"Stir" takes to the road again!

[Stir Young]

Hey, its me, Gary Young! You know, the smart alecky guy who was gonna go out west??? I thought I might try doing one of these blog thingies about my trip to Yellowstone Park and back.

So who is Stir? Well, that's been my nickname since I was in high school. I was originally called "Youngster" by one of my friends, I guess because I only looked about 12 years old when I was a Junior. As time went on, "Youngster" got shortened to "Ster", or "Stir", as I prefer to spell it, and people just ASSUMED that the shortened variety came about because I "stirred" up trouble. Why, nothing could be further from the truth....c'mon, you know me....I'm a peacemaker!

Well, anyway, about 2 years ago, I embarked on a quest to find people whom I'd worked with in Yellowstone Park in the summer of 1969. It became a cooperative project as I found others, and they started looking too. Along the way, we've been able to account for about 12 people, and the idea for an employee reunion came about. That reunion took place on August 14th and 15th 2009, in Gardiner, Montana, and the story that follows will hopefully tell a little about the summer of 1969 in Yellowstone Park, and my journey back there 40 years later.

And just who is that mischieveous looking guy up above? Why that's me, in the summer of 1969, of course.

[Stir Young]

This picture of Fooge Brownie and Alice was taken when they arrived prior to our caravaning to Mammoth. They stayed at different lodging across the street.

[Stir Young]

I took this picture of Diana and Brian just before they left. This was in the entryway to the Dining Room next to the Mammoth Hotel, where we had lunch.

[Stir Young]

I took this picture at the Yellowstone Village Inn. Its Ris'Kay and her husband Ken. Ken and Ris'Kay (she somewhat hidden behind Ken) were also in the picture I showed of Arky somewhat earlier. I didn't identify them in that picture because I wanted to feature Arky in all his glory! LOL!

[Stir Young]

We gathered outside Arky and Rhonda's suite the next morning, Saturday, August 15, getting ready to caravan into the park. A very chilly, fall like wind had come up. This was the coolest it had been since I had arrived on the past Monday.

[Stir Young]

We walked over to Outlaw Pizza, and had a bit of a wait for a table. After we were seated, and were served, I found that this pizza was way better than the chicken one I had tried before. Can one eat too much pizza? I don't really think so!

We finished up, and walked back to the Yellowstone Village Inn. We briefly returned to the suite, and decided to go into Mammoth the next day, as a group, and see what we could find of our old haunts. Things broke up, and we went back to our respective rooms.

Oh yeah, Rhonda offered me some of the leftover pizza to take back to my room, but I declined.

[Stir Young]

Arky informed us all that Tami, another worker from the Gift Shop, had contacted him to say that she wouldn't be attending...work obligations had come up and she couldn't leave. She and Diana were childhood friends, and they had kept in touch over the years. It was too bad she couldn't be there. I remembered Tami very well and would have liked to have seen her again.

Also, Michelle, or Mee-Shell as she was called during the summer of 1969, couldn't be there until the next day. Uh, I might have had something to do with the nickname Mee-shell too, come to think of it.

We had assembled quite a group, as it was. When we all went our separate ways at the end of the summer of 1969, I wouldn't have thought there would ever be a gathering like this forty years later.

It didn't take long for people to start the reminscing. We heard so many stories, from so many different views, that it really put a broader perspective on the whole summer of 1969.

I learned (or relearned, as it were) that Sandy also had a nickname given to her that summer.....Alice, by Elmo, my co-worker.

Jim had been nicknamed "Fooge Brownie" early after his arrival that summer, that being an American attempt at saying "fudge brownie" with a Scottish brogue, one of Jim's favorite delicacies. I may have had something to do with that one as well, but my memory has clouded somewhat, so I couldn't say for sure.

During the course of our research into finding our former co-workers, we had found two that were now deceased....Denny "Horse Pucky" from the Service Station, and Judy "Juditz" from the Gift Shop were now gone.

We had also found a few people who didn't attend.


At a point, after looking at old pictures (Diana had put a collage of pictures people had sent her on a disc, set to music. She gave us all a copy) and talking, we decided to go eat. The consensus was....Outlaw Pizza! Well, I had just had some more of my leftover chicken with BBQ sauce pizza from there for a mid afternoon snack, but I knew I could eat another slice or so of something more traditional.

[Stir Young]

I walked into Arky and Rhonda's suite, and there was someone that looked familiar....my brain froze up a little, and I couldn't think of her name. Arky said "Stir, here's Kay!" Of course, it was Kay, or Ris'Kay as she was sometimes called back in that summer of 1969. OK, I admit it, I think I made up that nickname! I sure don't remember her doing anything even remotely risque that summer, but maybe that's why she got the nickname. I did remember that I used to tease her a lot. She and her husband Ken were on a driving vacation, and planned things so they could come to our reunion. It was sure good to see her.

