Wednesday, September 10 - Day 12

This morning our destination was Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Since gas is near $7 per gallon at Jackson Hole, we diverted to an airpark in Alpine, Wyoming for cheaper fuel. We encountered cloud buildups as we approached Alpine, and could see rain showers in the direction of Jackson Hole that is only about 30 miles from Alpine.



We quickly took off for Jackson Hole and had to circle a few times over the Alpine valley until we could reach 9,500 feet. The flight took less than 10 minutes. As we let down for the landing on the 6,400 feet altitude runway, a heavy rain shower was moving across the approach end of the runway. I was number 2 following Doug Preston. On the down wind leg, I lost sight of Doug, but had anticipated this situation and put sufficient distance between us. As I turned on final, I still could not see Doug, and had some difficulty in my depth perception due to rain on my windshield. Doug knew to land long and allow me a lot of runway. As it turns out, it was probably my best landing on this trip. We rented a van and checked into a Jackson Hole motel.
The four corners of the downtown square have arches made out of elk antlers. Hundreds of elk come to Jackson Hole in the winter and they shed their antlers in the spring. There are all sorts of things throughtout the town made of antlers.

It has rained lightly off and on this afternoon, and it is COLD here. The weather outlook is not good for tomorrow, so we might drive up to Yellowstone. Stay tuned.