (Friday)

We drove from Cody, WY to Plymouth, Minnesota. It took 13 hours total. There is NOTHING in Montana or North Dakota. Going to a Twins game tomorrow and possibly a lake or two.

Wyoming and more...

Jimmy - Yellowstone Day 1

Dennis is exhausted from driving through the night so I take over driving the last 200 miles or so to Yellowstone. This drive really tested my manual driving skills, as I had to go through a few stop signs and change gears more than before.So I guess I’m getting a little better at this driving stuff.While Dennis was sleeping, this shady navigation system decided to play a trick on us and lead us to this dirt road that was suppose to bring us to Yellowstone. So we drove down this dirt road for a good half hour or so and then we decided that that wasn’t the way to Yellowstone so we turned it back around.

We stopped in a local gas station and got correct directions to Yellowstone. So Dennis takes back over driving and we decided to stop at the Mesa Falls. It was two waterfalls - one was the lower falls and the other was the upper falls. The lower falls kinda sucked but the upper falls were real cool. Here are some photos.

Crappy Lower Falls...

Awesome Upper Falls

After the Mesa Falls, we get to the gates of Yellowstone and just like the Grand Canyon it cost 25 bucks for a seven day pass. First stop in Yellowstone we hit up Old Faithful. For those who don’t know Old Faithful is this massive geyser that goes off ever hour or so. So we waited around for an hour for this thing to explode and it was pretty cool I guess (We believe that there’s just some guy that hits a button and makes it go off but whatever that’s our little conspiracy). If you ask me it was kind of like the water show at the Bellagio.

Since we are terrible tourist and don’t plan ahead we found ourselves homeless and you can’t get a camp ground in Yellowstone because they sell out by 9am. Luckily for us we found a camp ground just outside of Yellowstone but it happen to be in bear country. So it was a peaceful night and no bears came out to harass us. We got some rest and decided to explore Yellowstone some more the next day.

Jimmy - Yellowstone Day 2 and Cody, Wyoming

The second day at Yellowstone we went to check out Canyon Village. On our way to Canyon Village we saw Yellowstone Lake, Mud Volcano and Sulfur Cauldron. I wasn’t that thrilled about the Sulfur Cauldron because it smelled so bad over there but the mud volcano was pretty cool.

Canyon Village had these two awesome waterfalls, they are like the Brock Lesnar of Waterfalls. We hiked down 8,000 feet to get a good look at the second waterfall. It was a hell of a walk and had around 400 stairs or so. We got some nice videos and photos of the area for you guys to check out.

Dennis - Yellowstone

Yo, first off I’m never falling asleep again while Jimmy is driving. I wake up and we’re almost at the park, so I start getting excited. I was skeptical since I expected more traffic on the way to Yellowstone but whatever. We get on this gravel road and decide to keep going – bad move. The GPS tells us the closest gas stations are over 30 miles away and is telling us to go all kind of crazy directions. We said screw that and backtracked, but our detour turned out to be worth it because if not, we never would have came across Mesa falls, which is one of my favorite spots of the trip so far.

Old Faithful is a bunch of hot garbage but at least it does something. There were tons of other geyser-like attractions that are supposedly awesome, but basically it’s like watching a tea pot that’s almost done and never whistles. Oh and they stink like rotten trash, which apparently doesn’t bother some people who park their asses right there to sit and take in the aroma.

I named this runoff Dennis' Falls. There's no sign for it but I can draw you a map if you want to visit.

Being from Jersey, the drivers in Yellowstone were awful to me. Everyone drove like a bitch and even Bison were messing with us, walking down the street at 0.2 mph. At least the Bison had the decency to show their faces in public while the little bitch bears hid all day and night, slaughtering not even one stupid tourist.

The waterfalls at Uncle Tom’s Trail were pretty badass. I still like the Upper Mesa Falls better because you can practically go in it you’re so close. The hike was a bitch and half but was good exercise to battle all the Coors Light, beef jerky, and gummi bears that were constituting our diet at the time.

