The Tour Begins

     (This is the first post we entered in our blog when we started it back in July.  I moved it to the top so that people just viewing the blog for the first time would have some information on our Tour.  From here, you can use the links on the left side of the page to go to the bottom and read the posts chronologically or to go to a particular post.  Or, you can just scroll down from here and read the posts in the opposite order they were entered. Click on "July" to open up the menu from that month.)

     Our Jeep Summer Tour 2011 began in early June.  We are beginning to publish this blog in mid-July. We drove the roads in and around the Targhee National Forest along the southern and western boundaries of Yellowstone National Park near Ashton, Idaho.

     We made the Tour in our 1953 Willys M38A1 military Jeep.  The Jeep is all stock. We've added seat belts and a roll bar for safety.  These early Jeeps were superior to most of the vehicles of their time in their ability to travel where others couldn't go.  Their one weakness was their tendency to tip over if driven too quickly around a corner.  The roll bar and seat belts offer us some extra protection.  We have also added a sun top and extra storage boxes to carry some of the gear we'll need on our Tour.

     All of our Touring was done on day trips.  When not Touring, we stayed in our travel trailer, which was set up at the Ashton R.V. Park.  

     We began our Tour in early June on the Cave Falls Road east of Ashton, Idaho. The beginning of the road is marked by a sign reminding us that throughout our Tour we'll be travelling in grizzly bear country.  The Targhee N.F. has a large population of grizzlies.  In addition to bears, packs of wolves inhabit all the areas of our Tour.

     As we'll find out, travelling in an open Jeep in grizzly bear country can add a whole new level of adventure to the trip!

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