Day 9

Gillette, WY to Cody, WY

mileage: 165

As I handed the receptionist my credit card, she mentioned how they were almost closed for the season, that the snowstorm coming in tonight would surely close Yellowstone for the year. I shook my head, not sure I heard correctly, and asked her to repeat what she said. “Yeah, big snowstorm, 8 to 12 inches comin’ in tonight. Probably will close the roads to Yellowstone for the year. Normally they stay open til November 4, but if it’s heavy ’nuff they’ll go ahead and close it up.” I was crestfallen. We had planned our route, traversing the northern states, because neither of us had visited Yellowstone. It was one of *the* highlights of the trip. I relayed this information to Daniel, who merely said, “The weather channel’s always wrong. It’ll be fine. We’ll see Yellowstone.”