May 31 - Wyoming (Alpine and Jackson)

Sun, May 31 – Waking up under the tarp, it was damp and uncomfortably cold. Condensation had formed on the inside of the tarp, and the blanket was starting to get wet. I still felt pretty crappy, but I tried to not let it bother me. I did a workout without getting out of my sleeping bag, then finally got up and went for a jog with Dazey.

Tyne was still sleeping in the van, so I drove out of the National Forest and to the Coffee Cabin, which is a cool little coffee shop in the tiny town of Alpine. I had visited this place before; two years ago I worked for a white water rafting company in Jackson and we went here for coffee every morning.

I waited 15 minutes for them to open at 7, ordered a hot cup of coffee and sat at a comfortable chair using their Wi-Fi. I noticed that there were a lot of new caches placed along the route from here to Jackson, so I plugged 10 of them into my GPS.

Setting off on the 40 mile drive through the Snake River canyon to Jackson, I started stopping off and finding the typically easy caches that were hidden not far from the road. By the 5^th one, Tyne had gotten up. I found one at the "Lunch Counter," which I remembered was one of the biggest rapids on the river. I went to another cache site that was just a huge pile of boulders. The ammo can was tucked somewhere deep in a crack or crevice. It was probably the hardest cache I've ever found with such a large container, but I did eventually find it.

                After a few more caches, we came into town. Tyne's best friend Bridget has a summer job an hour or so away from here, so she drove out to meet us in town. We sat in the Elk Arch Park for a bit, talking and sitting on the blanket. Dazey enjoyed other dogs walking through and running after tennis balls.

                We got up and took a stroll around the town. The girls stopped into a few shops to window shop while Dazey and I hung out outside.

                It was almost lunchtime, so the girls wanted to go on a little hike and have a picnic lunch. I took them down to Cache creek, a nice park that I had lived near when I was homeless in Jackson. We sat at picnic tables and had turkey sandwiches, apples and chips, then walked a half mile along the pleasant but rapidly running creek.

                  They had gotten the idea that they wanted to go up into the Tetons and drink a beer on Jenny Lake overlooking the mountains. We rode the 30 minutes up into the National Park and the girls went down to the water while I waited in the car. I just was not feeling good today. I wasn't really tired, but just wanted to lie down. I hate when I feel like this, especially when I'm in such a great place.

                After an hour or so, the girls returned and we headed back into town. Bridget had a couple errands to run before driving back to Dubois. In K-mart, I got a bottle of St. John's Wort to help with my mood problem. Bridget bought us dinner at Albertsons and we all headed back to Mosquito Creek to have dinner.

                It was raining in town, and was on and off as we drove to the camping spot. It had stopped when we got there, and we quickly set up the tent. By the time it was up and ready, the rain had started again, so we put a tarp over it and sat inside to have dinner. Bridget had bought a whole roasted chicken, Cole slaw, dinner rolls, chips and salsa. I wasn't really too hungry, but tried to eat some. What I ate was delicious though.

After dinner we played some Uno. Tyne won 2 and I won 2, then we played a game that lasted nearly an hour. Bridget was trying really hard to get her first win, but in the end victory was mine! It was getting late, and she had work really early with a long ride ahead, so she headed out.

It was getting dark later and later. Tonight it was after nine and still bright enough to read by. I read a couple more chapters in my book while Tyne did some writing, then I fell asleep in the van and Tyne in the previously set up tent.

An hour later I woke up and didn't feel good again. I had an anxiety issue and couldn't get comfortable. It took awhile of me taking deep breaths to get back asleep.

---

Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. See how.