PACKING MY COVERED WAGON

Just think about it. When our forefathers and mothers moved out West , they had to literally carry an entire household with them.  The choices they needed to make! In the end, only the most necessary items would be chosen. Something REALLY special, like a family portrait, could have been considered frivolous to many pioneering settlers of the West.

Usually when I take Road Trips, I know I’ll be in or near a big city at some point so if supplies are low or I’ve lost some important item, it can be replaced. I know where all the Cabellas and Bass Pro Shops are in the states I frequent. Supermarkets and big box discounters are ubiquitous even in the small towns of America.  I can usually take comfort in the knowledge that what I need will be readily available.

And then there is Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park.  There ARE general stores in the park itself but what about the items I’ll need to set up ‘house’ in my dorm room? What about that little bookshelf I just know I’m going to need? The twin sheets and pillows? Where the heck will I get that twin-sized memory foam mattress pad?

Gardiner Montana is the nearest town to Mammoth. Gardiner, according to its Chamber of Commerce website has a population of 891 persons as of the last census. The Chamber’s directory lists one food market, called Gardiner Market, and five saloons with names like Iron Horse and Two Bit. It lists 14 places to eat, some of which do double-duty like the Iron Horse and the Tumbleweed Book Store and Café.

The drugstore, appropriately named Gardiner Drugs, also doubles as a coffee house and is the only listing under ‘variety store’.  I’ve been in quite a few small western towns and it is not uncommon for the drug store or the grocery to carry merchandise you might find in a variety store. So maybe I don’t have to look any further than Gardiner for my new twin sheets and my memory foam but I’m not counting on it.

Trying to figure out how far I might have to go, I googled ‘Walmart in Montana’. I’d be pretty desperate to take my trade to Walmart but sometimes in these little bitty towns in the West, that’s the only place with sufficient variety to satisfy my big city ways.

There are other ‘border towns’ surrounding the Park.  There’s West Yellowstone, MT, population 1,298 people, to the southwest. I’ve been there before-in January 2008. Nice people, quaint couple-block main street with art galleries and shops, most of which were closed for the winter.  West Yellowstone is less than 50 miles and according to Google Maps only about an hour and a half from Mammoth – unless, of course, a bison decides it wants the right-of-way until it gets good and ready to move on down the road. Googling for a Walmart in West Yellowstone directs me to Rexburg ID, even further on down the road or Bozeman MT, two and a half hours north of Mammoth.

The sweet quiet little town of Cody Wyoming is only about 2 hours to the southeast. I even have a friend who lives there so I could visit AND shop.  Cody has 9,653 persons as of the 2011 census. Not a small town in these parts – that’s almost a city by Montana and Wyoming standards. Heck, Cody even has a Walmart. Super-sized even.

An amazingly beautiful three hours to the south is Jackson Wyoming.  GoogleMaps declares the route straight through the Park is just a tad over 3 hours but I know how beautiful Lewis Falls and the Grand Tetons are.  Forget that being a short trip. I’d need to plan on staying overnight. Jackson is pretty much Wyoming’s Vail, with art galleries and a pretty city center for which parking is at a premium and the beer drafts are expensive and have microbrew labels.  Jackson ‘s population is about the same as Cody but it seems to me that Jackson is to Vail as Cody is to Craig, Colorado. Never heard of it? Well, I’m guessing most people haven’t heard of sleepy Cody either.

Montana actually has three border towns but Red Lodge, the other one sort of due east of Mammoth, probably doesn’t get nearly the Yellowstone traffic Gardiner or West Yellowstone do.  For one thing, Red Lodge has NO access to Yellowstone during much of the fall and spring and all of the winter.  Although its population is almost the same as Gardiner, its history is not quite so tied into Yellowstone National Park. At one time, it was a mining center of Montana and now it is one of Montana’s premier ski resorts and the second home choice for many of the 1%.

To get to Red Lodge from Mammoth, you pass through the village of Cooke City, where 100 hearty souls live year-round. Cooke City is accessible by vehicle only through YNP in the winter although you can come in from the east by snowmobile over Colter Pass which is open only for snow vehicles in the winter. Although lending its rich gold-mining history and its wonderful winter sports, Cooke City doesn’t have much to add to the shopping around YNP.

In reviewing my options, I’ve decided to start packing early. The most important stuff – my backpacking and camping gear – will be decided first and put in my soft-sided luggage carrier in the bed of my truck with my bike.  I’m taking my electric piano, too, which sits comfortably across the entire back seat of YiHa, my truck.  After I see how much room is left, personal items like books, clothing and toiletries are next. I’m really beginning to feel like a pioneer. Thank god I have pictures of my family on my smartphone!