I don’t get it, Yellowstone is pretty much the size of jersey and they had NO camping spots available. There was one campground at Lewis Lake that still had vacancies when we arrived, but it was 72 MILES AWAY and STILL IN THE PARK! Naturally, it was filled up by the time we got there. How do they not have a couple extra acres of campground is beyond me…

Leaving Yellowstone, we drove through middle of nowhere and stopped at Cody, WY to grab some food. It was barely 100 miles from the park, but it takes long to get out and we were beat, especially after the hike. We ate at someplace called the Irma, and our waitress had a pin that said “Ask me about the Rodeo!” So all summer long they have a rodeo every night at 8pm and the waitress tells us “It’s real rodeo, they go for points!” We get excited, thinking we are going to see a real sporting event, so we buy 2 tickets and decide to get a hotel for the night. A few minutes later, Jimmy goes “What do they do at a rodeo?” I had no idea but we were going to find out.

The Rodeo was definitely interesting but not exactly what we expected. It was pretty much a redneck circus, with flashes of real bull riding sprinkled in between. There was a clown in the middle telling god awful jokes. Families everywhere, tons of kids. More than half the show was kid’s events, mostly teenagers. Then they had and ‘under 7’ group of barrel riders, which stung deep because these 7 year olds have jobs and I don’t. Some 12 year old got stepped on by a small bull and was on the ground for awhile, but no blood or anything and he turned out to be ok, I guess he was just a wuss.

7-years old... doing gymnastics... on a horse...

After leaving the rodeo we stopped at a placed named “Silver Dollar Bar” despite our misfortunes at “Club Silver Dollar” in Elko. It was local scene, but we were exhausted from the day. The hiking, bad jokes, and shame from seeing throngs of ‘tweeners with jobs being more cowboy than I’ll ever be had gotten to me. We left after about 30 minute to get a good night sleep for our trek to Minnesota the next day.

Calf Roping and Bull Riding

Reno Nevada / Elko Nevada / Idaho

Lunch on the beach...

After our bro-lunch down on the lake, we hopped in the car and drove around to check out Tahoe. It’s an amazing, beautiful area with lots of life and crazy scenery. We left from there and went to Reno just to check it out. Since Harrah’s owed me from all the gambling, we stopped at Harrah’s Reno to grab a free lunch. The place was called ‘Hash House a Go Go’… I have never heard of the place before stumbling upon it, but the food was crazy good. It was considered ‘twisted farm food’. Someone please open one of these places in jersey.

We decided to rough it from there and head straight to Yellowstone. After a few hours of driving through the dessert we stopped at a town called Elko, NV just to take a break and check out the local scene. The small towns off the map have been the most interesting and this was no exception. The place was called ‘Club Silver Dollar’ and we could hear awful karaoke from outside, so the place seemed right up our alley. Walking in, we stuck out immediately. Partially because it was a local hang out and partially because I was wearing a white button down, gym shorts and flip flops. Two guys said “Hi” to us and proceed to tell us how wasted they were. Then, some ‘thing’ started walking toward us. I did not know if this was a male or a female, but it came over and tried inconspicuously to molest my hand while looking in another direction as if it weren’t happening.

The ‘thing’ says “Oh Hi! Where are you from?” as if we bunked into it. It happened to be female and its name was Book (rhymes with Duke). Despite being so wasted it could barely stand, Book explained to us how we stuck out and asked what we were looking for – girls, drugs, etc. After telling her we were just looking to hang out and take a break, she asked us if we were married, to which we both said no. Then she asked if we were together, and was under the impression that me and Jimmy might be dating. After clearing things up, she introduces us to two of her friends, which I’ll name Big and Bigger. Big was nice and shook our hands, Bigger wouldn’t even turn from her bar stool to look at us. Among the other shady looks we were receiving from other patrons, we decided that we needed to get out of the Silver Dollar before something bad happened. Book asked us to stay longer and have a few drinks, but nothing we were looking for would have come from the situation. We told her we were going to the casino next door and would come back, then booked it for the door. We did go to the casino for 5 minutes (just to look) and then hit the road to Yellowstone.

We drove straight through the night, stopping only to take a 2 hour nap somewhere in Idaho at around 8am. Then Jimmy took over driving and brought it home to Yellowstone... kinda...

