Family and friends come to visit, oh and the Leader of the Free World too...

Hello All!

The fun continues out here in the great Yellowstone Wilderness. The animals seem to have subsided somewhat so I don't have any really great stories for this week. However, every time I think "hey I'll just wait till I have some more stuff", I end up with emails that are two pages long. So to save y'all from that I decided to update you on the few things going on here at the land of yellow stones.
Starting Tuesday the 11th, I was scheduled to work a utility day and then head to the Tower area for some Park EMS training so that I could help more during medicals (i.e. paperwork, the stretcher, and other things with the ambulance). So I started my day by chopping up some invasive weeds and thereby saving the world :) (well maybe not but when you're cutting weeds out of the ground with scissors these ideas pop into your head). Then I headed down to the Tower Junction to see if I could help with any animal jams. Instead, because there were no animal jams, I got the task of defacing and cutting up antlers, once again saving the world from antler wranglers. Seriously, though it is illegal to take resources out of the park and that includes dead bodies so we have to deface these antlers so no one tries to make furniture out of them or other classy home furnishings. :) We also then have to hide them because in some Asian cultures the antlers can be ground up into a powder and used as an aphrodisiac. And that was basically my day because about 10 minutes before training was suppose to begin we had a medical and the ambulance along with the instructor had to transport the patient to Livingston, MT. It was a fun day because I got to work with people I normally don't and I got to do some new things. But the work of a Park Ranger is not always as glamorous as some of you may think... :)
On Thursday my Dad's parents came to visit the area and I went and spent my weekend with them. I got to see some pretty cool things in Montana including a real ghost town, not just some tourist attraction. We also went to the Bair Family museum, the Shiloh Sharpshooters factory, and the site where they filmed The Horse Whisperer. It was a really great time. I finally got to spend sometime with my Grandparents and I really enjoyed it, although our visit was cut short by another Park visitor.
On Thursday night around 9:30 PM my supervisor called and informed me that I had been chosen to work the Presidential Visit Detail. Pretty big deal because my supervisor wasn't the one making the selections, and neither was her supervisor, so this order came from pretty high up in the pecking order out here at old Yellowstone. So here is how it went down. On Friday morning I received three memos: the first one is orders on how everyone is suppose to be dressed and that everything must be polished and pressed, next one is when and where I have to be, and the third one was instructions on how to salute the Presidential Motorcade (if you are laughing at the third one, join the crowd, but I guess there are some people who don't know how to salute, so it makes sense in its own special way). Anyway back to the day. I left my Grandparents early in the afternoon so I could get everything ready. As I'm in the middle of polishing my shoes the power goes out, and of course I saved the ironing of my uniform for last and therefore I'm SOL at this point. (Back to that in a second.) So I have to report to the Old Faithful staging area at 7am, which means I have to leave my station at 4am, which means I have to wake up at 3am, and they want me to look my best... haha you can see now why they choose me for this assignment ;). So I "wake up" at 3am and the power is back on so I press everything really quick, take a shower, get dressed, and meet Coach at the truck. I offer to drive because as the younger of the two I felt it was the right thing to do. We drove down to the Buffalo Ranch and met up with the District Ranger and formed up our caravan and made our way to Old Faithful. By the time we got half way there, we had a line of six or so Ranger vehicles, maybe more, but a pretty impressive sight. Until of course we checked in to the briefing room and there were nearly 100 Rangers there. Officially, I can't go into much detail at this point, but after checking in I was handed a packet that was stamped secret material on every page and we went through the briefing with each branch on the detail. I was assigned to the Presidential Motorcade. The original idea was to fly the First Family in and out, but the weather was calling for snow (I know, middle of August, doesn't process well for a Southern boy). Anyway, so if they couldn't fly in or out my detail and I were suppose to advance the motorcade and clear the road and stop all traffic/clear any jams if need be. Well the weather turned out to be just fine and I got paid 14 hours to watch the Secret Service wash the President's Suburbans, watch the helicopters land and take off, and listen to stories about the other Presidential visits people had experienced. Although I didn't get to meet the President or work actually at Old Faithful itself, I was still honored and really glad to be chosen to take part in the event. There are going to be plenty of Presidents to come in my future, so I still have time to meet one. An interesting fact for you, though: for a Presidential visit, it cost the Park Service (alone!) $80,000 for a two hour visit. How is that for stimulus... :)
Since that weekend things have been very slow in the Park. It is nice to get a break after the way July and August were, but it sounds like I'm going to have to take up learning the guitar or something in September because there will be nobody in the Park. Luckily though this weekend I had two friends from Glacier NP come down to visit. For those of you who know her, Adrien and her friend Addie came down to visit the Park and I took them around on Thursday. We did two hikes in the Valley, went to the Canyon VEC, the Artist Paint Pots, and the Museum of the National Park Ranger! :) Exciting for us Parkies. It was actually pretty cool - the museum is one of the original solider stations from the days when Yellowstone was run by the US Army before the Park Service was formed. It had a lot of information about the evolution of the Service and the System. We watched one of the videos about how the Park System was started and how it expanded to include Monuments, Battlefields, and Recreation Areas. Added bonus... Fort Sumter was in the film!!! Toward the end, as they were doing the conclusion, they showed a clip of a Ranger giving a talk atop one of the 15inch Rodmans! :) I got a kick out of it.
Well, I always think these are going to be short and they never are. Oh well, I hope you all enjoy them anyway. I know this one wasn't as adrenaline packed as the other ones but the wolves are moving back into the valley, the bears are about to start packing it on for their winter slumber, and the elk are about to start their rut, so maybe more excitement in the future.
Until then you know the drill... :)

Yours Truly,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Where the Wild Things Are

