James shares some memories of a dear friend and says good bye. This concludes our 3 part article on the drive West.

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Sunrise at Signal Mountain

Togwotee Pass, coming in from Dubois, Wyoming

The original purpose of this journey was to say good bye to a friend. Janet Anne Colonel, AKA, "The Colonel," had been many things. She started life as an Air Force brat, became a professional dancer, a teacher and later a hotelier for the Buckrail Lodge. She would often tell me that there was only "one Colonel, and that was my father" but she always smiled when we referred to her as such. It was in her dream job as the purveyor of the Buckrail Lodge that my father and I met Janet in 1996 when we went to the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park as a boys trip after I received my Masters Degree in Social Work from CUNY Hunter. I will not forget that first trip. The snow was easily over 6 feet high, and we were blown away about how the bison towered over our Chevy Cavalier (which my dad had affectionately named, "Plum Crazy" for the color). My dad grumbled over the first several days because the Tetons were shrouded in clouds...but eventually they popped, and so began a love affair with the West. That first trip became nearly an annual event and we added siblings and my wife over time.


Sunrise at Schwabacher's Landing

Janet would wait every night we were there for us to come back from our adventures, and we would chat about the many things we saw that day. Sometimes, there would even be a pot of coffee! We also chatted about many other worldly events, about our families and many other personal things.

In the mornings, after my brothers and I would get back from sunrise, we would linger before heading out to make sure we had a chance to chat with Janet. The coffee was always hot, and she and my father would play crossword puzzles as we all sat and had way too much coffee and debated the best ways to solve the world's ills. On one of our chats prior to coming out West, she commented, "Darn it, I forgot your father's creamers..." She always was so considerate about what made that trip so special. Janet became a dear friend of mine, and we continued to chat regularly on the phone and we would try to visit every trip that we made to Jackson long after she gave up the hotel. My brother and I were fortunate because we had visited Janet a few weeks before she passed away. Even in sickness, her sweetness and affection never gave way. She looked at me and said, "You know...it took you long enough." That last visit was a difficult one as she went in and out, at times being very lucid and at others seemingly distant.


Sunrise at Signal Mountain

The ceremony would have been something that Janet really would have loved. It was a beautiful event, filled with family and loved ones. What I appreciated about Janet Colonel was that while we came from entirely different worlds, and we had opposite opinions politically and religiously, we were both able to put that aside and see the common good and love that was in each other. The world would be much better place if we could see each other as not an enemy and a danger to society, but as ordinary people who are just trying to live their lives and be good neighbors. Just some humans being, so to speak.

We stayed for a few days after the ceremony, taking time to photograph Wyatt and Logan on the amazing landscape. Unfortunately, Yellowstone was - at best - dog unfriendly and we were getting pretty tired. I had hoped to photograph the boys in a few locations, such as the Grand Prismatic Spring and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, but there was signage everywhere stating that dogs were not allowed in these areas. While the park website states that dogs are allowed in Yellowstone, they are only allowed in "developed areas, campgrounds, and within 100 feet of roads, but not on trails, boardwalks, or in the backcountry." So, to be clear - I get why dogs DON'T belong in the back country and need to be seriously restricted within the boundaries of the park. Dogs just don't mix with the abundance of wildlife there. But on the other end of the spectrum, it seems absurd that they would not be allowed in high volume locations, such as the Grand Prismatic Pool or the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone or the boardwalk around the Geysers at Old Faithful. As a result, we spent the vast majority of our time with the dogs in the Tetons, which seemed much friendlier towards dogs. We managed some photos of Wyatt and Logan at several viewpoints.


Wyatt, at Schwabacher's Landing



Logan at Glacier View


Wyatt at the Jackson Hole Museum - The Elephants were there!!!



Logan at the Jackson Hole Museum - The Elephants were there!!!

It had been a long week and a half of driving, and we decided to check out of Gros Ventre early and head out to Cheyenne to visit our friend Kendra Hutch and her family as we had to go to Cheyenne on the way back. Kendra is Logan's breeder, and we had a great time hanging out with her, her husband, Peter, and her mom, Officer Brown. It was a good visit but it was also time to go home. Time was moving faster than we were, and unfortunately, we were unable to make it out to some of the locations we had hoped to see, for example the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado and Indiana's Sand Dunes National Park. While the drive was definitely a slog, we loved our time out with the boys. Hopefully we will hit these places next time.

I learned several things on this trip about driving cross country that I think are valuable things to consider for anyone who is making such a long drive. (1) Drives with dogs take a lot longer than the drive would normally in and of itself due to the need to let them out and stretch their legs and for bio breaks. (2) Food in many of the national parks is NOT friendly towards Vegetarians - so make sure you have alternatives just in case. For example, traveling with bread and peanut butter might not be a bad idea. Personally, I took my MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) that I use for camping, and that helped us get through more than a few meals. (3) Pet fees are a real cost barrier to staying in even modest hotels with your dogs. (4) If you are going by yourself on a road trip, it may be more affordable to take a bus where you need to go and rent a car in those locations. (5) Dogs are just not welcome everywhere, particularly the National Parks. Some of this is for very good reasons, but I think a lot of it is that people are not always good stewards for their pets and as a result it just takes a handful of people to ruin experiences for everyone else. (6) Temperature Control was constantly on our minds. Temperatures had gotten very hot and we had to run the car pretty much all the time during the day in order to keep them safe. (7) A lot of places you may travel to may not have emergency veterinary care readily available. Last (8) There remain many places in the country where cellular service is NOT a given. Having the Starlink during this period (we wrote a mini review in our first section) was profoundly helpful in insuring we were connected and able to find food and things like emergency care on the fly.


Bison Herd, between Oxbow and The Main Entrance.



June is the Month for Wildflowers!! Antelope Flats Road.

I close out this three part article series with this image of the Wildflowers because I think Janet would have particularly enjoyed it. As much as I loved to show her those big rocks, she always enjoyed the simplicity of flowers and puff balls. Fair well, Janet Colonel, you are dearly missed. Kerry, Colby and Katie, my heart goes out to your families. I can only imagine your loss.


- James and Chanthee and the rest of the Morrissey Clan.

Just a friendly reminder that All Photos and Text are Copyright James Morrissey and the Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum

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Missed or want to Read Section I of this Article? It covers driving to The Badlands of South Dakota from NYC.

James Morrissey shares his experience driving cross country to Badlands National Park with his wife and two dogs in a Subaru Forester. Part I, The Badlands of South Dakota.

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Park II James Morrissey shares his experience exploring Mount Rushmore and Devil’s Tower on his road trip through the American West.
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Sunset at Devil's Tower, from the West facing East.