Leaving Vegas on to Lake Tahoe

Alright, so we left Vegas after getting beat up back-to-back nights. There really isn't much to say about Vegas other then the fact that we got crushed gambling and Dennis might have a wing in Harrah's named after him.

The drive from Vegas to Lake Tahoe had to be the best scenic drive we had all trip. We drove through all kinds of landscapes and navigated through the mountains on these tiny road ways. They really need to thing about putting up some guard rails on some of these roadways. We got some good videos of the drive up here to Tahoe.

(More videos coming when we get better internet.)

It just so happens that we stayed in another casino here in Tahoe (Believe it or not this is not intentional. We are not touring the casinos of the US). Harrah's wanted 150 bucks a night but right next store at Harvey's they wanted only 50 bucks. The lady at the front desk asked if we minded taking room "666" we just said "With the luck we had in Vegas it probably wouldn't hurt us."

Not a lot of people were here at the casinos or the bars so we just hung out played a few games and called it a night. We woke up early and took a nice walk down to the late and had a nice 'bro-lunch' at this restaurant on the late. We didn't have a beach pass so we weren't allowed on the beach (bullshit).

Next we are making our way towards Yellowstone but it looks like we are going to have to make a stop somewhere in Idaho. Possibly Twin Falls? If anyone knows a better spot leave a comment.

Random Video Driving through Nothing Town, Nevada

Life on the road isn't glamorous. Showers are few and far between, the road is long and hollow, we've gone through 2 iPods and there isn't song we haven't heard twice. We have to wait for new music to be written to hear something new. This video is the road. This is what its like being on the road, slipping into delusions, talking about dumb shit, wondering when the next gas station will show up, how much you have left in your bank account, how shitty it would be if the car stalls since its 10000 degrees when you roll the window down for 2 seconds. The road doesn't care if your tired or sweaty or hungry. Or that you have enough gas to make it to the next town. Or that your car is sputtering up the side a mountain cause there is no other way out. Vegas feels like it happened weeks ago. Max the Lion Dog seems like it happened in a past life. This is the road and it is unforgiving.

Written by Dennis

Ya'll are in luck we messed up and uploaded the wrong video so you get a bonus video.

Vegas Two Nights

Vegas knocked us down but it didn't knock us out. Moving on to Lake Tahoe.

Bearizona, Hoover Dam, & Vegas!

We decided that our most logical route of travel would be to head to Vegas and then Lake Tahoe. You guys are probably starting to think we are just touring the casinos of the US but you'd be completely wrong they just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

On our way to Vegas we ran into a few tourist traps first one being Bearizona. We heard from our campground neighbors that Bearizona was pretty cool and we just happened to run into in on our way so we decided why not check it out. It was alright, it was kind of like the six flags safari but they let bears and wolves walk right up to your car. The bears weren't that big so I guess it was pretty safe. My one complaint is we only saw one wolf and he was just sleeping so that was kind of bullshit. The funniest part of Bearizona was probably the dancing bear at the end of our tour (apparently they love Bloodhound Gang).

One bullshit wolf (on break).

So after Bearizona I took over driving once again. I had some trouble getting the car in gear again but that's not even news worthy anymore (I still suck at driving stick). Probably the best scenic drive has to be driving through Arizona to Nevada. The drive had a lot of mountains and stuff and it was just a cool ride the whole way to Vegas. Anyway we have got to be the dumbest tourist ever because as we are driving along we just happen to see a sign that says Hoover Dam 1 mile away. We had no idea where the Hoover Dam was but we were lucky enough to run into it so we said why not make another stop.

On this video, we learned that when you zoom in on the camera during video, the audio cuts out, but you can still take in the scenery.

Since I can't drive stick as well as one would like yet, Dennis takes over when we pull off the exit to the Hoover Dam. We pull up to security and the guard asks Dennis "What do you have in the car?" Dennis says "A lot of stuff." It's probably not the best answer one could say so the guard has us pull off to the side to check the car. Luckily for us it wasn't the most thorough

check they just had us open all the doors and pop the trunk. It was a quick check and we were on our way to see the Hover Dam. The Hoover Dam was really nice its right up there with the Grand Canyon. Here's some pictures.

Eventually we did make it to Vegas and that's all I can say about that.