JoJo-A-GoGo: Day 3: Bend, OR to Jackson, WY

683 miles today. 12 hours in the car. We stop only to purchase food, utilize bathrooms, change drivers, and once to make sure the bike rack is not about to lose its grip on my back hatch and fling my almost brand new racing bike into the windshield of the car behind me. Or something like that.

The landscape today is rather boring. No offense Idaho, but why so dull? Other than a few moments of lovely high desert this morning, the drive is flat, sage and beige for 10 solid hours, like this:

But at approximately 6:30 PM Mountain, as if hearing some celestial cue, Mom tunes her iPod to The Mission soundtrack. Then like magic, the landscape changes. Farmlands, shorn of summer wheat, nestle up against the protective shoulders of the Foothills. We descend into a gorgeous river valley. A huge hawk spirals over our heads. Welcome, says Wyoming. (We took pictures of all of this, but nothing really turns out when you're holding your iPad to the car window while hurtling down a freeway at 65-75 miles per hour. Legally, of course.)

We wind our way over two separate mountain passes, the second of which contains grades so steep and winding that they require a 20 mph speed for all cars on the way DOWN. It brings new (and literal) meaning to the word ‘breathtaking’ for us. We are glad to get to the bottom…

…and on to Jackson, WY, our home base to explore Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Yeehaw!! We unload at the Antler Inn, two blocks from the Town Square, sprawl on our beds for about 20 minutes, congratulate ourselves on achieving our goal for the day while simultaneously asking why we did that to ourselves, and then go out and explore the town. We’ll be here for two nights, and are ready to relax and enjoy!