Hello Friends,

If I don't tell y'all about last Tuesday I would be cheating you out of possibly one of the craziest days I have ever had at the park. Now as usual I was on Campground/Bear Patrol duty last Tuesday. And this is how the morning goes... I wake up to a phone call from a coworker, telling me that the back country patrol ranger has left a bunch of his stuff up here and needs it asap. So I had to gather all of his things, my campground supplies, and my bear patrol equipment and travel 16 miles into the valley to drop off his equipment (not a big feat in the city but out here that is a 30 minute job at least) I then had to turn around and head back to the first campground and collect the fees. As I'm doing this a car rolls over in the valley. I'm not called out to this but most of the LE and General Rangers are, so I head to the next campground. As I'm finishing, some of the Rangers are leaving the rollover and heading back to the station when we get a call about a medical on the other side of the district. So everyone heads that way. By the time I make it to the central ranger station for the district there is one LE Ranger and me and that's about it. We get a call out about a bear jam so we roll to that and clear it up pretty easily and then I finish my campground rounds and head back to the station. (Background)-For the rollover we had to call out the fire engine, which now had to be cleaned. For the medical we had to send the ambulance which then transferred the patient to the Mammoth district ambulance who transported the patient to the closest hospital, Livingston, so that ambulance is gone for sometime. As soon as I make it back to the station, we get a call from dispatch asking for assistant in the Mammoth area with reports of a person being struck by lightning. So they send out the ambulance with Rangers clearing the way. Meanwhile on the North side of the junction a bear has been paralleling the road for nearly two hours (nightmare in the eyes of us on patrol) and the bear is heading straight for the station. At the same time a bear is spotted behind the Roosevelt Lodge which is south of the station. So now we have 3 Rangers 2 vehicles heading to Mammoth; 2 Rangers hazing the bear at the lodge; and 4 Rangers trying to handle the bear heading toward the station. And low and behold, ANOTHER bear shows up just down the road at the Yellowstone River Bridge. This is now where I am dispatched to, but before I ever get a chance to see the bear, the storm that was in Mammoth is now on top of us. Lightning strikes the hill directly behind me. It is time to get these people out of here, so just as I yell to everyone to get back in their vehicles, the HAIL comes. Don't know if anyone has ever been stuck outside in a hail storm but it is NOT fun. I'm roughly 100 yards from my truck and I'm not making it back anytime soon, so for about four minutes I just took the hail, and I mean seriously, this stuff hurts! Luckily these storms don't last too long and it makes the animals run for cover as well. So I cleared the scene and headed up Mt. Washburne to see if there is anything there that needs attention. Lucky enough for me, I find a Grizzly bear jam! The best thing about this jam is that the bear is little, maybe 600 yards away, and there is no way people could see him without scopes, so it was a pointless jam. Just as I'm getting that cleared, I have a German group pull up right behind me and tell me they have a problem. Basically they struck a rock with the side of their vehicle and now because of automatic closing and opening, the van door keeps reopening because it can't lock itself. So I ask these people two simple questions, "Is this a rental vehicle?" -Yes; "Did you get the insurance?" -Yes. GREAT! I can help, so I go to my vehicle and grab my sledge hammer and pliers and I go to town on this door. Once I was happy with the work I pushed the door closed and held it till it stayed in place. I told the visitors not to use the door until it was fixed professionally and I was on my way. At this point in the day I am exhausted!! So I start heading back toward the Northeast, until again, fun finds its way to me :) About half way up the entrance road, I notice a truck pulling a horse trailer. As the truck comes around the corner it drops its right side wheels off the road and a big puff of smoke comes out. This truck is fifty feet in front of me, heading straight towards me, and it just had a blow out... nervous? A little bit... Next thing I notice, the wheel comes right off and comes bouncing across the road. I pulled my truck over to retrieve the wheel because it was in the middle of the road. They had sheared the thing right off the axle, just snapped right off. So now they are parked in the middle of the road and can't go anywhere. So I call in for back up and I begin directing traffic as these modern day cowboys try to jerry-rig a fully loaded horse trailer so they can continue (luckily they did have two more axles on the trailer). It took them about thirty minutes but they were able to do something with the broken axle so they could continue. So I continued on my way back home, when I ran into yet another Grizzly bear jam, at this point I'm tired and not amused, so I cleared the road, made sure the people were far enough away, answered a few questions ,and finally got back to the entrance station. After all of that excitement I was pretty hyped up, so I decided to go for a run (first time I got the nerve to actually run through the park rather than on the treadmill). It was a great run too! So I was feeling pretty great when I made it back to the residence area. As I started heading up the trail to my humble home, BOOM! Guess who is there to meet me but a nice little black bear right on my trail. I took a hard left and got as far off the trail as I could because I had nothing but an iPod on me and as great as that is I don't think it would protect me from a bear. Luckily when I got into the parking area there were three other Rangers; two LE's and my roommate. I told them about the bear and we went to find it again. See, when a bear comes into a living area, you have to haze it away; you don't want it getting comfortable there. So the bear did a loop of the area (we got some great pictures) and then the LE's opened up on him with bean bag shots and firecracker rounds. This scared the bear away and ended one fine day...
On Wednesday I had a group of my coworkers for dinner. I made roll-ups which were a huge hit; if you haven't had them yet ask my Mom about them or I could make them for you sometime, they're pretty good. We headed down to the campfire ring and hung out there for a while. Thursday I went to the doctor in Mammoth to take a look at my neck and back as I am still having pain from the accident. On Friday it was back out to Cody, the two hour trek to get groceries. Saturday it was back to work, a couple of my coworkers came down and we made smores in the wood stove. (Side note- IT'S COLD HERE!!! Highs literally are only in the 60s or so, and it is snowing up on the Mountains! We have had like one month of spring as far as I'm concerned...) After work I headed out to Cooke City to play some pool with my coworkers which was a good time.
Sunday brought more excitement! As I was just about to leave my place after my lunch break, my roommate calls and tells me there is a bear in the residence area again! So I'm assuming over near the trail down to the gate, so I grab my bear spray and stay as far to the right as I can. As I started down, I noticed the LE Ranger getting her shotgun. Still, I'm assuming this bear is way to my left; when I glance back to my right guess who is ten feet away from me and walking right toward me... yup, the bear! So I stop in my tracks, the LE notices me and yells up to me asking if I see the bear. My response is something along the lines of "Yeah he's hanging out up here with me!" So she starts heading up the hill with her shotgun and tosses a rock at the bear. Unfortunately she was not a softball player in her days... :) (Her words not mine!) So I pick up a rock and chuck it at the bear and hit him right in the leg. Anybody guess what the bear did??? Just looked at me like, "Seriously, who throws a shoe?" (Austin Powers...anyone?) Anyway, by this time the Ranger has made it up the trail, takes aim, and hits the bear with a bean bag shot, at which point the bear gets the idea and runs off.
So that was my past week, definitely the opposite from the previous couple of weeks. Hopefully, the bears have gotten the idea that this is not the place to hang out.
I hope all is well with everyone back home. I hope y'all are appreciating the heat at least a little bit; trust me, you miss it if you lose it for a summer. Good luck to everyone heading back to school soon! Kind of crazy I'm not apart of that crowd anymore. My grandparents are suppose to be here Thursday and Friday and President Obama will be here on Saturday so you know another busy week ahead I guess.

