So we didn’t actually leave the house until 12:27 am… And you might be wondering how I remember that almost 5 months later… but I have Google Maps to thank for that! If you have your timeline tracking enabled, you can look back to any day and see where you were and what time you were there. So it looks like we drove for 1.5 hours then stopped for a few minutes, I feel like we may have stopped for gas.
We arrived in Idaho at 2:42 am and finally pulled into the Montpelier Creek KOA Journey at 4:07 am. I am pretty sure I nodded off for a couple minutes here and there on our way there. And as soon as we pulled in, found the map with our spot marked out for us, we pulled into our pull through and we went to sleep. I don’t remember if we even hooked up, or if I said we could hook up in the morning so we could dump and fill before we left. I really loved the full hookups and pull through sites, because we didn’t have to find the dump station, or stop along the way to dump and fill up. Not that I was ever the one to do the dumping or filling, but it was convenient to be able to just relax in the RV with the kids while my hubby was outside getting us up and running again.
We woke a few hours later and while Ryan was prepping us for our departure, the kids and I went for a little adventure around the park. We saw the biggest dandelions I had ever seen in my ENTIRE LIFE, and there was a cute little creek that you could sit on a bench and watch. I’m pretty sure the kids told me they thought they saw a piranha in there… They had a swimming pool, which we didn’t use because we had no time to waste, and they had a fun playground that the kids enjoyed for a bit, we went into the little store… but I think we only bought ice (we had an ice maker in the RV but… I didn’t trust drinking water from those fill stations), then the kids played Mega Connect Four for a bit.
So I didn’t take this picture until we were leaving Montpelier… Oops! 
We had to hit the road pretty quickly because we had plans to make it all the way to see Old Faithful. So we finally loaded up and hit the road at 12:33 pm.
Except… as soon as we left the campground and turned right on the road to head to Wyoming we were going as slow as a turtle. It may have been a little daring to make our first RV trip a 21 day trip, especially since we had no idea what we were doing. But… we were already on it, so it was going to be a learning experience. Ryan had a hunch that it was going slow because it was a cool morning and maybe the RV just wasn’t warm enough to get up and go. So we pulled over, and after a few minutes we tried again and we were up to speed in a minute or so. Around 15 minutes later… we were in Wyoming! We kinda passed the sign, so I jumped out and ran back to get a picture of it.
We stopped at another Sinclair for gas… and our gas stops suddenly turned into lunch stops. Ryan would get the gas going, then he would usually run inside to use the restroom… I on the other hand would take the opportunity to move around the RV while the RV was not in motion so I wouldn’t get nauseous. The kids could get out of their seats and sit at the table while I got lunch ready for them and sometimes we would be hanging out at the pump for 30 minutes or more.
Then we made a pit stop to take some pictures with this beautiful background and white puffy clouds. Then we drove through Jackson Hole Wyoming, then on to see the Grand Tetons.
Then… we saw where the Buffalo really roam. They weren’t crossing the street, so they didn’t slow down traffic… though I did see the traffic seeming to slow down on Google maps, and I was hoping that the slow down meant we were going to see something really cool. I just had NO idea that we would see hundreds of Buffalo right off the side of the road.
So… we did what any tourist would do… pulled over and took in the amazing sight for a few minutes. But not too many minutes, we still had destination Old Faithful on our mind.
We finally arrived at the entrance to Yellowstone at 5:49 pm and arrived at the parking lot for Old Faithful at 7:00 pm. I knew it “closed” at 8 pm, and I knew it could erupt every 55 minutes… so I was hoping that it would erupt within 55 minutes from the time we arrived and didn’t happen to erupt 1 minute prior to our arrival where we would have missed the last “showing” of the day. I later figured out it was the Visitor Center that closed at 8 pm, and Old Faithful itself did not turn off at 8 pm… duh! It erupted about 10 minutes after we got to the viewing area, and it was an amazing site to see!
What I completely forgot about, until about 30 minutes away from Old Faithful was that I had downloaded an app called Gypsy Guide Yellowstone… I wish I had turned it on sooner. It is like having a personal tour guide on board. That’s actually where I learned about the timing of Old Faithful and where to go. He also mentioned to go into the Old Faithful Inn, he didn’t tell us what we would see, he just told us we wouldn’t want to miss it. I’m pretty sure he was talking about the massive clock… and all the beautiful wood. So after a quick picture, we walked back out to the RV to grab some dinner and head on to our next stop for the night in Cody, Wyoming… at our first Wal Mart! We pulled out of the parking lot at 9:05 pm and it was still daylight… it was so crazy!
But first… we spotted some Elk, so we pulled over and got out of the RV to walk over to get a closer look. Someone stopping to see the Elk told us they had just seen a bear… Oh my goodness, I was walking back to the RV as fast as I could, especially since Ryan was ahead of us with Alexandria, and he had the bear spray and I was trailing behind with Victoria and Bobby as it started getting dark fast.
Sometimes Google Maps didn’t give me what I thought were the very best directions… and the drive from Old Faithful to Cody was one of those times…. we were driving on what seemed to be a dirt road, under construction, in the pitch black of night and I never knew when we would get back to real road. We did see some deer, which was frightening to me since it was so dark, but we saw the most beautiful moonlight reflecting on the lake, and my Google Pixel Night Sight actually makes it look like it was still daylight out, but it was very much night.
Tips for Day 4:
- If you don’t have Google Maps…. get it! And turn on your timeline tracking if you ever take a trip and want to remember where you went.
- If you are going to visit Yellowstone, get Bear Spray… we didn’t need it, but we had it just in case we did need it.
- If you want a tour guide definitely get the GyPSy Guide for Yellowstone, I think they have it for other locations too… so look into it for any travel that you might want to enjoy listening to, rather than trying to read while you are taking in the beauty around you.
- If you are driving to Cody, Wyoming for the night… try to leave before nightfall… and hopefully the construction will be done (it may even be done now) so that you don’t have to brave dirt roads in the middle of the night.
- Give yourself some time… that’s probably a tip I would add for EVERY SINGLE DAY because I feel like we were so rushed. We didn’t have time to spend time in places because our schedule was packed full, and I don’t regret any of the places we got to see, but I would definitely take a second trip to almost every place because there was so much more we could have done had we had more time.
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