The Great Adventure

Having guzzled a large quantity of water during the night, a trend I found was to be repeated  over the coming fortnight, I awoke  properly at 6am MDT. Rang home on my mobile (seamlessly signing onto the local network) to report my safe arrival. Discovered that the hotel offered free internet access - fantasized about using my laptop until reality struck.

Enjoyed a leisurely complimentary breakfast - bran flakes, milk and peaches taste ever so good when you have not eaten for some considerable time.

Pacing around the hotel room until 11am when I took the hotel courtesy bus back to the airport to await the arrival of the Jackson Hole Express at 1pm.

Settled down to watch humanity pass by and was glad of a plentiful supply of water as the temperature hit 93f in the shade. Noted that the drivers were most accommodating to pedestrians and glided slowly by. 

Swan Valley and Snake River

Jackson Hole Express arrived gratifying early at 12.45 (much to my relief). Only three passengers today - a quiet gentleman who headed to the back of the bus and kept himself to himself and a much more outgoing gent called Barry Clark who turned out to be an orthapedic surgeon and kept me much entertained over the following 5 hours until he left the bus to rejoin his family who were visiting the in-laws at Swan Valley about 1 hour outside of Jackson Hole. I thought I was travelling until he told me he was starting to drive back to Florence in South Carolina the following day and it would take 4 days!

Teton Pass looking towards JacksonCrested the summit of Teton Pass (8,431ft) and arrived in Jackson at 18.20 and 320 miles later to discover that I was being dropped off at a place called "Car Corner" which I subsequently discovered was a 40 minute walk away from my hotel. Fortunately there was a local free bus that stopped nearby and this arrived 25 minutes later and by a circuitous route eventually deposited me outside my motel - the Antler Inn in the center of town. Room seemed expensive to say the least at $125  a night but everywhere shown as full so just grateful to have a bed for the night.

Missed my meeting with my guide (18.00) - not unexpected and he left me a message saying he would see me in reception at 8.30 am the next morning. 

First impressions of Jackson are not good - it reminds me of a cowboy version of Blackpool , catering exclusively for the tourist with prices to match. Baking hot and this at an altitude of 6,200 ft! I swiftly turned the air conditioning on in my room.

Venturing out looking for places to eat I ended up in a sanitised, chrome plated restaurant. Not a good start as as I entered a customer was leaving in a most unhappy mood stating that she would never set foot inside the premises again! Decided to give them the benefit of the doubt (desperate for food at this point as had not eaten since breakfast) and discovered that they had a busy day and had no soup or ice cream.

Finished an indifferent meal and headed back to my motel room to pack away my travelling clothes and prepare for the coming day - the start of "The Great Adventure".