Until next time your busy friend,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

ONE FINE DAY...

Hello All,

Seems as though I am a little over due as far as updates go...
Well like I said things have picked up tremendously here. It is amazing how one week can be so different than another. So I'll give you the highlights and try not to make this email too long. Just after I sent the email last week things started to pick up. On the 29th I got to drive a back country law enforcement vehicle out to the wilderness line. The wilderness line is just what it says - there is no development out there, trails are not maintained and roads are not made, it is the wild. The point of the trip was to take an LE Ranger and a General Ranger out to the Wilderness Line in the Shoshone National Forest from which point they would make their way back into the Park on foot. My job was to drive them out there and then return the vehicle to the Ranger Station. I volunteered for this task even before I knew what it entailed, for a couple reasons: 1) I got to get out of the gate at noon, 2) I got to see a beautiful part of the country that few people get to see, and 3) I knew I would run into overtime :). Now the road out to the wilderness line gets smaller and smaller as you go until it turns into just a trail and then into nothing. There are several fords (rivers) that you have to drive through to get to the drop point. This is where the fun comes in! The first two fords were maybe two feet deep and we made it through with ease. However, the third was a whole other story! We entered the ford thinking it was going to be just a normal two maybe three feet deep until about half way through and the whole hood of the truck went underwater. Mind you, this is no toy truck, this is a Chevy Silverado 2500 4x4 with a lift and all terrain tires. Back to the story: now when the hood goes under the LE Ranger had a choice word or two and slammed on the gas. Luckily we made it through. About half a mile down the road the LE Ranger turns to me and says, "I'm a little nervous about you going back through that ford." To which of course I respond with a dumbfounded look on my face, "you and me both buddy!" :) We headed another mile or two until the road narrowed too much to continue and we began to unload. After everything was settled and the truck was turned around, the LE Ranger turned to me and said these wonderful words of encouragement, "Radio us when you make it through the ford. If you don't, we'll hike back to you; nothing we can do for you but we'll keep you company." And to those words of wisdom, we headed our separate ways. When I got back to the ford I stopped and got out of the truck to form a plan of attack. The problem returning was that the angle of entry was very steep, straight down to the deepest part of the river and then gradually up from there to the other side. Here is where the balancing act comes in - if I attack the river too fast I could ram the truck right into the bed and get it stuck; however if I ease it in too slowly I could flood the engine and get stuck. So after studying the river for a couple of minutes, pumping myself up, and reminding myself of that time when Bryan and I had a similar situation with the Suburban at home (Dad doesn't know about that one... sorry), I took to the river. My plan was to ease into the river until I felt like I had hit the deepest point and then I floored the gas as hard as I could. And this was exactly what I did! She hesitated a little when I hit the gas but as soon as those back tires were able to grab something, I flew right out of the river. It was a nerve racking situation (getting a gov't rig stuck in a river is not a good idea) but I got to see an amazing part of the world and I got a pretty good story out of it.

-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

All Quiet on the Western Front

Hello All!

Well the subject should really say it all. Unfortunately, there has not been too much happening here at good ole Yellowstone. We have a had a couple of exciting events in my district over the past couple weeks. However, I haven't been responding to many of those. Construction continues on the road leading into the park, so we will be kicked out of our gate again tomorrow. Which means working outside on the road down in Silver Gate, MT which is a lot of fun when it is not raining. So things will be different once again starting this week. But we are getting into the busy season. August is not only one of the busiest months of the year, but it is also mating season, so the animals will be out in force, being aggressive, and trying to show off for the ladies. So we will have plenty of things to deal with here. Visitation for the park was up in June; our gate alone had a 61% increase over last year in visitation, and it hasn't even gotten busy yet. Have continued to meet very interesting people at the gate. Today I had the whole gamut of people from really nice and appreciative South Carolinians to very dense and difficult Canadians. See, now Colin is upset but that is okay; let me tell you about these fine Canadians. They come storming over to the window demanding a senior pass and saying that they didn't even want to be in the park. They thought that we should pay them for the road they just drove through, and they were cussing up a storm. Now these are senior citizens. For those of you that are not familiar with the Park Service's Senior Pass, you must be 62 years or older and a United States Citizen in order to even buy the pass. So I asked the wife for proof of citizenship (drivers license works just fine) and she hands me an Ontario driver's license. So I tell her that she has to be a US Citizen. She is very upset by this and goes stomping back to her car to get her husband. Supposedly he is a citizen, so he comes over and shows me, again, an Ontario driver's license! Now I'm finding this funny because I think they just don't understand. So I asked one more time, this is where the fun ended and the cussing started. Now I don't really mind what people do in their own lives because I am no saint for sure but when you come to my gate and expect me to help you, you better not be cussing at me because I don't put up with that. The wife is now really upset and I am the anti-Christ all of a sudden and I have insulted the husband because he served in the army. He said "I served the US Army! I don't know what you have done with your life, but I don't deserve to be treated this way." Now remember all I had done was ask the same question I ask every person trying to buy a Senior Pass - proof of US citizenship - but this couple was too important to be asked that! Finally, the women pulled out the husband's Michigan birth certificate from like the 1930s and I gave them their pass. They shared a few more choice words with me, and with a big Southern smile on my face I said "Y'all have a wonderful evening, welcome to Yellowstone!" Sometimes you just have to laugh it off and not let it bother you, and that is what I did. That's my one people story for this week; not the best but I get a chuckle when I read it.
For those of you at Fort Sumter I also met two people from Rice University who actually know Russ!! It was pretty crazy, you know. Ususally when you meet people that went to the same school as someone you know, they have no idea who you are talking about because Universities are so big, but these actually lived in the same dorm as Russ, so I thought that was pretty cool. Anyway, sorry this one isn't filled with much action but I still have 2 months left, so I'm sure there will be plenty more to come. Hope all is well in your lives and you are basking in that warm southern sun!! Actually hit 92 in Cody the other day while I was there, loved every second of it!! Roommate was dying... (not literally!) I've enter all of the gates into the park now, and I can honestly say I would not be as happy this summer if I were not working at the Northeast. If you ever come to Yellowstone and you want the real experience, the Northeast Gate has to be your entry point.

Until next time, with lots of love,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park
PS: It looks like Clifford as seen his last drive. The frame was bent, it turns out, and I will be trying to get GEICO to total the truck because I don't want a truck with a bent frame.

Is this in my Job Description???

