Day 17 – Telecommuting From My Conestoga Wagon

I had a few meetings to attend this day so I camped outside the west entrance where I seemed to have a decent signal. My dad referred to my working on the road as telecommuting from my Conestoga Wagon.

In honor of putting a contextual label to my working adventures, I present the modern day Conestoga Wagon/mobile office for trekking across the country….bear spray included!

In seeking out wifi, I came across a bakery, Ernie’s Deli, that has been in the area for over 30 years. The gentleman who took my order appeared to be the owner, and he spoke with a thick French accent. They had trays of croissants that looked just like the ones I had enjoyed when I was in France, and given I have been disappointed with most I have had since returning, I had to take the chance that these were the real deal. Boy were they ever! I don’t have any pictures as they didn’t last long enough.

In between meetings I explored more of the park. At one point I tried to attend a meeting up by the visitor center at the north gate. They had a wifi connection there, but not one good enough for me to attend the meeting. It was on Zoom so I’ll just listen to the recording when driving in an area with a decent signal. Instead I ended up enjoying the critters that were roaming about everywhere. I saw more bison too, but I couldn’t get any more pictures of them.

As the afternoon became early evening, it was time to head east again. I wanted to put my paddle board in on Lewis Lake, but the weather was taking a turn and the water became too choppy.

I hadn’t yet determined a route home, so I studied my atlas a bit and decided to exit through the east entrance. Just as I was leaving I spied these shoes, neatly arranged, by a stream. I am not sure why they were arranged in this manner, or where their mates were, but they begged to be memorialized.

Exiting the park I was quickly surrounded by mountains that shifted color. It was amazing how stark and beautiful the difference was.

Using the iOverlander app I decided to look for a place for the night. I need to be able to log into Zoom for a faculty interview tomorrow, so I tried to find a place relatively close to civilization. Fingers crossed I was right because the internet is sketchy enough to have me guessing!