1st October 2016  Saturday,
hello just to let you all know that i will likely try and carry on with the trip details tomorrow as i have some trouble with the computer that hopefully Keith can help me sort out.
mainly to do with e mails on the small notebook - however i can get e mail on my I Pad, even without the local sim cards as all the hotels have Wi Fi so in the evening and early morning which is around 2pm for you at home i can send messages and sms which you will get straight away.

Briefly today we drove through Yellowstone national park and Neill had a sighting of a brown bear but it was distant and hiding behind trees, also we had real close up of Elk, and Bison that we could almost touch,
there was quite a lot of rain on & off through the day, but also bright & Sunny patches.
we did see the very deep canyons that the Gardner river has cut out over the years, and also the Yellowstone river in the more northernly part of the park.
we also had some good close up sightings of geysers ( which they pronounce Guysers) and the call older guys like us a couple of old geysers as we pronouce our hot water geysers in SA. we were close to some of the hot water geysers steaming away so strongly that it sounds like a jet flying overhead !!
this actually hot water that is so hot that it turns into steam as it reaches the surface, so is virtually like a boiling kettle all the time.
we had some really great views down the really deep and fantastic valleys or gorges where the rock formation is fascinating in distinct layers.
we arrived in West Yellowstone the town just outside the west gate of the park, and went to see the imax movie on the start and founding of Yellowstone, and came over the pass which was named after the army captain that led the xhibition which i think was a Captain Washburn, the height of the pass being just a bit maybe 200-300 metres higher than Joburg.

We have tickets to go back and see a movie of the bears in Yellowstone at the Imax tomorrow and they were discounted if you bought 4 and then as senior citizens too, so we will see how we feel tomorrow.
we had supper at a recomended the 3 bears restaurant which was good, but the bison rib eye that i had was not a patch on the turn and tender in jhb, and the burger Neill had was much better - we have in fact been eating burgers mostly, as they are very good, and also good value for money and ione gets a decent salad if you want with it.we have also had some really nice deserts especially the brownies, but often we will share as the helpings are big.
we will do washing tomorrow but how lucky can you be at the "Brandin Iron Hotel" here in West Yellowstone the laundry id right across the drive from our room, with slot Washers and Dryers etc,
so that will help, and then we will be at Anne & Bob who i am sure will help us.
i am thinking of departing from bob & Anne on the 7th instead of the 8th so we can maybe drive about 2 hours of the route to Durango so breaking it into 2 days instead of one 6 hour solid drive so we can stop and look at the scenery a bit as well as we go over 2 passes one in the San Juan mountains and  another, also will give us a chance to look at a little of Durango and maybe the steam engines as we leave for Phoenix the next morning at 6.55 am so will be an early start getting us to Phoenix reasonably early so we can take an easy drive to Flaggstaff and the next morning to the Canyon - will chat to Bob to see about accomodation as it is still the tail end of the summer season although the evenings are chilly.

I left my bluetooth control for my hearing aids ( which i dont really need for daily use unless at home watching the TV) in the Super 8 hotel in Big Timber, so when i saw there was a super 8 in Gardiner i went in today and they phoned to confirm they had found it, and will kindly post it on to Bob, so will have to e mail Bob to warn him also to see if Anne can track where we can get some Zeel injections for Neill for his knees as Dillon got some from the doctors at the big "Ishlamela Hospital" near his kraal backpackers as the doctor's wife seemed to use this natural or homeopathic injection so successfully on Dillons Knee which was damaged in one of his accidents.
so maybe if we can get some we should speak to Sancia about it.
anyway better get to bed as Neill is snoring away already for matbe half an hour.
lots of love to all who may read this and to Floss especially and the girls although i think Kirsty is still out of contact in the Kalahari area.
will enjoy my bed as always
 will add anything i have forgotten tomorrow.

2nd October Sunday 2016
Raining today so we are doing washing and will have a look at a few shops aafter we go across the road for a Bagel and coffee etc.
we have more tickets for the Imax theatre where we will likely go to see a film about bears in Yellowstone national Park.
i forgot to say yesterday that as it stands now Yellowstone is about 3,2 million acres, most of it unexplored !!
it seems to have largely recovered from the dreadful 1988 fire so there are manuy little trees about 2-5m high now.
it has got chill here and at around 9.3- - 10 the temp outside was around 6 deg C.outside now it is between 10- 15 deg C depending on wehther the sun is trying to come through or if it is raining .
am going to have a go at loading some photos, so hold thumbs
till later