Hello All!!

It is that time again! This week has been one of the most interesting I have ever had. In all honesty I have had to do some things this week that I just didn't know would be a part of the job. However, I'm going to leave y'all in suspense and go about this week in a timeline fashion, because I find it more fun that way :) (NO skipping to the bottom! That is just plain cheating, and I won't stand for it.) :)
I'll begin with July 4th; I hope you all had a wonderful time partying and cooking out in the warm summer sun enjoying this great country of ours. I'd like to think I was able to do the same thing but in a different way. In the morning I met up with Jenny Garrison's (a good friend from Clemson) friends who were working on their own cross country road trip. Being the good southern man that I am, I could not let them pass through without showing some sort of hospitality. We hiked to the top of Mt. Washburn, which stands at 10,243 ft. (my first time ever hiking that high). It was a great hike and I think a good experience for everyone. Unfortunately, as you all know July 4th fell on a Saturday this year, which is my Monday, so I had to cut the time at the top short and hike back down. As we parted I gave them whatever pointers I could about my district since they were already there. It was really great to spend some time with people my age from the south again; I have missed that a lot. So a big thank you to Jenny for pointing them my way. I had a great time and I think they did too. (Jenny is in Africa and I'm not sure if she gets email, so if anyone hears from her, please pass along my thanks). Back at work I unfortunately had to work the late shift, so I was on from 1:30 till 10pm and I missed our little cookout we had for the Tower and Lamar Districts, but I did make a peach cobbler that seemed to go over well because there was none left when I got home. The 5th was a relatively calm day. I worked the late shift again, which was fine because we get a little extra pay for working Sundays and for working at night. The 6th is when the fun started to happen. On the 6th I worked the campground duty, which means I go collect fees from all of the campgrounds and help with any animal jams that may occur while on duty. The day was going normal until around 6pm as I was leaving my last campground to head back to my station. A visitor pulled up beside me and said there was a BIG grizzly and a deer carcass about 300 yards from the campground. Two alarms automatically go off in your head when you get this information: 1) Grizzlies rarely come to our district, much less that close to a campground; 2) When a bear gets on a carcass, it becomes very aggressive about anything near that carcass. So I head to where the sighting was reported and talk to the visitors who are watching the bear. They showed me the location of both the bear and the carcass (which was about 10 ft off the road). After they gave me the information, I called dispatch and told them I needed Law Enforcement and Bear Management immediately and asked the visitors to continue down the road for their safety. Somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes later, LE rolled up with three Rangers. Let me try to give you a mental image of the situation. You are on a East/West running road. On the North side, roughly 200 yards away, is a full size male grizzly. On the South side is a deer carcass 10 ft off the road. The Rangers on scene include one LE Ranger with a fully load 12 gauge shotgun, tazer, standard issue handgun, and two cans of bear spray; one LE Ranger with a fully loaded M-14, tazer, revolver, and two cans of bear spray; one LE Ranger with a tazer, standard issue handgun, and two cans of bear spray; and finally one VUA Ranger (me!), with one can of bear spray and a radio (I count that as a weapon). You can assume where I was in relation to the others. Now the bear was not advancing on the carcass, so the best situation was to remove the carcass before the bear gets to it. No food = no bear, very simple. Guess who gets to get rid of the carcass! :) You understand the subject line now! So we load the carcass into the back of my truck and I head up to what is called the Gut Road. The Gut Road is off limits to visitors and is probably the coolest road I have ever driven on. It is a dirt road that runs along the edge of a valley. At the top of this road about 500 yards in from the main road is a meadow that reminds you of the elephant graveyard from the Lion King. And this is where I left the deer for the bears to find. An interesting sight and smell that I will probably never forget. (Details are available upon request).
The fun continued on the 7th, without a doubt. On the 7th I was on Resource Management, which in this Park means wildlife management (wildlife includes humans; you'd understand if you were here). Anywho! the day went on as normal until about 3:30pm when I was dispatched to the Petrified Tree Road. Normally a quiet part of the park, it had exploded with people because of a Black Bear in the valley below the road. Now this is business as usual: watch the bear, watch the people, and get traffic moving again. Business as usual ended about an hour into the jam. The Ranger that had responded with me had to drive some hikers back to the Roosevelt Lodge because the bear was too close to the trail back. This, however, did not stop people from coming down the trail from Roosevelt Lodge. Not too look after the other Ranger left, the bear made his way to the trail and started to walk toward Roosevelt, and just after that, a large family came around the corner heading right for the bear. This was a new situation! I got up on the guardrail and yelled and motioned to the family to stop and back up. (MOM, you should probably skip the rest of the paragraph). After I had the people turned around, I radioed for assistance, told the people in the parking lot not to move, and asked them to spot for me. If the bear went left or right, I wanted them to yell it to me; see, I was going down the valley to the trail to get the family out... For only the second time since getting here, I once again drew my bear spray and headed toward the family, which had walked back around the corner. When I made it to the bottom of the valley the other Ranger had arrived. A five year veteran, he directed me on what to do. With him and the people spotting, I walked around the corner and found the family. They were visibly shaken but all were okay. The bear had made its way up the hill about 30 yards off the trail, but still in a very dangerous position. I told the family to get in a big group, with the children in the center, and I escorted the family out of the valley keeping an eye on the bear as we walked. Again, extracting people from close encounters was not necessarily on the Job Description but it is a part of my job. My instincts proved to be helpful -when I returned to the parking lot, the other Ranger told me I had done everything very well and correctly. Pretty good for my first time if I do say so myself! :) Finally, to close out my week, I had a medical emergency at the gate yesterday. I was walking along the road to change a sign when a man yelled at me from his car, his wife was in extreme pain. I immediately ran back to the station and called dispatch for an EMT and asked one of my co-workers who was also first aid trained to see what she could do for the woman. To be honest I knew that there was nothing we could do to help her but keep her comfortable 'til we could get her to a hospital. While my co-worker comforted the woman, I took on a logistical roll. After calling dispatch, I got a more detail patient history and asked whether they were requesting an ambulance. After I had that information, I relayed it to the Day Shift Supervisor for the LE Rangers and the EMT who had been dispatched to our site. (Important Information: Although we have an ambulance at the Northeast, there is no one trained to drive it or any EMTs or paramedics on duty here; although 4 or 5 live here they patrol lower in the valley). After this I got in contact with the construction people (they are rebuilding the road from Cooke City to the park) and told them an ambulance was coming through and that we needed traffic stopped as soon as it arrived. The ambulance arrived after an off duty Ranger got it out and brought it down. Until the EMTs arrived I helped her with the stretcher (which has to be like a whole day of training because that thing is a machine). Finally, two EMTs arrived and we all loaded the woman into the ambulance and it headed to Cody, WY and the nearest hospital. I don't know what happened to the woman but based on the information I gathered, it seems like she had a blown appendix.
So that was my crazy week. I will say this it was a huge week for experiences that I will not soon forget. If I do come back to work here next summer, I will be sure to get some sort of higher training than just CPR/FirstAid because while it was helpful, I feel more training would be better for the Park.
I hope everyone had a wonderful week, anything going on? I know about the Governor but anything else the Post & Courier is talking about that I haven't heard??? Sorry it was a long one again but I tell you, so much goes on between my opportunities to write to everyone.
The sign off last week was something they used to do in the Civil War, I thought it was fun.