I'd barely had time to tease Ris'Kay when another couple came in. It was Diana and her husband Brian. Diana and Kay had both worked at the now torn down Hamilton Stores Gift Shop. I hadn't known Diana very well the summer of 1969...she had dated one of Ted's workers from the General Store, and I tried to stay away from that store as much as possible. I certainly remembered her, though, from the dining hall, and from business and pleasure visits to the Gift Shop. She and her husband were also traveling, and had made time to join the reunion group. It was good to see her.

Very soon thereafter, in came a trio of people. It was Jim and his wife Sandy, and their daughter Karen. Jim had worked at the Service Station with Arky in 1969 and Sandy had worked at the Gift Shop. Their's was a real Yellowstone love story. They had met in the summer of 1969, corresponded over the next winter, returned to the park the following year to work....dated, and came back for yet a third season as a married couple. Jim, a Scotsman with a wry sense of humor and twinkle in his eye (even in 1969) and Sandy were the first people from 1969 I found when I started looking some two years before. Karen, carrying on the tradition of her parents, had now worked several years, both summer and winter, in Yellowstone Park. She was driving one of the big old restored yellow tour buses this summer. I was glad Karen could join us, and I hoped she wouldn't get tired of all our old stories.

[Stir Young]

I finished my burrito and drove back to the Yellowstone Village Inn. It was only about noon, but I wanted to be there when some more of the former co-workers started arriving. I didn't want to miss a thing.

I noted on my way from the parking lot that Arky and Rhonda had not yet returned from their morning sightseeing. They had mentioned going hiking in the park. I went to my room, and stretched out on the bed with one of my many new books. I think I fell asleep right away.

I woke up and read for awhile, but I was getting hungry again, which was odd after eating that nice sized burrito. I had the previous evening's leftover pizza stored in the mini fridge, so I got that out and had a couple of pieces. That made me feel absolutely stuffed.

Rhonda called shortly after I finished the pizza, and said people were starting to show up at their suite, so I got my shoes on and headed right over there. I couldn't wait!

[Stir Young]

I continued my drive back into Gardiner. The main thing on my mind was food. I hadn't eaten all day, except for nibbling on Jelly Bellies and trail mix. I decided to stop again at the Silvertip for another burrito. Darn, but I liked those things. They were GOOD!

As I sat there and ate, I thought back to 1969.....it seemed like Gardiner had much more of western town feel. There seemed to be lots of cowboys around town, or "wranglers", as we refered to them. To me, the wranglers were cool, in a forbidden kind of way. They were something like the "hoods" from junior high school, the kind of guys your parents didn't want you hanging around with. It seemed like the wranglers not only talked the talk, they also walked the walk. And I could never get over those cowboy boots....who could walk in those things?

Those guys had the tin of Skoal in the back pocket...no smoking for them. They were lean and trim, and probably fortunate for us, they mostly ignored the concessioner guys. They DID pay attention to the concessioner girls, however.

One time, I drove to Livingston on my day off, just to look around...to see what was there. i don't remember why, but I went in a Five and Dime store on the main street, and paused to look at a display of yo-yos. Two wranglers walked by, and one of them said to me "you oughta buy two of those...one to shit on, and one to cover it up with"! They both guffawed loudly, and moved on.

I didn't see many wranglers now, although I did see them leading trips on horseback just south of Mammoth, and at Roosevelt Lodge, much as they had done for many, many years. I sure didn't see many of them around town though.

Now, after my two visits to the Silvertip, I noticed something. This place was frequented by what was maybe the modern version of the wranglers...the "rafting dudes". These were good looking, tanned young guys wearing cool shades, baggy swim trunks or shorts, and T shirts from tropical resorts. They conducted rafting expeditions down the Yellowstone River. I noticed that these guys had the ladies too, waving to them and coming up to talk to them. I thought, these guys are the new rulers!

These rafting dudes were friendly too, or at least they always said "HI" to me. Maybe they thought I was some legendary river rafter! Nah, they probably thought I was just some old dude who might sign up for a ride down the Yellowstone.

[Stir Young]

I mentioned earlier that I would probably relate a little more about Nake's driving adventures in the summer of 1969, and this seemed to be a good time to do just that.

See, we made it to Yellowstone National Park in our VW Camper, but that's not what we left in.

Sometime later on into the summer Nake totaled the VeeDub. He and his passenger escaped with only bumps and bruises, but our ride was finished...it had rolled, and come to rest on the passenger side. A huge boulder had completely caved it in. It had been towed into Gardiner, to a gas station right across from where I had just stayed a couple of nights, at the Absaroka Lodge.

This, then, is my tribute to that ride. It's my reenactment of its demise.