Until the next installment,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Wolves, Bison, and Bears! Oh My!!!

Hello Everybody!!

I'm sorry it has been so long since my last installment. Things up here have truly begun to kick into high gear and I have been doing a lot of work outside of the gate.
Let's start from the beginning; after finishing my marathon week of 10 days straight I drove straight to Bozeman, MT, a very nice town 3 hours NW of my station. The next morning I got up at 4am to catch my 6am flight. From Bozeman I flew to Minneapolis, MN to Atlanta, GA and finally to Charleston arriving at 7pm. Side note, in the Atlanta airport I ran into my Chief Ranger from Fort Sumter who was suppose to be on the same flight as me! It was really great to see her and hear all about old FOSU. Back to the trip - in Charleston my Dad picked me up at the airport and drove me straight to the rehearsal. I missed the whole thing but that seemed to be okay with everyone. From there we went straight to the rehearsal dinner, then it was out for a drink with Bryan and Laura (as usual). In bed by midnight. I was up the next day by 8am for family pictures, then out to lunch with Dad and Bryan, then straight to the wedding (which was really great! Kudos to everyone who was a part of that, especially Sara and Jason! haha), then straight to the reception, then in bed by 12:30. Up again at 4am to catch my 6am flight, same flight pattern back, in Bozeman by 1:46pm, back to my station at 4:46pm and back in the gate at 6pm to work till 10pm. And that was my whirlwind trip to Charleston, so if anyone is upset because they didn't get to see me... I hope you now understand why!
Back to the gate - I believe I have mastered just about everything in the gate as of last week. I have dealt with plenty of interesting people; one guy flew into the gate and began cursing and yelling at me because someone had told him all of the campgrounds were open 3 hours ago and now they were all filled. You can see where he went wrong (waiting 3 hours for first come first serve campgrounds...) Anyway, I tried to defuse the situation but he decided to keep yelling at me with a few choice words and so I told I was sorry he was upset and wished him a pleasant evening and shut the window. Maybe I'm wrong, but when someone decides to curse at me I feel my duty to help them has ended. Another fun situation happened right after returning here from Sara's wedding (more on that later). A van pulled up to the gate around 9:00pm with a family of four inside. This was all well and good until I noticed the open bottle of Coors Lite in the center console. So after wishing them a pleasant evening, I called the comm. center and reported the make, model and license plate number then sat back and listened to them get pulled over on the radio. Cruel? Maybe, but I was also hit head on by a drunk driver three weeks ago. My sympathy has run out. Finally, I had a woman straight from France who took at least three photos of me while I was ringing up her pass, then she wanted me to "autograph" and date her brochure and then proceeded to play 20 questions with me while cars were backing up behind her. Of course I was a little dumbfounded and about 10 questions into it I had to ask my co-worker for help because I just couldn't get this woman to move along down the road. Plain and simple, people are crazy, but it is what make the job interesting.
This week I have gotten to do a lot of really cool stuff. On Sunday I was on campground duty, which pretty much starts at 10am and last till 1pm, then I'm on Bearjam duty. And on Sunday we had a big one. We were on this jam for two hours as a black bear walked along a creek just beside the road. At one point I was only fifteen feet away from the bear as I tried to get people away from the bear. A family walked down the road as the bear started toward the road. As I was telling the parents that they were way too close and needed to return to their vehicle, their little girl walked right past them and straight to the bear. It was the only point since I have been out here where I have drawn my bear spray and taken the safety off. Luckily, I was able to reach the girl before she got any closer and created enough noise that the bear decided to return to the creek. It was a very interesting experience I will not soon forget! Yesterday I was on utility which pretty much means I got to do whatever I felt needed to be done. First I chopped wood for about three hours (Last year on July 4th it snowed here! I was determined to be prepared.), then in the afternoon I cleared the rooting logs that were once our campfire ring and rebuilt the actually campfire pit (we are hoping to have a campfire/cookout on Saturday). Finally, today I had to drive to Jackson Hole, WY to pick up rifle lockers for our district. We left at 6am and got back at 7pm, a long day but we were being paid, so I was happy. Plus! on the way back we were asked to pick up the new patrol vehicle for the district. Let me just say two things: 1) I would go into Law Enforcement just to drive that Crown Vic again. 2) If you ever feel like you are going to run from the police, think twice. This car was the most powerful I think I have ever driven and it took corners like you wouldn't believe!
Anyway, I'm sorry this was a long one but I hope you enjoy. I will try to send more frequent updates so they aren't this long in the future. I hope all is well with everyone! Haven't heard from many of you and I would love to know how life is going in your neck of the woods! :)

Your Obedient Servant,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Welcome to Yellowstone!!

Hey Everyone!!
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back to the email but it has been a very busy week. I'm having a great time up here in the high country. I know a lot of you have been asking, so yes, it did snow on my birthday and I was snowed in on that Sunday. So Sunday was a slow day where I didn't do too much until the roads were clear, then I went down to the Valley and saw three black bears! It was pretty cool, one was just a cub following around the mother. On Monday I travelled to Cody, WY for the first time. It is a great little town and I really enjoyed my visit there. On my way back it was snowing again (it has snowed or rained everyday I've been here). No worries though, Sandi (one of the ladies that works here) invited my roommate and me over to join her for some homemade vegetable soup, cornbread, and sweet tea! I really didn't think I would ever find some of that up here but Sandi is a cook from Georgia so the food was amazing! Tuesday was my first day of work and I went on a tour of the entire park on the Superindent's bus with just about all the people from my station and many other volunteers and employees from all over the park. Wednesday was my first day back in the uniform. I did the employee check-in at Headquarters, which was really easy because they pretty much just transferred everything over from Fort Sumter. After that I worked a little in the gate but not too much because I didn't have money or cards yet. Here everyone has a bank of money and passes that they are responsible for, unlike at Fort Moultrie. It is a good system considering the amount of money each of us collect for the park. Thursday, I went to Old Faithful to do some training. This training started at 8:30, which meant that I had to leave my station at 5:30am (it's a big park). On Friday, I started on the regular schedule. I was still in training so I ran the till using someone elses money while they watched and helped me with questions. Finally, yesterday I was able to run my money on my own shift. It was such a great day! I love working with the visitors and being the first Park Service person they encounter coming into the park. Especially being in this station, tons of people stop and take pictures or comment on how much they love our stove. It really makes them feel like they are entering the park just like the people did back in the 30's.
Life in our little village is great. There is a weight room with a treadmill and bike in the basement of the cabin. I played corn-hole with the couple that lives next to Ben and me for a couple of hours the other night. I am settling in really well with my room and kitchen and living area. There is a really comfortable chair in the front room where I can sit and read for hours. I'm currently working on a biography of Grant. Well I'm at work now so I guess I should get back to that... :) (j/k my shift hasn't started yet). Anyway, I hope all is well with all of you, I'll be back in Charleston for the wedding Friday night and I leave Sunday morning. 20 hours in the air, 36 in Charleston.
Until next time,

Yours Truly,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Waiting...

Hey Everyone!

It's pretty easy to get on the Internet when my roommate or some of the other people are working down here in the entrance gate. I sat in here pretty much all day, it's sooo much warmer down here. It is a small cozy little place with a wood fire stove. I've met just about everyone that I will be working with and they all seem really nice which makes me really happy! This morning I started my day by driving through the Lamar Valley, which is my district. It is really beautiful! We saw a moose and her calf and so many buffalo! After that I just hung out in the entrance station. The only thing that has sort of set me off my track is that I'm not starting tomorrow like planned. In order to make it to Sara's wedding I have to work starting this Tuesday and then go 10 days straight. To be perfectly honest I'm glad about this because I love to be working! From what I've seen so far it looks pretty simple and I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, now all I have to do is find something to do with my time. It has been raining none stop since I arrived and we are suppose to get 8 to 10 inches of snow tonight! I don't think it has ever snowed on my birthday but hey this week has been full of firsts, so why not another one! Thank you to everyone who has sent me birthday messages!! Tons of emails and facebook messages! I'm going to try to drive to Cody tomorrow if I can make it through the pass but if there is snow on the ground I'm going to just hunker down again.

Until next time!
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Carolina On My Mind...

Hello Everyone!!

I am writing to you tonight from the Northeast Ranger Station at Yellowstone National Park!! I've made it all the way! Things here are going well so far, I'm living in a beautiful trailer just above the Entrance Station. It's small but cozy. My roommate is cool and actually made dinner tonight, which was really great after a week of cooking and eating by myself. I'm settling nicely; I have my own room and closet and all of that jazz. It is really cold here, I think in the 40s when I showed up. The only thing I really did today was drive from Rapid City to the Entrance Station. However, when I hit the Eastern Beartooth Mountains I was awe-struck by their size and dominance over the land. Then I drove up the mountains which was one heck of a task and something that made me pretty nervous. When I made it to the peak I was actually driving through a cloud so I had NO visibility. And of course the mountains were covered with snow. I drove through Cooke City and Silver Gate which are tiny little towns just outside of the entrance. So if anyone wants to visit there are plenty of places to stay in those towns. So far I've met two of the VUA's like me and the district LE Ranger for this area. Everyone seems very nice. There are a total of 11 Rangers that live in this little "village" of ours and that's about it. It is suppose to be a very slow station without a huge influx of visitors all of the time. I wish I had more to report at this time but like I said it wasn't a very eventful day. I do want to say thank you to all of you for sending my messages of encouragement and love along my Great Adventure. They gave me the power to push through any difficulties that I have come upon. My roommate and I are planning on getting satellite Internet soon and as soon as that happens, I will be able to get on facebook and upload pictures there and here. Another thank you to those of you who have sent me birthday wishes, they were nice reminders that I'm getting old :) I should be back in the near future to check my mail and write to you again (blackberry is of no use in this part of the park), just know for now that I am safe and doing well.

Until next time, faithfully yours,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park
(307) 344-2656 (call me) :)

Cold Mountain...

Hey Everybody!!

I'm writing to you from Rapid City, South Dakota, my last stop before heading into Yellowstone and my new living quarters. Tomorrow is the big haul, 7 and 1/2 hours from here to there, the longest leg of my adventure. Not to worry though, I have driven from Clemson to Washington DC and back by myself, so I am comfortable with this long drive. It should just be a straight shot. I don't plan on hitting any sites tomorrow.
I started my morning by leaving Sioux Falls, SD around 8am. Remember, that is after I get up, shower, get dressed, pack up all of my stuff, break down my tent and load up my car. It has been early mornings all week but well worth it for the amount of things I've been able to do. The drive from Sioux Falls to Rapid City is quite easy for those of you who are interested...pretty much you get on I-90 West and... that's about it! :) I'm sure if you have driven this route a couple of times it is a boring and tiring drive. However, seeing how I have never seen this part of the country I couldn't get enough of all of the surroundings I was going through.
Under penalty of personal shame and possibly injury, too, by my good friend from Iowa, Jasper Ray, I began my day by stopping at the one and only Corn Palace!! Get excited! The Corn Palace is (today) a basketball gym that is decorated completely out of corn! It is an interesting place and according to the movie ranked as one of the top ten places to play high school basketball in the country. The Original Corn Palace was built in the 1800's for the corn festival when Mitchell, SD was fighting to become the state capital. They lost, unfortunately, but the Corn Palace lives on. The outside murals change every year unless there is a drought and the inside ones (which surround the court) are refreshed, but not changed, every 10 to 12 years to keep their color! To be honest I'm happy I stopped at the Corn Palace - it was an interesting place and you could tell the people of Mitchell are truly proud of it! A big Thank You to Jasper for the forceful suggestion.
After the Corn Palace, I headed straight West, the plains soon fading to amazing rolling hills that just never seemed to end, and then BAM the grass gave way to large rock formations - The Badlands. While temped, I just didn't have the time to stop off at the Badlands National Park, so I will have to save it for another trip. I did finally make to Rapid City around 1:30pm. No new states today but I did enter the Mountain Time Zone for the first time in my life. For those of you playing the home edition, that's three out of the four time zones now. As soon as I got to Rapid City, I left and travelled out to Keystone, SD and Mount Rushmore! An amazing site! I really enjoyed finally seeing the memorial with my own eyes. For those of you who have never been, you can actually see the faces just as you turn around the last bend up the mountain. It was a great surprise! Again I did all the things to do there, I watched the video, went through the museum (which once AGAIN, has an incorrect reference to Fort Sumter, but I won't bore you), went on a ranger walk, and sat in on a ranger talk in the sculptor's studio. I spent a good 3 and half hours at the site and learned a lot of things. For example, the man who sculpted Mount Rushmore, was originally hired to do Stone Mountain in Atlanta, GA but after getting into a fight with the organizers, he destroyed all of the work he had done so far and quit. The current work at Stone Mountain was done over the original after it was blown off.
After ending my Mount Rushmore adventure, I headed to the campsite and set up camp for the evening. I'm getting pretty good at it! I set up my tent in 15mins tonight which I think is pretty fast for one person. I was given some other suggestions about where to go in this area but to be honest I'm a little wiped out and I think I will save those for a family vacation in the future. Well as I said before, I have a long haul tomorrow so I should get on gettin' on.
Thank you all for your amazing support and communication as I make this long journey. Even though I am so far away from home now, I still feel like many of you are right here with me when I get your emails. Keep'em coming!! I don't know when I will have access to my email on my computer again, but I should still be able to get and to send one-on-one emails from my phone.
PS: Aunt Susan won the contest last night, your prize will be in the mail shortly...

Until next time, with God's love,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

North by Northwest...(I'm full of these...)

Hello Friends and Family (which to me is one in the same),

First one to guess the director of the movie reference in the subject line wins a prize! :) Anyway, I'm writing to you tonight from Sioux Falls, South Dakota! Once again hitting new places and seeing cool things. I got up pretty early again this morning and made my way out of Kansas City.
Since I only had only 5 and 1/2 hours of traveling ahead of me and because I have a problem :), I stopped off at the Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri. I started at the visitor center where I met the two volunteers working there. They were very nice and told me everything I needed to know as well as started the video for me. One interesting thing about this encounter was the uniform that the male volunteer was wearing; it was the NPS uniform exactly except he had a Khaki colored shirt, no badge, and a volunteer patch on the left shoulder instead of the arrowhead. This was the first time I have seen a volunteer dressed like that, and based on the number of parks I have visited on the east coast that is saying something.
But I digress. I made my way over to the Truman Home where I met with Ranger Sarah who took me through the first floor of the house and pointed out the surrounding buildings which the NPS owns. The great thing about the Truman Home is that it was left to the People of the United States immediately after the death of Bess Truman in 1982. The NPS has kept everything exactly in the same place it was when the home was turned over to them. There is still a calender from '82 on the wall with the days marked off and the coats are still hanging on the coat rack. Another great thing is that Bess Truman actually took the original White House portrait of her. (Every First Lady has one done just like the President). The one you find in the White House today is actually a copy, the only one in the White House to Sarah's knowledge. I found that pretty cool.
After I finished my tour I decided to get on the road and head north. It is a very simple drive from Kansas City to Sioux Falls, you get on I-29 and go North for a little over 5 hours, passing through Missouri, Iowa, and South Dakota and that's it. I arrived at the KOA here around 5:30pm, set up camp and cooked up some Johnsonville Italian sausages. It has been a easy day today to break up my busy day yesterday and my day tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I continue west to Rapid City, South Dakota where I hope to see Mount Rushmore!
Thank you again to everyone sending me replies, I'm getting around 10 for every email and I love reading them very much. Some people didn't get my contact information before so I've added it again below. I hope to send pictures as soon as I have an Internet signal. Trust me I have been taking many. Please keep those prayers and good thoughts coming my way, I can really feel the good "karma" if you will.

Your Son, Brother, Cousin, Nephew, and Friend,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Crossing the Rubicon...Halfway there!

Looking up the Cumberland River from Fort Donelson.
My campsite Monday night.
Straight down from the top of the arch.
Me on top of the arch.
White Haven, U.S. Grant's home near St. Louis.



Hey Everyone!! (had to mix it up a little bit there)

I'm writing tonight from Kansas City, Missouri. Not a whole lot of driving today, just a lot of fun at my favorite places...National Parks. I started off my morning being awakened by a train passing by about thirty feet away from my tent, which wasn't really a problem except for the small fact that it was 5 am! After a few attempts to fall back asleep I decided it would be best just to head out. So I took a shower and packed up camp.
Leaving the campsite was easy and I was soon seeing and crossing the Mighty Mississippi for the first time in my life that I can remember (after 4yrs old). After getting a little turned around, I arrived at the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial just after 8 AM. I believe I was one of the first "visitors" in the park that morning. I say "visitor" because there were tons of people running through the park and up and down the stairs in front. The arch was awe-inspiring to say the leas. It stands at 630 ft tall and looking up at it from the ground I could not believe I was going to the top. Once underground I began by looking at the massive museum underneath the memorial. This museum traces a century of American history and is one of the most interestingly designed museums I have ever seen. I did find an error in the museum, though. [please hold the laughter down :)] As I read through each year I found myself on the year 1860. Of course one of my favorite years! I decided to read the entire placard and much to my dismay they said the secession convention in South Carolina was held in Columbia!! You can understand why this upset me! If there had been a ranger around I would have had to say something. Luckily, it was my time to go up the arch so my disgust quickly faded.
The top of the arch is really great - you can see everything and riding to the top was quite the experience. On the way up I rode with a group of ladies from the west heading to Minnesota for a grandson's high school graduation. They were delighted to hear I was from Charleston and about my adventure. I enjoyed meeting them. At the top I got some good pictures, even one of me; I asked the Ranger to take it and we joked about being asked that all the time (reminded me of Fort Sumter...). On the way down from the top I rode with an older family from Great Britain. They were great! We talked about the differences in American baseball and British cricket. They also inquired where I was from and heading, and it turns out we are on very similar trips, they are making the small stops I am on their way to Seattle. They are going much slower and don't plan on being in Yellowstone till late June. I told them to come see me in the Northeast Station and gave them my name. After that I watched the video and then made my way out of the park. From there I headed to the Grant National Historic Site, White Haven.
A beautiful farm home and barn still remain at this site, and they have done an amazing job there! It was free admission and I took a guided tour through the house. The museum was so big and full of information I could have spent the entire night reading and still not be done by now. There I talked to a Ranger about Grant and found a really good book which I'm looking forward to diving into. I also met a girl who was on the tour with me who was starting her first day there with the Park Service, so we had a little connection in that sense. From there I headed west once again (in a very straight line) to Kansas City. As I drove I was hit by a very typical (in my mind) mid-western storm.
Reaching Kansas City I met up with Laura Kelly's friend Jackie, who took me to dinner at Winsteads drive-in diner and then (since it was raining) we did a short loop around the plaza (modeled after Seville, Spain) and then went to a movie. It was nice to return to civilization for a quick hour or two, and that was the conclusion of my day. Now according to my GPS I am roughly 915 miles from my home in Mount Pleasant and 915 miles away my temporary home at Yellowstone, literally halfway. Tomorrow I head to South Dakota and pull out my jacket and jeans. Until then stay safe and keep sending those emails - they really do help!!
Sorry it was so long this time!

Yours Truly,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Meet me in St. Louis...Clever right??

Hello All!!
I am in St. Louis! Stages 1 and 2 have been completed almost exactly as planned. On Sunday I started my journey and made it to the Mackenzie house by 8:15 pm. I have to send out a big thank you to the entire Mackenzie family for putting me up for a night as well as feeding me dinner and breakfast; it was a good way to ease into my journey. Today I travelled through four states: Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. The last two I had never been to before so it is exciting to be here. While traveling through Tennessee I made a quick detour to Fort Donelson! It was very cool; this is the fort where Gen. Grant had his and the Union's first major victory in the Civil War. Yes, Fort Sumter was featured in the movie and I smirked a little seeing my old stomping grounds. Also at Fort Donelson, I saw my first bald eagle in the wild! There are two eagles who have set up shop there and have had 12 babies so far! This last one (which I saw) was just about to start flying so you could see it hopping around the nest just thinking about taking off. This was a really big moment for me, as I'm sure many of you can see the symbolism in this encounter. From Fort Donelson I traveled through the Land Between Two Lakes National Recreation Area (run by the National Forest Service). Here I saw American Bison, which of course I was not expecting at all! Who knew I would see so much wildlife before even leaving the south! I had lunch in the RA, just cold cuts and Goldfish I brought with me. Finally, I made it to the Granite City KOA where I set up camp and made myself dinner. It was simple but a hot meal cooked by yourself always feels good. At this point I have to send out a big Thank You to the Crawford family! I did not expect to use your goody bag so soon but when I realized I had nothing to clean my pots and dishes with, it was a HUGE help to have that dish soap in there! Well, tomorrow I am heading into St. Louis. I have a reservation to go up the arch, so hopefully I will get out of here early enough to make it there on time. Then I hope to hit up the Grant NHS just south of St. Louis. Finally, as you know, I am then off to Kansas City where I am meeting up with friends. Until then I hope all is well with everyone! Thank you to everyone who replied to my first email, it is a nice thing to read while filling up the gas or at a rest area. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers - I could use all the help I can get!
Until next time,
Yours truly,
-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park

Drunk Drivers, Lawyers, Doctors, and Grandparents

Hello All!!
This is the first of many emails that I hope to send out to all of you; my friends, family and co-workers (There are 72 of y'all total). Oh well Google can handle it! This final push to the finish has been a very tough one to say the least, but after everything that has happened it looks like I will still be able to make my western journey finally!
As many of you already know, last Sunday I was on my way home from a Boy Scout trip when a drunk driver blew a stop sign and turned into my lane causing a head-on collision. Of course, my immediate concern was my health but as soon as that passed my mind immediately went to thinking about my trip and how I would not be able to go. However, after a very stressful week, things seem to finally be falling into place. On Tuesday and Wednesday I worked with GEICO and the body shop in Mount Pleasant to begin fixing poor Clifford (my truck). While they have already started the work, he will not be able to go out west with me just yet. Yesterday, I finally received letters from both the Mount Pleasant Police Department confirming the DUI charge as well as State Farm asking ME to contact them. Seeing as I was already ticked off enough and not knowing how I would deal with this whole mess from my soon to be remote Montana residence, I decided to get a lawyer. Today I met with the lawyer who is going to handle just about everything. Although Clifford can be fixed he will obviously not be the same and someone should pay for that, hence where the lawyer comes in to the mix. I also finally got in to see a doctor today to look at my continuous headache. Diagnosis seems to be that the crash has triggered my migraines to start up again (I had migraines in High School).
Finally early this morning, I traveled to Hilton Head to pick up my Grandparent's Chrysler Pacifica which will now be my "home" for a week. Not the flashiest or coolest car in the world but it will more than do the job of transporting me on my Great Adventure. Moving on to the Great Adventure itself, tomorrow is my big packing day! I have washed and packed just about everything. One more trip to Walmart, some triple-checking of lists, and packing the car should complete the process.
I'm starting my adventure in Charleston, around 2pm on Sunday May 31st, from which I will travel to Clemson to pick up my mountain bike. From there I move on to Atlanta where I will be crashing at the Mackenzie residence with my good friends and brothers Colin and Alex. On Monday it's off to Fort Donelson in Tennessee and then to Granite City, IL right outside of St. Louis for my first night of camping. After spending Tuesday in St. Louis seeing the sights, I set my eyes on Kansas City. In Kansas City, I hope to meet up with my friends Jackie, Natalie, and Sara. Not sure how long I will be staying in KC, maybe through Wednesday if there is anything to do. From Kansas City I will travel to Sioux Falls, SD for an evening. Then to Mount Rushmore and Rapid City. Finally, I will make the longest leg of my trip from Rapid City to the Northeast Entrance Station of Yellowstone National Park by the 6th of June (My Birthday!!!). And after all of that I start work on the 7th! As if I'm not doing enough at the last minute, my travel plans are actually working themselves out as I type this email. Even after everything I've had to endure over the past week I couldn't be more excited about seeing the West and starting my new job with the Park Service. It is an awesome beginning to what I hope to be a long career!
If you want to reach me at the Park by mail or phone:
Address:1 Northeast Entrance Station, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
Phone:Cell: (843) 906-6228 Residence: (307) 344-2656
Email is the best and quickest most likely but I guarantee paper mail will brighten my spirits if I'm ever home sick!!
Wish me luck,-- Brent Everitt

Visitor Use Assistant

Northeast Entrance Station

Yellowstone National Park